How Christians should respond to new space images

[BobRyan]

What did Jesus say for us to teach?

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 28 - New International Version

Jesus Has Risen - After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was...

www.biblegateway.com

True --

John 17:7 Now they have come to know that everything which You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

He told the disciples to teach everything He taught - and He taught the the scriptures known to the Jews are to be accepted as "The Word of God" in Mark 7:6-13. HE also said in that same section that making-stuff up that contradicts that scripture is condemned.

And in Matt 24 He taught about events leading up to His appearing - AND he said that he was providing information so that true Christians would not be snookered by end-time deceptions where HE said would be so amazingly powerful they would deceive the whole world.

Back to Mark 7:
6 But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’ 12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

What are His commands which He here explicitly commands us to teach to others?

You will find them easily if you read/listen to His teachings to us in the gospels, such as this one:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

John 13:34 - Love One Another

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

biblehub.com

He said in Matt 22 that the first great commandment is "Love God with all your heart" Deut 6:5 and He said the SECOND greatest commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself" Lev 19:18. Both of them from the Law of Moses.

Lev 19:18 is quoted repeatedly by other NT writers outside the gospel accounts as well. IT was never deleted.

Jesus taught that Adam and Eve are literal history and that God gave us the institution of marriage.
Jesus said "THIS Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the World and then shall the end come" Matt 24

John reminds us in John 1 - that Jesus created the world - just like scripture says He did.

Paul reminds us that Jesus created man first and then woman and that woman came from man. 1 Cor 11:12 exactly as scripture says in Genesis 2.

IN Luke 16 Jesus taught that if people do not listen to Moses then they will not listen even though "one rises from the dead" (i.,e. - Jesus is that one that rose from the dead)

 

[BobRyan]

Just to be sure there's no confusion at all about Romans 10:17, read it in multiple translations:

Rom 10: 16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Heb 8 says it is Christ speaking at Sinai - it is also "The Word of Christ" as it quotes the NEW Covenant from Jeremiah 31:31-34

6 But now He (Christ) has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. 8 For in finding fault with the people, He (Christ) says,
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I will bring about a new covenant
With the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care about them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen,
And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For they will all know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,
And their sins I will no longer remember.”

=======================

Rev 1 says Jesus is the one speaking to John - telling John what to write.

Rev 14: says this
6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”

God quotes Ex 20:11 - regarding the Gen 2:1-3 fact of a literal creation week. This is part of the message CHRIST gave to John - to give to us.

 

[Halbhh]

True --

John 17:7 Now they have come to know that everything which You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

He told the disciples to teach everything He taught - and He taught the the scriptures known to the Jews are to be accepted as "The Word of God" in Mark 7:6-13. HE also said in that same section that making-stuff up that contradicts that scripture is condemned.

And in Matt 24 He taught about events leading up to His appearing - AND he said that he was providing information so that true Christians would not be snookered by end-time deceptions where HE said would be so amazingly powerful they would deceive the whole world.

Back to Mark 7:
6 But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’ 12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

He said in Matt 22 that the first great commandment is "Love God with all your heart" Deut 6:5 and He said the SECOND greatest commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself" Lev 19:18. Both of them from the Law of Moses.

Lev 19:18 is quoted repeatedly by other NT writers outside the gospel accounts as well. IT was never deleted.

Jesus taught that Adam and Eve are literal history and that God gave us the institution of marriage.
Jesus said "THIS Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the World and then shall the end come" Matt 24

John reminds us in John 1 - that Jesus created the world - just like scripture says He did.

Paul reminds us that Jesus created man first and then woman and that woman came from man. 1 Cor 11:12 exactly as scripture says in Genesis 2.

IN Luke 16 Jesus taught that if people do not listen to Moses then they will not listen even though "one rises from the dead" (i.,e. - Jesus is that one that rose from the dead)

Amen. We seem to very well agree that not only is the Old Testament all scripture generally (from God), but in addition that it's also helpful/useful in various ways.

In a wonderful way, so beautifully, Christ often referenced the scriptures (of course at that moment entirely Old Testament alone...) to help Jews understand more, and also to gain new understandings they were not yet seeing.

Foremost we see how the Old Covenant prophets such as Isaiah can be opened to help Israel (Israelites) that 'know God' well (that have read well, and learned deeply, and actually 'know the Lord') to see how Christ fulfilled the prophecies perfectly -- fully, in a complete way, and is the Messiah.

 

[Halbhh]

Rom 10: 16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Heb 8 says it is Christ speaking at Sinai - it is also "The Word of Christ" as it quotes the NEW Covenant from Jeremiah 31:31-34

6 But now He (Christ) has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. 8 For in finding fault with the people, He (Christ) says,
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I will bring about a new covenant
With the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care about them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen,
And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For they will all know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,
And their sins I will no longer remember.”

=======================

Rev 1 says Jesus is the one speaking to John - telling John what to write.

Rev 14: says this
6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”

God quotes Ex 20:11 - regarding the Gen 2:1-3 fact of a literal creation week. This is part of the message CHRIST gave to John - to give to us.

Just in case it helps to know, I happen to interpret the wonderful vision in Genesis as being about literal events (and have for a very long time, since many years ago) -- so, I interpret Genesis 1 literally.

For you and me, we cannot argue much on the "disputable matter" of time duration, lest we violate the instructions to us as Christians --

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters."

Romans 14:1 - The Law of Liberty

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.

biblehub.com

So, in obedience to direct instruction to us, we should tolerate different views/ideas/theories about things such as time duration.... I've long been perfectly content for example with one person in our church that believes a type of YEC (one of the several variety), and I don't try to change her mind (as that would disobey Romans 14:1). In fact, I especially like her in addition to loving her as a sister in Christ.

This is part of the wonderful plan of God -- we each are truly unique in all of creation, each person! -- so, according to God's perfect plan, for the enrichment of heaven and the world to come.

I only want to hear that people will preach the gospel to those that are lost (instead of such things as Calvinism or other doctrinal ideas, including YEC), when they are speaking to the lost that don't even know of Christ!

Because only the message about Christ -- the "good news" -- the Gospel, is the path to saving faith.

Alone.

In all of creation.

The wonderful Truth:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."


The gospel message: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

If someone preached a "different gospel" than this -- some other way to God instead of Christ Jesus -- they are only building with straw, and that structure will be burned up, we read.

(and I don't want to fall into this mistake the Corinthians did: 2 Corinthians 11:4 -For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. -- So, we can tolerate (and should) all manner of differences about mere 'disputable matters', but not a competing way or 'gospel' (a competing way that is offered instead of the Gospel of Christ) -- anything being offered as the way to God instead of Jesus Christ. That's something we do have to correct anyone on if it seems they intend to preach another (different) way to saving faith, instead of the good news about Jesus Christ.)

 

[Halbhh]

I just can't figure out why you are trying to argue with me.

That's what I'm often wondering too! But it's because people (and you and I are both people, human), tend to naturally assume things about what the other person is saying/thinking which are often not really what the other person is saying/thinking.

It's wonderful you quote Romans here:

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

One man? Sin? death? That would be Adam-back to Genesis.
You can't divorce Genesis from the rest of the Bible, its not possible.

Amen!

So, it's not with faith in YEC that people are saved, we both 100% agree now I can see -- we both admit the Truth:
We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, alone -- only!

" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

And with that, our discussion on the side topic (and triviality) about mere time duration....

Since we are two believers that both believe in every word of Genesis 1 (I do, and I am assuming you do) needn't worry that we entirely disagree on the not-in-the-text side issue of how much mere time duration passed (a truly trivial thing not even given in scripture...).

Why is it I can 100% be perfectly fine if one of us is mistaken about a small detail of how creation that is 100% the work of God (not without God, but 100% from God, alone!) -- because these extraneous side topics of how much mere mortal time passes (which would not affect God, since He created time....and can move through a billion years in the blink of an eye or like walking from one room into another...)

is a 'disputable matter' we are not to argue on:

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters."

Romans 14:1 - The Law of Liberty

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.

biblehub.com

This direct commandment to us who believe in Christ: we are not to argue over 'disputable matters' (side issues) that are not key to salvation....

So, I'm perfectly ok that you believe the YEC theory, and you must be perfectly ok that I believe the OEC theory, and it doesn't even matter a bit (not even a tiny bit) for us... (we are not totally omniscient like God, and don't know all of creation to the far reaches of the Universe...)

And, crucially, when we talk to the lost, we both agree that only the gospel of Jesus Christ -- the good news about Christ, who died for our sins, to redeem us -- that alone is the saving scripture that brings faith.

(I trust you are in full alignment to the New Testament on that)

I trust then we both know we are to give the gospel of how Jesus Christ came to redeem us from our sins to the lost that don't yet know Christ, not doctrinal theories about esoteric matters like the exact mere mortal time age of Earth....

 

[Cis.jd]

Young Earth creationism is as old as the Bible. What's new is Darwinism; The Origin of the Species was published in 1859.

A lot of things weren't discovered back then during the bible. The moon being a star, giving it's own light, is as old as the bible too.. knowledge of the existence of the other planets is younger than some parts of the bible that doesn't mean none of what we discovered later is false.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Just this morning, on MSN, I saw an article that was about how Christians should feel about new images of space, such as those from the James Webb telescope. The article includes an interview with a woman scientist who apparently is also a Christian. She seems to believe in the Big Bang and old ages of the universe. A brief reference is made in the article about some pastors 'forcing their congregations to accept young universe notions.' While I respectfully disagree with this lady's loyalty to standard cosmology, she at least referred to the universe and its wonders as God's creation. I see no reason for anyone to have to maintain loyalty to the Big Bang and old universe assertions of the mainstream scientific community. I have written a treatise called "Big Bang Busted." It is available on my website, COSMINISTRY - Cosmos Ministry

If you go to this website, please do not click on the "discussion" link because I am not maintaining this website and the discussion forum link is now inoperable. But please do go to the article entitled "Big Bang Busted." This website is best viewed on a desktop PC or laptop, not on a mobile device.

To those Christians who want to reconcile the assertions of the mainstream scientific community about origins and natural history with the Bible, I say the two views are distinctly different and cannot be matched up. To these Christians, I say, what? Did God lack the power to create the cosmos in six days, about 6,000 years ago, or did He choose NOT to do so? The Bible, if you don't want to play debilitating interpretation games with it, straightforwardly asserts that the infinite God has the power to have created the universe in six, calendar days. And He used that power, to His glory.

Here is a link to the MSN article I read this morning:

How should Christians feel about the new images of outer space?

As a TE, we have been down this road many times.
I would respond and ask "Did God create the universe with the mind to intentionally deceive us, and to punish us for acknowledging the things we plainly see before our eyes?" IOWs, is creation a carefully crafted lie designed to test us? Of course God could create a universe that looks 14 billion years old, and an earth that looks 4 billion years old, and a human race that looks like it has been around for at least a million years.
Yes, He could paint that picture before us in nature, and we could be easily deceived.
I just do not think He would do that to us.

 

[The Liturgist]

Just this morning, on MSN, I saw an article that was about how Christians should feel about new images of space, such as those from the James Webb telescope. The article includes an interview with a woman scientist who apparently is also a Christian. She seems to believe in the Big Bang and old ages of the universe. A brief reference is made in the article about some pastors 'forcing their congregations to accept young universe notions.' While I respectfully disagree with this lady's loyalty to standard cosmology, she at least referred to the universe and its wonders as God's creation. I see no reason for anyone to have to maintain loyalty to the Big Bang and old universe assertions of the mainstream scientific community. I have written a treatise called "Big Bang Busted." It is available on my website, COSMINISTRY - Cosmos Ministry

If you go to this website, please do not click on the "discussion" link because I am not maintaining this website and the discussion forum link is now inoperable. But please do go to the article entitled "Big Bang Busted." This website is best viewed on a desktop PC or laptop, not on a mobile device.

To those Christians who want to reconcile the assertions of the mainstream scientific community about origins and natural history with the Bible, I say the two views are distinctly different and cannot be matched up. To these Christians, I say, what? Did God lack the power to create the cosmos in six days, about 6,000 years ago, or did He choose NOT to do so? The Bible, if you don't want to play debilitating interpretation games with it, straightforwardly asserts that the infinite God has the power to have created the universe in six, calendar days. And He used that power, to His glory.

Here is a link to the MSN article I read this morning:

How should Christians feel about the new images of outer space?

There is nothing in the Christian religion which is incompatible with the Big Bang or other scientific phenomena. Since God is omnipotent and created Spacetime, it is not unreasonable to suggest he could have created the cosmos in seven days in a configuration that would otherwise have taken more than 13 billion years to form.

On the other hand, as I have written about on my Christian Forums blog, Genesis 1 is unique among the creation stories of the world religions in that it is compatible with the Big Bang and Evolution: The Startling Accuracy Of Genesis

My own view is that the seven days are above all else a Christological prophecy, corresponding with the recreation of the world by Christ, but they also can have literal truth, since God can create a universe at any point in its lifecycle, because he writes the laws of physics and is omniscient. And the more we learn about the universe, the more we realize how fortunate, or blessed, we are, to exist, in that the Solar System has a small area called the Habitable Zone and we are in it, our planet is the only planet generating a sufficiently strong magnetic field to shield us from radiation emitted in coronal mass ejections (solar flares), we have an ozone layer protecting ue from the carcinogenic UV light emitted by the Sun (ozone molecules consist of three oxygen atoms bound together and are also toxic, but excellent for cleaning and disinfecting linens in a hospital and other biohazards in addition to protecting us from ultraviolet light), we have oceans and plants that provide food, a water cycle and continually take our exhaled carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen, in photo-synthesis, and indeed even the more fundamental constants defined by GR and quantum mechanics help make the universe suitable for life, for example, the Planck length and time, the speed of light in a vacuum, and so on.

So, how should Christians respond to new space images? The answer the MSNBC host should have given is simply “With awe and wonder at the infinite beauty of God’s creation.”

Of course, MSNBC being MSNBC, they couldn’t miss the opportunity to have a liberal Christian bash the Young Earth Creationists simply because many of them are politically conservative. Given that YEC can be reconciled with the Big Bang using the approach I outlined in paragraph 1, it is an irrelevant and needlessly divisive topic, which also distracts us from Christ crucified.

 

[Miles]

So, how should Christians respond to new space images? The answer the MSNBC host should have given is simply “With awe and wonder at the infinite beauty of God’s creation.”

Indeed. Awe and wonder.

The point of the creation story isn't to explain the technical details of how he did it but to establish God as the creator. It sets the stage for the Bible. We can quibble about what a day means to God, and try to learn more about the methods that he might have used, but none of that changes the fact that when we're talking about God we're talking about the Creator.

 

[shaul]

Just this morning, on MSN, I saw an article that was about how Christians should feel about new images of space, such as those from the James Webb telescope. The article includes an interview with a woman scientist who apparently is also a Christian. She seems to believe in the Big Bang and old ages of the universe. A brief reference is made in the article about some pastors 'forcing their congregations to accept young universe notions.' While I respectfully disagree with this lady's loyalty to standard cosmology, she at least referred to the universe and its wonders as God's creation. I see no reason for anyone to have to maintain loyalty to the Big Bang and old universe assertions of the mainstream scientific community. I have written a treatise called "Big Bang Busted." It is available on my website, COSMINISTRY - Cosmos Ministry

If you go to this website, please do not click on the "discussion" link because I am not maintaining this website and the discussion forum link is now inoperable. But please do go to the article entitled "Big Bang Busted." This website is best viewed on a desktop PC or laptop, not on a mobile device.

To those Christians who want to reconcile the assertions of the mainstream scientific community about origins and natural history with the Bible, I say the two views are distinctly different and cannot be matched up. To these Christians, I say, what? Did God lack the power to create the cosmos in six days, about 6,000 years ago, or did He choose NOT to do so? The Bible, if you don't want to play debilitating interpretation games with it, straightforwardly asserts that the infinite God has the power to have created the universe in six, calendar days. And He used that power, to His glory.

Here is a link to the MSN article I read this morning:

How should Christians feel about the new images of outer space?

Why do you hold to the young earth theory, when it is obvious there are many problems with it? Where are the dinosaurs? We do have fossil evidence you know. When did Satan lead the armies of heaven and of earth against God which led to his expulsion from the 3rd heaven? Did it occur during the 10,000 year period of the earth? Why would such a traumatic event be eliminated from the account of Adam's creation throughout the rest of the Scriptures? Jesus said he actually observed that happen.

Keep in mind I am asking these questions. I will assume that if you hold to the young earth theory, you would have an answer. I am curious to know what that answer is.

Thanks and God Bless.

 

[shaul]

As a TE, we have been down this road many times.
I would respond and ask "Did God create the universe with the mind to intentionally deceive us, and to punish us for acknowledging the things we plainly see before our eyes?" IOWs, is creation a carefully crafted lie designed to test us? Of course God could create a universe that looks 14 billion years old, and an earth that looks 4 billion years old, and a human race that looks like it has been around for at least a million years.
Yes, He could paint that picture before us in nature, and we could be easily deceived.
I just do not think He would do that to us.

I seem to recall that God specifically used the events and order from Creation in his response to Job.

Also recall that the Psalmist in Psalms 19 referred to Creation as a means to declare His glory.

Psalms 19:2
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.

הַשָּׁמַיִם, מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד-אֵל; וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו, מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I seem to recall that God specifically used the events and order from Creation in his response to Job.

Also recall that the Psalmist in Psalms 19 referred to Creation as a means to declare His glory.

Psalms 19:2
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.

הַשָּׁמַיִם, מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד-אֵל; וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו, מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ.

Thank you.

 

[JohnD70X7]

Just this morning, on MSN, I saw an article that was about how Christians should feel about new images of space, such as those from the James Webb telescope. The article includes an interview with a woman scientist who apparently is also a Christian. She seems to believe in the Big Bang and old ages of the universe. A brief reference is made in the article about some pastors 'forcing their congregations to accept young universe notions.' While I respectfully disagree with this lady's loyalty to standard cosmology, she at least referred to the universe and its wonders as God's creation. I see no reason for anyone to have to maintain loyalty to the Big Bang and old universe assertions of the mainstream scientific community. I have written a treatise called "Big Bang Busted." It is available on my website, COSMINISTRY - Cosmos Ministry

If you go to this website, please do not click on the "discussion" link because I am not maintaining this website and the discussion forum link is now inoperable. But please do go to the article entitled "Big Bang Busted." This website is best viewed on a desktop PC or laptop, not on a mobile device.

To those Christians who want to reconcile the assertions of the mainstream scientific community about origins and natural history with the Bible, I say the two views are distinctly different and cannot be matched up. To these Christians, I say, what? Did God lack the power to create the cosmos in six days, about 6,000 years ago, or did He choose NOT to do so? The Bible, if you don't want to play debilitating interpretation games with it, straightforwardly asserts that the infinite God has the power to have created the universe in six, calendar days. And He used that power, to His glory.

Here is a link to the MSN article I read this morning:

How should Christians feel about the new images of outer space?

A very old thread, but a current subject.

There is a new theory among evolutionists / old agers that the universe is actually much bigger than the observable universe... along this wise:
that the actual universe may be as large in comparison as the observable universe is to an atom. That the universe beyond the observable universe is where light itself cannot reach us for being too far away and growing further away at the speed of light or even faster. And for all of this to have come about at the same time as the observable universe (which stands to reason if the Big Bang theory is true) then the universe must have formed almost entirely within a short amount of time.

When I heard this, I scratched my head and said, "Isn't that what creationist young agers have been claiming all along?"

This really cracks me up, to attempt to posit an older age to the universe (and thereby increase in their minds the possibility of the natural forming by itself into the universe) they have to grant the young age of the universe in the observable universe because it is so much smaller that the theoretic over all universe which had to have the same origin. LOL

Like the Big Bang theory itself, even when you grant it and take the next logical step in science "What caused the Big Bang?" the old agers / atheist / evolutionists are backed into a philosophical / theological / cosmological corner. The physical universe is governed by natural laws of physics. Effect has to have a cause. But the answers the otherwise brilliant men and women try to come up with at this point betrays their underlying blind faith in the religion that no matter what there is no God there isn't, there just isn't, there can't be... ahhh hahhhh hahhhh haahhhh
I want my mommy!

Kaku and Degrasse Tyson both punt on first down with this question trying to reason "well, before the Big Bang time did not exist so your question is non sequitur..." I other words, like the old flat earth maps showing at the edges... "beyond this point thar be dragons..." And those who pride themselves on getting to the bottom of things just read "tilt" in their eyes as they run from the truth that logic brings them to. They would rather believe fairy tales than the truth.

Point being in all this... there is nothing but conjecture to the claims that the earth and universe are any older than a few thousand years (6 - 10). Man was not there to observe, and none of the evidence or testing of elements (fossils, strata, chemical levels, etc) can be actually back dated (with no mathematical conjecture) to over 5,000 years ago. About the time of the Noachian flood.

• Space itself (even the evolutionists agree) is upwelling constantly.
• All that intensity everywhere all the time for over 7,000 years is factored into the enormity of it all.
• There is no proof that there is anything beyond the observable universe.
• Beyond the margin of error, over 300 years of light speed experiments prove the speed of light is slowing down
• The sun which looses over 350 tons of mass daily (it's burning down toward its center)
• Projecting back to an alleged 4 billion year past, the size of the sun then would have engulfed everything withing Mars orbit
• Earth and the inner planets could not have even formed
• The dust on the moon was shockingly (to evolutionists) thin for a billions year old moon... more like thousands

Why placate people whose philosophy is to not believe there is a Creator God? Why grant them their premise?

The first and second laws (not theories but laws) of thermodynamics militate against the possibility of the existence of a universe and all that is in it forming by only physical means. Something transcending physics had to happen. In just the physical alone:

• 1st Law of Thermodynamics (the law of conservation) nothing can come from nothing.
• 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (the law of maximum entropy) nothing is eternal.

The universe and anything in it cannot be eternal. And nothing in the universe (including the universe itself) could have come into existence from nothing.

Psalm 19:1 (KJV)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Luke 19:40 (KJV)
40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

For there had to be someone who transcends the laws of physics and is eternal (existing forever without beginning or end) who can create all things created from nothing. The Bible gives the undeniable testimony of this Creator and the creation account from the first page on.

Stop humoring those who the Bible declares are fools for believing there is no God.

 

[JohnD70X7]

FYI the sun 4 billion years ago would have been 33,204,545,454.54545 miles bigger than it is today.