Thursday, November 20, 2014

The Big Bang and the Existence of God


Recently I re-read one of my favorite books, “Who Made the Moon?” by Sigmund Broewer.  That, after I finished reading “Ancient Physics, Ancient Faith” by Stephen Barr.  So the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the Universe has been on my mind.  Physicists have observed that the known universe is expanding, meaning that galaxies, star clusters, and everything else out there are rapidly moving away from each other, giving the impression that everything used to be, a very long time ago, really close together – so close together that all matter and energy of the universe formerly was contained in a very small and tight space.  This tight space exploded at one point, thus sending all the matter that exists outward at a very fast clip and is giving us the impression that the entire universe is expanding.  This explosion has come to be known as the “Big Bang” and is believed by many to be the beginning of time and the beginning of the universe.  Of course this theory has been a boon to belief in God, the thinking being that the occasion of the explosion was the occasion of God creating everything from nothing.  There are many details that we could consider here, including parallels to the creation account in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.   However, I would like to suggest the Kenkel Theory of Multiple Possibilities (ha, ha … a name that I came up with just today).  I like to think that the universe is infinite and that we happen to be existing in a corner of this universe where there was perhaps an explosion way back when.  However, like the explosion of a bomb, or a fireworks display, or the popping of a balloon, the explosion may have been much more limited in scope than what the Big Bang theory espouses.  It may be that we simply have not yet been able to observe any part of the universe that is not expanding, even though it exists.  A small corner of the universe may be expanding, but that does not mean that the entire universe is expanding.  You might ask why a person like myself who believes in God, and that God created all that is, would not want to subscribe to a theory that supports His existence.  My answer is that all this work by physicists and philosophers is pure speculation and that we cannot know for certain anything more than what we can observe directly.  It’s all part of the Kenkel Theory of Multiple Possibilities.  One can make observations, and propose theories to explain the observations, but all of that may change with new discoveries.  And new discoveries do come along and change our thinking.  I’m hoping for a few more of those during my lifetime, because they create new theories and new speculations.  It is simply fun and exciting.  And one more point … God exists all right.  I can sense His Providence and fingerprints all over this mind-blowing universe, including in my life here on Planet Earth.

The photo is of a fireworks display, a minor explosion in a remote corner of our universe.

2 comments:

  1. John:
    I try to get my simple mind around this mystery by imagining that the Big Bang was the moment that God, our creator, inserted the dimension of "time" into the timelessness of eternity.
    Such a wonderful mystery to ponder.
    Thanks for sharing the 'Kenkel Theory' with us.

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  2. John, thanks for your thoughtful comment.

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