Physics
Show that Six Day Creation is Possible
Exodus 20:11 makes one of the most unbelievable statements of the Bible:
"In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day." It is hard to imagine a clearer
statement defining how long God took in creating the entire universe. However,
this simple statement has presented a seemingly impossible dilemma for
Christians. On one hand, modern cosmology teaches that the universe has taken
billions of years to form. On the other hand, if this clear and straightforward
statement of the Bible can not be trusted to mean what it says, how can we know
that any statement of the Bible can be trusted to mean what it says?
This was the dilemma which Dr. Russell Humphreys (physicist at Sandia
National Laboratory) set out to solve as he studied what the Bible had to say
about the formation of our universe. Most people have been taught that the
universe is the result of a gigantic explosion called the "Big Bang".
During this explosive expansion, all the matter of the universe supposedly
expanded outward from a tiny pinpoint. All modern cosmological models start
with the assumption that the universe has neither a center nor an edge. When
these assumptions are plugged into Einstein's general theory of relativity, the
result is an expanding universe which is billions of years old at every
location.
Rather than start with these arbitrary assumptions (a universe having no
center and no edge), Dr. Humphreys decided to take the most apparent meaning of
the Biblical text and see what model of the universe developed. He reasoned
that if the Bible was inspired by God, as it claims to be, it should not have
to be twisted to be understood. It should have the same straight forward
meaning for a "man on the street", a brilliant physicist, or a
theologian.
The Bible clearly indicates three things about God's formation of the
universe. First, the earth is the center of God's attention in the universe. By
implication, the earth may also be located near the center - perhaps so man can
see the glory of God's creation in every direction. Second, the universe (both
matter and space itself) has been "stretched out"(1) Third, the universe
has a boundary, and therefore it must have a center. If these three assumptions
are plugged into the currently accepted formulas of physics, and the
mathematical crank is turned, we find that we live in a universe in which
clocks tick at different rates depending on your location.
Furthermore, the time dilation effect would be magnified tremendously as the
universe was originally expanding. As the universe expanded, there was a point
at which time was moving very rapidly at the outer edge and essentially stopped
near the center. At this point in the expansion of the universe, only days were
passing near the center, while billions of years were passing in the heavens.
This is the inevitable conclusion based on our current knowledge of physics and
starting with Biblical assumptions instead of arbitrary ones.
Albert Einstein rejected the idea that Bible could be literally true. He
wrote that, "Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon
reached the conviction that many of the stories in the Bible could not be
true."(2) How ironic that the most ridiculed Biblical story (about a
recent, literal, six day creation of the universe) is exactly the story which
Albert Einstein's work has shown to be entirely possible. A comprehensive
explanation of Dr. Humphreys work, can be found in his book.(3)
1.
Job
9:8, Psalm 104:2, Isaiah 40:22, Jeremiah 10:12, Zechariah 12:1, 2 Sam. 22:10,
Psalm 144:5, Ezekiel 1:22, Isaiah 48:13, Job 26:7, Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 51:13,
Job 37:18, Isaiah 44:24, Jer. 51:15, Psalm 18:9, Isaiah 45:12.
2.
Joseph
Schwartz, Einstein for Beginners, Pantheon Books, New York, p.31.
3.
Russell
Humphreys, Starlight and Time, Master Books, 1994.
This Article is from Bruce Malone's book Search
for the Truth.
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