| Creation Science Newsletter Compliments of Creation Science Alive ---- Fall 2005 Much Ado About Nothing By RoseAnn Salanitri Ahhh “physics”! That word strikes terror in the hearts of the scientifically challenged – Christian and secularist alike. It evokes images of white haired men writing on blackboards filled with endless numbers and odd symbols. However, physics is nothing more than the relationship between energy and matter. Anyone who has boiled water, lit a match, or breathed air has used the laws of physics. While this science seems to be a child of our technologically advanced society, it actually occupies almost an entire chapter in an ancient book-the Bible! Although there are many profound scientific statements within the Bible, I am specifically referring to Genesis 1. This chapter deals exclusively with how God created the universe out of nothing – or the “how” of the energy-to-matter space/time history. This month I would like to discuss some of the misconceptions about the word “void” (“empty” in some translations) used in Gen. 1:1. Since my book, GUTs All Tied Up With Strings has been published, critics seem to be coming up with the same argument: soundwaves can’t travel through a vacuum. For those who haven’t had the opportunity to read or discuss the theories I present in the book, its most awesome claim is that when God spoke everything into existence, He used soundwaves to organize energy into matter. The objections come from misunderstanding the properties existing within a vacuum. According to the Bible, the pre-existent creation was a void. Today we think of that void as being a vacuum. We are correct to do so because a vacuum adequately represents space devoid of matter, and the preexistent creation was devoid of matter, hence the word “void” or “empty”. However, it was not “nothing” as we perceive “nothing” to be. Experiments have proven that energy fields continue to exist within a vacuum even when all the matter has been removed and the pressure has been reduced to zero. As these experiments have advanced, scientists have been able to produce better vacuums but even in these better vacuums, the energy fields cannot be eliminated. Contrary to what most people believe, these results show that electromagnetic forces (including light and radio waves, which develop into soundwaves ) are able to exist and travel within a vacuum. Why is all of this important information for the creationist? We should understand that before the physical world was created, something was there– God was there. A scientific description of God can be that He is an intelligent energy force. We call this “Spirit”. As an intelligent energy force, God would be able to organize energy into matter – which He tells us He did in Gen.1. Fortunately for us, God is a great deal more than intelligent energy, but scientifically, this is one of His most predominant characteristics. How does this square with standard theories in cosmogony and astrophysics? Actually, astoundingly well! Modern theories that attempt to explain the character and nature of the early universe all assume a type of original matter called a “singularity”. The problem with these theories is that when we work the math backwards toward this singularity, the universe is too hot to support any type of matter. The answer is that energy, which is acknowledged as being contained within matter, actually preceded matter. To go one step further, that energy had to contain intelligence since the systematic organization of energy into matter requires design, which requires intelligence. Organization is the difference between the unstable energy within a vacuum and the energy in matter. Furthermore, everything in creation-from the smallest atom to the largest star-evidences the systematic organization of energy. This systematic organization cannot be brought about, nor explained by, random or chaotic forces. Permission to reproduce this in its entirety with proper acknowledgment of its authorship is granted. |