George D. Foss
New Member
What the Secular World Says About Creation
In 1917 Albert Einstein(a widely touted genius) tried his hand at a solution to the origin of the universe. Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in 'Spinoza's God', who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" -- and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Arthur Eddiington(1882-1944),experimentally confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1919. Then, after Einstein's General Theory of Relativity became commonly accepted around 1927 as proof that the universe had a beginning, Eddington. an atheist, commented in his book The Nature of the Physical World: "Religion first became possible for a reasonable man of science in the year 1927." Many of his defenders have complained that this statement has been used out of context because it is not consistent with Eddigmton's personal atheistic views. Eddington later stated: "Philosophically, the notion of a beginning to the present order is repugnant to me. I should like to find a genuine loophole, we must allow evolution an infinite amount of time to get started." Then Einstein ultimately gave at best a reluctant assent to what he called "the necessity for a beginning" and eventually to "the presence of a superior reasoning power." But he never did embrace the concept of a personal Creator, a compassionate God who cares for men and women and children.
To his dismay, Einstein found that his theory of relativity would not permit an eternal model of the universe unless he introduced into his gravitational field equations a certain "fudge factor' in order to counterbalance the gravitational effect of matter. Einstein's universe was balanced on a razor's edge, however, and the least perturbation would cause the universe either to implode or to expand.
Then, in 1920, after contemplating Einstein's model, Alexander Friedman and George Lemaitre came up withy a theory which predicted an expanding universe. The Friedman-Lemaitre model of an expanding universe had never before been considered by scientists. Up to that time the universe was regarded as fixed and immutable and the idea that it might actually be changing was inconceivable. However, if the Friedman-Lemaitre model proved correct, the universe could no longer be adequately treated as an eternal entity that has always existed. It would mean that the universe had a beginning. In 1929 Edwin Hubble's experiments dealing with the red-shift in the optical spectra of light from distant galaxies, gave confirmation to the Friedman-Lemaitre model. Hubble had discovered the isotropic expansion of the universe as predicted by Friedman-Lemaitre. This experimental discovery marked a veritable turning point in the history of science. This discovery implies that as one reverses the expansion and extrapolates back in time, one finally arrives at a singular point of beginning. The universe became a reality when this singular point exploded in a singular "BIG BANG."
In 1917 Albert Einstein(a widely touted genius) tried his hand at a solution to the origin of the universe. Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in 'Spinoza's God', who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" -- and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Arthur Eddiington(1882-1944),experimentally confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1919. Then, after Einstein's General Theory of Relativity became commonly accepted around 1927 as proof that the universe had a beginning, Eddington. an atheist, commented in his book The Nature of the Physical World: "Religion first became possible for a reasonable man of science in the year 1927." Many of his defenders have complained that this statement has been used out of context because it is not consistent with Eddigmton's personal atheistic views. Eddington later stated: "Philosophically, the notion of a beginning to the present order is repugnant to me. I should like to find a genuine loophole, we must allow evolution an infinite amount of time to get started." Then Einstein ultimately gave at best a reluctant assent to what he called "the necessity for a beginning" and eventually to "the presence of a superior reasoning power." But he never did embrace the concept of a personal Creator, a compassionate God who cares for men and women and children.
To his dismay, Einstein found that his theory of relativity would not permit an eternal model of the universe unless he introduced into his gravitational field equations a certain "fudge factor' in order to counterbalance the gravitational effect of matter. Einstein's universe was balanced on a razor's edge, however, and the least perturbation would cause the universe either to implode or to expand.
Then, in 1920, after contemplating Einstein's model, Alexander Friedman and George Lemaitre came up withy a theory which predicted an expanding universe. The Friedman-Lemaitre model of an expanding universe had never before been considered by scientists. Up to that time the universe was regarded as fixed and immutable and the idea that it might actually be changing was inconceivable. However, if the Friedman-Lemaitre model proved correct, the universe could no longer be adequately treated as an eternal entity that has always existed. It would mean that the universe had a beginning. In 1929 Edwin Hubble's experiments dealing with the red-shift in the optical spectra of light from distant galaxies, gave confirmation to the Friedman-Lemaitre model. Hubble had discovered the isotropic expansion of the universe as predicted by Friedman-Lemaitre. This experimental discovery marked a veritable turning point in the history of science. This discovery implies that as one reverses the expansion and extrapolates back in time, one finally arrives at a singular point of beginning. The universe became a reality when this singular point exploded in a singular "BIG BANG."