“The Cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be.” If you are between 35and 55 years of age you probably remember that quote from Carl Sagan very well and most likely spent much of high school science class watching his video series Cosmos. Implicit in that statement is the assumption of materialism – the belief that matter is all that exists. This same philosophy is echoed by current day scientists Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Richard Dawkins. Is there a way to test this assumption? Is the data that nature is revealing to us indicating that matter is all there is, or is the data trending in the direction of much more?
If matter is all that exists, then as we do more science, we should be more and more convinced that we can describe everything in terms of blind forces and random motions of atoms. But if materialism is not true, and instead there is an intelligence that exists that created and designed the universe, then the data we find as we learn more about the universe should increase in support of a super intelligent mind who planned and created the universe for us.
Most people are familiar with the evidence for the beginning of the universe; the most tested and confirmed scientific theory requires that there be a beginning to all space, matter, time & energy. This was pretty much settled in the mid-sixties with the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave BackgroundRadiation(CMBR). But what has happened since that discovery? In the last 53 years, has the trend-line of discoveries moved us closer to materialism or has the data given us more evidence for a creator?
In 1968, Stephen Hawkingand Roger Penrose published their singularity theoremwhich showed that if you could run time backwards, space and time would eventually reach a singularity of infinite curvature. Since infinitely curved space has no spatial volume, then there cannot be any matter present at the singularity and any universe governed by General Relativity must begin with this infinitely curved space and time. A reasonable conclusion from this theorem is that all space, matter, time & energy must have been created by an agent outside of space and time. This was basically confirmed again in 2003 with the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin singularity theorem, which states that any universe which is expanding must have a past space-time boundary or a beginning.Twentiethcentury cosmology has basically been a series of failed attempts to avoid this reasonable conclusion of a beginning of the universe. In 2012, Alexander Vilenkin stated in New Scientist magazine that we can’t avert a beginning: “Allthe evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning.”[1]
Notice Vilenkin says that all the evidence points to a beginning; this trend has continued since 2012. In 2015, 100 years after Einstein predicted them with General Relativity, gravity waves were discovered. Two other crucial predictions of the standard model were the “missing baryons” and the presence of helium hydride. The baryons were finally discovered in 2018 using four different, independent models while helium hydride was just detected in 2019.
Back in the 1970s the missing baryons was a big problem because the big bang creation model predicted that there should be many more baryons in the universe—nearly ten times as many—as what astronomers at that time had inventoried. This dilemma led to lingering doubts about the validity of the biblically predicted big bang modelfor the universe.[2]
A challenge for big bang cosmology is to explain how the first stars can form from an elemental mix of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium. Astronomers determined decades ago and recently affirmed that molecular hydrogen (H2) is required to generate sufficient local gas cooling that stars can form from just hydrogen and helium.However, helium hydride (HeH+) is an essential precursor for the formation of molecular hydrogen. Without helium hydride in the universe, there is no possibility of stars. Without stars in the universe, there is no possibility of physical life.[3]
In 2019 we were also able to generate an image of a black hole. All of these discoveries (gravity waves, the baryons, the helium hydride, and the black hole image) act as confirmation for the standard model of the universe based on General Relativity.
The EHT images of the vicinity of the event horizon of the black hole in M87 provide new strong gravity regime tests of general relativity. And, the new data do indeed confirm the predictions of GR. This follows in the heels of the impressive first direct detection of gravity waves in 2015, made a century after Einstein predicted their existence. GR forms the foundation of modern cosmology, and, in particular the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang strongly implies a beginning to the material universe and an immaterial cause.[4]
Even when there is some evidence that the standard model may need tweaking, no one questions the absolute beginning or the expansion.Evidence for an absolute beginning of space, time, matter, and energy continues to pour in. The trendline of data from our study of the universe continues to strengthen the reasonable conclusion that all space, matter, time & energy must have been created by an agent outside of space and time.
[1]New Scientist magazine Why physicists can’t avoid a creation event, 11 January 2012
[2]Today’s New Reason To Believe, Discovery of Missing Atomic Matter Boosts Cosmic Creation Model, Hugh Ross, November 12, 2018
[3]Today’s New Reason To Believe, Helium Hydride Detection Affirms Big Bang Creation Model,Hugh Ross, April 29, 2019
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