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- Eugene D. A. Bell-Gam
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Excerpts from ..
INTRODUCTION |
RELIGION ON ORIGIN |
SCIENCE ON ORIGIN 1 |
SCIENCE ON ORIGIN 2 |
FOCUSING ON PURPOSE |
SOLAR LABORATORY THEORY |
IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY |
Science On Origin Part 1: The Universe
[abridged excerpts]
What Do We Mean By 'Science'?
[Science has been defined as] "the study of the structure and behaviour of the
physical and natural world and society, especially through observation and
experiment".
The traditional standard for scientific method is Inductivism, an
approach that requires three indispensable steps: observe, induce a
hypothesis and confirm the hypothesis. This narrow and restrictive
interpretation of what should pass for science has led to accusations
that it is nothing more than an ideology based on unjustifiably
exclusive dogma.
As philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend pointed out
in 1975, accepting scientific ideas requires the same leap of faith
needed to acknowledge unseen deities. For we can never be sure that we
have taken all relevant material into consideration, and there is no
certainty that a future occurrence or activity will always mimic its
past nature.
Nevertheless scientists argue, with some justification, that scientific
methodology provides the best explanations that can unify the disparate
mounds of evidence we have accumulated about our world and the
universe.
Astronomy / Cosmology
... Until the 16th century it was wrongly believed that the earth was the
centre around which the known universe revolved. Religious scholars
sponsored this erroneous belief to perpetuate their conviction that the
earth and mankind were the centrepiece of God's creation.
The astronomers Copernicus (1473-1543), Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo
(1564-1642) demonstrated that, in fact, the earth revolved around the
sun and that it was the sun that lay at the centre of our solar system.
This proposition was so controversial and alarming that the Church
rejected it. Strong theoretical support for these radical ideas was
provided in 1687 by Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation. But
it was the emergence of Cosmology at the end of the 19th century that
gave rise to the first, empirically testable theories on the universe's
origin that did not involve a supernatural creator ...
... The inception of Cosmology can be traced to
Albert Einstein's relativity theories. His theory of special relativity
(1905) showed that energy and matter are different aspects of the same
thing, and can be transformed into each other. His theory of general
relativity (1917) leads to field equations that are inconsistent with
religious teachings of a static universe that a creator finished once
and for all in six days.
Between 1922 and 1924, Alexander Friedmann first proposed that the
universe started from a tiny volume at some finite time in the past.
This suggested that it was capable of expansion and was not static.
Then in 1927 Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest who was also a
scientist, put forward the breath-taking theory that the universe was
born from the inexplicable explosion of a single, minute, very hot,
tightly compressed particle. Its explosion supposedly hurled matter and
energy in all directions and kick-started space and time. ...
Big-Bang Theory
The explosion hypotheses have been condensed into The Big Bang Theory
[20]. This is now the dominant scientific theory about the origin of the
universe. Latest versions of Big Bang state that the universe was
created sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago. Its
founding 'seed' was made out of nothing and appeared out of nowhere.
Still, the temperature inside was so high (more than a billion degrees
Celsius) that nuclear reactions could take place that would result in
the formation of hydrogen, helium and some lithium. Very rapid
expansion followed, resulting in a cooling down that allowed the matter
created to form galaxies over billions of years.
Our earth, according to Big Bang, appeared along with the other planets
in our solar system around 5 billion years ago. The entire system (sun
and planets) supposedly arose from a collapsing cloud of dust and gas,
somewhere in one of the galaxies spawned by the earlier mysterious
explosion.
The term 'Big Bang' is a sarcastic description coined by British
astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle in the 1940s when comparing it to his
preferred Steady State Theory. [21] ...
Problems With Big-Bang
Big Bang is ... fraught with problems. Although it explains issues
like the expansion of the universe and the abundance of certain gaseous
elements in space, it probably will never be proven conclusively.
Crucially, it offers no explanation as to the origin of the exploding
primordial particle or what caused it to explode ...
Ironically, the strongest evidence in favour of Big Bang -- residual
cosmic radiation -- is also an Achilles heel. Wherever this has been
measured it has been found to be extremely uniform in all directions.
The universe is composed of intermittent galaxies and voids that make
it far from uniform ...
Other Missing Pieces
When astronomers in the 1930s ... attempted to calculate
the mass of galaxies ...
They came to the startling conclusion that as much as 90
percent of the universe must be composed of matter that could not be
detected!
... In the 1970s, astronomers led by Vera Rubin of the US Carnegie
Institution used updated technology to confirm this anomaly. The
missing mass is known as 'dark matter'. Of course it may not be dark
at all but merely transparent.
Recently the mystery has deepened. After calculating the mass of all
the galaxies visible in the universe, astronomers have found that ... dark matter
... only amounts to about one-third of the critical density ...
Yet another unknown component makes up as much as two-thirds of the universe!
This new mysterious factor ... has been labelled 'dark energy'.
Linked to the mysteries of missing dark matter and dark energy is the
discovery of some galaxies that appear to have formed less than two
billion years after the Big Bang. At that time in the evolution of
the universe, gravity alone would not have provided sufficient
'clumping' power to form such structures. Cosmologists are therefore
concluding that the early universe must already have had some structure
or texture, and/or that dark matter and dark energy were already
shaping the form of 'visible' matter with unseen hands.
Creation scientists have a simple explanation for the observed
anomalies: they believe that dark matter and dark energy remain
undetected because they do not exist. Galaxies, they say, are only
expected to possess 100 times more mass than has been detected because
of the erroneous assumption that the universe is billions rather than
thousands of years old ...
Where Is It All Heading?
The amazing discoveries in recent decades are at once exciting and
troubling. Scientists now agree that the ultimate fate of the universe
hangs on its ability to counter the increasing force of expansion with
its inward gravitational pull [23]. If the current furious expansion
continues indefinitely the universe will eventually lose the battle and
get pulled apart into a cold, desolate landscape of dying stars and
black holes. If the expansion stops suddenly and the universe starts
recoiling, it will shrink until galaxies start colliding and vanish
ultimately into a gigantic black hole. But there is a third more appealing
scenario: the universe may gradually slow down to a halt and end up in precise
balance ...
... There is another matter of concern closer in time. Scientists calculate
that in about 4-6 billion years the sun will burn up its nuclear
hydrogen fuel supply and expand into a red giant. When this happens it
will incinerate all solar planets, including earth.
In July 2001
astronomers observed a chilling rehearsal of what is to come. A NASA
satellite detected CW Leonis, a distant star, in its death throes [24].
The star is located about 500 light years from earth in the
constellation Leo. Intriguingly scientists have also detected huge
concentrations of water vapour around CW Leonis. This raises the
exciting possibility that bodies like our planets with enough water to
support life (as we know it) may once have existed around this star.
Common Ground With Religion
Has science unwittingly given credence to age-old religious and
mythological beliefs that the universe was created by a supernatural
deity? It is certainly ironical that science continues to espouse a
kind of religious 'blind faith' in the ability of inanimate matter to
create itself from an unknown source or sources, but at the same time
continues to deny the possibility of an unknown intelligent creator.
The following quotes from some eminent scientists and writers sum up
trends in thinking.
Gregg Easterbrook (journalist)
"If nothing else, the theological idea of creation ex nihilo - out of
nothing - is looking better all the time as 'inflation' theories
increasingly suggest the universe emerged from no tangible source. The
word 'design,' rejected by most 20th-century scientists as a
theological taboo in the context of cosmology or evolution, is even
creeping back into the Big-Bang debate." [25]
H. C. Arp et al (evolutionists):
"Cosmology is unique in science in that it is a very large intellectual
edifice based on very few facts" [26]
Paul Davies (Australian theoretical physicist/professor of philosophy):
"It is impossible to be a scientist, even an atheist scientist, and
not be struck by the awesome beauty, harmony, and ingenuity of nature.
What most impresses me is the existence of an underlying mathematical
order, an order that led the astronomer Sir James Jeans to declare,
'God is a pure mathematician'." [27]
Robert Jastrow (Astronomer. Founder, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space
Studies):
"I am an agnostic in religious matters. However, I am fascinated by
strange developments going on in astronomy because of their religious
implications. The essential elements in the astronomical and Biblical
accounts of Genesis are the same: the chain of events leading to man
commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash
of light and energy ...
"... Scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon that
cannot be explained. There is a kind of religion in science . . . that
every event in the universe can be explained in a rational way as the
product of some previous event. This faith is violated by the discovery
that the world had a beginning under conditions in which the known laws
of physics are not valid, and as a product of forces we cannot
discover ... [30]
[Read more ... get the book]
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The Book
Pen Press, London
ISBN: 1-904018-86-6
Buy it now!
BOOK CONTENTS
Preface
1. INTRODUCTION
Timeless Questions,
Shifting Answers
Crisis and Contradiction
Conflicting Indoctrination
Importance of the Debate
2. RELIGION ON ORIGIN
What is Religion?
Early Accounts of Origin
Creation Science
Common Ground with Science
3. SCIENCE ON ORIGIN
PART 1: THE UNIVERSE
What do we mean by Science?
Astronomy
Cosmology
Big-Bang Theory
Problems with Big-Bang
More Missing Pieces
Where is it all heading?
Common Ground with Religion
4. SCIENCE ON ORIGIN
PART 2: LIFE
Evolution
Darwinism
Impact of Modern Genetics
Problems with Evolution
Evolution, Religion & Social Science
What Next?
5. FOCUSING ON PURPOSE
Why restrict Inquiry?
Is it all a futile exercise?
Modern Design Science
Wrong Assumptions
6. THE SOLAR LABORATORY THEORY
An Expendable Experiment
Recording Mechanisms - Memory
Timing Mechanisms
Sleep
Dreaming
Memory Consolidation and Storage
Memory Retrieval
Consciousness and The Mind-Brain
Death
Quantum Unreality
Influencing Mechanisms
7. IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY
The Role of Free Will
The Good-Evil Paradox
Morality and Religion
The Problem with Religion
Morality outside Religion
Chances of Intervention
False Security
8. DEVELOPMENTS
9. FURTHER READING
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