Aug 27 2008
Okay, Did We Proceed From a Muddy Glob or From the Hand of a Mighty God? (Part One)
Today there is much discussion and scientific research in regard to the origin (big bang?), size and shape of our universe. Here is the Divine Author’s account:
A. Who created the universe?
1. According to David, the Father created all things. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psa. 19:1).
2. However, John declares the Son did it. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:3-4).
3. Finally, in other passages, the Holy Spirit is said to have performed the initial act of creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1, 2).
4. What are we to believe? The answer is, of course, that all three persons in the Trinity had a part. As an illustration let us consider an important executive who determines to build a spacious and expensive home. He, thus, employs an architect to design the necessary plans for this home. The architect then secures a competent contractor to follow his blueprints. In this illustration the executive is the Father, the architect is the Son, and the contractor is the Holy Spirit. The following verses then refer to the work of this Divine Contractor. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psa. 104:30). “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13). “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life” (Job 33.4).
B. How vast is our universe? It is so vast that it takes a beam of light (which travels some 700 million miles per hour) over 100,000 years just to cover the distance across our galaxy called the Milky Way. But our galaxy is only one among many billions in the known universe. To illustrate the size of our universe, consider the following examples:
1. Paper tack model
● Let us say the thickness of a sheet of paper represents the distance from the earth to the sun (some 93 million miles).
● To represent the distance to the nearest star we would need a stack of paper 71 feet high.
● To cover the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy would require a stack 310 miles high.
● To reach the edge of the known universe would demand a pile of paper sheets 31 million miles high.
2. Orange and grain of sand model
● Here an orange would represent the sun.
● A grain of sand is the earth, circling the orange at a distance of 30 feet.
● Pluto, the most remote planet in our solar system, is another grain of sand, circling the orange at ten city blocks away.
● Alpha Centauri, the nearest star, is 1,300 miles away from the orange.
C. How minute is our universe? Simply stated, it is as unbelievably small as it is big. Consider the following:
1. All material in the universe consists of atoms. Atoms in turn are made up of three “building blocks,” which are protons, neutrons (which two go to make up the center of an atom called the nucleus), and electrons (which circle the nucleus as our earth does the sun).
2. On the tip of a ballpoint pen are so many atoms that if they were carried by an army, marching four abreast, an atom to a man, it would take over 20,000 years for a march-past.
3. It would take 25 trillion protons laid side by side to span a linear inch.
4. There are as many protons in a cubic inch of copper as there are drops of water in the oceans of the world or grains of sand on the seashores of our earth.
5. The size of an electron is to a dust speck as the dust speck is to the entire earth.
6. The space between an electron and the nucleus is 10,000 times as great as the size of that nucleus. For example, if the outer shell of electrons in an atom were the size of the Houston Astrodome, the nucleus would be the size of a ping-pong ball in the center of that stadium.
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