The origin and evolution of the heavens (Universe) began as
a hot, dense point roughly 13.8 billion years ago. This event marked the
beginning of the expansion of space, time, and matter. Since then, it has been
expanding till what we can see now marks the observable universe. The
observable universe refers to the portion of the entire universe that we can
potentially observe from our vantage point here on Earth. It includes all the
celestial objects and phenomena that are within our range of detection, such as
stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and cosmic microwave background
radiation.
As for how far the observable
universe extends, it's constantly expanding due to the expansion of the
universe itself. The current estimate for the radius of the observable universe
is about 46.5 billion light-years. This doesn't mean that the universe is only
46.5 billion years old, but rather, it reflects the distance that light has
been able to travel since the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago.
What lies beyond the observable
universe, is a question that remains largely unanswered because what lies
beyond is now so far away that light has no time to reach us. and hence we
cannot see them. In fact, we are seeing light from the distant past from all
objects that lie light years away.
The observable universe represents
only a tiny fraction of the entire universe, and there could be much more
beyond what we can see. One possibility is that the universe extends infinitely
beyond the observable universe, meaning there's an infinite amount of space
with an infinite number of galaxies and other structures. Another possibility
is that the universe is finite but unbounded, meaning it curves back on itself
in a way that makes it impossible to perceive its boundaries from within. There
are also theories proposing the existence of multiple universes, each with its
own set of physical laws and properties, which would lie beyond our observable
universe. However, these ideas remain speculative and are areas of active
research in cosmology.
The fact that the universe is
expanding and stretching away from us is clearly summed up in these two verses
in the Bible:
” Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have ye not understood
from the foundations of the earth?
It is He
that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers, who stretched out the heavens as a curtain and spread them out as
a tent to dwell in.”
(Isaiah 40:21-23)
Amazingly! How true and clearly
predicted and told long, long even before Jesus Christ that only now in the 21st century
science knows and acknowledges.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and
the firmament shows his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is
no speech or language, where their voice is
not heard.
Their line is
gone out through all the earth, and
their words to the end of the world. In them hath
he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as
a bridegroom coming out of his chamber
and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is
from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto
the ends of it: and there is nothing hidden from
the heat thereof.”
(Psalms 19:1-6)
The Bible does not explain in technical details how the
Universe began. But God gave us the brains to marvel at the evidence summarized
below. We cannot deny these scientific evidence by giving our own version and
unsubstantiated “theories” whether from the church or otherwise.
We need to respect Science
that is evidence-based conducted by collective teams of brilliant hard-working
scientists world-wide who gathered observational and experimental data to
support their findings, besides admiring and worshiping God, the Creator of all
things.
The concept of creation ex
nihilo, meaning "creation out of nothing," is not explicitly stated
in a single verse in the Bible. However, there are passages that are often
interpreted to imply this concept.
One such passage is Genesis 1:1,
which states:
"In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth." without giving the details.
The phrase "heavens and the
earth" is often understood to encompass the entire cosmos, suggesting that
God created everything from nothing. This interpretation is supported by other
verses in the Bible, such as Hebrews 11:3, which says:
"By faith we understand that
the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made
out of things that are visible."
This verse suggests that God
created the universe through His word, implying creation ex nihilo.
While the concept of creation ex
nihilo is not explicitly stated in a single verse, it is a central tenet of
many Christian theological traditions and is inferred from various passages
throughout the Bible.
Genesis does not explicitly, and
deniably tell us how earth and the heavens were created out of nothing as the
Bible is not a science book to write on technical details. The Bible is a book
on salvation for mankind.
Being silent on how it was created
does not mean the universe came into existence out of nothing. The Bible does
not explicitly claim ex nihilo directly. It must have a beginning out of
something. God gave scientists their brains to discover so that we can adore
and worship Him.
Here’s what astrophysicists
discovered through their evidence-based studies and data collection to come out
with their Big Bang theory which is widely accepted among scientists including
myself who have studied the mysteries of the Universe at Oxford University at
post-doctoral level as the prevailing explanation for the origin and evolution
of the universe. Here are some key pieces of evidence and observations in very
brief summary form that support the Big Bang theory:
- Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB): The
discovery of the CMB in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson provided
strong evidence for the Big Bang. This radiation is the remnant heat
leftover from the early universe and is observed uniformly in all
directions, consistent with the predictions of the Big Bang model.
- Hubble's Law: Edwin Hubble's observation in the
1920s that galaxies are moving away from us, and that the farther away a
galaxy is, the faster it is receding, supports the expansion of the
universe. This expansion is a key prediction of the Big Bang theory.
- Redshift of Galaxies: The redshift of light from
distant galaxies indicates that they are moving away from us. This
redshift is consistent with the expansion of the universe and provides
additional support for the Big Bang model.
- Abundance of Light Elements: The Big Bang model
predicts the abundance of light elements such as hydrogen, helium, and
lithium that were formed in the early universe. The observed abundances of
these elements in the universe are consistent with the predictions of the
Big Bang theory.
- Large Scale Structure of the Universe: Observations
of the large-scale distribution of galaxies and cosmic structures, such as
galaxy clusters and superclusters, are consistent with the gravitational
growth of structure predicted by the Big Bang model.
- Nucleosynthesis: The Big Bang theory successfully
predicts the formation of light elements through nucleosynthesis in the
early universe. This process is supported by observations of the elemental
abundances in the universe.
- Age of the Universe: Measurements of the age of the
oldest stars and the expansion rate of the universe are consistent with
the age of the universe predicted by the Big Bang model.
- Cosmic Inflation: Although not initially part of
the original Big Bang theory, the concept of cosmic inflation has been
proposed to explain certain features of the universe, such as its
large-scale uniformity and flatness. While not directly observed,
inflationary models are consistent with various observations, including
the CMB.
- Gravitational Waves: The detection of gravitational
waves by experiments like LIGO and VIRGO provides further evidence for the
Big Bang, as these waves are predicted by Einstein's theory of general
relativity and are a consequence of certain cosmological events, such as
the rapid expansion of the early universe.
These evidence collectively support
the Big Bang theory as the most plausible explanation for the origin and
evolution of the universe. These evidence however is not exhaustive. There may
be newer evidences yet to come to support the Big Bang theory on the Creation
of the Universe even though some church believes heavens and earth were created
by God out of nothing in seven days too (in the their eyes) against
observational studies that put the age of the beginning of the heavens and
earth at 13.7 billion years, with an error plus or minus of not more than only
200 million years old.
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