The
dictionary says that Astronomy is “the branch of science which deals with
celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole.” Related to
this is Cosmology – the study of the structure of the Cosmos – and Cosmogony –
the study of the history of the universe. In reality much of what is presented
as Cosmology is actually Cosmogony which is highly dependent on ones
philosophical and religious worldview. (See Self-Refuting Worldviews)
When I look up at the night sky and see the moon, the stars, and easily visible planets like Venus and Jupiter, I feel a sense of awe at the God who made all of these things. Isn’t it amazing how God made so many stars? For God it wasn’t difficult at all – the Bible simply says, “He also made the stars.” Of course when we look at the night sky we can only see a limited number with the naked eye, and up until a few hundred years ago we had no idea of the fact that there are actually billions and billions of stars that God made.
These days when many people look at the stars and think about the vastness of the universe they feel insignificant and alone on a small and insignificant planet existing in an atheistic universe where everything came into being all by itself over billions of years.
According to the vocal atheist Lawrence Krauss, “Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded… You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
Forget Jesus? Krauss seems to take delight in mocking Christianity and praising the stars as if they created us. Our bodies are not made of star dust. That is just a man-made conjecture based on the fact that much of our body is made of water (H2O) and therefore we contain hydrogen atoms in our body. The Bible says we were made by God from the dust of the ground – which our bodies also share a lot in common with chemically. Just one of many amazing things the Bible was ahead of science with.
If we look back just 50 years or so we find that the majority of scientists believed that the universe was eternal and did not have a beginning, but now most scientists accept that the universe did have a beginning. This confirms what the Bible says in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.”
Thousands of years ago some cultures believed that the Earth was resting on top of elephants and tortoises. In contrast around 1500 B.C. we see a clear description of the Earth’s free float in space:
When I look up at the night sky and see the moon, the stars, and easily visible planets like Venus and Jupiter, I feel a sense of awe at the God who made all of these things. Isn’t it amazing how God made so many stars? For God it wasn’t difficult at all – the Bible simply says, “He also made the stars.” Of course when we look at the night sky we can only see a limited number with the naked eye, and up until a few hundred years ago we had no idea of the fact that there are actually billions and billions of stars that God made.
These days when many people look at the stars and think about the vastness of the universe they feel insignificant and alone on a small and insignificant planet existing in an atheistic universe where everything came into being all by itself over billions of years.
According to the vocal atheist Lawrence Krauss, “Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded… You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
Forget Jesus? Krauss seems to take delight in mocking Christianity and praising the stars as if they created us. Our bodies are not made of star dust. That is just a man-made conjecture based on the fact that much of our body is made of water (H2O) and therefore we contain hydrogen atoms in our body. The Bible says we were made by God from the dust of the ground – which our bodies also share a lot in common with chemically. Just one of many amazing things the Bible was ahead of science with.
If we look back just 50 years or so we find that the majority of scientists believed that the universe was eternal and did not have a beginning, but now most scientists accept that the universe did have a beginning. This confirms what the Bible says in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.”
Thousands of years ago some cultures believed that the Earth was resting on top of elephants and tortoises. In contrast around 1500 B.C. we see a clear description of the Earth’s free float in space:
“God
stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.”
(Job 26:7)
The Bible is also clear that the earth is a sphere:
The Bible is also clear that the earth is a sphere:
“God sits
above the circle of the earth… He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and
makes his tent from them.” (Isaiah 40:22)
The above verse uses the word circle but it can also mean sphere (there isn’t a separate word for sphere in Hebrew). This verse also talks about God spreading out the heavens. This spreading out (expansion) was discovered in 1929 by Hubble.
“Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth below. For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing. The people of the earth will die like flies, but my salvation lasts forever. My righteous rule will never end!” (Isaiah 51:6)
Or take the number of stars. Today we know that there are billions and billions of stars in the universe. In Genesis 22:17 God said to Abraham, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore…”
In the time of Abraham the number of stars had been counted at around 3000. So it’s possible that the astronomers of Abraham’s day argued with his assertion that the stars were uncountable. We need to realise that when the secular wisdom of the day contradicts the Biblical wisdom given to us from God it is always the ‘wise’ men that are wrong and not the Bible.
The biggest issue that critics of the Bible have with modern cosmology is in relation to the age of the universe and the Big Bang Theory. The Bible says that God made everything in 6 days. (Exodus 20:11) The Bible presents a history of the Earth and universe as being only thousands of years, whereas the Big Bang teaches billions of years. The current age of the universe is supposedly about 13.8 billion years. However about 20 years ago scientists were just as convinced that the age of the universe was 16 to 18 billion years!
Despite the assertions of secular scientists there is much evidence in support of a young universe. One evidence is comets. It is known from observational astronomy that comets are made of ice and that they gradually disintegrate. Their maximum life span is no more than about 100,000 years at the most. So if the universe really were billions of years old there should be no more comets left in our solar system.
In order to overcome this problem the Oort cloud theory was invented – an imaginary place on the far edge of our solar system that has countless comets that gradually replenish the stock of comets. However there is no observational support at all for this theory. As Dr Jason Lisle says, “It’s very hard to refute something that you can’t see or observe in any way!”
This shows the nature of what really happens in the secular scientific world again and again. Ad hoc explanations are created in order to prop up the prevailing theories. Another term for an ad hoc explanation is a ‘rescuing device’ and we all use them when our worldview is being threatened. (It’s much easier to reach for a rescuing device than abandon your whole worldview – or in this case the unproven and unscientific paradigm of ‘deep time’).
One of the more complex issues in astronomy is distant starlight. When we look up at the night sky we can see stars that are millions of light years away. (1 light year being the distance it takes light to travel 1 year, which is just under 10 trillion kms). Therefore, it is reasoned that it must have taken millions of years for that light to reach earth. Yet the reality is that we have no way of knowing that the speed of light has always been constant. I believe that Danny Faulkner (PhD in Astronomy) has the best solution. His 'Dasha' theory proposes that the speed of light was much much greater during the early days of Creation. We must not forget that the creation of the universe was a divine act, so God wasn’t limited to current natural processes.
Anyway, the Big Bang theory has its own starlight time problem, called the Horizon problem. It has been observed that the heat in the universe is extremely uniform – and the only way for this to happen is for heat from starlight to travel throughout the universe. However, even given 14.5 billion years there is not nearly enough time for the light to travel far enough to do this. The Horizon problem is almost identical in nature to the problem Creationists have, therefore it is illogical to reject the existence of a young Earth based on starlight because the Big Bang has essentially the same problem. (See here). Of course secular cosmologists have an ad hoc 'rescuing device' here too - the theory of inflation - an unobserved (i.e. totally speculative) much-faster-than-light early expansion of the universe.
Perhaps the strongest argument for God in Astronomy is related to the laws of nature. Astronomy and cosmology rely on the assumption that the universe obeys the laws of nature, and operates in a uniform and predictable way. Astronomical computer programs are able to accurately predict exactly how the night sky will look on any given night, location, and specific time hundreds of years into the future. This makes sense because God is a logical and consistent God who upholds everything by his power.
However, if there is no God and we just live in a random chance universe that exploded (rapidly expanded) from nothing then why should the universe operate like clockwork as it does? We know where the stars will be tomorrow night, and what time the sun and planets will rise and set (from an earthly perspective) based on the observations made in the past. But to say that the future will be like the past is illogical circular reasoning. This is one reason that we can know that the biblical worldview must be true. If it were not true then we would have no logical reason to expect the sun to still be shining tomorrow. Furthermore, we could not even begin to do astronomy without using our God-given logical minds.
It makes sense that if there is a God, he would try to communicate with us – and he has – through the Bible. In the SETI program scientists are searching for signs of intelligent life out there somewhere. The reality is that there is intelligent life out there – God – and he has given us so much evidence in creation that there must be a God. Not only this, but he came down to Earth – not as E.T. but as Jesus Christ. The Creator of the universe revealed himself as a man, and died for our sins. If you seek him, you will find him.
Brendan Larsen
*Spike Psarris has some videos that show the ad hoc and bankrupt nature of secular cosmology. He used to work for NASA but became a Creationist as a result of researching these things. http://www.creationastronomy.com/
** Many secular scientists are beginning to abandon the Big Bang theory. See scientists' petition here: www.cosmologystatement.org
The above verse uses the word circle but it can also mean sphere (there isn’t a separate word for sphere in Hebrew). This verse also talks about God spreading out the heavens. This spreading out (expansion) was discovered in 1929 by Hubble.
“Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth below. For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing. The people of the earth will die like flies, but my salvation lasts forever. My righteous rule will never end!” (Isaiah 51:6)
Or take the number of stars. Today we know that there are billions and billions of stars in the universe. In Genesis 22:17 God said to Abraham, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore…”
In the time of Abraham the number of stars had been counted at around 3000. So it’s possible that the astronomers of Abraham’s day argued with his assertion that the stars were uncountable. We need to realise that when the secular wisdom of the day contradicts the Biblical wisdom given to us from God it is always the ‘wise’ men that are wrong and not the Bible.
The biggest issue that critics of the Bible have with modern cosmology is in relation to the age of the universe and the Big Bang Theory. The Bible says that God made everything in 6 days. (Exodus 20:11) The Bible presents a history of the Earth and universe as being only thousands of years, whereas the Big Bang teaches billions of years. The current age of the universe is supposedly about 13.8 billion years. However about 20 years ago scientists were just as convinced that the age of the universe was 16 to 18 billion years!
Despite the assertions of secular scientists there is much evidence in support of a young universe. One evidence is comets. It is known from observational astronomy that comets are made of ice and that they gradually disintegrate. Their maximum life span is no more than about 100,000 years at the most. So if the universe really were billions of years old there should be no more comets left in our solar system.
In order to overcome this problem the Oort cloud theory was invented – an imaginary place on the far edge of our solar system that has countless comets that gradually replenish the stock of comets. However there is no observational support at all for this theory. As Dr Jason Lisle says, “It’s very hard to refute something that you can’t see or observe in any way!”
This shows the nature of what really happens in the secular scientific world again and again. Ad hoc explanations are created in order to prop up the prevailing theories. Another term for an ad hoc explanation is a ‘rescuing device’ and we all use them when our worldview is being threatened. (It’s much easier to reach for a rescuing device than abandon your whole worldview – or in this case the unproven and unscientific paradigm of ‘deep time’).
One of the more complex issues in astronomy is distant starlight. When we look up at the night sky we can see stars that are millions of light years away. (1 light year being the distance it takes light to travel 1 year, which is just under 10 trillion kms). Therefore, it is reasoned that it must have taken millions of years for that light to reach earth. Yet the reality is that we have no way of knowing that the speed of light has always been constant. I believe that Danny Faulkner (PhD in Astronomy) has the best solution. His 'Dasha' theory proposes that the speed of light was much much greater during the early days of Creation. We must not forget that the creation of the universe was a divine act, so God wasn’t limited to current natural processes.
Anyway, the Big Bang theory has its own starlight time problem, called the Horizon problem. It has been observed that the heat in the universe is extremely uniform – and the only way for this to happen is for heat from starlight to travel throughout the universe. However, even given 14.5 billion years there is not nearly enough time for the light to travel far enough to do this. The Horizon problem is almost identical in nature to the problem Creationists have, therefore it is illogical to reject the existence of a young Earth based on starlight because the Big Bang has essentially the same problem. (See here). Of course secular cosmologists have an ad hoc 'rescuing device' here too - the theory of inflation - an unobserved (i.e. totally speculative) much-faster-than-light early expansion of the universe.
Perhaps the strongest argument for God in Astronomy is related to the laws of nature. Astronomy and cosmology rely on the assumption that the universe obeys the laws of nature, and operates in a uniform and predictable way. Astronomical computer programs are able to accurately predict exactly how the night sky will look on any given night, location, and specific time hundreds of years into the future. This makes sense because God is a logical and consistent God who upholds everything by his power.
However, if there is no God and we just live in a random chance universe that exploded (rapidly expanded) from nothing then why should the universe operate like clockwork as it does? We know where the stars will be tomorrow night, and what time the sun and planets will rise and set (from an earthly perspective) based on the observations made in the past. But to say that the future will be like the past is illogical circular reasoning. This is one reason that we can know that the biblical worldview must be true. If it were not true then we would have no logical reason to expect the sun to still be shining tomorrow. Furthermore, we could not even begin to do astronomy without using our God-given logical minds.
It makes sense that if there is a God, he would try to communicate with us – and he has – through the Bible. In the SETI program scientists are searching for signs of intelligent life out there somewhere. The reality is that there is intelligent life out there – God – and he has given us so much evidence in creation that there must be a God. Not only this, but he came down to Earth – not as E.T. but as Jesus Christ. The Creator of the universe revealed himself as a man, and died for our sins. If you seek him, you will find him.
Brendan Larsen
*Spike Psarris has some videos that show the ad hoc and bankrupt nature of secular cosmology. He used to work for NASA but became a Creationist as a result of researching these things. http://www.creationastronomy.com/
** Many secular scientists are beginning to abandon the Big Bang theory. See scientists' petition here: www.cosmologystatement.org
