Big Bang’s New Findings Bewilder Secular Scientists
If the Big Bang theory is correct, our universe should not exist, according to research published recently by physicists at King’s College in London. The shocking discovery implies the universe should have collapsed less than a second after it exploded into existence.
Christians are divided on whether or not the Big Bang theory fits with the biblical description of creation. But the theory has been an enormous concession for many secular scientists. For years they clung to belief in a universe that was steady and that had existed indefinitely. But recent advances in physics have forced most scientists to admit that the universe had a beginning and that it has been expanding ever since by a process dubbed cosmic inflation.
For Christians, the universe having a beginning point is no new discovery. These scientists were upstaged more than 2,500 years ago by Job, Moses, David and other Bible authors, said Hugh Ross, astrophysicist and founder of the Reasons to Believe ministry. The Bible confirms explicitly and repeatedly the two most fundamental properties of the Big Bang theory: there was a definite, finite beginning and the universe is undergoing continual expansion. For example, said Ross, in Isaiah 42:5 both properties were declared: “This is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out.”
The researchers of the current study combined data from observations made possible by the BICEP2 telescope with new information developed from the discovery of the Higgs Boson, a particle thought to be responsible for the mass of everything that exists. The scientists said the universe lies in a valley of the Higgs Field, an energy field that exists throughout the universe. It contains the Higgs Boson particle and sets the limits on its behavior. The universe is prevented from entering an even deeper valley by a large energy barrier that can be thought of as a giant hill separating the two valleys. But, according to the Big Bang theory, the researchers say cosmic inflation would have kicked the universe over the hill and into the deeper valley where it would have collapsed in less than a second.
Bewildered secular scientists are scratching their heads at the new findings. “We have to extend our theories to explain why this didn’t happen,” said Robert Hogan, a doctoral student at King’s College who led the study, in the Royal Astronomical Society. The researchers conclude there must be some process yet undiscovered.
Someday the scientists seeking explanations of why there was no big collapse immediately after the universe came into existence may well have to contend with the concept of a Creator.
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream,” said Robert Jastrow, founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a self-proclaimed agnostic. “He has scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
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Idaho Pastors Face Jail Time, Fines for Not Performing Gay Weddings
Two ordained Christian pastors in Idaho have filed a federal lawsuit and a motion for temporarily restraining Coeur d’Alene city officials from forcing them to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies or face prosecution for violating “non-discrimination” laws.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed the lawsuit and the motion on behalf of Donald Knapp and his wife, Evelyn, who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel and have been required by city officials to perform gay ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines.
The city says its non-discrimination ordinance requires them to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies because the courts have overridden Idaho’s voter-approved constitutional amendment that affirmed marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
“The government should not force ordained ministers to act contrary to their faith under threat of jail time and criminal fines,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said in a statement.
“Many have denied that pastors would ever be forced to perform ceremonies that are completely at odds with their faith, but that’s what is happening here — and it’s happened this quickly. The city is on seriously flawed legal ground, and our lawsuit intends to ensure that this couple’s freedom to adhere to their own faith as pastors is protected just as the First Amendment intended.”
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Doctors Advised Not To Say “It’s a Boy” Anymore
A new debate is raging across the country concerning gender assignment at birth. Many now believe that doctors should not be able to describe a newborn as a boy or girl, but that these children should be given the opportunity to choose their gender when older.
The issue of “infant gender assignment” was described in a recent article by Christin Scarlett Milloy in Slate Magazine, titled “Don’t Let the Doctor Do This to Your Newborn.” She described gender assignment as “when the doctor holds your child up to the harsh light of the delivery room, looks between its legs and declares his opinion, “It’s a boy or a girl,” based on nothing more than a cursory assessment of your offspring’s genitals.”
She went on to write that when a doctor tells you the sex of your baby, he could be doing the baby irreparable harm by not taking into consideration that in later years, that child might not want to belong to that sex. In fact, Milloy suggests that infant gender assignment is playing “Russian roulette with your baby’s life.”
Karen Swallow Prior, in a recent article posted to the Think Christian website, writes, “Honestly, we need to wake up. There’s a reason that Facebook offers 56 gender options for user profiles.
“While [Milloy’s] article is clearly intended to be shocking, its argument has, in fact, been a long time coming. Theories about the ‘constructedness’ of human sexuality have been trickling down from the ivory tower for decades.”
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News in Brief
- The lost sermons of 19th century legendary London pastor Charles Spurgeon — who preached to more than 10 million people and baptized more than 14,000 converts — have been discovered. A collection of over 400 sermons and outlines dating back to Spurgeon’s days as a young pastor outside of Cambridge were discovered about three years ago in the archives of Spurgeon’s College in London. The Lost Sermons of Charles Spurgeon will be published next year. Digital versions will be available exclusively through WORDsearch.
- The Shut Up, Devil! free smartphone app promises the power to silence Satan. It is being reported as “an innovative resource that puts the power of the Word of God in your pocket.” It contains scripture cards and reminders that will help you keep the enemy at bay. The app is available for iOS and Android phones.
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Life-Sized Noah’s Ark Replica in Works for KY
A Creationist group’s project to build a park centered around a life-sized model of Noah’s Ark might benefit from an estimated $18 million in tourism incentives. This would come by way of a state sales tax refund that would be received after the Ark Encounter has been open to the public for at least three years.
The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority has given “preliminary approval” recently on the Ark Encounter project overseen by a Christian apologetics group known as Answers in Genesis. Slated to be built in Williamstown, a small community located in Northern Kentucky, the Ark Encounter has had its share of issues getting started.
In late December 2011 it was reported that the Ark Encounter was suffering from a lack of donations, having raised only $4.4 million of the needed $24.5 million at the time.
Hoping to benefit from the tourism incentives, the founders hope the project will move forward. Ark Encounter has an expected opening date set for 2016.
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Houston Mayor Withdraws Subpoenas of Sermons with Homosexual Content
The mayor of Houston, Texas recently withdrew the subpoenas of sermons from five pastors who opposed an ordinance banning discrimination against those affiliated with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) organization. Filed last month, the subpoenas outraged many conservative Christians as an affront to religious freedom.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker said in late October that as important as it is to protect the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), the subpoenas became a distraction. They were aimed at pastors active in the movement to overturn HERO through a citywide vote.
Parker, Houston’s first openly gay mayor, said she made the decision after meeting with Houston pastors and then with national Christian leaders, including National Clergy Council President Rob Schenck. “They came without political agendas, without hate in their hearts and without any desire to debate the merits of HERO,” Parker said. “They simply wanted to express their passionate and very sincere concerns about the subpoenas.”
Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, called the subpoenas a “gross abuse of power.”
“We are gratified that the First Amendment rights of the pastors have triumphed over government overreach and intimidation,” he said after Parker’s announcement.
