History More Vivid Than a Book Part II

The first matter to consider is that Big Bang cosmology is NOT based on mere conjecture or abstract philosophizing.  It is true, and very importantly so, that Einstein’s mathematical equations surrounding his “general theory of relativity” told him that the universe must be in the process of expanding, years before Edwin Hubble later noticed in his telescope at Mount Wilson that every nebula (now known to be separate galaxies from our own) were all flying away from us.  That initial discovery by Hubble began the shift from mere speculation about an expanding universe into the realm of full-blown empirical research and analysis.  So scientists today are instead discussing what we can actually observe and measure with scientific instruments.  While no human being was present at creation, we are, through the use of an array of telescopes, able to peer billions of light years back into the past, all the way across an inescapable pattern revealed in the heavenly objects of creation, virtually all the way to its absolute beginning.  In sum, we can see the whole show, the entire story, from its beginning all the way up to the present.  This pattern can be summarized in the following six major observable and measurable facts.

All galaxies (except our closest neighbors, which hang around together because of gravitational (not sexual) attraction) are flying away from each other.  This tells us there was an initial powerful explosion that has caused them to fly apart.

Galaxies that are farther away and therefore closer to the beginning (remember, we are looking back in time), are moving away from us faster than nearer galaxies are.  This tells us that initial explosion is slowing down.

Galaxies farther away are closer together than nearer galaxies (which are closer in time to the present).  This is another measure that tells us the universe is expanding.

Measurements taken at varying distances prove to us that the initial intensely hot beginning is in the process of cooling off, just as we would expect from the aftermath of a powerful explosion.

Scientists know that the initial beginning consisted of only one element, Hydrogen, which shortly began to produce Helium.  Scientific measurements taken of galaxies (and stars within our own galaxy) across the distances of outer space, reveals the pattern of new elements being created over the course of time within the nuclear furnaces in stars and supernova.  This is another way of demonstrating that when scientists look across the universe they are looking back in history.

Scientists came to discover the afterglow of the initial blast at the creation moment of the Big Bang.  This is a major story in its own right, which calls for more time (and space, or for that matter, energy) than I am able to provide today.  But briefly, an unusual form of radiation (entirely uniform in every direction) which was detected in the atmosphere led scientists on a mission to identify its source.  By the rigorous process of elimination they concluded that it must have indicated the very first event in history, the afterglow from the intensely hot absolute beginning of the universe. 

What I ask you to notice from these six discoveries is a pattern which demonstrates an initial blast, out of which the heavens and the earth arrived at their present state by coming into existence out of nothing.  Please do not get hung up by the size or the age of the universe as though God is left out of the picture.  To the contrary, every other suggestion as to the cause of the cosmos is now left out of the picture.  Carl Sagan once said, “In the beginning was hydrogen.”  He was technically correct.  But hydrogen is not creator.  Hydrogen was present then and there, and everything else that has since followed, only because, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).