The question, “Where did the universe come from?”, is a question that atheists are currently scrambling to answer. Until recently, atheists have taken refuge in the misguided belief that matter was eternal; that no one created it. This belief was first proposed by Aristotle in the 4th century BC, and atheists have clung to it ever since. For instance, outspoken atheist, Bertrand Russell, once declared, “The universe just is, that’s all!”
However, several extraordinary advances in cosmology in recent decades have led to the complete overturning of this concept of the universe’s eternal existence. Extrapolations from Einstein’s theory of general relativity by Dr Willem De Sitter, further extrapolations by Drs Alexander Friedman and Georges Lemaitre, Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the expanding, red shifted universe, the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) by Drs Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, and several other discoveries have painted a very clear picture that the physical universe, including all matter and sub-atomic forces, actually had a beginning.
This is what led to Stephen Hawking’s admission, “All the evidence seems to indicate that the universe has NOT existed forever, but that it had a beginning. This is probably the most remarkable discovery of modern cosmology!”
He’s right. It is a truly remarkable discovery, and one that sits very comfortably with the Christian narrative. But for atheists, this discovery that the universe actually had a beginning is a big problem. Atheists must now answer the question, “How can nature come from nothing, unless Someone outside of nature, Someone supernatural, Someone who exists above and beyond the laws of physics, has intervened?”
Atheists have been scrambling, over the last few decades, to answer this question. To date there has been a stream of ridiculous speculative theories advanced, including alternate universes, bubble universes, mother-baby universes, cyclical or oscillating universes, simulation theory (that our universe is a simulation being run on a super computer by aliens), and, the most laughable of all – that aliens created our universe (Richard Dawkins once suggested this!).
All of these theories are not only utterly ridiculous, but they fail to address the underlying question of ultimate cause: Who or what created matter (the physical universe) in the beginning? Even the more recently advanced theory of intersecting waveforms of coherent and decoherent quantum energy which some scientists speculate may have formed the first quantum state does not answer the question of ultimate cause, because it merely moves that question back a step or two.
Commenting on this stream of bizarre theories by atheists, Dr Christopher J. Isham, Britain’s leading quantum cosmologist (and not a Christian), stated:
“The idea that the Big Bang supports theism is greeted with obvious unease by atheist physicists. At times this has led to WILD SCIENTIFIC THEORIES being advanced with a tenacity which so exceeds their intrinsic worth that one can only suspect the operation of psychological forces lying very much deeper than the usual academic desire of a theorist to support his or her theory.”
Dr Isham is absolutely correct. These wild and bizarre theories indicate a desperate determination to avoid belief in a supernatural Creator, and a corresponding willingness to embrace anything, no matter how fanciful, in order to do so.
In a recent debate with Christian apologist William Lane Craig, atheist, Dr Quentin Smith, professor emeritus of Western Michigan University, stated,
“The universe came from nothing, by nothing for nothing!”
At least he is honest! Because this is the ultimate extrapolation of atheism. Once you remove God from the equation, you are ultimately left with this absurd proposition. And it’s completely unscientific! It contradicts not only common sense but also the basic scientific laws of cause and effect.
Dr James Clerk Maxwell, physicist and mathematician, who is credited with formulating classical electromagnetic theory and whose contributions to science are considered to be of the same magnitude to those of Einstein and Newton, stated:
“Science is incompetent to reason upon the creation of matter itself out of nothing. We have reached the utmost limit of our thinking faculties when we have admitted that because matter cannot be eternal and self-existent it must have been created.”[i]
Dr. Maxwell’s conclusion is spot on. If it is impossible for nature to have created itself from nothing, the only logical explanation is that something or Someone BEYOND nature – Someone SUPERNATURAL – created it. The most logically consistent explanation for the origin of the universe is found in the first verse of the Bible:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1)
For more on this topic, check out my book, “No More Monkey Business: Evolution in Crisis”.
Kevin Simington
Author of “Finding God When He Seems To Be Hiding”, “No More Monkey Business: Evolution in Crisis”, “Making Sense of the Bible”, “Rethinking the Gospel” and “The Little Book of Church Leadership.”
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My fiction books – available at: https://kevinsimington.com
My Christian books – available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07T9MLXMB
Blog and further resources: SmartFaith.net
[i] James Clerk Maxwell; Perspectives on His Life and Work”, Oxford University Press, 2014, p.274
