Does the Big Bang debunk god or did god create the Big Bang?
Poodien, "End Game: Beginning and Ending", 2010
It is rather weird that my deeper conviction that God exists came to me in a bar at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail while speaking to an atheist and an agnostic, both of whom I have high regards for. Before you jump to conclusion that I had a little too much to drink, I in fact had consumed no alcoholic beverages that evening.
It was a very cinematographic experience for me. It was the questions they threw at me; very profound and thought provoking. The evening’s discussion lead to an exchange of views on LoyarBurok (refer to “See Also” below). However, the fermentation of the thought process that was ignited in me that evening has only recently reached its zenith.
The most profound question was “Why can’t you accept that the universe has always existed?” – a rhetoric that came by when I said that “God has always existed”. At that point my sight seemed to be in High Definition mode, my adrenaline pump was overly efficient, and I felt a serene and enlightened feeling – it was to me at the very least, divine.
If I could put it in any other way, I felt like it was Christmas. For the next couple of weeks the question kept repeating in my head like a broken record. So why can’t I believe that the universe has always existed? Because it expands. The metric expansion of space is the reason why I cannot believe that the universe has always been there.
Metric expansion is a core element of the Big Bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe was originally in an extremely hot and dense state that expanded rapidly. It has since cooled by expanding to the present diluted state and constantly expands to this very moment.
This was approximately around 13.7 billion years ago, when the Big Bang occurred. The theory is the most comprehensive and accurate explanation that is supported by scientific evidence and observation. It was initially known as the hypothesis of the primeval atom, a hypothesis founded by Georges Lemaitre.
Fred Hoyle an English astronomer and mathematician coined the term “Big Bang” theory. It was a term originally coined by him as a pejorative, perhaps disparaging, name for the theory which was the main rival to his own.
He found the idea that the universe had a beginning to be philosophically troubling, as many argued that a beginning implies a cause, and thus a creator. Just like how Einstein was bothered about his equations for relativity which indicated that the universe was expanding. Because if it was expanding, it must have had a beginning and a beginner.
The Big Bang theory is an extension of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Einstein applied the theory to model the structure of the universe as a whole. Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, and professor of physics and astronomer at the Catholic University of Louvain is the man who proposed the hypothesis of the primeval atom.
Einstein was never convinced at first with the Big Bang theory, only after Lemaitre detailed his theory and Edwin Hubble in 1931 showed that the furthest galaxies were fleeing away from each other in. Einstein embraced it saying,”This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened.”
In a 1954 letter to Eric Gutkind, Einstein wrote “The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can change this.”
However Einstein is also the one who wrote in his book The World As I See It that the harmony of natural law “Reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.” I never pondered upon that, until I read Aston Paiva’s Twilight of Gods.
I soon pondered upon that everyday, especially when I am stuck in the jam at the Federal Highway near Subang. I soon realised that the Big Bang had to be the most precisely planned event in all of existence. The precision of the metric expansion of the universe indicates that our existence is no coincidence.
The force or energy that is responsible for the expansion of the universe also known as dark energy had to be accurate to one part in ten with 120 zeros. The slightest difference would have caused matter to be manifested in a different form.
If the universe had expanded just a little faster, matter would have sprayed out into space like fine mist, and there would be no stars or planets only infinite dust. If the universe had expanded just a little slower, matter would have dribbled out like gigantic drops of liquid, then collapsed back into a giant black hole.
This precision is why I believe that the whole Universe is not a mere chance, that it is no perfect static space that has eternally been so. The delicate balance of vast forces in the universe, is necessary for life to exist, and this precision is the product of an intelligence. I call that intelligence God.
Lingswaran Singh has been an active loyar burok since he was 5 years old. He speaks an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. Independence is his happiness, and he views things as they are, without regard to place or person; his country is the world, and his religion is to do good with compassion. He is a self proclaimed artist with an imagination beyond imagination. He finds pleasure in deconstructing and challenging social norms, he is paradoxical . He works towards educating Malaysian youths about justice, freedom, equality, human rights, and nation building. He too is an emissary of Lord Bobo Barnabus, tasked to enlighten Malaysians through www.loyarburok.com, the blawg leading the quest for world domination.
See Also:
LB: The image above is taken from the award winning series “End Game” by Poodien.
Lingswaran Singh has been a LoyarBurokker since he was 5. He speaks an open but disinterested language, dictated not by passion but that of humanity. Independence is his happiness. His country is the world, and his religion is to do good. He too is an emissary of Lord Bobo Barnabus, tasked to enlighten Malaysians through loyarburok.com, this awesome blawg leading the quest for world domination.
Posted on 24 November 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
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