Transcript John K. Lee, Ph.D International Undergraduate Student Ministry Gracepoint Minneapolis  What happened?  Edwin Hubble discovers all galaxies are moving away from each other, which.

John K. Lee, Ph.D
International Undergraduate
Student Ministry
Gracepoint Minneapolis

What happened?
 Edwin Hubble discovers all galaxies are moving
away from each other, which means the universe
is expanding
 If that’s true, then it means the universe started!

In the beginning….
 No atoms
 No space
 No time
 No physical laws


Enormous burst
What caused it?
 ??
 Must be something outside of the universe

Before the Big Bang Theory (1929), everyone thought…
 Matter exists forever (Conservation of Matter)
 Universe existed forever, at the same size…
▪ Q: Then how come gravity doesn’t make the universe collapse?
Universe is infinitely big and evenly
distributed
Introduced a Cosmological Constant into
his formula to keep the universe from
collapsing
 Theologians who said that universe didn’t exist before were seen as
unscientific
The big bang, the most cataclysmic event
we can imagine, on closer inspection
appears finely orchestrated…Until the late
1910's, humans were as ignorant of cosmic
origins as they had ever been. Those who
didn't take Genesis literally had no reason to
believe there had been a beginning
George Smoot (Physicist)
"[Wilson], like most physicists, would rather
attempt to describe the universe in ways
which require no explanation; there's the
economy of physics. And since science can't
explain anything--it can only describe things-that's perfectly sensible."
Arno Penzias (American physicist)
 Everything that has a beginning
has a cause.
 The universe has a beginning
 Therefore, the universe has a
cause
…demands a designer
𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2
𝜋 = 3.141593
E = m𝑐 2
c = 2.998 x
𝑚
8
10
𝑠
•
Fine-Tuning
– Constants are “fine-tuned” to allow for the
existence of the universe and complex life

Gravitational Force
G = 6.673 x 10-11 m3kg-1s-2

Planck constant
h = 6.626 x 10-34 J s
“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a
universe which was created out of
nothing, one with the very delicate
balance needed to provide exactly the
conditions required to permit life, and
one which has an underlying (one might
say ‘supernatural’) plan.”
Arno Penzias (American physicist)
“The closest is the idea that the
fundamental constants of the universe
are too good to be true. And that does
seem to need some kind of an
explanation.”
Richard Dawkins (British evolutionist, during the
interview in Four Horsemen)
“The remarkable fact is that the values of these
numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted
to make possible the development of life… Most
sets of values would give rise to universes that,
although they might be very beautiful, would
contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.”
Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time, 1996)
“Our universe and its laws appear to have a design
that both is tailor-made to support us and, if we
are to exist, leaves little room for alteration. That
is not easily explained, and raises the natural
question of why it is that way.”
Stephen Hawking (The Grand Design, 2010)
Gravitational Constant (6.673 x 10-11 m3kg-1s-2)

Too Weak:
▪ no planets, no stars

Too Strong:
▪ Big Crunch
Strong Nuclear Force Constant (the force that
holds the nucleus of an atom together)
 2% Weaker:
▪ No molecules
 0.3% Stronger:
▪ No suns, no carbon
Electromagnetic Force Constant (force that binds
electrons to protons in an atom)
Coulomb’s constant ke = 8.98755 x 109 Nm2C-2
 Weaker or stronger just by “a little little bit”:
▪ No molecules
 How much is “little little bit”?
 1 / 1040 =
0.000000000000000000000000000000000000001%


Time: 10-34 second
Temperature: 1027 K

Fine-Tuning of the 4 Forces (Gravity, Electromagnetic,
Strong Nuclear, Weak Nuclear)


Time: 10-10 second
Temperature: 1015 K

Fine-Tuning in Speed
“If the rate of expansion one
second after the big bang
had been smaller by even
one part in a hundred
thousand million million, the
universe would have
recollapsed before it ever
reached its present size.”
 Too slow
▪ Universe collapses
Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of
 Too fast
Time, 1996)
▪ No galaxy formation
 Perfect speed! Fine-Tuning Range = 1/1055
0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000001%

Constants & incidental values of our universe seem very
FINE-TUNED, to make complex life (like us) possible

Who / What designed the universe?

Bibliography
 The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by Barrow & Tipler (1986)
 Nature’s Destiny by Michael Denton (1998)

Overview
 Fine-Tuned Universe, paper by Hugh Ross
The Bible talks of purposeful creation. What
we have, however, is an amazing amount of
order; and when we see order, in our
experience it normally reflects purpose…if we
read the Bible as a whole we would expect
order in the world. Purpose would imply
order, and what we actually find is order.
This world is most consistent with purposeful
creation.”
Arno Penzias (American physicist)
1.
2.
3.
The Universe is fine-tuned for
life
And if life-sustaining planets
are extremely rare (perhaps
Earth is the only one?)
It suggests
1. we are more lucky than ever
imagined
2. OR the fine-tuner had human
beings in mind
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5)
16 And
he told them this parable: "The ground
of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17
He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I
have no place to store my crops.'
18 "Then he
said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear
down my barns and build bigger ones, and
there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19
And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of
good things laid up for many years. Take life
easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very
night your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get what you have prepared
for yourself?'
21 "This is how it will be with anyone who
stores up things for himself but is not rich
toward God."
 Why did God call
 Pursuit of $ …
the rich man a fool?
… distracted him from most
important purpose of his life
 Mankind’s purpose  Personal
relationship with God
 Rich
in relationship
 With
God, it entails:
 Knowing God
 Relating to God
 Spending time with God
 Life
 A journey with God
1. Do you see reasons for believing in God based
on our observation of nature?
2. What conclusions can you make based on the
fine-tuned nature of the universe and the fact
that the world around is full of intentional
information?
3. Where does your sense of purpose and desire
for meaning come from? What standard can you
use to live a meaningful life?
Creation Hypothesis, ed. J.P. Moreland
Science and Christianity: Conflict or
Coherence, Henry Schaefer
The Privileged Planet by Guillermo
Gonzalez and Jay Richards
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon
in the Universe by Peter D. Ward