Session 1 – Introduction to Astronomy

Astronomy - The branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the

physical universe as a whole.

Cosmology – The study of the origin and large scale function of the universe

In this session we will look at an overview of these topics in reference to Biblical

Creation vs. Naturalism

Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning God Created the heaven

and the earth”

The Bible says the universe (Time, Space, and Matter) had a beginning

Psalm 147:4: “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”

The Bible also says the universe is finite in size

For a long time cosmologists believed the universe was eternal and infinite in size!

They were wrong.

Keep in mind, the majority (vast) of scientists for thousands of years held to that view, and even though the majority thought it, it was still able to be wrong

Many today are trying to revisit this question to remove the implications

of a beginning

Why is having a beginning a problem?Principle of causality - Everything that has a beginning must have a cause

Principle of causality - Everything that has a beginning must have a cause

How do we know that the universe has not always existed?

Norman Geisler put it well when he said the following: “When we consider the

consequences of a universe that obeys the second law (of thermodynamics)…

there is only one logical conclusion: The universe will eventually run out of usable

energy. Since there is no place for the universe to obtain more fuel; we live in a

finite universe”

The temperature of space is decreasing, showing that the overall energy and heat of the universe is going down! Which means it

had a starting point

Psalm 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line

has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.”

Why did God create everything?

So we can see his power through it

When we look out into the universe there is quite a bit out there

For thousands of years people have been trying to understand the universe scientifically and philosophically

We will take a minute now and look at the structure of the universe

God has created

Planets Satellites

Solar System

A Galaxy cluster

Another thing you notice when examining the universe is what we call the Anthropic

principle in cosmology and astronomy

Paul Davies said: “A clear inspection shows that the Earth is endowed with still more

amazing “conveniences.” Without the layer of ozone above the atmosphere, deadly

ultraviolet radiation from the sun would destroy us, and in the absence of a magnetic

field, cosmic subatomic particles would deluge the Earth’s surface.

Considering that the Universe is full of violence and cataclysms, our own little corner of the cosmos enjoys a benign tranquility. To those who believe that God made the world

for mankind, it must seem that all these conditions are in no way a random or

haphazard arrangement of circumstances, but reflect a carefully prepared environment in which humans can live comfortably, a pre-

ordained ecosystem into which life slots naturally and inevitably—a tailor-made

world” (1980, p. 143).”

Anthropic Constant: Gravity

If the universal law of gravity were slightly

different than it is, life would not be possible!

Anthropic Constant: Centrifugal Force

Anthropic Constant: Rate Of Expansion of the universe

Anthropic Constant: Speed Of Light

Anthropic Constant: The Earth’s Rotation.

If the speed of light were different, life

would not be possible in our

universe.

The amount of daylight versus night time is perfect for the existence of life

Anthropic Constant: Axis Tilt.

Anthropic Constant: Jupiter.

Jupiter acts like a big gravitational shield

protecting the earth and the inner solar system

from material that could destroy us

The axial tilt controls seasons, and is perfect for life as it is

Genesis 1:14-19 (Day 4 of creation) “And God said, Let there be lights in the

firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let

them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it

was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser

light to rule the night: he made the stars also…

…And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the

earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the

darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning

were the fourth day.”

This is not the view point of the secular world though, and they have instead

created theories over time to explain things

Many Cosmologies have existed

Many people do not understand what the big bang theory actually says about the

origin of the universe

When dealing with opposing theories, we need to accurately represent what they say if we are going to have an effective

witness one people

The most common misconception with the big bang is how it happened

Many people think

of the big bang as being an

explosion in space that produces

everything! That’s

wrong.

This is more accurate

Many Christians have embraced the Big Bang model because they think it proves that

the universe had a beginning point (and therefore a cause)

Understand, while the big bang does fit within the data that says the universe had a

beginning, it is not something that is because of the big bang

The decreasing energy and temperature of space shows it had a beginning

What the order of events in the secular big bang model?

13.75 billions years ago, the big bang happens and the universe

comes into existence

4.6 billion years ago the sun was birthed from dust clouds in space

After the sun (a star) forms, the debris left over can create other things like planets

4.55 billion years ago, our planet (earth) formed from material left over

What are the Biblical problems?

We will not delve into the problems with the big bang theory until next session

While we do think this is an important issues, and while we do think accepting the

big bang theory is compromising the creation account, this is not an issues

to divide over!

Godly Christian men and women believe in the big bang theory

Not everyone in the secular world accepts the big bang theory though

Many still have scientific and philosophical problems with the implications of the big

bang (a starting point to time)

Physicist today are working on models that can allow for the universe to exist forever,

eliminating the necessity for cause

But does an infinite universe even make sense philosophically

or scientifically?

David Hilbert, perhaps the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century,

states, “The infinite is nowhere to be found in reality. It neither exists in nature nor provides

a legitimate basis for rational thought. The role that remains for the infinite to play is

solely that of an idea.”

If the universe never had a beginning, that means that the number of past events in the

history of the universe is infinite. But mathematicians recognize that the existence of an actually infinite number of things leads

to self-contradictions.

Here is an example:

Earth rotates around the sun every 365

days, while Neptune rotates around

the sun every 60,000 days

Neptune takes 164 earth years to orbit the sun

If you assume they have been orbiting the sun for an infinite time, which one has

orbited the sun the most?

Mathematically they would have rotated the sun the same amount (infinity)

Things like this make infinity a mathematical

and logical problem

Memory VerseColossians 1:17: “And he is before

all things, and in him all things hold together”