The Big Bang: A Finite Beginning to Our Universe
The discovery of Einstein's general relativity plus the observation of an expanding universe ushered in what is the prevailing paradigm in astronomy. While scientific discovery still continues in this area, Big Bang theory is well supported by evidence.
While the Big Bang is not accepted by many theists, the Big Bang provides strong evidence for a Designer based on the simple straightforward logic that a beginning requires a Beginner. Furthermore, given that our universe is only 13.7 billion years old places upper bounds on what can reasonably be expected to occur by chance.
NOTABLE QUOTES
"So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator." Stephen Hawking
"The universe could be finite in imaginary time but without boundaries or singularities. When one goes back to the real time in which we live, however, there will still appear to be singularities... Only if [we] lived in imaginary time would [we] encounter no singularities... In real time, the universe has a beginning and an end at singularities that form a boundary to space-time and at which the laws of science break down." Stephen Hawking
"As to the first cause of the Universe, in the context of expansion, that is left for the reader to insert, but our picture is incomplete without Him." Edward Milne in his treatise on relativity
Fine Tuning of the Physics
For years it has been understood that if the fundamental constants of physics were slightly different, that life wouldn't exist. For example, consider the expansion rate of the Universe which cannot vary by more than 1 part in 10^55. If the expansion rate was any smaller the universe would collapse, even before stars formed. If this value was any larger, no galaxies would form. Even more impressive is the fine-tuning associated with dark energy, which is tuned to 1 part in 10^120 (Reference).
The discovery of fine-tuning has led to the cosmological argument, which makes the case that this fine tuning is no mistake, but is the result of design.
NOTABLE QUOTES
"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion beyond question." Astronomer Fred Hoyle
"There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all....It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe....The impression of design is overwhelming". Paul Davies
''There's no question that there are many things about the [universe] which if they were very much different, even just a little bit different, life couldn't exist, intelligent life couldn't exist'' Stanford physics Professor Leonard Susskind
Our Special Solar System & Rare Planet
There was a time when life supporting planets were thought to be common in the Universe, but based on new scientific research, the evidence suggests that habitable planets may be rare. Consider reading, "Five Out of Five Researchers Agree: Earth's Solar System Special" from Space.com, "Wayward planet knocks extrasolar planets for a loop" from UC Berkeley News and "Few Planets Will Have Time to Form Complex Life" from Universe Today.
NOTABLE QUOTES
"Once you realize that most of the known extrasolar planets have highly eccentric orbits (like the planets in Upsilon Andromedae), you begin to wonder if there might be something special about our solar system." Eric Ford
