our awesome universe potential

8/8/2019 Our Awesome Universe Potential

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Our

AwesOmeuniverse

POtentiAl


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By Joel Hillier

Contributions by members of the editorial staff

2009, 2010 Philadelphia Church of God.

All rights reserved. Images are the property

of their respective owners and used with

permission.

This boolet is not to be sold. It is a free

educational service in the public interest.

Printed in the United States of America.


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CoThe Perfect Seat for Viewing the Cosmos 4Our Goldilocs Planet 12 The Heavens Declare Gods Glory 14

Abraham the Astronomer 24

Did It All Start With a Big Bang? 26What Is Dar Matter? 33

A Stunning Loo at a Young Universe 36

Why the Universe? 38

Why Not Yet? 45

Forever and Innity 46

Our Epanding Universe 51

A Zillion Times More Impressive 53

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

ORION NEBULA

More than 3,000

of the stars

twinle in a cloud

of gas and dust

nown as Orion.

Some of these

stars have neverbeen seen in the

visible spectrum.


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O

th Pfcsa fo

vg hCoo

Hundreds of miles above the surface of ourplanet, the ubble Space elescope orbitsthe arth every 97 minutes. his 11-ton,43-foot-long instrument has made more

than 100,000 trips around our planet, covering 2.5billion miles.

s it ies through space at 17,500mph, it is taking some of the most capti-vating photos ever seen.

he gases of arths atmosphere dis-tort and block wavelengths of light fromspace, so the ubbles position 353 milesabove the ground enables its 8-foot-diameter mirror and its four cameras tocapture more and purer light. he datais transmitted to a relay satellite, thena ground station in ew Mexico, andthen it is sent to Maryland, where it isdecoded.

he results are spectacular.We see breathtaking images of

purple- and blue-hued nebulae, andsparkling, diamond-like elds of galaxieswhere we thought there was nothing but

empty space. We see awe-inspiring, bril-liant pictures of stars and galaxies andclusters in whites, golds, oranges, bluesand greens. We see infrared, luminous,ultra-luminous, radiant views of objectsso far away, so gigantic, so dazzling ourminds cant even process them.

From the ubble, we have seensupernovas, galaxies in their earlystages, and massive stars collapsing. Wehave seen comets striking planets, andbirths of stars; we can recognize black

EARTH AND MOON

A combined image of pho-

tos from the Galileo space-

craft shows the Pacic

Ocean and South American

west coast as well as the

moons distinctive Tycho

impact basin and darer

regions composed of lava-

roc-lled impact basins.


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holes. hese images give us spectacularviews of our expanding universe.

Some scientists believe that the great-est development of the past century wasthe ubble Space elescope.

ubble makes about 20,000 observa-tions per year. It has recorded more thanhalf a million pictures over the past

two decades, which has releasedto astronomers all over the world tostudyand to us, to marvel at. verymonth, ubble produces 70 gigabytes ofdata, which is enough to ll 70 completesets of encyclopedias.

hese dazzling images inspire somepenetrating questions. Where does it end?Where did it all come from? Is there anymeaning behind it all?Whyis it here? Why,

for that matter, am I here?his telescope is the most impres-

sive of an array of tools that are helpingus coax the cosmos into revealing itssecrets and mysteries. nd the morewe study, and the more we learn, thestronger the evidence becomes of anabsolutely remarkable truth:

here is an Author of the cosmos. nde for us to be able to study thestarsto help us !

BEAUTIFUL DARkNESS

Walk outside and look up on a clearnight. You will see several hundredstarsperhaps a few thousand if it is darkenough and your view is unobstructed.

Do you realize how unusual andspecial that view really is?

ow motivated would you be to con-template the night sky if all you saw wasa canopy of impenetrably thick cloudsof particles and gases? appy for us,arths atmosphere is transparent. otonly is our oxygen-rich air necessary for

life, its invisibility also happens to makegazing up at the stars a whole lot moreinteresting and informative than wouldbe the case on most planets.

Some would say we are lucky.ctually, this is only one ofseveral

unique physical conditions that makeour study of the heavens possible, and

so richly rewarding.nother favorable circumstance: our

position within our galaxy. he MilkyWay is an incomprehensible 100,000light years across, and we sit in its slimgalactic habitable zone ()justfar enough from the center that werenot killed by radiation, but just closeenough that sucient heavy elementsneeded for life are present. t the sametime, our position is a perfect seat forviewing the rest of the cosmos.

Why? Many reasons. For one, it is sobeautifully dark here. Light can be theenemy of astronomical discoveryforbasically the same reason that youwant the lights o in the theater whilewatching a movie. onveniently, oursolar system is in the darkest part of thegalaxys , far from all the Milky Waysbrightest lights. We live almost exactlyhalfway between two of the Milky Waysspiral arms, which are crowded withradiant stars and thick dust clouds that

would obscure our view. Our vision isalso free of any nearby gaseous nebulae.We likewise live thousands of light yearsaway from the galaxys many blindingstar clusters.

Making matters even more favor-able, the Milky Way happens to be inthe darkest habitable area of its galaxycluster. While a typical galaxy clusterhas over 10,000 tightly packed galax-ies, ours has only about 40, all but twoof which (one being the Milky Way)

ey oh, Hbb podc70 ggaby of daa, hch ogh o

70 cop of cycopda.

6 Our Awesome Universe Potential


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are small or dwarf galaxies. On top ofthat, our galaxy cluster, called the LocalGroup, is in the darkest habitable partof its supercluster of galaxies, the Virgosupercluster.

hus, there is virtually nothing in theway of our peering deep into the outerreaches of the cosmos.

nother wonderful factor thatimproves our understanding of theheavens is the presence of perfect solar

eclipses. Its extraordinary that ourgargantuan sun864,300 miles in diam-eter, 332,840 times the arths masscan be visually obscured by the moon,which is a tiny two tenths of 1 percentof its size. But the relative distances ofthese two heavenly bodies from arth,coupled with their unusually exqui-site roundness, make the perfect solareclipse possible.

his has proven quite helpful toscientists who are trying to unriddle

MILkY WAYOur galay is lled with billions of stars (top). From Earths

position far away from the center of the Mily Way looing bac into it,

the center of our galay appears as a band of brilliant pinpoint stars and

the diffuse glow of dust laments. An artists rendering shows the Mily

Way as a spiral-shaped galay with two major arms trailing a central

bar of stars (inset). Our sun is located near a small partial arm called the

Orion Spur between one of the major arms and one of the minor arms.

The Perfect Seat for Viewing the Cosmos 7


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it would be 1,550 times brighter to usthan it is now.)

NOT JUST LUCkhe more scientists learn about theuniverse, the more of these outstand-

ingly helpful conditions they identify.For some reason our earthly locationis extraordinarily well suited to allowus to peer into the heavens and discoverits secrets, wrote the grateful authorsofThe Privileged Planet. host of nelytuned factors are not only necessaryfor arths habitability; they also havebeen surprisingly crucial for scientiststo measure and make discoveries aboutthe universe. Mankind is unusually wellpositioned to decipher the cosmos.

It appears that several factors makeeven this period in the history of arthand the universe uniquely suited tostudying the cosmos. For example,the fact that the universe is expandingsuggests that earlier in its history, all thebright matter would have been too closetogether for decent visibility. oday, every-thing is spread apart enough that we cansee everything with remarkable clarity.

Is this all the result of a series offortunate coincidences?

Scientists have come to refer to arthas a Goldilocks planet. hat is, inevery conceivable way, conditions arenttoo hot or too cold, too large or toosmall, too close or too fartoo anything.o matter what is measured, it is justright (inset, Our Goldilocks lanet,page 12). ot only for the existenceof life, but also for discovery. nd to amind-boggling level of precision. venthe minutest deviation would make cos-mic observation dicult or impossible

or would wipe out all prospect of life.Maybe its not luck after all. growing number of astronomers

are acknowledging the possibility notonly that the precise conditions for lifeon arth were specically, painstak-ingly established by a creative mind ofextraordinary intelligencebut also thatthis ower ensured we would be abletofollow the signs back to their source.he multiplicity and exactitude of thesesigns reect engineering advanced

the mysteries of the universe. undredsof years ago, a perfect eclipse helpedobservers conrm that stars are com-posed of gas. More recently, an eclipsehelped verify the theory of relativity,

showing that light is bent by the sunsgravity. hat we see a perfect eclipse(rather than a super-eclipse, in whichour moon would completely obscure thesun) gave us our rst glimpses of thesuns gaseous chromosphere, which hasyielded additional insights about stars.

nother convenient feature of ourcosmic vantage point is how protectedarth is from collisions. he four gas-giant planets in our solar systemJupi-ter, Saturn, Uranus and eptunedo

us a big favor by shielding arth fromdangerous space projectiles like asteroidsand comets. heir gravitational pulltends to absorb or deect the most dan-gerous of these colliders. Yet theyre nottoo ecient: he few smaller asteroidsthat have made it through and hit arthhave actually aided in scientic discov-ery. (Its also worth noting that thesehuge planets are not so close as to blockor wash out our view of space. If giganticJupiter resided where Mars currently sits,

TROPOSPHERE

In the high-altitude reaches

of Earths paper-thin gaseous

atmosphere, the air begins

to lead into space. Earths

gravity is just wea enoughto avoid collecting too many

dense gases, yet just strong

enough to retain the radia-

tion-blocing and nourishing

gases that feed life.



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innitely beyond human capability.he superintelligent ngineer

behind this project not only wanted usto breathee also wanted us to see.hink about that the next time you

look up at the stars. superintelligentreator went to a lot of trouble to makethat view possible for you.

hink about this too when you studythe images produced by the ubbletelescope (inset, Stunning Look ata Young Universe, page 36). We cantgive all the credit to the scientists. Wehave to acknowledge the superpower-ful, deliberate hand that opened thesemagnicent cosmic vistas to us.

Do that, and then you have to ask

yourself, just why did e go to suchlengths to ensure we could see all that?

God clearly wanted us to make thesecosmic discoveries. omans 1:20 says,ver since the creation of the worldhis invisible nature, namely, his eternalpower and deity, has been clearly per-ceived in the things that have been made(evised Standard Version). In otherwords, as we study that handiwork, wewill gain appreciation for Gods eternalpower, and will even learn things about

is divinity! It is there for everyone toseeand more and more as our technol-ogy improves. ll we need to do is openour eyes and acknowledge its uthor.

learly, Someone wanted human

beings to exist and thrive. Just as clearly,Someone wanted us to see all e haddone in the universe, Dr. ugh osswrote. His purposes for human existencemust be highly valuable (Why the Uni-verse Is the Way It Is; emphasis ours).

Indeed.

A MESSAGE OF HOPEoday we live in dangerous times. Bibli-cal prophecy shows that we are about to

plunge into the blackest, darkest periodin human history. he proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction casts thesurvival of our race in doubt. In fact,Jesus hrist prophesied that if not for HisSecond Coming, (Matthew 24:21-22).

s conditions worsen and get nearerto their violent climax, peoples heartswill be failing them for fear (Luke 21:26).

his is a time when the world .

FRIENDLY GIANTS

Shown is a montage of

the large gas-giant planets

taen by various NASA

spacecraft: Neptune, Ura-

nus, Saturn and Jupiter (leftto right). They remain distant

enough to avoid ruining our

view of space, yet at the

same time shield us from

cataclysmic asteroid stries.



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GALACTIC CORE

This unprecedented

image of the center of

the Mily Way galay

combines over 2,000

infrared Hubble e-

posures and readings

from the Spitzer Space

Telescope. The stars,clusters, stellar winds

and other structures

visible here span 300

light years.

We dont believe it is mere coinci-dence that right now, amid these direglobal threats, our view of and appre-ciation for the cosmos is undergoingsuch a spectacular revolution. heubble Space elescope surely is oneof the greatest developments of modernscience. uman beings, made in the

image and likeness of God, are prob-ing deeply into the universe as neverbeforeobserving the reators handi-work. You can be sure God is payingclose attention. e is very interested inthis program and what people are sayingabout it. We believe it is reasonable tospeculate that e has likely blessed thatprogram in order to ensure its success.

ere is an inspiring truth: hoseubble pictures should give this wholeworld a great deal more hope. Do you

know why? Its not only because thosecountless awesome galaxies point us totheir reator and is limitless power. It isalso because, when understood accordingto the revelation in the Bible, they expandour understanding of the God has given us!

ruly, is purposes for human

existence highly valuable! nd theunderstanding of the universe, explainedby the revelatory truth of Scripture,expands our minds to better grasp justwhat those inspiring purposes are.

Do you know this vast, sparkling,shimmering, powerful universe exists?he Bible gives us some absolutely stun-ning answersanswers we will reveal inthis booklet.

If you believe the Bible, you know thatthe same God who created the universe



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also founded a hurch that e promisedwould never die (Matthew 16:18). hathurch is alive todayand activelyguided by the God of the heavens.

he hiladelphia hurch of Godbegan proclaiming its message in January1990. he s founding was specicallyprophesied in several biblical passages

(request a free copy ofMalachis Messageto Gods Church Today for proof).

It was just four months later that theubble Space elescope was carried intoarths orbit aboard the space shuttleDiscovery.

In our view, the alignment of theseevents suggests that we bear a certainresponsibility. he heavens are commu-nicating a message to usbut how manypeople understand what they are saying?hat is something mankind needs to

know. God wants all people to betterunderstand what is out thereand,more importantly, it is out there.e wants is hurch to use the revela-tions from ubble to give the world true,living hope.

he hiladelphia hurch of God isall about hope. We proclaim the Bibles

message about how to live a life of hope.he images from the ubble Space

elescope are crying out for us to explainthem to you! hey are crying out for usto show the remarkable hope they oer.he understanding of the cosmos weare gaining as a result of this marveloustechnological wonder should be inspir-ing the whole world!

It is our hope that you will enjoyyour interstellar journey in the chaptersto come.

EYE ON THE HEAVENS

The Hubble Space Tele-scope orbits 353 miles

above Earth and its slender

enveloping atmosphere.



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O Godock PaIs there life out there? Carl Sagan famously estimated in

1974 that the Mily Way may host as many as 1 million civ-

ilizations. Scientists have wised up a lot since then. Theyrerealizing that the factors reuired for a civilization to eist

are almost impossibly compleand must be eceedingly

rare, even in a universe as incomprehensibly vast as ours.

Consider just a few features that mae our home in thecosmos just right for us to live and thrive here.

JUST RIGHT EARTH It is the perfect distance from both sun and moon to have a

stable, predictable orbit. wenty-four-hour days ensure arthsentire surface is properly warmed and cooled every day.

It is the perfect size and mass. If it were less dense, an atmo-sphere would not form and remain; if it were more dense, itsatmosphere would be uninhabitable. s it is, our atmosphereallows just the right amount of radiation to keep us warm but

not kill us. arths metal core produces a magnetic eld that protects the

surface from radiation from space. adioactive heat from thecore, mantle and crust creates plate tectonics, necessary forlife for several reasons.

umans need 27 elements, including carbon, oxygen, nitro-gen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, iron and copper, to live.arth has just the right mix of them.

arth has just the right amount of water in the proper ratiosof liquid, solid and gas. little more, and the continentswould be drowned. little less, and the planet would prob-ably be too hot to host life.

JUST RIGHT MOON Our moon is huge: Its mass ratio

compared to arth is50 times greaterthan that of any other knownmoon-planet combination. Yet it isthe perfect size to stabilize the tilt ofarths rotational axis. Without ourmoon, the tilt of our planet would

vary from zero to 85 degrees, produc-ing catastrophic climate changes.

Its gravity creates tidal movement.hus, ocean waters do not stag-natethey clean the waters on thecoasts from toxins and enrich themwith nutrients. Yet these massiveocean movements never spill overacross the continents. he oceancurrents also regulate climate bycirculating enormous amounts ofheat.



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JUST RIGHT SUN Most stars (two thirds to three quarters of them) are found

in groups of two, three, four or more. If we had more thanone sun, it would make life far less stable on arth becauseof erratic gravitational eects, and/or possible dangerouseruptions of tidal gas passing between the stars.

inety-ve percent of all stars are less massive than the sun. smaller, less dense sun would mean wed have to be much

closer to it to stay warm. he tidal locking would createsynchronous rotationwhere the same side of the arthalways faced the sun. hus, half the planet would freeze.

It has the perfect luminosity. Because it is a yellow star, itsenergy lies mostly in the visible part of the light spectrumnot even 10 percent of its energy is ultraviolet. If it wasmuch hotter, producing mostly ultraviolet light, life wouldbe impossible. If it was a smaller red star, the supply of vis-ible light would be inadequate.

he suns size and distance from arth creates stable tem-perature uctuations that allow arths water to remain inperfect balance among its three phases, liquid, solid and gas.

JUST RIGHT SOLAR SYSTEM Giant planets act as comet and asteroid catchers.

heir gravity cleans up our solar system of spacejunk that might otherwise collide with arth.osmic collisions can cause mass extinctions.

Our solar system is unusually rich in metal con-tent, necessary for advanced life.

JUST RIGHT COSMIC LOCATION vidence suggests that elliptical galaxies lack

enough elements heavier than helium to hostadvanced life. Spiral galaxies like ours haveenough.

Within the Milky Way, we sit in the galactichabitable zonefar enough from the center thatwere not killed by radiation, but close enough

that sucient heavy elements needed for life arepresent.

Were nowhere near dangerous star clusters,quasars, nebulae, neutron stars or supernovas.

eal-estate brokers often say the key to propertyvalue is location, location, location, wrote ughoss. If this principle applies to the cosmic scene,arths location would be considered way beyondprime. arth appears to reside in the only neigh-borhood in the universe where humans can existand thrive long enough to enjoy a global, high-techcivilization and to discover how rare they are.



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scientists in recent years have accumulatedevidence showing that specic features increationarth, in particularmust beextremely ne-tuned in order to support life.

One well-known example is thearths distance from the sun. It is justright to keep temperatures here hospita-blesomewhere between 30 below zeroand 120 degrees Fahrenheit. If we were

farther away, we would freeze; if we werecloser to the sun, we would roast.

he values of the physical constants(not to mention the laws of physics)seem to be spectacularly ne tunedfor life as we know itindeed, almosttailor made for humans, wrote astrono-mers Jay asacho and lex Filippenko.In many cases, if things were alteredjust a tiny amount, the results wouldbe disastrous for life, and even forthe production of heavy elements or

molecules (The Cosmos: Astronomyin the New Millennium; emphasis oursthroughout).

ach year, we recognize more of thesenely tuned features that allow for life

here. In 1988, Dr. ugh osss teamof astronomy researchers counted 15features that had to bejust so for any lifeto survive. By 1991, they had countedtwo more. By 1995, they had come tosee yet nine more features that had to beexactly right. By 1998, the total numberhad risen to 34 features. ny signicantchange in any one of these conditions,and none of us would be here.

By 2001, this research team had found41 features. By 2004, 77 features. By

W O

thHa

DcaGod Goy

CRAB NEBULA

One of the most studied

and perhaps most interest-

ing objects in the universe,

the Crab is one of the most

intricate and dynamic heav-

enly bodies in eistence.


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2005, 93 features. By 2006, theyd cometo recognize 140 featuresallperfectlylined up so life can exist on this planet.

nd all these features must alignprecisely for any physical life to survive,even just a single-celled organism. Foran advanced human civilization to exist,the features that scientists have realizedmust be in place arefar, farmore numer-ous. In Why the Universe Is the Way It Is,Dr. oss says it would take at least 10700

times more ne-tuning precision for ahigh-tech civilization like ours than forjust single-cell life that survives 90 daysor less. o put this number (10700) intoperspective, the total number of protonsand neutrons in the entire observableuniverse amounts to 1079.

Our planet is an incomprehensiblyne-tuned precision machine!

Some people use these and othercosmic coincidences to argue for adivine reator, wrote asacho and

Filippenko. But this theological con-clusion is not testable by the methodsof science. herefore, here we will notconsider it further, though perhaps it istrue (op. cit.).

It innitely more thanper-haps. his is incontrovertible proofthatthere had to be a Designer!

s King David wrote, he heav-ens declare the glory of God; and thermament [or the expanse of heaven]

sheweth his handywork (salm 19:1).David was celebrating the fact that Godrevealed imself to us in the universee created. erhaps he knew more thantodays astronomers would give himcredit for.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTHDid you realize that the vast majority ofthe universe in its present form is unin-habitable? It is too hot or too coldtoo

DYING STAR

The Heli Nebula

unravelsthe nal stage

of a stars life cycle. The

nebula is si light years

wide and was imaged by

NASAs infrared Spitzer

Space Telescope.



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would be dangerously aected by thesuns gravity: otational synchronizationcould lock the same side of arth intofacing the sun at all timesas the moonis to arththus baking half the planetand freezing the other.)

hanks to our single large moon

(its mass compared to the arth is anincredible 50 times greater than anyother moon-planet combination weknow of), arth is tilted at a nice, gentle23.5-degree angle. lanets that have nomoons or a relatively small moon havea rotation axis that tilts very chaoti-cally. Without our moon, arth wouldexperience catastrophic climate changes.But as it is, that tilt gives us predictable,pleasant seasonal changes that providevariety and facilitate annual food pro-

duction all over the planet.hese are extraordinary features. ec-

ognizing this, scientists have concoctedelaborate explanations of how they allcame about through indiscriminatenatural forces over billions of years. Butthe book of Job provides a more plau-sible explanation.

Job was a great builder. istoricalevidence shows that he supervisedconstruction of the Great yramidandbiblical evidence shows that he grew

somewhat self-impressed. God helpedcorrect his perspective.

In Job 38, God provided an extraor-dinary picture of a moment in theuniverses history: When e built thearth. Where wast thou when I laid the

foundations of the earth? declare, if thouhast understanding (Job 38:4). Ourplanet didnt come to inhabit its perfectplace in the cosmos haphazardly. Godsays in this verse that e actively set thearth in this precise location.

Who determined [arths] measure-ments? God asked Job. Surely youknow! Or who stretched the line uponit? (verse 5, ew King James Version).Our planets size and extraordinaryelemental composition are not theproduct of arbitrary forces. hey weremeasured and precisely surveyedper-fectly prepared to suit Gods purposes.

Whereupon are the foundationsthereof fastened? or who laid the cornerstone thereof, God continued (verse

6). he physical forces that anchor ourplanet and stabilize it, so crucial to itsbeing able to host life, arent luck. Ourreator established them. In Isaiah45:18, God says that e formed the arthto be inhabited!

veryone who sees that kind of

meticulous and stunning handiworkshould be G ! heheavens are declaring Gods glory!

fter hearing Gods speech, Job washumbled. is appreciation for Gods cre-ative genius and power had multiplied,and his perspective on himself hadshrunk to far more realistic proportions.

odays scientic revelations are tell-ing us the same basic truths, conrmingthe biblical record. Surely we should besimilarly awed and inspired.

HOW THE SUN IS A PROPHECYKing Davids ode to the cosmos contin-ues, Day to day pours forth speech,and night to night declares knowledge(salm 19:2; evised Standard Version).he ebrew word translatedpours forthcould also be translatedprophesies.

he universe isprophesying! Do youknow what it is saying? Verses 3 and 4show that its wordless message is going

out through all the arth. he ubbletelescope and other modern scienticinstruments are actually making itpossible to discern that message moreclearly.

What are the heavens communicatingto us? hey are speaking about the past.hey are teaching us about what is andwhat should be happening right now.nd as we will see, they are alsoproph-esying about the majestic future.

ere is one of those prophecies.

In [the heavens] hath [God] set atabernacle for the sun, Which is as abridegroom coming out of his chamber,and rejoiceth as a strong man to runa race (verses 4-5). Our sun is like astrong man, or a powerful athlete.

one-megaton nuclear bomb has theexplosive power of 1 million tons of .he sun produces the same amount ofenergy as a trillion of those bombseverysecond! hats 400 trillion trillion watts.In one second, the sun produces more



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STARBURST GALAxY

Galay M82, distinctive

due to its shredded cloud

formations, centers on a

bright blue central dis

where stars are being

born 10 times faster than

inside the entire Mily

Way. Most of the fuzzy

white objects that are

visible are not stars, but

star clusters of up to1 million stars.

energy than the entire human species hasconsumed throughout its entire history!

God positioned that furious nuclearfurnace relative to our planet just per-fectly to be our main source of energy.[]here is nothing hid from the heatthereof (verse 6). We can enjoy sunnydays outside, we can see by its light, weare warmed by its heat, plants can absorbits energy, and dozens of other processescan occur that make life not only pos-

sible, but extremely pleasant here.But that star is also preaching a

deeper message.Malachi 4:2 tells us that the S

[shall] arise with healingin his wings. here the sun specicallypoints us to Jesus hrist. hough it isspelled --, it is capitalized becauseit is talking about the Son of God! (Seealso salm 84:11; Isaiah 60:19-20; John1:9.) his verse is aprophecy of how, verysoon, hrist is going to bring light and

growth to the entire world!When Jesus hrist returns, that will

be the most glorious sunrise ever!Everyone will be touched by is pres-ence, just as they are by the light of thephysicalsun today.

Yes, the sun itself is a prophecy! Itsreator designed it to illustrate a spiri-tual reality. When you look at the sun,you can think about the dawning of theday of hrists rule on arth.

You cant even look at the sun directlybecause it is too awesome and brilliant.It is so enormous that it accounts for99.9 percent of all the visible matter inour solar system. You could t 1 millionplanet arths inside of it. It dominatesour solar systemin the same way thatGod should dominate our lives.

It illustrates some wonderful attri-butes of the Son of righteousness! hatis where we get our spiritual light and

continued on page 21

The Heavens Declare Gods Glory 19


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heat. Our lives should revolve aroundGod the way our planet does that sun.

OUR OBEDIENT UNIVERSEhe entire material realm operates inaccordance with physical laws. You canbe thankful that is the case. he speed

of light never changes. You know thateach day will have 24 hours in it becauseof the predictable rotation of the arth.You can trust that the sun will keepring the equivalent of a trillion mega-ton nuclear explosions per second. Ourplanetthanks to its motion within oursolar system, galaxy and galaxy clus-tertravels through space at a blazing435 milesper second, over 1.5 millionmiles per hour. Yet we never go ying ointo space because, thankfully, the law of

gravity anchors us to this planet.stronomers and cosmologists recog-

nize and accept this order and precisionas an article of faith in their studies. Infact, the laws of physics form the basisof most of their hypothesescertainlythe ones that can be tested and veried.hey observe how energy and matterbehavewhat makes a star burnhowthings are born and how they decayhow gravity and other forces aect mat-ter. nd then they theorize and specu-

late about the details of the universescomposition and activityas well as itshistory and its futurebased on theircondence that everything always hasand always will operate in predictableaccordance with those physical laws.

ven the circular reasoning used byevolutionists assumes the existence ofcertain laws. Gerald L. Schroeder, an-trained scientist, explained it thisway: ssentially all of scientic inquiryis based on fundamental givens, values

that just are what they are for no discern-ible reason, such as the electromagneticcharge. hese facets of nature are observedas being intrinsic to the workings ofnature, but arbitrarily set by the laws ofour universe (The Hidden Face of God).

But what established those valuesin the beginning? ow did these facets

of naturelawsbecome intrinsicto the workings of nature? What is itthat arbitrarily set these values?Where did the laws of our universecome from? ven evolutionary scientistsbelieve in cause and eect. What causedthe universe to come into eect?

Isnt it astonishing that scientists canhave such faith in those lawsand yetfail to recognize the ower that set themin motion?

he existence of unchangeable,

absolute, yet unseen laws demands theexistence of a supreme Lawgiver. Goddeclares in is written Word that He isthat Lawgiver (James 4:12). It is by thoselaws that e governs the entire materialuniverse and makes everything orderlyand reliable.

In the context of this sun prophecy isan important link. We are commandedto remember Gods law (Malachi 4:4).he same God who created the physi-cal laws that regulate matter also gave

the statutes and judgments to Moses.verything God is involved in, e doesaccording to .

he greatest scientists have beenstruck by how strange this is, wroteauthor Dinesh DSouza. here is nological necessity for a universe that obeysrules, let alone one that abides by therules of mathematics. his astonishmentsprings from the recognition that theuniverse doesnt have to behave this way.It is easy to imagine a universe in which

i o cod, h podco gy ha h ha pc

ha cod hogho hoy.

GARGANTUAN SUN

Comprising 99.9 percent of

the visible matter in our solar

system, our nearest star

has the volume of 1 million

Earths. Here, an ultraviolet

imaging telescope captures

the maimum of the Helium-

energized solar activity cyclewith sunspots, aring active

regions, ejections, epul-

sions, prominences and

plasma-traced magnetic eld

loops about 30 Earths long.



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conditions change unpredictably frominstant to instant, or even a universe inwhich things pop in and out of existence(Whats So Great About Christianity).

he whole material universeevery-thing out thereis perfectly submitted toGods rule. his is another remarkableway in which the heavens G.

What an extraordinary message theheavens are preaching, if only we would

listen.

THE HARMONY OF THE HEAVENSLook at how King David made this pointwithin salm 19. Verse 4 says that theheavens line is gone out through allthe earth. he ebrew word translatedline refers to a measuring rule or cord; itis the same word used in Job 38:5, whereGod says e stretched the line uponthe arth to measure it. Metaphorically

the word means a rule or law (as in Isa-iah 28:10, which says we must come tounderstand Gods Word precept uponprecept; line upon line).he universecomplies beautifully with Gods rule, ismeasure, is law.

his word also refers to a musicalstring, or accord, or harmony. Whenthe postle aul quoted this verse inomans 10:18, he actually used the wordsound. e likened the harmony in the

heavens to a musical sound.hese concepts are closely linked,

because wherever you have Gods rule,you have accord, or harmony. very-thing works together like an orchestraplaying in harmony. If you nd trueharmony anywhere on arth or in theheavens, that is no accident! nd wher-ever you nd disharmony and friction,you nd the breaking of Gods law!

his psalm says that there is har-mony in the glorious universe. hose



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heavenly bodies are like a great orches-tra God is conducting. What producesthat harmony? David continues, he L is perfect, convertingthe soul: the testimony of the Lis sure, making wise the simple. hestatutes of the L are right, rejoicingthe heart: the commandment of theL is pure, enlightening the eyes(salm 19:7-8). hat harmony comesfrom God and is law!

Some commentaries say salm 19changes subjects herebut it doesnt.he reason the heavens prophesytraces back to the law. nd if we applyGods law in our own lives, in our jobsand relationships and families, it willproduce order and harmony that willrejoice our heart.

his is really aprophecy about whatthe law will do in your life. If you allowGod to rule youif you get in syncwith the reator and onductor of the

harmony of the universe and submit tois spiritual law in the same way thatmatter submits to isphysical lawthen that will bring you into harmonywith God and other people. Just like theheavens themselves,your life will alsobegin to declare Gods glory. Your mar-riage and family will show is handi-work. You will make beautiful spiritualmusicjust as the sun does as it spreadsits glorious light and warmth all over

the arth in perfect harmony with thelaws of God.

You will be aprophecy about theharmonious music that this whole worldwill be producing very soon, when Godslaw is implemented.

ear what the heavens are saying.hey are pouring forth evidence of aDesigner and Sustainer. nd, as we willsee, they are also prophesying aboutthe wonderful future God is oering tomankind.

GREAT NEBULA

The Great Nebula in Carina

is a place in the Mily Way

where gigantic stars and

transforming nebulae are

found. The keyhole Nebula,

left of center, is where some

of the most massive nown

stars are located. One star

in this nebula was one of the

most brilliant stars in our sy

in the 1830s.



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When you think of brahams time, do you think of dustytents, whistling wind and bleating sheep, uneducated menand hardscrabble living? If so, you might be surprised at

the real history. brahams was not a primitive, ignorantworld. In fact, it possessed advanced astronomical knowl-edge that would take thousands of years to rediscover!

braham lived in Ur of the haldees, a city in Babylonat the heart of the civilized world. rcheological evidencereveals that the Babylonians had detected the precision of theequinoxes. hey knew the cause of the eclipses, and couldpredict them. hey had correct views of the structure ofthe solar system, and knew the order of emplacement of theplanets (John William Draper, History of the Conict BetweenReligion and Science). Other history books corroboratethat when the Greeks conquered Babylon, they discovered

advanced astronomical observations and even a map repre-senting the world as round, with Babylon near the center.Babylonian priests knew where the sun, moon and planetswere positioned, recognized their orbits and calculatedwhere they would appear at any given time in the future.

But how did they know?Berosus, a Babylonian historian, wrote, In the 10th

generation after the Flood, there was among the haldeansa man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial sci-ence. his man wasAbraham.

ot only was he a giant of faith and obedience, but he wasalso a wealthy and inuential world leader and an intelligent,

well-educated scientist, mathematician and astronomer. Jew-ish historian Flavius Josephus conrms that this great hal-dean was braham,and that the Greek ecataeus wrote anentire book about his accomplishments. Other secular histo-rians add that braham was a scholar renowned throughoutUr. Josephus tells us that he analyzed phenomena that werevisible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen tothe sun and moon, and all the heavenly bodies.

he Babylonians received their advanced understand-ing of the heavensfrom Abraham. braham taught themthe nature of the sun, the moon, eclipses, the planets andtheir orbits inside our solar system, and the stars that lie

beyondfar-ung heavenly lights that they and otherpagan believers had thought were an assortment of gods.braham showed that these gods had no minds or powerof their own and that he could predict exactly what theywould do and where they would be ad innitum becausethey had to obey specic laws.

Later, when braham left Ur, he traveled in ustria andgypt, spreading the knowledge of arithmetic, astronomyand culture even beyond Babylon.

ow could a man standing on the surface of the arthwithout advanced scientic instruments understand thathe was on a round planet orbiting the sun alongside other

planets? ow could he recognize a star versus a planet inthe morning sky? Where did he learn the mathematicallaws of how to predict eclipses and other astral events?

ow could he know these heavenly bodies were not gods?e had been taught by the true God, the one who authored

the laws of astronomy and physics that govern the heavens.braham wasnt therst astronomer. Josephus says the

study of astronomy originated in the family line of Seth. ewrote that God gave [those who lived before the Flood]such long life that they might perfect those things whichthey had invented in astronomy. Job too had advanced astro-nomical knowledge, such as the understandingunknownexcept by divine revelation for many centuries to comethatarth hangs upon nothing, oating in space (Job 26:7).ncient histories indicate that oah had knowledge of mari-

time laws involving navigating by the stars. hat ancient andelderly patriarch likely brought knowledge of mathematics,astronomy, agriculture and other sciences as well as the artsfrom one side of the Flood to the other, which passed downfrom generation to generation to braham.

What is most certain is that brahams scientic knowl-edge came through his connection with the reator God,the one source powerful enough to create stars and galaxiesand suns and moons and planets, brilliant enough to setthem all in order according to perfect lawsand lovingenough to teach those laws.

he world traces its astronomical knowledge to Baby-

lon. Babylon traces it back to braham, the servant of God.So why did God teach a tiny human living on a tiny planet

the undiscoverable systems and laws of the cosmos? Whydid God teach braham astronomy? Several reasons. heBibles description of Gods creation says that e set up thelights of the sun, moon and stars for signs, and for seasons,and for days, and years (Genesis 1:14). rue knowledge ofastronomical laws preserved the measure of the week, themonths and the years by which to measure time, as well asthe day of the week that God set apart for worship. In addi-tion, without that knowledge, today we would have no ideaof the ages of the ancients who dwelled on arth prior to

Moses, nor duration of events such as the Flood. Yet Mosesrecords detailed ages and histories in the entateuch.

In addition, God clearly used that revelation to inspireand motivate is servants. When e promised brahamhe would become a great patriarch, e compared hisdescendants to the stars(Genesis 15:5). e also revealedto braham the oly ity to come, which will serve as theheadquarters of the universe (evelation 21)a vision thatfueled braham his whole life (ebrews 11:10).

God designed and created the universe for is purposes.We should hardly be surprised that, as mos 3:7 says, erevealed its secrets to is servants.

Abaha h Aoo



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27/58


28/58

Dd i Asa wh

a BgBag?

science has proven that the universe did notalways exist. It had a beginning.

hat might seem obvious, but whatsinteresting is that scientists didnt always

believe that. Just a few generations ago, generalconsensus was that the universe had nobeginning and no endit just alwayswas. volutionists found this conve-nient, as it contradicted the biblical

creation account.vidence began to refute this idea

in the 1920s. Data showed that distantobjects were drifting away from ourgalaxy. dwin ubble, by measuring thewavelengths of light coming from othergalaxies, determined that the universe isexpanding in all directions. his discov-ery set the scientic world on re. fterall, if the universe is moving apart, thenat one time it must have been com-pressed in a single location. It must have

had a beginning.he big bang theory was born.

WHAT IS THE BIG BANG THEORY?he big bang idea has undergonesignicant renement and revisionover its near-80-year lifespan; today,cosmologists are developing and testinga few dozen variations of it. But inessence the idea is that, somewherebetween 10 and 15 billion years ago, theentire universe came to exist suddenly,dramatically, in an innitesimally briefmoment. heoretical physicist BrianGreene describes the inationary big

AE AURIGAE

A bright star near the center

of this image is surroundedby smoe-lie laments of

carbon-rich dust grains. This

dust may contain deute-

rium, a hydrogen isotope

that traces star and galay

formation but has stymied

astronomers studies. A full

understanding could help

revolutionize theories about

star and galay formation,

according to NASA.


29/58

bang model this way: []he size of theuniverse increased by a factor larger thana million trillion trillion in less than amillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth ofa second (The Fabric of the Cosmos).

Wow! Why would matter do that?Scientists rst rejected the big bang

concept because it seemed too religious.

Its echoes of in the beginning both-ered them. (heir concern was no doubtheightened by the fact that the physicistwho rst advanced the theory, GeorgesLematre, was also a priest.) Somehow,though, atheists the world over eventu-ally came to accept it as proof that thecosmos has no creator.

But is it?here appears to be much solid

evidence that the basics of the theory arecorrect. eliable measurements have con-

rmed that the universe was far hotterin the past and is cooling as it expands.Faint background radiation still lls thecosmos at a highly uniform temperature;scientists believe this is a result of thatrapid initial cooling. he universes gal-axies all appear to have been formed dur-ing the window of time that the big bangmodel predicts. hotos show that thefarther we look out into space (hence thefurther back in time, since light requirestime to reach our telescopes), the more

densely packed the galaxies are (inset,Our xpanding Universe, page 51).hese are just a few of many proofs thatthe universe had a denite beginning.

But then big bang theorists hit awall. Going backward in time fromthe universes current expansion, theysay it must have been more and morecompressedthat, in fact, at the start itmust have existed within a single point.his singularity is supposed to havebeen an innitely small, innitely hot,

innitely dense something. Lematrecalled it a primeval atom.

owif that is right, then where didthis cosmic seed come from? Big bangtheorists cant explain it. In fact, theydont even try: he origin of matter isnot part of the theory.

Why did it suddenly expand? his

too is a mystery to cosmologists.nd there is another problem. In

nature, things decaythey move fromorder toward disorder. Greene says thisnatural law suggests that the universe inits infancy began in an extraordinarilyspecial, highly ordered state of lowentropy. xtraordinarily special? ighlyordered? Well then, how did it start out insuch a state? Once again, science is silent.

AN ORDERLY ExPANSIONstronomers recognize that the termbig bang is misleading. ccording tothe theory, the initial event wasnt anexplosion, but an orderly expansionmore like an inating balloon. Dr. ughoss explains, he big bang is a bigbang as most lay people would compre-hend the term. his expression conjuresup images of bomb blasts or explodingdynamite. Such a bang would yielddisorder and destruction. In truth, this

bang represents an immensely power-ful yet carefully planned and controlledrelease of matter, energy, space and timewithin the strict connes ofvery carefully

nely tuned physical constraints and lawswhich govern their behavior and interac-tions. he power and care this explosionreveals exceeds human potential fordesign by multiple orders of magnitude(www.reasons.org; emphasis ours).

osmologists are intently studyingthe beginning of time. hey are staring

Accodg o h bg bag hoy, h a a a xpoo, b a ody

xpaoo k a ag baoo.



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at the sudden appearance of energy,time and matter. hey are recognizingunimaginable order and accuracy in theevent. hey can perceive physical lawscontrolling it. nd these potent andprecise forces become more impressivethe more they are scrutinized and themore we learn. hey are so complex, soincomprehensibly powerful, so poten-tially catastrophic, that an innitesimal

variation in any one of a number offactors would have yielded a cataclysmrather than the stunning cosmos thatexists today.

stoundingly, however, there are fewwho, like Dr. oss, will admit to see-ing deliberateplanning, ne-tuning anddesign in it!

ow can scientists blithely believethat this gorgeous, life-rich planet calledarth, which circles a beautiful, stablestar called the sun, which is clustered

together with several hundred billionother suns in a galaxy that is just oneof trillionsall came from a primevalpinprick much, much smaller than anelectron or even a quarkby randomchance? ow can astronomers accept theidea that an innitely small, innitelyhot, innitely dense singularity simplyappeared and then exploded in a precisecosmic expansion to produce the entireuniversefrom the largest supernovasto the smallest subatomic particles, with

all their physical properties perfectlygoverned by laws of physics and chemis-tryall comingfrom nothing?

It takes more faith to believe thanit does to believe in an eternal, superin-telligent, all-powerful God.

ever in human history has sciencetreated the reator with such contempt.Yet paradoxically, never has science dis-covered so much spectacularproofof is

existence as in this past, most-godlesscentury!

Open your eyes. he beautiful truthsurrounds and envelops us. verythingpoints with overwhelming force to a def-inite event, or series of events ofcreationat some time or times, not indenitelyremote, nglish physicist and astrono-mer Sir James Jeans said. he universecannot have arisen by chance out of itspresent ingredients, and neither can ithave always been the same as now.

he real big bang was a well-planned, deliberately executed act of! the Plain Truth magazinewrote in June 1984. ow would youexpect a superpowerful divine Beingto bring forth an entire universe? Witha small zzle, a limp thud or a weakwhimper? Of course not! he creationof the universe was accomplished witha glorious display of light, heat, matterand energya display that still reverber-ates throughout space .

THE NEWBORN UNIVERSE

A compilation of ve years of

measurements by the Wilin-

son Microwave Anisotropy

Probe, this all-sy image

depicts the universe at what

scientists believe is one of its

earliest moments in history. It

is almost completely uniform

in temperature: Changes in

color represent temperaturedifferences of about .0002

degrees. Thus, it predates

the eistence of stars and

other hot matter. Astrono-

mers believe the minute

temperature uctuations

are ain to seeds that

became galaies.

Did It All Start With a Big Bang? 29


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IN THE BEGINNINGIn the beginning God created theheavens and the earth. By the wordof the L the heavens were made, andall the host of them by the breath ofis mouth. For e spoke, and it wasdone; e commanded, and it stood fast(Genesis 1:1; salm 33:6, 9; ew KingJames Version).

ow did the galaxies and stars andplanets and life come to exist? he great

stronomer, Designer, rchitect, Math-ematician and hysicistGcreatedthe universe.

It is important to understand thatthere is a chronological gapof prob-ably millions or billions of yearsbetween the spectacular creation eventdescribed in Genesis 1:1 and the stateof disorder and decay (ebrew tohuand bohu) described in Genesis 1:2(which preceded the rest of Genesis 1,in which God renewed the face of the

he ubble Space elescope hasgiven us remarkable insight into thehistory of the universe. osmologistsare continually having to rethink andrevise their understanding based onnew evidence that is pouring in. Oneof the purposes that scientists saythe telescope is serving is helping us todiscover our origins.

But their understanding is certain toremain shrouded in darkness as long

as they reject what God has revealed tous about those origins in the Bible! Yousimply cannot discover the about our origins by looking exclusivelyat the material realm.

hat is why God included so muchrevelation about this subject in Scrip-ture: to provide thefoundation for ourobservationto help us understandwhat we cannot merely observe.

he reality is this: Science is provingthe Bible true.

UNIVERSE TIME LINE

This graphic illustrates

sciences view of the uni-

verse over the last 13.7

billion years. The ina-

tion depicts the earli-

est detectable moment

when the universe burst

with eponential growth.

The universe then slowed

in its epansion before

accelerating again, aphenomenon attributed

to dar energy coming to

dominate the universe.

Initial creation and rapid epansion

Accelerated epansion due to dar energy

Epansion of the universe over 13.7 billion years



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a form of the verb natah that impliescontinual or ongoing stretching (Job 9:8;salm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24;51:13; Zechariah 12:1). Both of theseaspects of this stretching can be seenin Isaiah 40:22, which says that Godstretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell

in. Stretches out comes from natah andimplies something continuing today,while spreadeth comes from the ebrewmathach (this words only use in the Oldestament)meaning to stretch outand implying something that God hasalready done and completed.

Intriguingly, ot until the 20thcentury did any other bookwhetherscience, theology or philosophyevenhint at the universes continuous expan-sion (ugh oss, Why the Universe Is

the Way It Is).Job 9:8 tells us that [God]

spreadeth out the heavens. his isan ongoing process for which Godclaims sole responsibility. Interestingly,scientists really dont fully understandthe workings by which the universe isexpanding. hey do recognize that some-thing is causing itbut it is invisible andcannot be specically measured. Onlyits eects can be measured. It remainsshrouded in a certain mystery (inset,

Our xpanding Universe, page 51).raise him, ye heavens of heavens,

and ye waters that be above the heavens.Let them praise the name of the L:for he commanded, and they were cre-ated. e telleth the number of thestars; he calleth them all by their names(salm 148:4-5; 147:4). Our Milky Waygalaxy alone is estimated to have 200billion stars. If we could count themat a rate of about two stars a second,it would take 4,000 years without rest

arthsalm 104:30). In Isaiah 45:18,God says e did not create the arthin vain (ebrew tohu). Other scripturalpassages show the cause of this Genesis1:2 desolation: the angelic rebellionled by Lucifer, which caused a violentwar in heaven (see Isaiah 14:12-15 andzekiel 28:11-19). equest a free copy

of erbert W. rmstrongs book Mysteryof the Ages for a thorough scripturalexplanation of this truth.

Science hasproven that the uni-verse and arth are more than 6,000years old. true understanding of thebiblical creation account conrms theseobservations.

When you study the biblicalaccounts of God creating the universe,the most common description is thatGod stretched out or spreads out the

heavens. God created the heavens, andstretched them out (Isaiah 42:5). estretcheth out the north over the emptyplace, and hangeth the earth upon noth-ing (Job 26:7).

his is highly unusual terminology.What exactly does it mean? he phrasespreadeth out comes from the ebrewnatah, which means to stretch or spread;it can mean to extend in every direction.Scripture refers to the heavens in thisway a total of 11 times, by the pen of

ve dierent biblical writers: Job, David,Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah.

Based on observable evidence, scien-tists believe there was an rapidstretching out of cosmic materialandthere has been an ever since. Gods revelation in Scriptureseems to corroborate that view. Fourverses (Isaiah 45:12; 48:13; Jeremiah10:12; 51:15) use a form ofnatah thatliterally means the action was completedsome time ago. Seven instances use

sc b h a a a apdchg o of coc aaad h

ha b a ogog xpao c.



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to complete the count. his is onlyone galaxy among billions of galaxiesin this universe. God has every singlestar numbered and even named. hisstrongly indicates is ongoing, activeinvolvement with is cosmic creation,not simply is setting the ball in motionand letting natural processes play out.

SEEING THE INVISIBLEScientists have absolutely no explana-tion of where the primeval atom camefrom that they suppose existed beforethe big bang. Whether or not such anatom existed, God reveals that theexistence ofspirit essence iscreation of physical matter.

ere, then, is the answer to a ques-tion eluding some of the brightest minds

in science: ow did it all begin? herewas a moment when God used that invis-ible spirit energy to bring into being mat-ter that didnt exist before. By faith weunderstand that the world was createdby the word of God, so that what is seen[physical matter] was made out ofthingswhich do not appear (ebrews 11:3, ).he physical universe is visiblewe cansee it and measure it. But it was madefrom the invisible: things we cannot seeand cannot measure.

s this verse says, it does requirefaith to accept Gods revelation on thesematters (though much less faith thanhumanly devised explanations whichignore God). But it is not blind faith.God challenges man to test imtoprove whether e speaks the truth (e.g.Isaiah 44:6-8; 45:11; Malachi 3:10). hatis what true science does. (equest freecopies of our booklets Does God Exist?and The Proof of the Bible, both writtenby erbert W. rmstrong.)

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold , God says,that bringeth out their host by number:he calleth them all by names by the great-ness of his might, for that he is strong inpower; not one faileth (Isaiah 40:26).

God says, I want you to behold who hascreated these things! Sadly, man wants to

take God out of the picture and worshipthe creation. e clearly sees Gods handi-work, but fails to recognize God behind it!

Likewise, people throughout historysaw is prophets, they saw is apostles,they even saw is Son! But they couldntsee Godand they ended up persecut-ing and even killing is messengers. Inthe same way, very few people recognizeGods Work today.

God has not denied man access tothe knowledge to make such powerful

instruments which allow us to see intothe deep secrets of the universe. Butwhat has man done with this knowl-edge? as it increased his faith in God?

Scientists who are speculating aboutorigins and ignoring this revelation areconcocting increasingly illogical andoutrageous explanations for how sucha spectacular creation could have cometo exist on its own. hey resolve theremote improbability of the universesextreme ne-tuning being an accident by

suggesting that there are an innite num-ber of universesor that this universewill expand and contract an innitenumber of times, remaking itself eachtime. hus, every possibility, no matterhow statistically remote, becomes aninevitability. Of course, such hypoth-eses cannot be tested or veried. here islittle to distinguish them from ction.

Believing in those ideas truly doesrequire blind faith.

ma a o ak God o of h pcad ohp h cao. H God

hadok, b fa o cogz God bhd .

DARk MATTER

This Hubble detailed image

displays a galay cluster

composed of spectacular

tan- and blue-hued gala-

ies. More enthralling is the

5 million-light-year-wide ring

of dar matter surrounding

the cluster center, evidenceof the universal power that

sustains the heavens.

continued on page 34



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wha i Dak ma?Our telescopes show us a universe populated with brilliantballs of ery gas, piercing quasars, shining stars, illumi-nated planets and vast galaxies. But, there is also some-thing out there we cannot see.

Based on the gravity required to keep the great clustersof galaxies intact and the orbital speeds and distancesof spiral galaxies, astronomers have concluded that theuniverse must have something else holding it all togetherthat emits no electromagnetic radiation and is thereforeinvisible. hey have termed this material dark matter.hey believe that large clusters of galaxies are composed of

over 90 percent of the stu!What is dark matter? o one knows. We can register its

eects, but we cannot see it or measure it.When God spoke to Job about the universe, e may

have revealed the existence of dark matter. e asked Job,Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for dark-ness, where is the place thereof, that thou shouldest take itto the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know thepaths to the house thereof? (Job 38:19-20). he LivingBible renders this, []ell me about the darkness. Wheredoes it come from? an you nd its boundaries, or go toits source?

omans 1:20 says the invisible things of him from thecreation of the world are clearly seen, being understood bythe things that are made . he visible universe showsthat there must be this invisible matter or force holdingit all together. We can see the invisible power of God byseeing the visible.

erhaps dark matter is actually the invisible power ofGod holding the universe together. By the power of Godwere all things created, that are in heaven, and that arein earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, ordominions, or principalities, or powers: all thing were cre-

ated by him, and for him: nd he is before all things, andby him all things consist (olossians 1:16-17). By himall things consist or are held together. ebrews 1:3 saysthat Jesus hrist is upholding the universe by his word ofpower (). Upholding comes from a Greek word mean-ing to bearor carry. God says in salm 75:3 that When theearth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steadyits pillars (). God holds together and sustains theuniverse by is power.

Whatever dark matter actually is, we know that Godcreated all thingsboth visible and invisibleand that eis the Sustainer of the universe.



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WITHOUT ExCUSEonsider all the inspiring truth we arelearning from the observations of theubble Space elescope. ow can any-one talk about the phenomenal data it iscapturing without ever mentioning Godor the Bible? ow can scientists neverconsiderthe possibility that God created

all of this?Jesus hrist answered that question

in another of is statements that appliesto them with deadly accuracy: [T]heireyes they have closed (Matthew 13:15).

hese scientists are studying Godscreationand their !hey choose to exalt the creation abovethe magnicent reator.

Imagine if they really believed in thereator of those majestic heavens!

It wasnt always so unfashionable

for a scientist to accept God as reator.Believers and admirers of Gods handi-work have always existed at the heartof scientic development, humbled inthe knowledge that all that exists inthe physical world emanated from anintelligence far,far superiorto theirsasupreme intelligence that created theirown far inferior human intelligence.Isaac ewton was one. oward the endof his life he proclaimed, I do not knowwhat I may appear to the world, but to

myself I seem to have been only like aboy playing on the seashore, and divert-ing myself in now and then nding asmoother pebble or a prettier shell thanordinary, whilst the great ocean of truthlay all undiscovered before me (L..Moore, Isaac Newton).

xactly right. God intends is cre-ation to teach us about im and pointus to im! hat is what the postleaul told us in omans 1:19-20: []hatwhich may be known of God is manifest

in them [people who disbelieve]; forGod hath shewed it unto them. For theinvisible things of him from the creation ofthe world are clearly seen, being under-stood by the things that are made, even hiseternal power and Godhead; so that theyare without excuse. ever have we beenso without excuse as we are today!

he ubble telescope has shown usthings that are madeby God. Wehave never seen more that has beenmade than we have with that incredibleinstrument. ighly educated people arestaring up at that marvelous creation,studying it, measuring it, trying tocomprehend it. hey ought to be seeingGod out there, but they still arrive at theludicrous conclusion that it all evolvedout of nothing!

God says es angry when people

deny the truth that they can plainly see.omans 1 says scientists have no excusebecause when God showed the truth tothem, they suppressed it (that is whathold means in verse 18). ow muchtruth are these individuals suppressingbecause it doesnt t their erroneous,anti-God ideas?

THE WORk OF GODS FINGERSIf our retinas could register wave-

lengths, we would witness a rmamentof such turbulence and incandescentsplendor that it would make the Fourthof July reworks look like a backyardsparkler, wrote Newsweek in June1991. We would see black holes slurpup their neighbors and jets of plasmastream across the sky with the energy of100 million suns. We would see starsso small they would t comfortably inLake ahoespin an astounding 643times per second. We would see neutron

O mky way gaaxy ao ado ha 200 bo a. th oy

o gaaxy aog bo h .



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stars so dense that a teaspoonful of theirtiny bodies would weigh one billion tonsand clouds bigger than our solar systemcollapse like a poorly timed sou.

his article closed with an astound-ing admission: ime and time again,astronomers have been humbled by therealization that natures imagination is

much greater than their own. oticethey just cannot say GOD! hey use theword nature instead.

hey can see the power. hey canrecognize the intelligence. hey can per-ceive the craft. hey can marvel at theelegance. But they wont see God. heyare missing the transcendental visionwrapped up in that mind-staggeringcreation. he invisible God can be seenthrough what e created!

King David studied astronomy. O

L our Lord, how excellent is thyname in all the earth! who hast setthy glory above the heavens, he wasinspired to write. When I considerthy heavens, the work of thy ngers, themoon and the stars, which thou hastordained; What is man, that thou artmindful of him? (salm 8:1, 3-4). e

knew that the universe wasnt the resultofchance, but a magnicent product ofGods creative handiworkand one thatplaced a special importance on humanbeings.

It is only when we accept that truth,testied eloquently by both the Bibleand the whole of creation, that we canbegin to approach an answer to thefar more intriguing and dicultandinspiringquestion:

Why the universe?

LARGE

MAGELLANIC CLOUD

A partial view, called LH 95,

of this star formation reveals

gas and dust structures

sprinled with young low-

mass stars and massive

mature stars.



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A sg looka a Yog uWhen astronomers only had access to surface-basedtelescopes, they saw a lot of empty black spaces out inthe universe. hen, in pril of 1990, they sent the ubbleSpace elescope into orbit.

While most arth-based telescopes can peer into space1 to 2 billion light years at best, the ubble telescope is

capable of reaching out many times farther than that. Itsextended view would prove to revolutionize our under-standing of the universe.

his telescope resembles a ve-story cylindrical tower.During normal tracking operation, it locks onto threestars at a time, ensuring a precise x on a distant star. One engineer equated the precision to spotting a rey inSydney, ustralia, from Washington. Its equal to ring alaser beam from Washington at a dime 200 miles away inManhattan and being able to hold the position for 24 hours(ichard Doherty, Technology).

Five years after ubble launched, astronomers pointed it

at an empty, black speck of sky, the size of a dime about 75feet away. Over a period of 10 days in December 1995, theytook 342 long exposures, capturing light emissions nearly 4billion times fainter than the human eye can seeincludingobjects as far away as what scientists estimate is 12 billionlight years. hat would mean it took lighttraveling at over186,000 miles per second12 billion years to travel from itsdistant source all the way to the lens of our telescope.

Because the distances are so vast, we are literally lookingback in timeseeing what the far distant galaxies lookedlike billions of years ago, when scientists believe the uni-verse was near its infancy.

he resultant image showed that this black pinprick ofempty outer spaceone 2-millionth of the skyactuallycontained about3,000 galaxies, each with an average of200 billion stars!

his was ubble Deep Field, one of the most jaw-drop-ping pictures ever taken.

But waitis the entire sky lled with galaxies like this, ordid the ubble scientists happen to capture a zone particu-larly dense with brilliant galaxies? In September and Octoberof 1998, the telescope turned and pointed at a slice of skynear the celestial South ole. Its target was one 2-millionth ofthe entire sky. gain, for 10 days it peered into the distance.

What did it nd? bout 3,000 galaxies. pparently no matterwhat part of the sky you look at, you will nd literally thou-sands of galaxies glittering and shining back at you.

his revelation shocked and inspired the astronomersand all the rest of us. Scientists were forced to adjusttheir estimate of the number of galaxies in the observable

universe up from about 10 billion to somewhere north of80 billion.

he next major ubble discovery came in late 2003.his time, ubble focused above the orthern emisphereagain into a pinprick of sky. If you were to cut a hole 1millimeter square in a piece of paper and hold it up 3 feetaway, you would be seeing slightly more space than whatubble captured: one 12-millionth of the sky. o composethis view, ubble made 400 orbits over 114 days, and took800 exposures totaling 1 million seconds. he exposuresended on January 16, 2004.

he ubble Ultra Deep Field view shows a cosmic cross

section of galaxies ranging in age from a few hundred mil-lion years old to over 13 billion light years. gain, each tinydot in this image is a galaxya collection of millions tohundreds of billions of stars.

hat miniscule patch of one 12-millionth of the skyshows a stunning 10,000galaxies!

hat means the observable universe must contain some-thing near 120 billion galaxies.

If a medium-size galaxy contains 200 billion stars, thatcomputes to about 24 sextillion visible stars. hats a 24with 21 zeros: 24,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. nd if eachgalaxy houses 100 million planets, then here is how many

planets the cosmos may hold: 12,000,000,000,000,000,000.welve quintillion!

But consider: he universe today is quite dierent fromthe one in these pictures. Science has demonstrated thatthe universe is expanding. s it expands, more stars form.stronomers believe that the actual universe must beat least 10 than the universe they can see throughtheir telescopes.

Why are these cosmic regions so vast? Who needs thatmuch room? Why so many stars and planets? Science doesnot and cannot answer these questions. But the Bible can!hose answers lie in the chapters to follow.

HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELDThis is perhaps the most epic image ever

taen. This photograph, captured by focusing the Hubble telescope on

one 12-millionth of the sy, includes approimately 10,000 galaies.



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F O U

why hu?

For whatpurpose did God create the vastuniverse?Our solar system is certainly a prerequisitefor our existence, wrote Stephen awking in

A Brief History of Time. But there does not seemto be any need for all these other galaxies. hat

encapsulates a lot of human reasoningabout Gods creation: If it doesnt make

sense to us, there must be no sense to it. leading physicist and theoretical

cosmologist at rinceton Universitynamed James eebles has comparedscientists attempting to comprehendthe universe with slightly befuddledkindergarten children, while nature isa patient teacher who keeps presentingus with hints, were still not getting thepoint, but at least were working towardit (Modern Maturity, October/ovem-ber 1988).

It is a tting analogy. Lets exercise alittle humility. learly God took great

pains to create the universejust so. edid so with deliberate intent and soundreasoning.

he material universe itself does notexplain itself. We must consult Godsscriptural revelation to see thepurpose forwhich e created the universe as e did.

Once we do so, an awesome andinspiring dimension to our understand-ing of the cosmos opens up. It is somagnicent, it strains the very limits ofour imagination!

GALAxY M81

This galay is one of the

brightest galaies visible

from Earth. Similar to the

Mily Way, spiral arms made

of young, hot, blue stars

only a few million years old

trail out from the nucleus,

which consists of a bulge of

older reddish stars.


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INCREDIBLE HUMAN POTENTIALhe late erbert W. rmstrong wroteextensively about the Bibles answer tothis question. One of his most thoroughscriptural explanations is found in TheIncredible Human Potential. We will sendyou a free copy of this extraordinary

book upon request. ere is an excerptthat provides the basic scriptural outline.

In salm 8 King David looked at theuniverse and asked the reator, Whatis man, that thou art mindful of him? hou madest him to have dominion overthe works of thy hands; thou hast putall things under his feet: ll sheep andoxen, yea, and the beasts of the eld;he fowl of the air, and the sh of thesea, and whatsoever passeth through thepaths of the seas (verses 4, 6-8).

David marveled that God had givenman this entire wonderful planet.David here limits mans dominionto the presentthat which God gavemankind in the creation of manthesolid earth, the arths atmosphere, andthe waters and sea (as in Genesis 1:26-28), Mr. rmstrong explained. hat isthe dominion man has now. In the ewestament, written much later, far moreis revealed. It shows, in fact, that arthisnt even the start of it.

Mr. rmstrong then looked at a paral-lel passage in ebrews 2:

In the boo of Hebrews we read: For

unto the angels hath he [God] not put in

subjection the world to come, whereof

we spea (Hebrews 2:5). The theme of

the contet here is the world to come.There is but one Earth, but the Bible

speas of three worlds, ages, or civili-

zations on the Earththe world that

then was (the antediluvian world from

Adam to Noah); this present evil world

(from the Flood until Christs return, yet

future); and the world to come (which

starts when Christ comes and sets up

the kingdom of God).

[B]ear in mind the general theme

here, or contet, is the world to come,

whereof we speanot this presentage, now coming rapidly to its end!

Continue on in verse 6: But one in a

certain place testied, saying . Then

follows a uotation from the rst si

verses only of the eighth Psalm.

In this psalm, David continued show-

ing specically that God has now placed

in subjection under man the solid earth,

the Earths atmosphere or air, and the

sea. But now the writer of the boo

of Hebrews is inspired to follow with

OMEGA CENTAURI

A miniature galay of

sorts, this star cluster

holds millions of stars in

an opalescent orb and is

visible to the naed eye in

the Southern Hemisphere.

The formation is etremelyold and uniue in that it

contains stars that differ

in their ages and metallic

composition.



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something radically differentsome-

thing to happen in the world to come!

This revealed nowledge of Gods

purpose for manindof mans incred-

ible, awesome potentialstaggers the

imagination. Science nows nothing

of itno religion reveals it, so far as I

nowand certainly higher education

is in utter ignorance of it.Nevertheless, it is what God says

He has prepared for them that love

Him (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

[L]ets see what is said in this pas-

sage in Hebrews, beginning where

Hebrews leaves off uoting the eighth

Psalm: Thou hast put all things in

subjection under his [mans] feet. For in

that he [God] put all in subjection under

him [man], he [God] left nothing that is

not put under him (Hebrews 2:8).

Is it possible God could meanwhat He says (all things)? Nothing

ecluded?

In the rst chapter, the Moffatt

translation of the Bible renders the

Gree word translated all things as

the universe.

In other words, for those willing to

believe what God says, He says that

He has decreed the entire universe

with all its galaies, its countless suns

and planetseverythingwill be put

under mans subjection.

hats not just Mr. rmstrong sayingthat. Your Bible says God has put man-kind over the universe!

NOT YETMr. rmstrong continued:

But wait a moment! Before you

disbelieve, read the net words in the

same eighth verse: But now we see

not yet all things [the endless universe]

put under him [man]. Remember

(verse 5), this is speaing of the world

to comenot todays world. But

what do we see now, today? But

we see Jesus, who was made a little

lower than the angels [or, for a little

while lower] for the suffering of death,crowned with glory and honour. Man,

other than Christ, is notyetcrowned

with glory and honour.

But see how Christ is already

crowned with glory and honor. Continue:

For it became him, for whom are all

things [the entire universe] and by whom

are all things, in bringing many sons unto

glory, to mae the captain of their sal-

vation perfect through sufferings for

which cause he [Christ] is not ashamed

to call them brethren (verses 10-11).In other words, Christians having

Gods Spirit are joint-heirs with Christ

to inheritall that Christ already has

inherited. He is now in glory! He has

already inherited the entire universe.

He sustains it by His power. Man, if he

is converted, having Gods Holy Spirit

(Romans 8:9), is now only an heirnot

yet a possessor.

But see now how Christ already has

been crowned with glory and honor

and is already in possessionhasalready inherited. Begin with Hebrews,

chapter 1:

God hath in these last days spo-

en unto us by his Son, whom he hath

appointed heir of all things [the entire

universe], by whom also he made the

worlds; who being the brightness of

his glory, and the epress image of his

person, and upholding [sustaining] all

things [the entire universe] by the word

of his power (Hebrews 1:1-3).

God ha dcd h h a gaax, co ad

pa b p d a bjco.

Why the Universe? 41


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The living Christ already sustains the

entire universe by His limitless divine

power. The passage continues to show

His superiority over the angels: He is

the begotten and born Son of God

angels are merely individually created

beings. Angels are now administering

spirits (invisible to us), ministering to

usto us who are now in lower statusthan angels, but who are heirs of salva-

tion, when we, lie Christ, shall become

born sons of God (Hebrews 1:4-14).

Do you see why God stretchedout that vastand presentlyunuseduniverse?

WHAT CREATION IS WAITING FORMr. rmstrongs explanation continued:

Now put this together with what

is revealed in the eighth chapter of

Romans.

Here it speas of Christ as Gods

Son: that he might be the rstborn

among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

Humans having Gods Holy Spirit are

heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ

who, alone of all humans, has already

been born as Gods Son by a resurrec-

tion from the dead (Romans 1:4). He is

the firstof the human family to be borninto the Family of Godthe kingdom of

God. He is our pioneer who has gone

on before. We shall follow at the resur-

rection of the just at Christs return to

Earth in supreme power and glory.

This eighth chapter of Romans,

verse 9, says if we have within us the

Holy Spirit of God we are His begotten

sons, but if we do not have His Spirit

we are none of Hisnot Christians at

all. But verse 11 says that if we have

Gods Holy Spirit growing within and

leading us we shall be raised from the

dead by His Spirit (or if living when

Christ comes we shall be changed

from mortal to immortal).

Now continue: For as many as are

led by the Spirit of God, they are the

sons of God . The Spirit itself beareth

witness with our spirit, that we are thechildren of God: and if children, then

heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with

Christ, if so be that we [in this life] suffer

with him, that we may be also gloried

together. For I recon that the sufferings

of this present time are not worthy to be

compared with the glory which shall be

revealed in us (Romans 8:14-18).

Continue, Revised Standard Ver-

sion: For the creation waits with eager

longing for the revealing of the sons

of God; for the creation [all the suns,planets, stars, moons] was subjected

to futility, not of its own will but by the

will of him who subjected it in hope;

because the creation itself will be set

free from its bondage to decay and

obtain the glorious liberty of the chil-

dren of God. We now that the whole

creation [stars, suns and moons now

in decay and futility] has been groaning

in travail together until now; and not

only the creation but we ourselves [we

Spirit-begotten humans], who have therst fruits of the Spirit [the very few now

being called to salvationthe rst-

fruits] groan inwardly as we wait for

the [birth] as sons (verses 19-23).

What an amazing marvelous revela-

tion of nowledge!

No more amazing, awesome, eye-

opening passage could be written!

It is so astonishingly revealing,

one doesnt fully grasp it just reading

uicly through.

Pa, xcp fo h eah, a a aof dah, dcay ad fy, ag

ha a bo h chd of God.



44/58

First I uoted from verse 29 of

Romans 8 stating Christ was the

rstborn ofmanybrethren.

In Hebrews 1, we see that Christ, the

rst human to be born by a resurrection

from the dead, has been gloried and

now sustains the entire universe. He is

our pioneer who has gone on ahead. At

His return to Earth in power and glory

those who have been converted and

received Gods Holy Spirit shall be borninto the God Family by a resurrection.

Then the entire universe will be put into

subjection under them!

Then, from Romans 8, if we have

and are led by the Holy Spirit of God,

we shall be raised to Spirit composi-

tion and immortality in the God Family

even as Christ was in a.d. 31 upon His

resurrection.

Now once again from verse 19, For

the creation waits with eager longing for

the revealing of the sons of God (rsv).

This shall happen at the time of the res-

urrection, when those who are human

actually becomeby a resurrection or

instantaneous change from mortal esh

to spirit immortalitysons of God.

Now understand please. Why should

the whole universethe creationbe

waiting with eager longing for the actual

birth and appearing of all these sons of

God, to be born into the Family of God?The following verses portray a universe

lled with planets in decay and futil-

ityyet as if subjected now to this dead

state in hope! Because the creation

itself [the universe not now capable of

sustaining life] will be set free from its

bondage to decay and obtain the glori-

ous liberty of the children of God.

Look at the ubble Space elescopeimages. What do you see? Wonder and

PHOBOS

Mars has two moons,

of which this is the larger.

The illuminated part of

this irregularly shaped

natural satellite is 13

miles across, mared

with craters

our awesome universe potential

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