Secrets of the now-known universe dictate (a) God. by Kevin Roeten
(conservative)
Saturday, November 6, 2010
When one questions the greatest minds in astrophysics and cosmology (e.g., Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking) about finding a "Creator", they could not propose a universe with no beginning, and found the task impossible. Show Me God is a scientific account of the cosmos written by Fred Heeren, Science Journalist, pointing directly to (a) God.
In 1927 an astronomer by the name of Edwin Hubble was able to determine from distant red shifted galaxies, that they were all retreating from us at high velocities. One would think with so many possible origins, life's got to exist on more than just earth. Hence the SETI Institute(Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) came into being.
To date, the search of exoplanets or any life at all, has turned up empty. Approximately 470 exoplanets (outside our solar system) have been discovered. According to Planet Quest: New Worlds Atlas, exoplanets found so far are a maximum of 300 light years from our sun, none are earthlike, and very few are in the habitable zone.
What is called the "The Goldilocks Zone - NASA Science", is the habitable zone around a star where temperatures demand the existence of liquid water. There no element is as flexible as carbon for making multiple varieties of complex compounds, in a medium that is perfectly suited to liquid water in which complex molecules can react with one another.
"Habitable" specifically refers to planets which have the right temperature range year around---not gas giants, or planets orbiting in and out of the "Goldilocks" zone. In all, 12 major "bottlenecks" exist that block the road to intelligence on most planets. But, for some reason, intelligence on our planet seems special.
But low and behold, a discovery by Francis Crick and James Watson found what SETI had been saying all along the clear message of extraterrestrial intelligence. They found the code in 1953 that had been left on this planet 3.85 billion years ago, and were awarded a Nobel Prize. The code is embedded in each of our own cells. The cracked code was for Deoxyribo-Nucleic Acid, or DNA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Minus the scientific code speak for DNA strings; all combinations specify a particular protein. Carbon, oxygen, and water were the tools. With a myriad of 'ideal conditions', and set rules (fastest speed of anything limited to 186,000 miles/sec), something was planned.
From the proposed Drake Equation, where "N" equals the proposed number of technological civilizations in our galaxy [N=R(*) x f(p) x n(e) x f(l) x f(i) x f(c) x L] (p 49), to BETA [billion-channel extra-terrestrial assay], which scans over 2 billion channels every 16 seconds, we have gotten no response in 37 years since SETI started.
A few other influences should NOT be overlooked:
1) Assuming 10 billion years for the age of the Milky Way galaxy, there was at least 2000 chances for all additional civilizations (#16, p.48, Show Me God) to settle the entire galaxy. Italian physicist Enrico Fermi asks, "Where are they?" Hence, Fermi's Paradox.
2) Without Jupiter's gravitational pull, comets/asteroids would strike earth between 100 and 10,000 times more frequently than current collisions with earth [George Wetherill/Carnegie Institution]. Because many would be planet-killers, earth's population would likely have ceased to exist.
3) For civilizations 15 light years away, they should be receiving signals from TV shows transmitted by earth, such as "I Love Lucy". Their signal to earth should be arriving back about now. We've received nothing.
Logic demands a cause for all effects. The universe is such a large effect, that it demands a very great cause. The 20th century has brought us undeniable evidence that the universe did have a beginning.
The widely believed Big Bang Theory dictated to Hubble that the velocity of any galaxy's movement away from us is directly proportional to its distance from us. (p.152) This very precise linear relationship of distance to velocity (acknowledged by all modern astronomers) directly indicates a starting point for all galaxies in the distant past.
Physicists tell us (p. 207) the proton is 1,836x heavier than the electron, and if it was much different, the required molecules would not combine, resulting in no chemistry, and no life. Fred Hoyle and N.C. Wickramasinghe: calculated the odds of all proteins necessary for life forming in one place by random events at 1/10^40,000 power-----a number not in the realm of finite possibilities. (p. 227)
Hawking wrote, "If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have re-collapsed before it ever reached its present state." A rate of expansion slightly faster than the critical rate would have dispersed matter too rapidly for stars/galaxies to form. (p.395)
The Bible actually states several places that the dimension of time is something God fabricated for us, and that 'time' does not exist in heaven. Many earth creationists believe the universe is only 6000-8000 years old. But the word 'day' in the Bible could actually mean eons, or longer, to God whose existence is not measured in time. Amazingly, some of us humans still think in terms of how they can think--not God.
The universe being 13-15 billion years old, the distance to the farthest measured star is well over a million light-years out, all evidence point to the Big Bang as the beginning of the universe, a proton is always 1876x heavier than an electron for chemical combinations, existing ideal laws, Goldilocks zone's 12 bottlenecks, Plank's constant, electromagnetic and gravitational forces, fastest attainable speed (186,000 mps), Hoyle's calculation for miniscule likelihood of formation of proteins necessary for life, and Hawking's calculation for the universe not collapsing in on itself or expanding unconditionally, are only a few of the miracles occurring in our universe.
With all these maxi-miracles already known to have occurred, likely due to an Intelligent Designer, you'd think God changing bread and wine into His own Body and Blood was child's play.
"Child's play" is metaphorically speaking, of course.
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in this article are those of Kevin Roeten only and
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Posted By: George Dance
Date: November 6, 2010 08:50:08 PM
(1) Fermi's paradox overlooks the fact that it is impossible for matter to travel faster than light. As of now, the best explanation for the failure of a civilization to conquer the entire galaxy is the fact it's physically imposible. (What's this about the universe being 11 billion years old, anyway? I thought you guys believed it was created in 4004 BC or something like that.)
(2) The fact Jupiter prevents comets and asteroids from smashing into the earth and killing everyone should not be taken as proof of a Creator God protecting the earth. A Creator God could have done the same thing by simply leaving out the comets and asteroids.
(3) "15 light years away" covers a very small part of the galaxy.
And that last brings up what's most wrong with your argument. It rests on the premise, "Humans are the only sentient species in the universe," which cannot be proved true, but only false. As with any scientific theory, it's reasonable to believe a falsifiable but not verifiable premise, if it's been tested enough; but with the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, we've barely scratched the surface.
Your "intelligent designer" also created super-volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, bubonic plagues, wars, famine, cancer, death, etc... and he must have been a Civil Engineer because when designing the human body who else would put a sewer line near a recreation area (ok that last one is supposed to be a joke). So much for this "intelligent designer" who is also supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent who also is supposed to be so loving to us that he sends us his only son to be killed?
God did not create man. It is actually the other way around: Man created God. He created God so that he caould explain himself the unexplainable
The Bertrand Russell Paradox is the closest logical test to denying the existance of a God.
BTW, Eistein was a believer in God, but Hawkins is not and relatively speaking we are all atheists because today those who believe in god, do not beleive in Zeus.
Posted By: bbbl67
Date: November 6, 2010 10:02:11 PM
I am glad to find a religious person who is also a believer in science. Your words indicate that you do not take a fundamentalist interpretation of your religious book, as you prefer to believe that the universe is more than 13 billion years old rather than just 6000 years old. In fact, you take the viewpoint that if the universe is as vast and as old as science says it is, then that only makes god & god's work more wondrous.
However, I would caution against getting too excited about coincidences. That a lot of these interesting coincidences that you think are conspiring to make life possible on this planet, such as the speed of light, Jupiter's placement, the expansion rate of the Big Bang, the mass of the proton, etc. They are only the work of god, until the scientists figure out the mechanism behind them. Currently, a lot of the reasons behind these coincidences are unknown only because we haven't discovered the science behind them yet. They call the idea of ascribing magical initial values to an omnipotent creator, "the god of the gaps". That is, anytime there is a gap in our knowledge, we say it must've been a god who did it. I don't know if you'll find such a god all that satisfying to believe in.
Posted By: Peter Kinnon
Date: November 7, 2010 02:21:03 AM
In my view the notion of gods is so silly as not to be worthy of serious discussion, although it easy to see how such myths arose as primitive humans used their remarkable imaginations to try to ascribe meaning to the world around them.
There is, however a very good evidence-based case to be made for a limited form of teleology that applies to nature’s observed mechanisms. A very strong directionality of the evolutionary pattern that extends right through from stellar nucleosynthesis to the development of technology.
The "fine tuning" of the world we observe is not limited to the the fundamental physical constants. The strongest evidence, in fact, is to be found well "downstream" within the realm of chemistry.
In the special properties and distributions of the chemical elements and their compounds.
These are both indicators and effectors of the strong directionality observed in all aspects of nature’s evolutionary machinery.
A detailed discussion of these effects is given in chapter 11 of my book “Unusual Perspectives” which is available for free download from the website of that name. There is also much related material in my newly published work “The Goldilocks Effect” on the same website.
Posted By: Mike33ntk
Date: November 7, 2010 10:24:22 AM
Basically your saying the earth is too complex to not have a creator, which is what ever other non-scientific creationist say.. Your caught in the "Dr. Behe effect," where you're semi educated so you try to slide your crap in there under the guise of science.. YOUR THOUGHTS AREN'T NEW.. its the same tired logic as all your brain dead contemporaries..
Posted By: Alexicov
Date: November 8, 2010 02:01:03 PM
You say proof, but how does that prove anything.
First of all, your ideas are non-scientific. Even if there WAS a 'god' that 'fine tuned' our universe, there is no way to test and disprove this hypothesis. This differentiates it from a scientific hypothesis that needs to be testable and falsifiable. Otherwise it's not science.
Secondly, you're obviously pushing your agenda for a Christian "god" creating the universe. And why does it have to be that way? It could easily be created by someone akin to the Hindu Gods, Greek gods, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Scientology, Flying Spaghetti Monster, and so on. These are all EQUALLY likely.
And it doesn't have to be all the current religions. There is no reason to think that the religion that 'got it right' exists right now. Just as ancient Greeks didn't know the "truth" of Christianity, it's very possible that the 'true god' is a religion founded in the distant future.
Plus, to them we're as primitive in religious thought as the Greek gods were to us.
And why does it have to be created by a 'god'? It could easily be created by a race of super-intelligent beings, or the universe could never have existed, and it's only sensory signals fed to your brain akin to the Matrix.
And why does it have to be something that we can explain and deduce? It is equally possible that the reason the universe exists is something that we can't put in words or possibly even conceive in our brain. Much like each one of our cells is completely unaware of the whole of our body, it is just as possible we will NEVER know the true origin.
You see, all of these are equally likely. There is ABSOLUTELY NO reason to think that YOUR god created the universe; and that every other possible explanation is ridiculous/impossible. They are equally possible and THEY ARE ALL UNSCIENTIFIC.
Posted By: bbbl67
Date: November 8, 2010 04:39:53 PM
Secondly, you're obviously pushing your agenda for a Christian "god" creating the universe. And why does it have to be that way? It could easily be created by someone akin to the Hindu Gods, Greek gods, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Scientology, Flying Spaghetti Monster, and so on. These are all EQUALLY likely.
If anything, then the Hindu story about the birth of the universe is closest to reality. The Hindus believe in an universe which is endlessly destroyed and recreated, which seems to be very similar to modern ideas of ekpyrotic universe, which describes universes that were there before this one, and universes that will be here after this one.
Religion was first invented to explain the existence of the world (the entire universe as we knew it at that time): it seems to be its first function, even more so than being the basis of moral values. There were many stories told about it, such as the Earth was built on the back of a giant sea turtle, as the Iroquois believed. Other religions thought it was built from an egg layed by a giant bird. Etc.
