General Relativity
Why does a theist like myself care about something as esoteric as Einstein’s law of general relativity? Because it is a well tested, well-accepted theory of modern physics that implies something very significant about our universe. It implies that time had a beginning. Don’t take my word for it; take Stephen Hawking’s word.In the 70s, Hawking, Ellis and Penrose extended the solution of Einstein’s equations to include space and time, not just energy and matter. Their paper showed that if these equations are valid for the universe, then, under reasonably general conditions, space and time also must have an origin, an origin coincident with that for matter and energy. In other words, time must have a beginning
The more evidence we uncover to support general relativity, the stronger becomes the space-time theorem of relativity. No theory of physics has been tested as rigorously and as comprehensively as general relativity. Over the last few decades numerous observational tests have been devised for general relativity. In each case general relativity has passed with flying colors. For instance, general relativity predicts the rate at which two neutron stars orbiting one another will move closer together. When this phenomenon was observed and measured, general relativity proved accurate to better than a trillionth of a percent precision.
Why is a beginning to time such a big deal? Here is why. Your worldview must account for the question, where did we come from? How did we get here? More simply stated, why is there something rather than nothing?
Your answer to that question of origin must account for the fact that time had a beginning. Speculations about an infinite universe or an oscillating universe can be put to rest. Classical thermodynamics, observational astronomy and general relativity all have joined forces to tell the same story. There was a beginning ... just like the Bible said all along. Now the question becomes, who was the Beginner behind the beginning? Read Genesis and find out.
2 Comments:
The begging of the world?
How about the beggining of the world of man separate from a cosmic beggining?
The current world of man or the way we as a spiecies see and understand the world can undergo an updating.
The jews see the updating to be due anytime the current one is already 5760 odd years old.
My post was about a beginning to time, so that would “the” beginning with a capital B.
The origin of mankind is also a type of beginning and something else one's worldview must explain. Perhaps that is where "anonymous" was headed with his/her comment. That too is an interesting discussion.
General relativity does not help us much in that discussion. In fact, there are no plausible theories left for explaining abiogenisis (getting organic life from inorganic life). Just dead ends, from a naturlist's perspective. However, there is some good evidence that points to an intelligent agency behind life.
Not sure what "anon" meant by the updating of life. I am at a loss there. More information is needed.
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