UNIVERSE SCIENCE & GOD
Chapter-2: Universe Models
Universe: Sign of Creator:
The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that
exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the
contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms
include the cosmos, the world and nature. Scientific observation of earlier
stages in the development of the universe, which can be seen at great
distances, suggests that the universe has been governed by the same physical
laws and constants throughout most of its extent and history. There are various
multiverse theories, in which physicists have suggested that our universe might
be one among many universes that likewise exist.
The universe is immensely large and possibly infinite in volume. The
region visible from Earth (the observable universe) is a sphere with a radius
of about 46 billion light years, based on where the expansion of space has
taken the most distant objects observed. For comparison, the diameter of a
typical galaxy is only 30,000 light-years, and the typical distance between two
neighbouring galaxies is only 3 million light-years. As an example, our Milky
Way Galaxy is roughly 100,000 light years in diameter, and our nearest sister
galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, is located roughly 2.5 million light years away.
There are probably more than 100 billion galaxies [1011] in the
observable universe. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten
million [107] stars up to giants with one trillion [1012] stars, all orbiting the galaxy's center of
mass. A 2010 study by astronomers estimated that the observable universe
contains 300 sextillion 3×1013
stars.
The part where the Universe isn't just bigger than you can possibly
comprehend, but according to recent evidence, billions of times larger than
that. What It Says: That the universe is big, so big, that just that fact, just
its mere bigness, is enough to blow your tiny ant mind. And it just keeps
getting bigger. Let’s examine the famous Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, the
most massive photo ever taken. It shows that there are approximately 10,000
galaxies. Each of those galaxies contains anywhere from ten million to one
trillion stars. The average star is roughly a million times the size of Earth.
And yet with all that junk, the Universe is
more than 90 percent empty space. All of that, in this tiny photo. A photo that
took 400 orbits and 800 exposures to take. And the kicker? The photo covers one thirteen -millionth of the entire
night sky.
If you are like us, it leaves you alternately awash with spiritual
wonder and horrified feelings of utter insignificance. Actually imagining just
how infinitesimal you are in the scope of the universe is like autoerotic
asphyxiation: it’s not as pleasant as you would think, and if you do it wrong
you can end up a vegetable. You possibly imagine that much space and that many
planets and stars and atoms smashing together without intelligent life forming?
Now its just a matter of getting around that pesky general relativity and well
be chilling with aliens in no time. Or, like, a million years.
So all that just said about how big the universe is (at least 90 billion
light years)? That is small beans. The Cosmological Horizon is here to make
your day a whole lot more complicated. Since we can only observe stellar bodies
that have had some effects on us (usually bombarding us with light), there is
an outer limit to what we can see of the universe. Hence, the observable
universe. What about the rest? The parts of the universe beyond our
Starcraft-style fog of war? Well, according to some math we have no interest in
going into, the size of the actual universe is so large that if the universe we
just described (the impossibly, mind-bogglingly large one) were the size of a
quarter, the actual universe would be the size of the Earth. Level Of Mind Blowingness: The sound of one
hand clapping for a tree falling in the woods while no ones around except a guy
whose skull is wired with C4 explosive. Hence the mere vastness of universe
indicates the greatness of its Great Creator.
The Eternal Universe:
Towards the end of the 19th century, atheists
formulated a world view that they thought explained everything; they denied
that the universe was created saying that it had no beginning but had existed
forever. They claimed that the universe had no purpose but that its order and balance
were the result of chance; they believed that the question of how human beings
and other living things came into being was answered by Darwinism. They
believed that Marx or Durkheim had explained history and sociology, and that
Freud had explained psychology on the basis of atheist assumptions.
However, these views were later invalidated in the
20th century by scientific, political and social developments. Many and various
discoveries in the fields of astronomy, biology, psychology and social sciences
have nullified the bases of all atheist suppositions. In his book, God: The
Evidence, The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World, the
American scholar Patrick Glynn from the George Washington University writes:
The past two decades of research have overturned
nearly all the important assumptions and predictions of an earlier generation
of modern secular and atheist thinkers relating to the issue of God. Modern
thinkers assumed that science would reveal the universe to be ever more random
and mechanical; instead it has discovered unexpected new layers of intricate
order that bespeak an almost unimaginably vast master design. Modern
psychologists predicted that religion would be exposed as a neurosis and
outgrown; instead, religious commitment has been shown empirically to be a
vital component of basic mental health…
Few people seem to realize this, but by now it
should be clear: Over the course of a century in the great debate between
science and faith, the tables have completely turned. In the wake of Darwin
Assuming the validity of the old model of an
‘Eternal Universe’, Hugh David Politzer, an American theoretical physicist who
shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, opposed the idea of a creation: The
universe was not a created object, if it were, then it would have to be created
instantaneously by God and brought into existence from nothing. To admit
creation, one has to admit, in the first place, the existence of a moment when
the universe did not exist, and that something came out of nothingness. This is
something to which science can not accede. By supporting the idea of an eternal
universe against that of creation, Politzer thought that science was on his
side. However, very soon, the fact that Politzer alluded to by his words, “if
it is so, we must accept the existence of a creator”, that is, that the
universe had a beginning, was proven.
The Big Bang:
This proof came as a result of the “Big Bang”
theory, perhaps the most important concept of 20th century astronomy. The Big
Bang theory was formulated after a series of discoveries. In 1929, the American
astronomer, Edwin Hubble, noticed that the galaxies of the universe were
continually moving away from one another and that the universe was expanding.
If the flow of time in an expanding universe were reversed, then it emerged that
the whole universe must have come from a single point. Astronomers assessing
the validity of Hubble’s discovery were faced with the fact that this single
point was a “metaphysical” state of reality in which there was an infinite
gravitational attraction with no mass. Matter and time came into being by the
explosion of this mass-less point. In other words, the universe was created
from nothing. In the face of proven scientific facts, atheists have been
squeezed into a corner. Anthony Flew, an atheist professor of philosophy at the
University of Reading
Notoriously, confession is
good for the soul. I will therefore begin by confessing that the Stratonician
atheist has to be embarrassed by the contemporary cosmological consensus. For
it seems that the cosmologists are providing a scientific proof of what St. Thomas
Some materialists have a relatively logical view of
this matter. For example, the English materialist physicist, H.P. Lipson,
unwillingly accepts the scientific fact of creation. He writes: I think …that
we must…admit that the only acceptable explanation is creation. I know that
this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it is to me, but we must not reject
that we do not like if the experimental evidence supports it.
Thus, the fact arrived at finally by modern
astronomy is this: time and matter were brought into being by an eternally
powerful Creator independent of both of them. The eternal power that created
the universe in which we live is God who is the possessor of infinite might,
knowledge and wisdom.
Creation Models: Criticism & Analysis:
It is patently obvious that the Big Bang means the
creation of the universe out of nothing and this is surely evidence of willful
creation. Regarding this fact, some materialist astronomers and physicists have
tried to advance alternative explanations to oppose this reality. Mention has
already been made of the steady state theory and it was pointed out it was
clung to, by those who were uncomfortable with the notion of "creation
from nothingness", despite all the evidence to the contrary in an attempt
to shore up their philosophy. There are also a number of models that have been
advanced by materialists who accept the Big Bang theory but try to exorcise it
of the notion of creation. One of these is the "oscillating" universe
model; another is the "quantum model of universe". Let us examine
these theories and see why they are invalid.
Oscillating Universe Model:
The oscillating universe model was advanced by the
astronomers who disliked the idea the Big Bang was the beginning of the
universe. In this model, it is claimed that the present expansion of the
universe will eventually be reversed at some point and begin to contract. This contraction
will cause everything to collapse into a single point that will then explode
again, initiating a new round of expansion. This process, they say, is repeated
infinitely in time. This model also holds that the universe has experienced
this transformation an infinite number of times already and that it will
continue to do so forever. In other words, the universe exists for eternity but
it expands and collapses at different intervals with a huge explosion
punctuating each cycle. The universe we live in is just one of those infinite
universes going through the same cycle.
This is nothing but a feeble attempt to accommodate
the fact of the Big Bang to notions about an infinite universe. The proposed
scenario is unsupported by the results of scientific research over the last
15-20 years, which show that it is impossible for such an
"oscillating" universe idea to come into being. Furthermore the laws
of physics offer no reason why a contracting universe should explode again
after collapsing into a single point: it ought to stay just as it is. Nor do
they offer a reason why an expanding universe should ever begin to contract in
the first place.
Even if we allow that there is some mechanism by
which this cycle of contraction-explosion-expansion does take place, the
crucial point is that this cycle cannot go on for ever, as is claimed.
Calculations for this model show that each universe will transfer an amount of
entropy to its successor. In other words, the amount of useful energy available
becomes less each time and every "opening" universe will open more
slowly and have a larger diameter. This will cause a much smaller universe to
form the next time around and so on, eventually petering out into nothing. Even
if "open and close" universes can exist, they cannot endure for
eternity. At some point it becomes necessary for "something" to be
created from "nothing". Put briefly, the "oscillating"
universe model is a hopeless fantasy whose physical reality is impossible.
Quantum Model of Universe:
The "quantum model of universe" is
another attempt to purge the Big Bang of its creationist implications.
Supporters of this model base it on the observations of quantum (subatomic)
physics. In quantum physics, it is to be observed that subatomic particles
appear and disappear spontaneously in a vacuum. Interpreting this observation
as "matter can originate at quantum level, this is a property pertaining
to matter", some physicists try to explain the origination of matter from
non-existence during the creation of the universe as a "property
pertaining to matter" and present it as a part of laws of nature. In this
model, our universe is interpreted as a subatomic particle in a bigger one.
However this syllogism is definitely out of
question and in any case cannot explain how the universe came into being.
William Lane Craig, the author of The Big Bang: Theism and Atheism explains
why:
A quantum mechanical vacuum
spawning material particles is far from the ordinary idea of a
"vacuum" (meaning nothing). Rather, a quantum vacuum is a sea of
continually forming and dissolving particles, which borrow energy from the
vacuum for their brief existence. This is not "nothing," and hence,
material particles do not come into being out of nothing.
So in quantum physics, matter "does not exist
when it was not before". What happens is that ambient energy suddenly
becomes matter and just as suddenly disappears becoming energy again. In short,
there is no condition of "existence from nothingness" as is claimed.
In physics, no less than in other branches of the sciences, there are atheist
scientists who do not hesitate to disguise the truth by overlooking critical
points and details in their attempt to support the materialist view and achieve
their ends. For them, it is much more important to defend materialism and
atheism than to reveal scientific facts and realities. In the face of the
reality mentioned above, most scientists dismiss the quantum universe model. C.
J. Isham explains that "this model is not accepted widely because of the
inherent difficulties that it poses." Even some of the originators of this
idea, such as Brout and Spindel, have abandoned it.
A recent and much-publicized version of the quantum
universe model was advanced by the physicist Stephen Hawking. In his book A
Brief History of Time, Hawking states that the Big Bang doesn't necessarily
mean existence from nothingness. Instead of "no time" before the Big
Bang, Hawking proposed the concept of "imaginary time". According to
Hawking, there was only a 10-43 second "imaginary" time interval
before the Big Bang took place and
"real" time was formed after that. Hawking's hope was just to ignore
the reality of "timelessness" before the Big Bang by means of this
"imaginary" time. Stephen
Hawking also tries to advance different explanations for the Big Bang other
than Creation just as other Materialist scientists do by relying upon
contradictions and false concepts. As a concept, "imaginary time" is
tantamount to zero or non-existence–like the imaginary number of people in a
room or the imaginary number of cars on a road. Stephen Hawking also tries to
advance different explanations for the Big Bang other than Creation just as
other Materialist scientists do by relying upon contradictions and false
concepts. Here Hawking is just playing with words. He claims that equations are
right when they are related to an imaginary time but in fact this has no
meaning. The mathematician Sir Herbert Dingle refers to the possibility of
faking imaginary things as real in math as:
In the language of mathematics
we can tell lies as well as truths, and within the scope of mathematics itself
there is no possible way of telling one from the other. We can distinguish them
only by experience or by reasoning outside the mathematics, applied to the
possible relation between the mathematical solution and its physical correlate.
To put it briefly, a mathematically imaginary or
theoretical solution need not have a true or a real consequence. Using a
property exclusive to mathematics, Hawking produces hypotheses that are
unrelated to reality. But what reason could he have for doing this? It's easy
to find the answer to that question in his own words. Hawking admits that he
prefers alternative universe models to the Big Bang because the latter
"hints at divine creation", which such models are designed to oppose.
What all this shows is that alternative models to
the Big Bang such as ‘Steady-State’, the ‘Open and Close Universe Model’, and
‘Quantum Universe Models’ in fact spring from the philosophical prejudices of
materialists. Scientific discoveries have demonstrated the reality of the Big
Bang and can even explain "existence from nothingness". And this is
very strong evidence that the universe is created by Allah, a point that
materialists utterly reject.
An example of this opposition to the Big Bang is to
be found in an essay by John Maddox, the editor of Nature (a materialist
magazine), that appeared in 1989. In "Down with the Big Bang", Maddox
declares the Big Bang to be philosophically unacceptable because it helps
theologists by providing them with strong support for their ideas. The author
also predicted that the Big Bang would be disproved and that support for it
would disappear within a decade. Maddox can only have been even more
discomforted by the subsequent discoveries during the next ten years that have
provided further evidence of the existence of the Big Bang. Some materialists
do act with more common sense on this subject. The British Materialist H. P.
Lipson accepts the truth of creation, albeit "unpleasantly", when he
says:
If living matter is not,
then caused by the interplay of atoms, natural forces, and radiation, how has
it come into being?…I think, however, that we must…admit that the only
acceptable explanation is creation. I know that this is anathema to physicists,
as indeed it is to me, but we must not reject that we do not like if the
experimental evidence supports it.
In conclusion, the truth
disclosed by science is this: Matter and time have been brought into being by
an independent possessor of immense power, by a Creator. Allah, the Possessor
of almighty power, knowledge and intelligence, has created the universe we live
in.
Allah says: “And
it is We Who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We Who
are steadily expanding it”. (Qur'an, 51:47) “Do not the Unbelievers see that
the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation) before
We clove them asunder? (Big Bang) We made from water every living thing. Will
they not then believe?”(Qur’an;21:30 ),
“Moreover He Comprehended in His design the sky and it had been (as) smoke: He
said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together willingly or unwillingly.
"They said: "We do come (together) in willing
obedience."(Qur’an;41:11);“Who hath created and further given order and
proportion” (Qur’an;87:2).
Random Universe:
A second atheist dogma rendered invalid in the 20th
century by discoveries in astronomy is the idea of a ‘Random Universe’. The
view that the matter in the universe, the heavenly bodies and the laws that
determine the relationships among them has no purpose but is the result of
chance, has been dramatically discounted. For the first time since the 1970’s,
scientists have begun to recognize the fact that the whole physical balance of
the universe is adjusted delicately in favor of human life. With the advance of
research, it has been discovered that the physical, chemical and biological
laws of the universe, basic forces such as gravity and electro-magnetism, the
structure of atoms and elements are all ordered exactly as they have to be for
human life. Western scientists have called this extraordinary design the
“Anthropic Principle”. That is, every aspect of the universe is designed with a
view that makes the existence of intelligent
life inevitable.
Anthropic Principle:
The basics of the “Anthropic Principle” may be
summarized the as follows:
·
The speed of the first expansion of the universe (the force of the Big
Bang explosion) was exactly the velocity that it had to be. According to
scientists’ calculations, if the expansion rate had differed from its actual
value by more than one part in a billion billion, then the universe would
either have recollapsed before it ever reached its present size or else have
splattered in every direction in a way never to unite again. To put it
another way, even at the first moment of the universe’s existence there was a
fine calculation of the accuracy of a billion billionth. If the rate of
expansion of universe would have been less or more than the size of a sand
particle the universe would have not existed as is now.
·
The four physical forces in the universe (gravitational force, weak
nuclear force, strong nuclear force, and electromagnetic force) are all at the
necessary levels for an ordered universe to emerge and for life to exist. Even
the tiniest variations in these forces (for example, one in 1039, or
one in 1028; that is—crudely calculated—one in a billion billion
billion billion), the universe would either be composed only of radiation or of
no other element besides hydrogen.
·
There are many other delicate adjustments that make the earth ideal for
human life: the size of the sun, its distance from the earth, the unique
physical and chemical properties of water, the wavelength of the sun’s rays,
the way that the earth’s atmosphere contains the gases necessary to allow
respiration, or the Earth’s magnetic field being ideally suited to human life.
This delicate balance is one of the most striking
discoveries of modern astrophysics. The well known astronomer, Paul Davies, writes
in the last paragraph of his book The Cosmic Blueprint, “The impression of
Design is overwhelming”. In an article in the journal Nature, the
astrophysicist W. Press writes, “There is a grand design in the Universe that
favors the development of intelligent life.” The interesting thing about this
is that the majority of the scientists that have made these discoveries were of
the materialist point of view and came to this conclusion unwillingly. They did
not undertake their scientific investigations hoping to find a proof for God’s
existence. But most of them, if not all of them, despite their unwillingness,
arrived at this conclusion as the only explanation for the extraordinary design
of the universe.
In his book, The Symbiotic Universe the American astronomer,
George Greenstein, acknowledges this fact: How could this possibly have come to
pass [that the laws of physics conform themselves to life]? …As we survey all
the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency—or,
rather Agency—must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending
to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being?
Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our
benefit?
By beginning his question with “Is it possible”,
Greenstein, an atheist, tries to ignore that plain fact that has confronted
him. But many scientists who have approached the question without prejudice
acknowledge that the universe has been created especially for human life. Materialism
is now being viewed as an erroneous belief outside the realm of science. The
American geneticist, Robert Griffiths, acknowledges this fact when he says, “If
we need an atheist for a debate, I go to the philosophy department. The physics
department isn’t much use.”
In his book Nature’s Destiny: How the Laws of
Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe, which examines how physical, chemical
and biological laws are amazingly calculated in an “ideal” way with a view to
the requirements of human life, the well-known molecular biologist, Michael
Denton writes: The new picture that has emerged in twentieth-century astronomy
presents a dramatic challenge to the presumption which has been prevalent
within scientific circles during most of the past four centuries: that life is
a peripheral and purely contingent phenomenon in the cosmic scheme.
In short, the idea of a ‘Random Universe’, perhaps
atheism’s most basic pillar, has been proved invalid. Scientists now openly
speak of the collapse of materialism. The supposition whose falsity God reveals
in the Qur’an: “We did not create heaven and earth and everything between them
to no purpose. That is the opinion of those who disbelieve…” (Qur’an; 38: 27)
was shown to be invalid by science in the 1970’s.
Next: >>>>> Chapter-3: Quantum Entanglement
