Faithpoint

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Universe fading away

Universe is fading away, say astronomers

David Adam, science correspondent Monday August 18, 2003 The Guardian

The lamps are going out all over the universe. Astronomers have found that not enough bright young stars are emerging to take the place of the old stars burning out, so, in the ultimate retirement crisis, the cosmos is simply fading away. And we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime - by the time our swollen sun is expected to swallow the Earth in the dim and distant future, the light from the stars could be down to around half of what it is now. In time, there will be no stars left shining at all.

An Atheist's Case against Design

Comments invited. Mailto:vstenger@mindspring.com.

Seminar I. Design in the Cosmos

T: Where did the universe come from? A: Why did it have to come from anything? T: Everything has to come from something. A: Then, you tell me. Where did the universe came from? T: The universe came from God. A: Where did God come from? T: God did not have to come from anything. He always was. A: Then everything does not have to come from something after all. Perhaps the universe always was.

T: Philosopher William Lane Craig has argued that the universe had a beginning, therefore it must have had a cause. That cause is God. A: Quantum events can happen without cause. Perhaps our universe was a quantum event in a larger universe that always was. T: You have no evidence for this. A: You have no evidence against it. Current physics and cosmology allow for such a scenario.

Grumpy Old Atheists

There's nothing in the world quite like a grumpy old atheist. I deal with them every day in various forums, and I can tell you now they're getting grumpier than they were a few years ago. From what I can see, it's fuelled by the gnawing realisation that things are not going their way. A couple of incidents in the past few weeks provide a good example.

There's a man named "Jim" who calls me up on Radio Pacific talkback most weeks, usually to attack my views on this, that or the other. Nothing wrong with that - it's what makes for challenging debate and interesting radio. But Jim is getting rattled, and the other day he lost it.

What is the point of being a Christian?

What is the point of being a Christian? Silly question perhaps on the surface...but deeper down it’s a question we should all take time to ponder.

The obvious answer is to enter into a personal relationship with God and to accept Jesus as Saviour.

But what good news do we bring the world if that is the sole test of being a Christian?

I’ve had good reason to reflect on these issues this week, both as a result of my talkback show and an article in the Listener magazine.

Callers to the show...on a secular network...sometimes complain about the amount of Christian discussion. These are the same kind of people, by the way, who also complain about Hot Cross Buns being religious symbols and who call for Nativity Scenes to be banned from shopping malls and schools at Christmas.

Creation of the universe

There was a little piece of news last week that slipped out without much fanfare, and it probably escaped the attention of a planet obsessed with the possibility of war in the Middle East.

Eclipsed also by the space shuttle tragedy and, back here in New Zealand, dangerous dogs and the Americas Cup, it’s easy to see why you might have missed this particular morsel of news.

So let me tell you a little about it. Several years ago, the American space agency NASA launched a new satellite to explore the very origins of the Universe.

A Journey

I want to take you on a little journey today...a trip into a what-if scenario. I want you to imagine a small wooden cottage on the edge of a small village.

Inside, as the late afternoon sun sets around him, an artisan works furiously to put the finishing touches to his pride and joy, oblivious to the golden rays of light streaming in through the window and spilling onto the scattered tools and equipment around him.

In the corner...a fire gently crackles in the grate, but again, the gleam in our artisan’s eye is only for the object of his attention.

With a final rub from his dusty cloth, he smiles and pauses to take in the magnificence of what he’s achieved. Staring back at him is his own reflection from the seamless polished surface of a beautiful gilt-edged mirror.

Valentines Day

Roses are red, violets are blue…it’s Valentines Day…what do you do?

Well, I’ll leave the romantic ideas up to you…but on a day like this there’s merit in exploring the issue of relationships.

You see, a marriage is a little like our relationship with God. It involves give and take, respect, some mutual adoration and the ability to take the good with the bad.

And I think New Zealand’s difficulties in keeping marriages together is likewise a reflection of our difficulty as a society in maintaining a relationship with God.

We are a generation in search of the instant fix…the instant gratification. If it breaks, biff it out. Nothing gets repaired anymore – try rationalising a $40 charge for repairing a kettle against the $39.95 price tag for buying an entirely new kettle…and cordless to boot.

The Iraq War - some context

So the battle has commenced...a live TV war is underway...and it’s hard to comprehend what is happening in Babylon.

First...a little history. The bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil, back in the Middle Ages, saw the deaths of 40,000 people in one day. Roman historian Tacitus records a Roman battle where 80,000 people were slaughtered in one day.

It goes without saying that back in these times there were no weapons of mass destruction.

To acheive 80,000 deaths in Roman times, imagine how many more tens of thousands escaped wounded. Now imagine that each death came brutally as a direct result of face to face, hand to hand combat. No machine guns...no mortar bombs...just sheer bloodlust.

Now let me take you forward in history to World War One and the Battle of the Somme. One million troops died in that battle.

Creationism and the war

I’m feeling a little like I’ve been in a warzone this week….under fire from all sides which I guess, as a journalist, indicates you’re probably doing your job.

The first missile to come over the horizon was the result, ironically, of one of my Soapbox pieces a couple of weeks ago when I talked about NASA confirming the Big Bang origin of the Universe and – even more significantly – that our Universe is a one off that is in the process of dying and will never exist again.

In other words, NASA is corroborating the principles of Scripture, if not the detail.

And that’s what the complaint was about.