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The Beginning Evidence
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Testing Worldviews
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Common Questions Covered in this Study:
1) Did the universe have a beginning, or did it always exist?
2) How did the universe begin? What is the universe doing now?
3) What worldview(s) fits reality? Which are shown to be faulty?
4) How can you believe the Bible is from God?
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What was covered so far
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The set of beliefs we have about reality, and our place in it – is our worldview foundation.
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Everyone has a worldview, and choices, responses, goals, priorities, etc, are based on it.
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Different worldviews have similarities, but contradict each other on the biggest ?s in life.
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Since only 1, at most, fits reality, whenever worldviews contradict each other, those not founded on reality will drop you at times during life, and possibly eternally, into unexpected consequences.
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What worldview fits reality – which one is true – you can check. The most effective method is the same approach we have used since childhood, and what the scientific method follows . . .
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Question
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Did the universe have a beginning, or did the universe always exist?
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Hypotheses (Claims from the Different Worldview Models)
One of the best tests of a belief (or hypothesis or model) is: Does it predict things accurately, especially things one couldn’t know, or most others get wrong, if not connected to a source of truth. Below is what each worldview model claimed before all the tests came in.
Agnostic Model – Agnostics either claim they do not know, or side with general understanding of the time that there was no beginning, or they claim that we will never know if there was a beginning or not.
Atheist Model – There was no beginning. Time and space always were and always will be. This was accepted as fact by the scientific community, and was a primary belief of atheism.
Biblical Model – There was a beginning to space and time. Nothing of the physical Universe or space existed, then it came into being. Written thousands of years ago, the biblical model provided a set of specific claims, which went against the other worldview models.
(1) The universe, and all that is a part of the universe, had a beginning (Genesis 1:1, compound use of Hebrew words “shamayim” (heaven) with “aretz” (earth), refers to everything of the entire universe; John 1:3, everything aside from God was created, was caused, and has a beginning).
(2) Time itself had a beginning (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 1:10; Jude 1:25).
(3) Space and time began together (Genesis 1:1; use of “bārāʾ” refers to divine creating something new out of what was not in existence before, and this happened at “the beginning”).
(4)-(5) The universe came from not anything visible, or of this universe (Gen. 1:1; Heb. 11:3; John 1:3).
(6) The universe follows fixed laws (Jeremiah 33:25-6), and involves an ongoing expansion of space. Expansion being predicted is debatable, but interestingly, numerous biblical statements use the Qal active participle form of the verb (Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22, 42:5, 44:24, 45:12, 48:13, 51:13; Jeremiah 10:12, 51:15), implying continued or ongoing stretching.
(7) The cause of the universe is given very specific properties; covered in the CAUSE section.
These predictions are specific, and set up to clearly verify or reject.
Buddhism, Hinduism – Time and space always existed, just recycled.
Others – There are other models, and if yours is not included, then add it in here.
Okay, the different worldviews made their claims, which one fits reality?
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Bottom-line answers
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Whether there was a beginning or not is one of the most prominent features of any worldview. The evidence is in, providing tests of truth to support the accuracy of some worldview(s), and expose the inaccuracy of others.
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Q1: Was there a beginning of the universe? What is the proof?
[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]A1: The universe had a beginning. From Edwin Hubble to Albert Einstein and other Nobel prize winners, there are many sources of evidence, such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, “ripples” of the Big Bang, and even common sense as noted below. Bottom-line: To not believe in the beginning of the universe, one would have to go against ALL the evidence.[/fusion_highlight]
Here is just one point: The stars of the universe run on fuel (hydrogen mostly). Every second through nuclear fusion, the sun turns ~600 million tons of hydrogen into 594 million tons of helium, and releases most of the remaining four million tons of matter as energy radiation and light. If every star that we know of runs on hydrogen (and later on some heavier elements too before dying), then what would happen to the hydrogen supply, if the universe did not have a beginning, and was burning hydrogen forever? Clearly the universe would have RAN OUT OF GAS. Alexander Vilenkin states: “With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe. There is now no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning.”
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Q2: What happened at the beginning?
[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]A2: The Bible predicted it: Compare what science now knows to the biblical predictions on first page.[/fusion_highlight][/fusion_text][fusion_table fusion_table_rows=”7″]
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WHAT SCIENCE NOW KNOWS |
WHAT THE BIBLE KNEW |
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1) All that is in the universe – all matter, energy, space, everything — had a beginning. It did not always exist. |
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1) All that is in the universe – all matter, energy, space, everything – had a beginning. It did not always exist. |
| 2) Time itself – had a beginning. | = |
2) Time itself – had a beginning. |
| 3) Space and time began together in what physicists call the space-time fabric. | = | 3) Space and time began together. |
| 4-5) There was nothing, meaning not anything at all, then a very small, very dense, very hot universe, which was too small to observe and to dense to permit light to be released until later. | = | 4-5) There was nothing, meaning not anything at all, then the universe came from what was not visible or part of this universe. |
| 6-7) The universe began to expand in all directions, following fixed laws. It is not really an explosion, a “bang,” but more like dough expanding in an oven. Space and time are connected together in the space-time fabric, and it is this fabric that is stretching out. | = | 6-7) The universe has and follows fixed laws, and has ongoing expansion. |
| 8) The cause will be covered in the next section, and is the best part. | = | 8) The cause is: outside of time; outside of space; eternal; an uncaused, first cause; all-powerful; miracle-worker; personal; acted with purpose. |
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What big questions are answered by what we now know of the beginning of the universe?
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Q3: What worldview belief is accurate &
Which ones conflict with reality?
[/fusion_text][fusion_text][fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]A3: The Christian model is proven true in this area, any model without a beginning is inaccurate in at least that point.[/fusion_highlight] The worldview of the scientific community, and almost every belief system, including agnosticism and atheism, showed time and space having no beginning, but being eternal, which has been found to be inaccurate.
[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]In addition, the biblical model, thousands of years ago, clearly and specifically predicted a number of facts (see Q2), which have been found to be precisely true with the most important discoveries in all modern science.[/fusion_highlight] This is powerful.[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]If anyone fails to accept how significant this is, ask them to find any other source(s), in ALL of history, which has ever matched this[/fusion_highlight] same level of foreknowledge of scientific understandings, so specific, and thousands of years before their discovery.
Those close to the discoveries get it:
- Astronomer Sir Frederick Hoyle was confronted with points mentioned above about the beginning of the universe, he believed the universe was eternal and ridiculed the idea of a beginning as “scientific Genesis.” He called the theory the “Big Bang” in his disbelief. The name stuck.
- Robert Jastrow, founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies said: “…astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world.… the essential element in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis is the same.” (Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 14.)
- Nobel Prize winners Penzias and Wilson add respectively: “The best data we have (concerning the Big Bang) are exactly what I would have predicted had I had nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.” And, “Certainly there was something that set it all off…. I can’t think of a better theory of the origin of the universe to match Genesis.”
- Mathematical physicist Frank Tipler: “From the perspective of the latest physical theories, Christianity is not a mere religion, but an experimentally testable science.”
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Q4: What makes you think the Bible is from God?
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[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]A4: Name 1 book, or anything ever produced by humans, that matches the number, and level of clear, accurate predictions, given so far in advance of scientific recognition. The predictions provided ARE BEYOND PEOPLE’S CAPACITY TO PRODUCE. If it were something achievable by just people, then in all of history there would be comparable examples, what are they? [/fusion_highlight]
Nothing by man has ever come close. If you think something is comparable, like Nostradamus, or want to claim the Bible is vague, what’s your evidence? There are properties that test the validity of a claim or model about reality, including: how well a model explains what we find, how much it explains, are the predictions accurate and difficult to match. The biblical model stands far and away in these areas over all competing claims.[fusion_highlight color=”#ffeb3b” rounded=”no” class=”” id=””]One cannot rationally walk past this point, unless other examples show the Bible is not entirely alone in this.[/fusion_highlight] And there better not be more examples. But there are many more reasons waiting to support that there is something well beyond humanity’s ability in the Bible, some of which will be covered in upcoming sections.
[/fusion_text][fusion_button link=”/evidence-from-science/the-caused-evidence/” target=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” color=”default” stretch=”default” icon=”fa-chevron-right” icon_position=”right” icon_divider=”no” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″]The CAUSED Evidence[/fusion_button][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_6″ type=”1_6″ layout=”1_6″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” box_shadow=”no” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” background_type=”single” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_image_id=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_blend_mode=”none” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ first=”false” last=”true” element_content=””][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]