Page 60 - The Origin of Life and the Universe - International Conference 2016

The Origin of Life and the Universe

worldview provides the best explanation of all our scientific understanding
of the universe. Let me say that again: A theistic worldview provides the
best explanation of our scientific understanding of the universe. So let me
share the three most powerful examples that support my conclusion.
At the start of the 1900s scientists had an understanding of the
universe characterized by three significant features. First, the universe
was eternal and had existed forever. Second, the universe was static and
unchanging on the largest scales. That doesn’t mean that planets didn’t
orbit around stars but when you got out to big enough scales, the universe
wasn’t changing. And third, as one moved through the universe the laws
of physics changed in subtle ways.
Now, before describing how scientific advances through the 20 th
century changed this picture, I want to contrast this early scientific view
with the universe described by scripture. Starting in the very first book we
see that God created the heavens and the earth. In this description, God
brought the universe into existence out of nothing. You know in Genesis
1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That word
for created is to bring into existence out of nothing. This isn’t that the
universe existed and it was refashioned. God brought it completely into
existence from nothing that existed before.
And this is an aspect that is very definitive about God being the
Creator, the Fashioner Who brought everything into existence. If you
look other places throughout the Bible specifically, the Prophet Isaiah
talks about: “I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, Who stretches out the
heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself.” (Isaiah 44:24)
And not only does this affirm this idea that God is the Creator of all
things but it has this idea that the universe is also dynamic. That its being
stretched out, or let’s say its being expended if you will. And if you go look
at other prophets, the Prophet Jeremiah talks about universe this way:
“This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made My covenant with
day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth.’”
(Jeremiah 33:25)