Thursday, June 23, 2005

A Theory of Everything

In the article Inconstant Constants in the June 2005 of Scientific American, authors John D. Barrow and John K. Webb discuss the constants of nature. These are quantities such as the velocity of light, Newton's constant of gravitation, and the mass of the electron. They observe:
".. remarkably, no one has ever successfully predicted or explained any of the constants. Physicists have no idea why they take the special numerical values that they do.. [They] follow no discernible pattern. The only thread running through the values is that if many of them were even slightly different, complex atomic structures such as living beings would not be possible. The desire to explain the constants has been one of the driving forces behind efforts to develop a complete unified description of nature, or 'theory of everything.' Physicists have hoped that such a theory would show that each of the constants of nature could have only one logically possible value. It would reveal an underlying order to the seeming arbitrariness of nature."
This amazes me that "physicists have no idea why" when the answer is right in front of them. They nearly answered their own question when they said that "if many of them [constants] were even slightly different, complex atomic structures such as living beings would not be possible"! It's quite simple -- since God wanted to create a world that included living beings, He chose values for the constants of His laws of physics accordingly. Yes, the answer is right in front of them, but their eyes are closed, because they don't want God to be involved.

They want a 'theory of everything', and "such a theory would show that each of the constants of nature could have only one logically possible value." And this theory should "reveal an underlying order to the seeming arbitrariness of nature." Well, such a 'theory of everything' was elucidated by the Apostle John many years ago:
"All things were made by him [the Word that was God]; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3)
[Words in square brackets are inferred from the context.]
In our modern understanding of the world, matter and energy are inextricably entwined; likewise time and space; and more recent theories hold that space cannot exist without matter. Thus, all of these are included in the 'everything' or 'all things' that God made -- even time was created. (See this blog.) And this 'theory' of creation is just what the scientists say is needed -- it reveals "an underlying order to the seeming arbitrariness of nature."

The Apostle Paul claims that this is how we can discover that God is real:
"The invisible things of him [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.. so that they [Gentiles -- those without a Bible] are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)
Shortly afterward, the Apostle Paul warns that when one leaves God out of one's understanding of the world, it leads to deviant thinking, and abandonment by God:
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.." (Romans 1:28)

2 comments:

Donna-Jean Breckenridge said...

Wonderful post! Welcome to the blogosphere - looking forward to reading here often. Thanks for all your encouragement, too.

JC said...

Thanks for the warm welcome, DJ. Blogging is much easier than writing web pages.