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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781496956415 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 12/17/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 86 |
| File size: | 684 KB |
About the Author
• Bachelor of Arts from Nebraska Wesleyan University
• Master of Divinity from St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri
• Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary
• Extensive undergraduate and graduate work in philosophy, sociology, and geology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• Graduate work at Duke University
Read an Excerpt
Cosmology and Theology
By Terry Cain
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2014 Terry CainAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4969-5412-1
CHAPTER 1
IN THE BEGINNING
"The researches of many commentators have already thrown much darkness on this subject, and it is probable that, if they continue, we shall soon know nothing at all about it." (Mark Twain)
The prevailing theory (and a good one!) is that you were created inside a very large star! Most of the elements that make up your body – iron, nitrogen, sulfur, hydrogen, carbon, and everything else found in your body – were formed inside a star that eventually exploded and sent debris (including the material used to create your body) spewing out into space only to be gathered together again into another star (our sun) and our solar system including Earth, where we materialized! The process took billions of years, but here you are!! Exciting? Awesome?
A person who enjoys an inquiring mind conceivably has a richer interaction with the universe or at least with the world he or she experiences on a daily basis. Inquiry exercised assiduously can open fascinating possibilities just as one enjoys the anticipation and revelation associated with the opening of a birthday gift. There is no doubt that early life experiences develop that sense of wonder and curiosity which causes us to ask questions and seek knowledge. Personal encounters, street-smart experiences, and perhaps most of all, reading, broadened our world. Today, however, technology beyond our wildest dreams has opened up worlds of possibilities to stretch our understandings and imaginations. A case could be made that the more we know concerning a thing or event the more we can enjoy our experience of that item. Consequently our lives should be enriched and made more enjoyable through our search for answers to life's more important questions.
As you read this book, be prepared to encounter many superlatives, such as amazing, awesome, incredible, marvelous, and other similar descriptions. It is the nature of the subject matter to generate such adjectives. We wouldn't expect to discuss the universe, God and immortality without using strong descriptions.
If you haven't lost interest in the direction of this discussion so far, it should rekindle your interest to know that regardless of whether this book will have anything worthy to say; the major theme, at the least, should capture the imagination of most people. Even if this book does not satisfy your expectations, it shouldn't deter you from pursuing other sources in a search for answers or relevant discussions concerning that major theme. Hopefully, you are one of the inquiring minds that spends some time asking yourself the questions: What is the nature of the universe?; Is there a God?; What is the relationship of God to the physical universe and its inhabitants?; What happens at death? Is there an on-going existence of the mind/soul/spirit or is it simply destroyed – never to exist in eternity?
The theme of this book is to see the above questions, and related ones, as belonging to one great subject of inquiry. The author finds it inconceivable that anyone would not find themselves pondering these ideas on a regular basis. Can anyone not wonder about the mystery of death and what happens to a person after it? Do we not exercise ourselves over the matter because we may be a Christian and feel the New Testament has resolved all questions? Or do we find the subject too frightening to contemplate?
Large numbers of people buy books that appeal to our greed, or rehash the old idea of the power of positive thinking, or simply puts forward ideas we all agree with and welcome as a validation of our prejudices (all of which are happening in inexplicable sales rewarding authors with nothing worthwhile or profound to say). Shouldn't we be far more interested in thinking about our universe or what happens to us after our inevitable death? This is not meant to promote this book. It is simply wondering why we do not have a greater interest in the more critical questions concerning life.
The three topics I hope to tie together are the universe, God and what happens to us when we die. I assume these three subjects have to be inseparably related.
Let us set some ground rules to provide the foundation for our discussion. The following axioms will be the basis or framework for the ideas and arguments discussed in this book. They will be repeated in other parts of the book as they become relevant.
One: The universe, creation, God's world is logical and makes sense. Some things about our world seem strange and unreasonable (for example: why a good god would allow pain and suffering) until we unravel them and find there are rational explanations. When we understand what is going on we find that it makes sense. The world is reasonable and sane!
Two: Our values are practical and dependable. Philosophers tell us that we cannot judge physical or moral laws by our own values. For example: we might say that life is cruel and not fair. Philosophers insist we are using our value systems to assess a universe that does not run on our value systems.
The universe does not have to concur or resonate with our principles. Our values are based on our limited perspective and lack of knowledge. I want to assert this second axiom as a truth for the basis of our discussion. If we cannot use our value systems, then we have nothing. Even if we do not agree among ourselves on what those values are; however, each of us must work out our own set of principles, regardless of what others believe. If we cannot impose our values on a judgment of the universe or life, then we have nothing with which to measure. Thus we have nothing to talk about. Conversation is over. To make any progress in understanding the world we live in, we have to accept axiom # two as one of our ground rules.
Three: Simple is usually right. The fourteenth century philosophy of Ockham's razor states the following: Given alternate theories or possibilities, the simplest one is usually right.
Four: The physical (and moral) laws that pertain here in our part of the universe are universal and apply everywhere.
I found an axiom in a book on the chemistry periodic table that seems to summarize the four axioms we propose: "Natura nihil agit frustra" which translates as "there are no grotesques in nature" which that author considered to be "the only undisputed axiom in philosophy; which is in itself, a questionable assessment. The point being that nature tends to be less strange, odd or bizarre than not. More often than not nature will take the more simple and commonplace route rather than the more complex and weird one.
In order to continue this discussion we need to accept these four axioms as the basic foundation for the ideas of this book, even if they are not personally your own beliefs. Without this foundation for discussion we have nothing to talk about. We are not arguing the truth of these axioms. I begin by assuming them and develop a story that they support.
* * *
Warning: read this book and you will want to read it over and over again. You may become a person with a one book library (three books if you include the dictionary and telephone directory).
CHAPTER 2UNIVERSE
The cover of this book is one of the most incredible photographs ever taken! (The title of the book and author's name did not appear in the original NASA photo.) The picture was taken with the Hubble Telescope over a ten day period of exposures. Such long exposures are necessary to register the light from such faint objects. Each fuzzy spot of light or elliptical object is a galaxy, each one containing more than a hundred billion stars! We're told that the nearest ones are millions of light years distant and many of the faintest ones are billions of light years away! How far is that? Remember if you turn on a flashlight tonight and aim it parallel to the ground, and if the light could bend with the curvature of the Earth and travel around the Earth and back to you again at the speed of light, it would make the trip around the Earth seven and a half times in one second! I am using exclamation marks because these facts are startling and unbelievable. Even at that incredible speed (seven and a half times around the Earth in one second), it takes light from some of these galaxies a billion or more years to reach us!! Yes, two exclamation marks! If this information by itself doesn't intrigue your imagination and excite you, then that in itself is an astounding fact!
Let me share a reason for beginning this book with considerable material describing the nature of our universe. The purpose is to overwhelm you with the magnificence of our universe that you might be impressed with the power and organized complexity that would be questionable to attribute it to random chance.
Take another look at the cover. The electromagnetic waves that resulted in this exposure started out millions and billions of years ago and only recently reached Earth. The nearest galaxy to us is Andromeda at over a million light years away. (It is not in the photo on the cover.)
Astronomy is one of the most fascinating of subjects, if not the most fascinating of all. Part of its charm, and also its frustration, comes from the awesome vastness of the universe. Contemplating these aspects of the cosmos is a dizzying exercise. The job of astronomers, physicists and mathematicians is to investigate and then describe the universe. The frustration just mentioned lies in the fact that most of the subject matter is so far away and many present too many obstacles for accurate examination and measurement.
Scientists pose theories to explain the mysteries of black holes, quasars, dark matter, and other objects as well as simply the overall nature of the entire universe. Anyone familiar with the subject knows that the theories, descriptions or ideas put forward seeking to explain the more exotic elements of the universe inevitably fall short of a satisfactory explanation and leave some embarrassing contradictions unaccounted for. For example, one noted theoretical physicist admitted that his colleagues are "well known for the prodigality with which they invent and discard theories." He admitted there are myths and mysteries in cosmology that create confusion and inaccuracies.
So can a non-scientist offer some ideas concerning the anatomy of the universe? If there are some stark inconsistencies or unanswered problems in such amateur ideas, how would that be different from the current and less than adequate theories of the professionals regarding the Big Bang, the expanding universe, String theory, the curvature of space, multiple universes and so forth?
The thoughts in this chapter tend towards the old fashion Newtonian laws of physics as a foundation for some new reasons for revisiting old concepts. An example would be an infinite universe that is not expanding despite what the red shift Doppler Effect suggests. I also argue that space does not curve. We are not the center of the universe. And perhaps much more.
Not being a scientist, the following suggestions may seem amateurish. I warn you that I am a theologian. However, this means that I will try to get away with claiming that instead of getting my ideas on the universe from scientific observation and experimentation, I get my information directly from the original source. (And "God" wouldn't lead me astray would "he"?) That should eliminate any rebuttal. Nevertheless, I will simply label the proposals in this chapter "thoughts" and not theories.
Disclaimer: These thoughts belong to a non-scientist amateur and reflect the influence of an old fashion astronomy. Some of the discussion is much out of date; some is current and acceptable, and some is "right on" and accurate despite being dismissed by and drawing the ire of scientists.
What is the purpose of this chapter? It would seem that any discussion concerning the nature of God should include an examination of God's creation, the universe – what we think we know of it so far. Having said that, it would seem to follow logically that every theologian or person with a desire to study God should become a mini-scientist. A theologian should have an insatiable desire to know more about the world and the universe either by reading and study or personal pursuit. A religious person should be filled with cosmic wonder.
Some noted scientists started their careers as theology students. Indeed, Darwin began his studies in theology. One of the reasons he finally became more of an agnostic was due to his observation of the cruelty and violence of nature. I will try to take some of the sting out of this problem later in this book.
Isaac Newton wanted to know the mind of God and so he pursued serious religious studies. The scientist and Dominican priest, Giordano Bruno, was burned at the stake in 1600 AD for claiming the sun was just one of many other suns (stars) in the universe. Copernicus was a canon of the Roman Catholic Church. The list goes on.
Now we come to the main theme of this chapter. Next to the difficulties of measuring a subject so vast, the Christian church was one of the serious obstacles to cosmological advances. A major controversy focused on the religious tenant that we, the Earth, were at the center of the universe and everything else. If it (stars, planets, moons) moved, it moved around the Earth. Early Christian theology saw it as an imperative to have humanity be the centerpiece of God's creation - the navel. Consequently, the various theories of an alternative center of our universe, such as the sun, would be heresy. As an example of the pervasiveness of theology, the second century AD astronomer, Ptolemy, gave us a contorted arrangement of circles to account for the observable movement of the planets around the Earth in order to conform to the church's teaching. In the 16th Century, Tycho Brahe tried to correct the deficiencies of Ptolemy's explanation by having the planets move around the sun, but keeping the Earth in the center by having both the sun and planets move around us.
The two early cosmologists who dared take the Earth out of its rightful religious position as center of the universe were Aristarchus and Copernicus. This was disturbing to the church. The church said the Earth had to be the center of the universe. Science finally came to the position that, no, the Earth is not the center of the universe. The church did not give up. Galileo (a seventeenth century astronomer who was also guided by our third axiom as he asserted that the laws of nature are simple, not complicated) was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church for teaching that the Earth revolved around the sun and was not the center of the universe.
The point of this discussion here is the ironic turn of events that may prevail today. From all the discussions of cosmologists that I read, the current theories actually place the Earth back in its original spot as the center of our universe. I, as a theologian (confuting the church's traditional position), believe we are not the center! Let me explain.
Astronomers look out in every direction from the vantage point of Earth and perceive galaxies as far as the telescopes can see. Using their difficult attempts to measure the distance to those galaxies furtherest out, they determined they are roughly 14 billion light years away. They also assume they may be observing the edge of the universe and that there are apparently no more (or very few) galaxies beyond this point. Since this observation is true in every direction, they apparently believe we are once more at the center of the universe! Since they believe they are viewing the outer limits, the age of the universe is determined to be 14 billion years old. More on the problems this assumption creates later.
Figure 2.1 represents a slice through the middle of the universe, if we visualize it as many astronomers do, as an expanding structure analogous to a balloon being blown up. The circle with the "E" is Earth (or more precisely, the Milky Way galaxy containing Earth and our solar system) and the other objects are galaxies. The large circle represents the edge of the universe as proposed by astronomers today.
Most scientific discussion is carried on as if we are more or less at the center, and three arrangements concerning the location of galaxies emerge. One is illustrated by figure 2.1 with the run-away galaxies expanding or moving away from us distributed on the outer edges, leaves the central region devoid of galaxies due to their vacating the area in their move away into outer space (which isn't considered space at all in most models). The universe according to some astronomers is not expanding into empty space, but instead into nothingness which isn't space as you and I think of it. Simple observation indicates this isn't the case. Galaxies fill all regions somewhat uniformly, exceptions are negligible and not relevant to this discussion. If space and the universe were expanding, it would seem to be the case that the galaxies "farther out" from the center would on average be further apart than those not as far out towards the edge. Compare lines A and B in figure 2.1 to see this. Yet actual observations of the spacing of galaxies do not bear this out as I understand it to be the case.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Cosmology and Theology by Terry Cain. Copyright © 2014 Terry Cain. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter 1 In the beginning, 1,Chapter 2 Universe, 5,
Chapter 3 God, 43,
Chapter 4 Immortality, 62,