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Season 2 of Spirit-Led Hope looks at the origin story of our universe and life. In this episode, Glenn continues with the naturalistic perspective of how the universe began. This episode looks at the Big Bang theory from a high-level view. Glenn points out the basics and the predictive power of science. He also addresses some of the outstanding issues with the Big Bang theory. Because this is a high-level view, only basic scientific principles are referenced.
This episode has a transcript. If your podcast player does not support transcripts, please go to the podcast section of https://spiritledhope.com/ .
Send a text to Spirit-Led Hope!
Season 2 of Spirit-Led Hope looks at the origin story of our universe and life. In this episode, Glenn continues with the naturalistic perspective of how the universe began. This episode looks at the Big Bang theory from a high-level view. Glenn points out the basics and the predictive power of science. He also addresses some of the outstanding issues with the Big Bang theory. Because this is a high-level view, only basic scientific principles are referenced.
This episode has a transcript. If your podcast player does not support transcripts, please go to the podcast section of https://spiritledhope.com/ .
Hello everyone and welcome to Spirit-Led Hope. My name is Glenn Erichsen, and in this episode, we are continuing to talk about:
THE BEGINNINGS ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
In the previous episode, we looked at some of the world’s greatest scientists, and how their work guided Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest, into the first formulation of what we now call, the Big Bang theory. We discussed the irony that what is now the most accepted naturalistic theory for how the universe began, was made by a devout Catholic. In fact, we discussed that many of the greatest scientific discoveries were made by those who believed in God or something beyond nature.
In this episode we are going to “get scientific” and explain the origins of the universe from the lens of the Big Bang theory. If you have not yet listened to Episode 4 of this Season, I encourage you to do that before listening to the rest of this episode.
This episode will be more technical, but do not let that scare you. I am speaking very simply and for sure, you will want to hear some of the conclusions at the end.
So, what are some of the details of the Big Bang Theory according to science? There are many different models of the Big Bang, so I am going to present one of the common viewpoints. You can do your own research to learn about other approaches. Check out websites like NASA’s or universities with astronomy programs. And there are also many books. Keep in mind that many popular books on astronomy will present the viewpoint of the author and it may differ from the general scientific community in some areas. An example of this is the well-known, “A Brief History of Time,” by Stephen Hawking.
When we talk about Big Bang models, we are describing the events of the start of the universe based on theoretical, mathematical, and empirical models. Empirical models are those based on observation.
Most Big Bang models say that at around 13.8 billion years ago, there was a small, dense, and extremely hot single point. Some theories say it was infinitely small, and some say it was no more than a few millimeters in diameter. Think about that, according to Big Bang models, everything that we see in the universe today originated from that small point.
Many Big Bang models start here, and do not explain how the point itself came into existence. This applies to Lemaitre’s work as he did not formulate anything before this starting point. We will talk more about that later.
Keep in mind that we are generalizing a theory that is born out of a lot of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and astronomical observations. It is beyond the purpose of this podcast to go deep into the details. If this interests you, then you will have no problem finding reading material that will last you as long as you wish.
Okay, let us get back to the Big Bang. For some unknown reason, this point began rapidly expanding. This is why the theory is called the Big Bang, but it is not exactly like an exploding bomb. A bomb is rapidly expanding in space. But during the Big Bang, space itself was expanding.
One of the interesting things about this expansion is that it took place at a speed faster than the speed of light. You may have heard that nothing can exceed the speed of light. But that is referring to light as it travels through space. Here, space itself is expanding, and that expansion can exceed the speed of light.
During this rapid expansion, the universe spread out and became cooler and less dense. In the first few minutes of the expansion, the temperature was still at something like 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit. That is hot. At this time, the universe would have consisted of particles like neutrons, electrons, and protons. These would eventually combine into the components that make up all the material in the universe we see today.
The early universe was so hot, that light itself would have been scattered by all the particles that were rapidly crashing together. It was not until about 380,000 years after the start of the expansion, that enough cooling took place for the electrons and protons to combine into neutral gases like hydrogen and helium. When this took place, the universe became transparent to light. Light could now move through the universe.
While the universe was expanding, gravitational attraction formed clumps of hydrogen and helium which eventually collapsed to form the first stars and galaxies. Stars started forming somewhere between 150 to 400 million years after the start of the Big Bang.
Our solar system is estimated to have formed about 9 billion years after the Big Bang. It is estimated that our sun is around 4.6 billion years old. That is a lot of birthdays.
As the universe expanded and stars were formed, stars were also dying. It turns out that the bigger the star, the shorter its life, and the more dramatic its death. Dramatic as in a really big explosion. Up until now, we have only mentioned elements like hydrogen and helium. But when large stars explode in what we call a supernova, heavier elements are created. This is the origin of the elements like iron, that make up the core of the earth, and the elements that make up life, as we know it.
This is why the late astronomer Carl Sagan said we are all made of star-stuff. From the naturalistic view, we would not be alive if stars had not generated the material used to compose our planet, and everything on it…including us.
What I just described is a very brief and basic outline of the Big Bang theory. What happens next is an ongoing chain of the birth and death of stars. The dying stars create heavier elements and fling them into space. These materials are attracted through gravity and then collapse into more stars or into planets and moons. All of this takes place on a time scale of billions of years. And all the while the universe is expanding.
What we just discussed can be very difficult to grasp. Our brains do not work well on the time scale of billions of years or allow us to fathom the whole universe contained in a point. But the strength of science is in its power to predict something based on a theory. And the Big Bang theory has a lot going for it.
Remember that Georges Lemaitre came up with the idea of the Big Bang based on Einstein’s field equations and the observation that stars were receding at ever increasing speeds. From that, Lemaitre and other scientists began working backwards from the current state of the universe. They also looked more closely at possible solutions to the Einstein field equations.
What came out of this work were many predictions. Einstein’s work on general relativity has been challenged over and over through rigorous testing and it keeps passing. The Big Bang theory itself has had some major predictions born out.
As some examples, Einstein’s work predicted the existence of black holes and gravity waves. In my home state of Washington, there is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO for short (LIGO is way easier to say). LIGO consists of two observatories with the other located in Louisiana. In September of 2015, LIGO detected gravitational waves, as predicted by Einstein. It is believed these waves are caused by the merging of black holes. Since then, LIGO has captured dozens of such events.
Black holes themselves were predicted by Einstein’s equations. In 2019 the first direct visual evidence of a black hole and its shadow was announced. This was a remarkable scientific achievement. Black holes are an important part of the Big Bang theory and cosmology.
One of the greatest predictions of the Big Bang theory was confirmed in 1965. I mentioned earlier that the universe became transparent to light around 380,000 years after the Big Bang expansion. Predictions said this light should be observable as cosmic microwave background radiation. And sure enough, it was detected.
The continued predictive success of these theories is great news if you are a naturalist. Why? Because they give you confidence that these theories work. And if they work, maybe God is not required for the universe to exist.
In fact, we should all ask ourselves, if so many predictions have come true has the Big Bang theory been confirmed? Is there a proven totally naturalistic explanation for the beginning of the universe?
If you are a devout naturalist, you may say yes. But of course, as we have discussed in prior episodes, it is not that easy. There is no definitive proof for how the universe started and the disagreement between Christians and naturalists will continue.
Let me explain some points of contention surrounding the Big Bang theory.
Earlier, and in the last episode, I pointed out that Lemaitre’s view of the Big Bang began at a hot, dense, point. This is where most theories on the Big Bang start. And there is a reason for that.
Remember, Big Bang theories are based on theory and observation. What we do with the Big Bang is look at the surrounding universe and go back in time. Instead of looking at how stars are expanding outward, we roll back the clock and imagine how things were when they were closer together.
As we imagine the material of the universe getting closer and closer, we start having a problem. As you may recall, Einstein’s general theory of relativity and field equations feature gravity. When the material of the universe shrinks down to a point, Einstein’s equations no longer work because there are now quantum effects…things that can no longer be explained by the classical laws of physics. The known laws of gravity no longer operate on such small scales.
In fact, because of this, large amounts of research today focus on trying to discover equations for quantum gravity. In other words, trying to determine the rules for how gravity works at extremely small scales.
Quantum gravity aside, there is a bigger problem. When we try to think of what happened before the hot dense start of the Big Bang, we are totally stuck. This is because none of the laws of physics are meaningful before the start of the Big Bang. There is no space, no time, none of the things that we describe with physics. Any theory that tries to go further back in time is pure speculation because we have no way to use our existing scientific tools.
There is also another issue with the Big Bang theory, and it has to do with what are called “initial conditions.” When you analyze the ways in which our universe could have started, you find an incredibly sensitive system. If you look at the laws of physics, very small changes to some of the universal constants would have made our universe radically different from what we see…to the point of being a universe that would not support life. The reality is that the universe appears to be finely tuned from the beginning to support life.
Here is a very cheesy example to explain what I mean by fine tuning. Imagine we have a machine that makes and bakes a cake from scratch. This is a universal machine with no pre-programming. It is up to you to set the dials for which ingredients get used, the order in which you use them, the temperature and time for baking and so on. Can you imagine what would happen if you just spun the dials? The chances of getting something tasty and pleasing are extremely small. Adding even small amounts of some ingredients might ruin the whole thing. Only by precisely setting the dials can we get the right results.
And this is just what we see with the universe. The universe seems designed for life and humanity. It is as if someone turned all the knobs in just the right way so that life can exist. This is highlighted with the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang theory only gets us to where we are today with highly refined values for many physical constants.
We are not going to discuss this now, but this falls under the category of what is called the “anthropic principle.” The point I am trying to make here is that while naturalists have worked hard to describe the way the universe can begin without a need for God, their results seem to point to the need for something outside of nature. Christians favor that “something” as God…naturalists do not.
Because the universe seems designed for life, naturalists are developing more theories that work to either circumvent the need for design or remove the need for a Creator.
One example to avoid design that you may have heard of is the multiverse. Different forms of the multiverse are very popular in movies right now. In cosmology, this is the theory that there are other universes besides our own, and our universe just happens to be one that supports life. In this scenario there could be millions of universes popping into existence, each with their own form of Big Bang. Our universe was the winner, and we are here because that is just the way it is. No design is required.
Stephen Hawking showed one way to avoid the need for a Creator of the universe by performing a mathematical manipulation with something he called “imaginary time.” Imaginary time has no physical justification or meaning. But by using imaginary time in his theoretical work, Hawking came to some interesting conclusions. In his final work published after his death, Hawking is quoted as saying, “there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed in.”
Interestingly, Christian theology maintains that God is outside of time, so I do not understand why that seemed like a powerful conclusion for such a brilliant man. But I admittedly do not know the whole context in which he said that. And this is often a difficulty…naturalists and Christians do not always know what each other knows. This can cause a lot of talking past each other.
Where does this leave us? Because this episode is presenting the scientific view, I want to be fair about what I am saying. If you are a naturalist, the observations and theories about the Big Bang are very compelling. The fact that Big Bang theories along with the foundational work of Einstein predict what we observe, is incredible. Christians should take note of the predictive power of science and not disregard it.
This is my opinion, but naturalists should be careful with some of the paths they are following. Theories like the multiverse cannot be proven. The existence of another universe cannot be detected, and it is pure speculation. Similarly, relying on mathematical constructions that have no basis in reality gives the appearance of trying to avoid a certain conclusion. Again, in my opinion, these things weaken the arguments of naturalists.
I have no issues with naturalists talking about the multiverse, but I do have concerns when they talk about it as a scientific fact. This is misleading and seems to me to border on the very thing of which they accuse Christians…which is believing in something that cannot be proven by science to exist.
I know this episode was more technical than most, but it is important that we at least know the basics. With these basics, we can all feel more comfortable asking our naturalistic friends what they believe. Not to criticize or argue, but to have a real conversation with an exchange of viewpoints.
In our next episode, we will continue with science and look at the development of the earth.
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please email me at glenn@spiritledhope.com, or simply use the Contact Form at spiritledhope.com. That is spiritledhope.com.
As you think about the information in this episode:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Until next episode, take care.