{"id":55354,"date":"2022-11-01T14:11:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T19:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=55354"},"modified":"2022-11-01T14:11:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T19:11:21","slug":"the-universe-how-and-when","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-universe-how-and-when\/","title":{"rendered":"The Universe &#8212; How and When?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Dennis Abernathy<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Hawkins, (now deceased) the theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and director of research at the University of Cambridge, and Leonard Mlodinow, physicist and screenwriter, in their book <em>The Grand Design<\/em>, explored the questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;When and how did the universe begin?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Why are we here?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Is the apparent grand design of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion-or does science offer another explanation?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hawkins and Mlodinow come down on the side of science.<\/p>\n<p>In their book <em>The Grand Design<\/em>, they argued that God isn&#8217;t necessary to explain the origins of the universe and that the &#8220;Big Bang&#8221; could be the consequence of physics alone. Of course, neither of these men can explain where matter and energy came from. Without matter and energy, there is no physics. Hawkins and Mlodinow have the cart before the horse, so to speak, in that they have the laws of physics existing before there was any matter and energy.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A young skeptic said to an elderly lady: &#8220;I once believed in God, but since studying science I am convinced that God is but an empty word.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The lady replied: &#8220;Well, I have not studied science, but since you have, maybe you can tell me from whence came this egg.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why, of course from the hen&#8221; was the reply.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And where did the hen come from?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why, the egg.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And perhaps,&#8221; said the lady, &#8220;You can tell me which existed first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The hen, of course,&#8221; rejoined the young man.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You mean that a hen existed without coming from an egg?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; said the young man, &#8220;I should have said that the egg was first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then you mean that an egg existed without having come from a hen?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The young man exclaimed: &#8220;You&#8217;ve got me all mixed up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She drove home her point: &#8220;Young man, since you cannot explain the existence of even a hen or an egg, without God, you cannot expect me to believe that you can explain the existence of the whole world, without Him.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;<em>By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible<\/em>.&#8221; Hence, according to Hebrews 11: 3, the universe did not evolve out of existing matter, but was made from nothing! The One who created it all is that benevolent Creator. Think on these things.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Dennis Abernathy Stephen Hawkins, (now deceased) the theoretical physicist and cosmologist, and director of research at the University of Cambridge, and Leonard Mlodinow, physicist and screenwriter, in their book The Grand Design, explored the questions: &#8220;When and how did the universe begin?&#8221; &#8220;Why are we here?&#8221; &#8220;Is the apparent grand design of our universe&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,80],"class_list":["post-55354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-evolution"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57582,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":0},"title":"Is There a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp In 1986 a famous visitor made a brief tour of the inner solar system. A luminous body with a long, faint tail hurried on its journey around the sun and returned to the recesses of space. The British astronomer Edmond Halley observed this phenomenon in 1682 and,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-unbelievers-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":1},"title":"What Unbelievers Believe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kenny Chumbley via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994 Atheists like to portray Christianity as the non-thinking man's sugar stick. They, we are told, are guided by reason and logic, whereas believers hold to antiquated religious superstitions that have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9495,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-quantum-physics-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":2},"title":"Is quantum physics Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is quantum physics Christian? Answer: Quantum mechanics is defined as: A modern physical theory (much developed and refined since Neils Bohr's ground-breaking work in 1913) which deals with the structure and behavior of subatomic particles. The physical theory of the composition and behavior of atoms and subatomic particles; explains\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39909,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-the-universe-began-no-one-knows\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":3},"title":"How the Universe Began &#8211; No One Knows","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears I am no sort or kind of a scientist, but my son is. One of his university textbooks for a physics class was \"Conceptual Physics.\" It was written by Paul G. Hewitt, a professor at City College of San Francisco. I lift a few sentences from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/greg-rakozy-oMpAz-DN-9I-unsplash-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-is-light-and-in-him-is-no-darkness-at-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":4},"title":"God Is Light and in Him Is No Darkness at All","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Chatfield Sentry Magazine, March 2001 Einstein said, \"It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.\" With all his knowledge, he knew a simple truth that nothing can be seen when light is totally absent. Moreover, man could not exist at all except that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Prism-300x234.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37776,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-seem-to-be-reasons-to-believe-the-earth-is-older-than-6000-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":55354,"position":5},"title":"There seem to be reasons to believe the earth is older than 6,000 years","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been considering the question of the age of the Earth and universe for many years. For a long time, I believe the Earth was only a few thousand years old based on the Bible. However, I have come to consider many other factors that don't seem to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}