God and astronomers
Robert Jastrow, is not only an astronomer, but also director of the Mount Wilson Observatory and founder of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies. His scientific reputation is first class. Therefore his book “God and astronomers” She made such an impression on those who examine the consequences of the big bang, specifically those who ask themselves the question: ‘Does he show a big bang on God?’
Jastrow claims to be an agnostic. He writes about the evidence of the big bang we just discussed: ‘Now we see astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details vary, but the basic elements of the astronomical and biblical description of Genesis are the same: a chain of events leading to man began suddenly and violently at a certain moment in time, in a flash of light and energy.”¹⁸
The overwhelming evidence of the Big Bang and its alignment with the biblical description in the book of Genesis led Jastrow to the following statement, which he made in one interview:
“Astronomers have now found that they have reached a dead end because they have proven with their own methods that The world was created suddenly in the act of creation, … and they found out …that there are forces that we or anyone else call by the supernatural, is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact.’19
Even Einstein’s contemporary Arthur Eddington admitted: ‘The beginning seems to be sincere supernatural.’ 20
Why would Jastrow and Eddington admit that there are ‘supernatural’ forces? Why couldn’t the universe create the forces of nature? Because these scientists, like everyone else, know that the forces of nature – in fact, the whole of nature – were created at the big bang. In other words, the big bang was the beginning of the entire physical universe. At that moment, time, space and matter arose. Before the Big Bang, there was no natural world or laws of nature. Since the cause cannot follow its effect (first you stick it into the ball and then it moves not the other way around), natural forces cannot explain the big bang. Therefore, there must be something outside of nature that will fulfill this task. That’s exactly what the word supernatural means.
When Robert Wilson (discoverer of cosmic microwave radiation and Nobel Prize winner) was asked by science writer Fred Heeren if the evidence of the Big Bang suggests the existence of the Creator, Wilson replied: ‘Surely there was something that triggered it all. If you’re a believer, I can’t think of a better theory about the origin of the universe that fits the book of Genesis.” 23
George Smoot joined Wilson’s rating. He said: ‘There is no doubt that There is a parallel between the big bang as an event and the Christian concept of creation from nothing.’24
Actually by Hawking ‘Almost everyone now believes that The universe and time itself had a beginning at the Big Bang.’30
No atheist theory can disprove any of the assumptions of the cosmological argument.
The universe had a beginning and therefore needs a cause.
Even science can be a religion for some scientists
So why, after all this documented evidence, not all scientists accept this scientifically based conclusion? Why do some of them try to avoid the facts instead and come up with various strange and improbable explanations?
Jastrow’s comments are again compelling (don’t forget Jastrow is an agnostic) and yet notes: ‘In general, theologians are delighted to prove that the universe had a beginning, but astronomers are strangely upset. Their reactions provide an interesting example of the reaction of the scientific mind – supposedly a very objective mind. It turns out that a scientist behaves just like the rest of us when our beliefs are at odds with the evidence. We are irritated, we pretend that the conflict does not exist here, or we cover it up with insignificant phrases. 31
Regarding Einstein’s ‘irritating’ feelings about general relativity and the expanding universe, Jastrow writes: ‘I believe that the idea of the beginning of time upset Einstein because of its theological implications.’ 32
Victor Stenger, a physicist who taught at Hawaiian University, once wrote that ‘The universe was created by an explosion from nothing’.34 Stenger recently acknowledged that the big bang theory appears increasingly likely. ‘… With each passing year and with increasing astronomical data, at least the general image of the Big Bang is confirmed more and more.’ 35
In 2003, there was indeed further evidence that the Big Bang theory was correct. NASA’s WMAP satellite confirmed the findings of its predecessor Cobe and took pictures of the waves of cosmic microwave radiation that were thirty five times sharper than the Cobe images.36 In fact, space observations are increasingly supporting the theistic worldview that George Will is considering: ‘Soon a secular group will file a lawsuit against NASA accusing the Hubble Space Telescope in an unconstitutional way to provide comfort to religious people.’ 37
So the cosmological argument is proven to be true because:
– Everything that arises has its cause,… and the universe was created.
– Since the universe had its beginning,… it had to have its Creator too.
Who created God?
In the light of all the evidence of the beginning of the universe in which time and space exist, then must be He who created the universe, outside the space-time universe.
When God is proposed as the Creator, atheists quickly ask the age-old question: ‘So who created God? If everything needs a cause, then God also needs a cause!’
As we have seen, the law of causality (causality) is the very basis of science. Science is the search for causes, and this search is based on our consistent observation that everything that has a beginning has a cause.
In fact, the question ‘Who created God?’ It points out how seriously we take this law. It goes without saying that practically everything needs a cause. So why does God not need a cause? Because the claim of atheists stems from a misunderstanding of the law of causation. The law of causation does not say that everything needs a cause. He says that: Everything that arises needs a cause. God did not arise.
God was not created. No one created God. He is uncreated. As an eternal being, God had no beginning, so he did not need a cause.
first cause
According to the majority of evidence, the universe had a beginning, so it must be caused by something else – something outside of it. We are talking about the first cause here. Note that this conclusion is consistent with theistic religions, but is not based on them – it is based on good reasons and evidence.
Definition: first cause (Latin Causa Prima) is a philosophical and theological concept that indicates the initial source, mover or reason for the existence of everything in the universe. The argument of the first cause (cosmological argument) claims that there must be a necessary, uninitiated and motionless cause that gave rise to everything.
From the evidence we have presented so far, we know that the first cause must be:
• self-existing, timeless, non-space and immaterial (Because the first cause created time, space and matter, the first cause must be outside of time, space and matter). In other words, it is without boundaries, or infinite;
• unimaginably powerful, to create the entire universe from nothing;
• extremely intelligent, to design the universe with such incredible accuracy (more on that in the next chapter);
• personal, To decide to transform the state of nothingness into a space-time material universe (impersonal force does not have the ability to make decisions).
These Properties ‘First Cause’ are exactly the qualities that theists attribute to God. Again, these qualities are not based on someone’s religion or subjective experience. are derived from the scientific evidence we have just discussed, and they help us see the critically important part of the top of the puzzle, which we call life.
‘If God doesn’t exist, why is there anything rather than nothing?’ This is a question that every person must find an answer to.
We have only two options left in the light of the evidence: Either nothing made something out of nothing, or someone made something out of nothing.
Which opinion is more reasonable? Nothing created something?!
So if you can’t believe that nothing caused anything, then you don’t have enough faith to be an atheist! The existence of God is more demonstrable intellectually.
Robert Jastrow ended his book ‘God and Astronomers’ as follows: ‘For a scientist who based his faith on the power of reason, this story ends like a bad dream. He overcomes the mountains of knowledge all his life, about to climb the highest peak. But when he finally climbs on it, he is greeted by a group of theologians who are already sitting there after centuries.’ 39
Summary
Five scientific evidence pointing to the existence of the Creator
The universe had a beginning
T – the second law of thermodynamics – If the universe had existed since eternity, it would have been without energy long ago. However, since we are still here, the universe had to come into being sometime in the past which It had a beginning.
ř – the universe expands – expands – it expands from a certain the beginning.
E – Einstein’s general theory of relativity requires absolute beginning time, space and matter. It shows that time, space and matter are interconnected. that is, they are dependent on each other – one cannot exist without the other.
s – ‘seeds’ of the galaxy – Ripple at the temperature of cosmic microwave radiation shows, that the explosion and expansion of the universe were precisely tuned (per hundredth of a thousandth of a thousandth) that just as much had gathered matter in order to create a galaxy, but not so much that the universe collapses.
K – cosmic microwave radiation – cosmic background – A flash of a big bang fireball burst, for which there is no other explanation than the Big Bang — beginning the universe.
The cosmological argument is an argument about the beginning of the universe. If the universe had a beginning, then the universe had a cause.
Excerpts from the book ‘I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist’ by Dr. Norman Geisler and Dr. Frank Turk
14. See Fred Heeren, Show Me God, 163-168; And Ross, Creator and Thecosmos, 19.
15. Heeren, Show Me God, 168.
16. See Michael D. Lemonick, “Echoes of the Big Bang,” Time, May 4, 1992, 62.
17. Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 11.
18. Ibid., 14.
19. “A Scientist Caught between Two Faiths: Interview with Robert Jastrow,”Christianity Today, August 6, 1982, Emphasis Added.
20. Arthur Eddington, The Expanding Universe (New York: Macmillan, 1933),178.
21. Quoted in Heeren, Show Me God, 156.
22. Quoted in ibid., 157.
23. Quoted in ibid.
24. Quoted in ibid., 139.
25. For a Detailed Explanation and Refutation of Atheistic Explanations for the414 I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheistbeginning Of The Universe, See William Lane Craig’s Article, “The UltimateQuestion of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe,” posted onlineathttp://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/ultimatequestion.html;Seealso Norman Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grandrapids, Mich.: Baker, 1999), 102-106.
26. See Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 125.
27. See “’Baby Pic’ Shows Cosmos 13 Billion Years Ago,” CNN.com, February11, 2003, AThttp://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/11/cosmic.portrait/.
28. See Kathy Sawyer, “Cosmic Driving Force? Scientists’ Work on ‘Darkenergy’ Mystery Could Yield a New View of the Universe,” WashingtonPost, February 19, 2000, A1.
29. Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988), 136-139; See also Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino, Unshakablefoundations (Minneapolis: Bethany, 2001), 107-110.
30. Quoted in Norman Geisler and Paul Hoffman, eds., Why I Am and Christian:Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker,2001), 66.
31. Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 16 (Emphasis Ours).
32. Ibid., 28.
33. Ibid., 113-114.
34. V. J. Stenger, ‘The Face of Chaos,’ Free Inquiry 13 (Winter 1992–1993): 13.
35. See Cliff Walker, ‘An Interview with Particle Physicist Victor J. Stenger,’ AThttp://www.positiveatheism.com/crt/stenger1.htm.Interview Date, November 6, 1999.36. See “’Baby Pic’ Shows Cosmos 13 Billion Years ago.”
37. George Will, “The Gospel From Science,” Newsweek, November 8, 1998.
38. Albert Einstein, In Science, Philosophy, and Religion: A Symposium (NewYork: The Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relationo the Democratic Way of Life, 1941). posted online athttp://www.sacredtexts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm.Accessed October 15, 2003.
39. Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 116.
