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Why is the universe so vast?

Discussion in '2004 Archive' started by vaspers, Feb 21, 2004.

  1. vaspers

    vaspers New Member

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    Hope this is best place for this topic, if not go ahead and move it. Okay: why is the universe so incredibly vast and what is going on within it? I mean we need some Christian Science Fiction buffs to flesh this one out. Is the vast cosmos kinda like the mind or brain of God in a way, I mean this seriously and reverently. Is it like His engine, and what is it headed toward? Why did it have to be so vast? C.S. Lewis offers this: we on planet Earth are so far from inhabited planets because we are quarantined, meaning kept apart due to our contagious sin condition, keeps us from infecting other entities. Interesting theory. I know, this topic will require some real digging into Bible. But you know Psalms 19 calls the Sun a living entity, and not so sure it's just a figure of speech.
     
  2. Precepts

    Precepts New Member

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    Don't think this will help at all, but I just felt like saying it:

    Scientists have proven that the universe is ever expanding. New stars and whole galaxies are being created in numerous quantities all the time.

    Question: If the Universe is endless, and it is expanding, what is it expanding into?

    Eternity has it's part in there somewhere.

    I'm just glad, exceedingly glad, to be on the right side of eternity with the Lord!
     
  3. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    The universe isn't expanding. It did in the first hours and days of creation, as God said clearly twelve times in the Bible that He stretched out the heavens. But that is past tense.

    My husband has done a lot of work in this area, and if anyone is truly interested in what the data itself has to say, they might be interested in these articles:

    Is the Universe Static or Expanding?
    http://www.setterfield.org/staticu.html

    Exploring the Vacuum
    http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Links/Papers/Setterfield.pdf

    Also, for those who are interested, we just finished the timeline coordinating geology and the results of radiometric dating with Biblical dates, via the redshift curve. This is possible because the redshift and the speed of light and a number of atomic processes are all 'children' of the same parent, something called the ZPE, or Zero Point Energy. The discussion page on our website deals with a lot of questions and answers about it. Here is the timeline link, though:
    http://www.setterfield.org/timeline.htm

    Why is the universe so vast?
    Simply because God has chosen it to be that way. And yes, it IS vast!
     
  4. Forever settled in heaven

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    it ain't vast at all ... in the infinity that is God.

    ;)
     
  5. vaspers

    vaspers New Member

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    Wow, thanks for such cool responses Helen and Precepts! If it is expanding it is expanding into God or whatever God has created external to this universe. Now, if its not expanding, if its static, it's got lots of processes in it that make it dynamic and Purpose Driven (?) One reason it is so vast: to display the glory of God and the insignificance of all man's works without God. The power of God is displayed.
     
  6. NaasPreacher (C4K)

    NaasPreacher (C4K) Well-Known Member

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    Psalm 19v1 - It is so vast because "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork."

    You need a BIG universe to declare the glory of God!!
     
  7. Helen

    Helen <img src =/Helen2.gif>

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    The glory of God is NOT the universe! "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being..."

    The heavens declared the Messiah Himself before the incarnation. It has been satanically degraded into the astrological zodiac now, but that is not the story it was created to tell. Remember, God Himself named the stars (Isaiah 40) although man named the animals. The names of the stars have meaning -- not so coincidently the SAME meaning in all the ancient languges, even though the names today have been adopted as 'universal' for purposes of study.

    An article I co-wrote on this along with Barry, before we were married, Lambert Dolphin, and Malcolm Bowden is here: http://www.ldolphin.org/zodiac/index.html

    The last section deals with the names of many of the major stars in the twelve constellations.

    When God told Abram to look up and 'count' the stars in 15:5, the word often translated into 'count' has nothing to do with numbers. It means 'recount, or tell'. There was a story in the stars. Abraham remembered the story, believed God regarding the coming Messiah, and that belief IN THE MESSIAH was counted to him as righteousness. All righteousness is in Christ.

    Paul emphasizes the meaning of this episode in Abram's life in Galatians 3:16.

    Both before and after this time, Abram was told he would have many descendants, but the meaning of this episode had to do with something else altogether.

    The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, but not because they are big or because the twinkling stars are so pretty.
     
  8. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    Why is it so vast? As C.S. Lewis might have said, "Why would you expect it to be otherwise?" Why would we think the universe should be small? Other than our preconceptions.

    The Almighty is God of the heavens and the earth, of supernovae and microbes. What God has wrought is beyond our imagination, whether it's a city block or the expanse of the universe.

    To expect God to conform to our limited understanding of reality is to box Him into a little space that we define for Him.
     
  9. fcs25

    fcs25 New Member

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    The universe has to be exactly as it is in order for the stars to exist for billions of years which is the only way we can exist.If any values were to change we would cease to be.
     
  10. vaspers

    vaspers New Member

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    I've heard of a book by E. W. Bullinger "The Witness of the Stars" but I don't know what to say about a story in the stars. Nice idea tho. And yes, Christ is the perfect and complete image of God's glory, more so than the vast cosmos. But I sense the glory of God in everything from a fermionic condensate to a pulsar. Isn't it neat how superfluids poured into a bowl climb back out of them? Yes this universe is vast and entities are numerous.
     
  11. Pastor Larry

    Pastor Larry <b>Moderator</b>
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    I have no idea why hte universe is so vast. That thing that grips me about it is that no matter how big it is, the Lord measures it with the span of his hand.

    Isaiah 40:12-15 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? 14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

    Can you imagine a God who can hold the waters of the planet in his palm and measure the universe with the span of his hand?

    The universe is not the glory of God--the universe declares or shows the glory of God (Psa 19:1-2).

    What a great God ...
     
  12. vaspers

    vaspers New Member

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    Here's how I relate to it: I love looking at photos of galaxies, deep space objects, pulsars, binary star systems, comets, nebulae, etc. I go to nasa.gov and gaze into space, nearly to the "edge" of the known universe (though backward in time, due to speed of light and time drag)--then, as vast and awesome and mind-bogglingly powerful it all is--I think how Jesus Christ is infinitely beyond all of it. He is the glory of God, the Son of the Most High, beyond all principalities and powers, and He sustains it all. How can we ever have fear, doubt, depression when we realize this? Praise God all of creation!
     
  13. Paul of Eugene

    Paul of Eugene New Member

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    God is infinite. His creative potential is infinite. His creations are no doubt infinite.

    It just so happens that of all his INFINITE creations we are able to see a lot of it. But what we see isn't all there is!

    If you were stuck on Venus and couldn't see out past the cloud barrier - your "known universe" would be much smaller. Sort of the state mankind was in before the invention of the telescope. That would not change the true vastness of all that God has created; it would only mean we couldn't see it all.

    I'm glad He saw fit to share the view of some of the vastness of it all. It does shed light on His gloriousness.

    But the ultimate cause of the VASTNESS of creation is the INFINITE NATURE of the creator.
     
  14. Travelsong

    Travelsong Guest

    I don't put my faith in science, so I don't believe the universe is what scientists say it is. The universe probably ends a few miles or so from the surface of the earth.
     
  15. Precepts

    Precepts New Member

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    The Universe is the largest element of time. It is simply eternal, just as God is eternal. Eterntiy has no beginning, no end. I stated "scientists" say the Universe is expanding. To say it is "static" is a misnomer, how can anything eternal be static? Impossible.

    To be static the Universe has to remain in place. For it to remain in place it would have to have a place to remain in. Eternal, not static.

    To try and say that the Universe is unchanging is quite ignorant, it's elements are constantly and consistently ever changing and yes, evolving. Not in the sense of being changed into a "being" better adapted to it's environement as Dufis Darwin said, but changing in structure and size. Eternal, not static.

    The ways of God are "past" finding out. Science has it's place in Christianity just like it does everywhere, but God keeps science in it's place. science has no place for God. Eternal, not static.

    The Universe is eternal. In the sense of the "Cosmos" we find this definition:
    "a systematic whole held to arise by and persist through the direct intervention of Divine power"

    We as finite cannot ever comprehend the infinite, so to say there is a limit or end to time, numbers, or the Universe is ignorance to the reality of eternity.

    Correalating "time and eternity" is infinite, no beginning, no end, Just as God is the Beginning and the End.

    It's been well thought out that if the "entity" of the Being of God has any shape or form, it would be that of a perfect orb, or sphere, so His dwelling would be that also, but that dwelling would be endless, or infinite in area.

    Man's mind has only one conclusion that the universe has to end somewhere, but God still answers his query with a resounding,"NO".

    Else how could eternity exist if it were measureable? A resounding "NO" still comes to the rescue of the plight and dilemmea introduced by the finite mind. The only explanation is God. none other, just God. [​IMG]
     
  16. UTEOTW

    UTEOTW New Member

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    The vastness of the universe show us the power of our God. It is a great marvel to explore.

    Oh, and the universe does not expand into anything. Space itself is expanding.
     
  17. Precepts

    Precepts New Member

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    O.K., Into what? [​IMG]

    I believe it is more that man's knowledge of space/the Universe, is expanding.
     
  18. Paul of Eugene

    Paul of Eugene New Member

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    I see you are under the impression that the universe actually exists. It does, of course, but only as an idea in the mind of God.

    As God contemplates the Galaxies, He also contemplates the distances between the Galaxies becoming greator and greator. It is not necessary for this to mean they are expanding "into" anything. It is sufficient for him to simply consider this to be happening.

    NOTE: This is just the simplest possible answer. It may be that He has something else for the universe to bump into after a while. Nobody knows. It's definately possible, however, that it doesn't have anything else out there to bump into.
     
  19. vaspers

    vaspers New Member

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    I see we all seem to think "the universe" is one entitiy, or one single thing, while it could be merely one in a multiplicity of multiverses, and our advanced physics and mathematics is considering this.

    Hugh Ross in BEYOND THE COSMOS claims there have been discovered 11 or 13 dimensions in this realm of known existence.

    Very complex subject for our tiny little brains.

    Why is there something rather than nothing? is the question I ask my Jr. High Sunday School students frequently to direct their thoughts to our loving Creator.
     
  20. InHim2002

    InHim2002 New Member

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    Has any of it yet been published in a peer reviewed journal? Has he gained any recognised qualification in this field?
     
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