“If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, it would have recollapsed before it reached its present size. On the other hand, if it had been greater by a part in a million, the universe would have expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form.” - Stephen Hawking
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My grandmother used to theorize too…
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For those interested in a scholarly look at the God hypothesis I recommend this book. Simply the discovery of DNA should put to rest any idea of evolution by chance.
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There are SO many variables that point to an intelligent designer. The fact that our earth can sustain life on a razor’s edge is proof it didnt just “happen”:
The tilt on our axis
The amount of oxygen in the air
The distance from the sun and moon
CO2 levels and how they are controlled
The amount of gravity
Electromagnetic forces
The sun’s color in relation to photosynthesis
Amount of water in the atmosphere, and in the crust
The water cycle (polarity of the water molecule make it possible to evaporate)
etc, etc.
If any one of these (and many others) conditions were off minutely, the earth could not sustain life, and the results would be catastrophic.
Even Steven Hawking admitted that “the universe seems to have been finely tuned to make possible the development of life”, but he refused to take the next logical step in his theory…
It has been estimated that the chance of any single planet in the universe having these “just right” conditions are 1x10 to the 138th power…
And this is just on cosmology. There are millions of reasons to show how there was a designer from a biological and chemistry viewpoint.
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What always gets me is that as far as we know, the universe may be “infinite.” This has major repercussions that are hard to get a handle on.
If you have Netflix, and are into this type of thing, I highly recommend watchin A Trip to Infinity.
I have watched it probably a half dozen times and each time I come away with new things to ponder.
in my opinion, none of that points to intelligent design. think about it logically for a second. i know it’s hard for some of you but it’s worth it. how many billions upon billions of possible combinations of things are there in the universe? some say that it is statistically impossible for us to be alone as the only life in the universe. you hear things about a “universal consciousness” and then we find that there are celestial trails that connect the stars. kind of like heaven or reincarnating to other levels of existence.
i am catholic and have my beliefs, but i am also had visions which showed me how science and religion are intertwined, actually connected, and not diametrically opposed as some would think. patterns showing like a movie while i was praying, and then two years later i read that article and it clicked that i was onto something. we catholics like to say, “the mystery of faith” and that’s what it is. all of that is just a random collection of ideas and beliefs and nobody will ever know any of it for sure, that’s why we call it faith. who are we to presume to know the mind of God?
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I would say science and God, religion is of no importance. But I agree, the interconnection between God and science does not have to be at odds. Unfortunately, scientist want to be worshipped and exalt man above all other options leaving no room for God. God is pushed out of all curriculum and science. Some fool once said the evidence of God cannot be detected or measured.
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Well said and I agree.
Personally I believe in (have faith in) a creator of all things, so a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer, a physicist, etc. etc., yes, and I call that creator God, some may call him Budda, some call him Brahman, and just because I was brought up as a Christian doesn’t mean that it’s the one and only and that everyone else will burn in you know where.
For me, as for any religion being considered as the absolute only religion of who I consider to be God, I call BS. Religion is man made, spirituality on the other hand, is IMO a gift from God.
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Stephen Hawking was a brilliant mind, but who’s to say that the universe hasn’t collapsed and rapidly expanded a million times before? Did the universe just get it right this time?
Would we have survived a 100 million years ago when the earth was tilted differently and the atmosphere contained more CO2 and oxygen? If the air didn’t kill us, the dominant predator of the time would have.
We are but a blink of the eye in the existence of mankind. Mankind is a blink of the eye in the existence of the earth. The earth, as we know it, is a mere blink of eye in the existence of the universe.
Whether you believe in a God who created you in His image or if you believe that god is the universe itself of which you possess its elements, life is a miracle. Human life is extraordinary.
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Yeah, if that blink lasts 4.3 billion years, or roughly 1/3 the age of the universe.
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I wonder what the next 50 years of technology will allow us to look back at.
James Webb Telescope looking back to the beginning of the universe - Google Search
Or travel back to.
Based on current scientific understanding, life in the universe is likely to exist only for a relatively small portion of the universe’s total lifespan, potentially just a fraction of a percent, as the conditions necessary for life are only present during a specific window of time when stars are actively burning and planets are in habitable zones, with the universe eventually expanding and cooling to a point where life as we know it cannot exist.
Then according to current scientific understanding, the universe will likely exist for an extremely long time before all matter is gone, with estimates suggesting it could take around 100 trillion years for the last stars to burn out, leading to a state often called the “heat death” of the universe where all matter is spread out so thinly that no significant interactions occur; this is based on the idea that the universe will continue to expand and cool down, with stars eventually exhausting their fuel and leaving behind only stellar remnants like black holes and white dwarfs. Then according to current scientific understanding, the last black holes in the universe would take an incredibly long time to disappear, with estimates suggesting it could take on the order of 10^100 years (a googol) for a supermassive black hole to fully evaporate through a process called Hawking radiation; essentially, this means it could take a timeframe beyond our comprehension to see the last black holes disappear completely.
but that is only one theory. there are others and we have no way to know which is right, if any are. it makes for interesting conversations and thought experiments but that’s all they are and ever will be. the thing that ticks me off is ones who presume to know how it is and not only is that the only way it could be but they refuse to accept there could be a different way or that they could be wrong. mostly exists in religion, not science, but extremeists are extreme and never good no matter what the path.
have you seen where they recently caught a black hole that took a break after ingesting too much matter? crazy.
That’s why it’s said current scientific understanding, refers to the ability to grasp the relationships between phenomena in the natural world, achieved through the systematic collection and analysis of evidence using the scientific method, allowing for comprehensive explanations and predictions about those phenomena.
And yes, science changes over time. Science is a cumulative process that evolves as new evidence is discovered and new technologies are developed. Religion and science are not the same while both can seek answers about the world, science relies on empirical evidence and observation to explain the natural world, while religion focuses on spiritual beliefs and often deals with the supernatural, which cannot be scientifically tested, making them fundamentally different approaches to understanding reality.
With all due respect, I never gave any credence to the icon known as Hawking after I saw what a propaganda hack they had made of him and “his” words.
I agree, science and religion should not be at odds. It is man’s presupposition that there is no God that makes it that way.
Science actually confirms what the bible teaches.
Let me get this straight. You call yourself a christian, but do not believe in intelligent design? And you dont believe what the Bible says about our beginnings, and about life itself? Either you believe the Bible or you dont… It’s either divinely inspired (all of it), or none of it is. I will believe what the Bible says over any man. And the evidence of its divine inspiration is overwhelming.
For those that believe in evolution, tell me how the bombadier beetle evolved? How a beetle that not only houses two separate chemicals in its abdomen, that when mixed together, create a deadly explosion of heat at its enemy. And not only that, but it also has an inhibitor that neutralizes these compounds while in the body, and then an anti-inhibitor that mixes back in at time of dishcarge. How did that evolve? How does it make two chemicals, keep them apart, learn to inhibit said chemicals, then learned that it needs to use another anti-inhibitor to keep itself safe, etc etc… Sorry, but one little mistake, and there goes daddy… How does he bring up any offspring to teach them not to make the same mistakes, if he is already dead?? haha
Or consider DNA and protein… Both are needed for the other to survive. How did one start without the other? (chicken or the egg)
Even DNA points to a designer. It is the most complex code known to man. More complex than any computer program, and is the blueprint for that life. Codes require authors and designers. you wouldnt expect a computer program to write its own code, but somehow one that is much more complex, just formed on its own?
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Or, tell me how every single culture in the world has cave drawings, or pottery, or folklore about dragons, and dinosaurs? When in fact, the first dino fossil wasnt even discovered until mid 1800’s, which is when we came up with the word “Dinosaur”
How did everyone know of these giant reptiles, and stories of knights killing dragons, unless people actually had first hand accounts to pass down to future generations? Exactly like the bible talks about in Job 40 and 41. That book was written over 3500 years ago, and gives first hand accounts of dragons, massive reptiles and sea serpents.
When you look at the world from a creationist perspective, all of the world’s “mysteries” have very understandable and feasible explanations.
But when one has a preconceived bias about an all-powerful being who floats around in the air, they refuse to think about it with an open mind, and immediately revert to name calling and shaming.
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i never once said i was a Christian, those are your words. i am catholic, but i do happen to be a Christian since both are inclusive. the reason i chose cathlicisim is it chose me. i almost died and the Blessed Mother saved me, walked down my valley of the shadow of death, and i was not afraid. it was actually kind of boring, people kept pointing down the path.
catholics are supposed to be accepting of things, such as the fact that the bible was written down by man and has been changed over time, not to mention it was written down at the absolute earliest ~30 years after Jesus was crucified, and more like ~50 if you follow certain theories. i like to follow scholars about biblical content and timeframes and acknowledge the fact that those are most likely not the actual words of Jesus or anyone else. for instance, it wasn’t until 591 when pope gregory made a homily that called mary magdeline a prostitute. until then it was known that she was one of the first followers.
think about it for a few minutes critically. how many stars are there? uncountable, or billions of billions, whatever, a huge number. that’s how those beetles work here, but who’s to say it didn’t try to evolve thousands of other times and fail. this result you see failed thousands, millions of times and succeeded once. you think for one second that if there was a God, He would have the time or the inclination to personally have a hand in every single thing in the entire universe at all times? i mean He could, but i think of it more like He has a plan, and jumps in whenever needed, or more likely sends emmissaries (angels, Angels, prophets, whatever) to do what is needed and only tweaks things when they get off track.
and why do my beliefs concern you in the first place? we can have a discussion about anything you want but when you start calling my beliefs into question you’re crossing a line that i prefer to leave where they are. there are a lot of things the catholic church got wrong and one of the biggest problems is they fail to admit it until pushed against the wall. i happen to be a secular Franciscan also (OFS), so not just a Christian, one who goes a little further than average in pursuit of Christian duties.
i used to think about it like God was in a lab and had all these little aquariums on a shelf on one wall from floor to ceiling, hundreds of them, and a universe in each one. taking one down and putting it on the table and messing with it, changing things here and there, put it back and get another one. whatever it takes for you to handle it. doesn’t really matter, nobody follows any true teachings of their religions very long anyway. what really matters is how we get along. Jesus was very clear in his teachings: love God, love everyone else. if you actually do that, you end up being nice to everyone, no matter what. like me, i fail daily but i keep trying. have a great weekend, i have to go write a report.
You said you were Catholic.
It is Catholicism: Catholicism is a Christian denomination that includes the beliefs, practices, and traditions of the Catholic Church. It is the largest Christian church in the world.
Catholicism is the original christianity. The Protestant reformation did not occur until the 1500s.
The New Testament written after Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is an eye witness account of events in Christ’s life as seen by the Apostles. Paul’s letters represent the earliest of these.