Tag Archives: General Relativity

MUST-READ: Doug Groothuis explains how science confirms the beginning of the universe

Post is here on the Constructive Curmudgeon.

No excerpt is possible, you must read the whole post.

Evidences cited for the origin of the universe (the Big Bang):

  • Einstein’s theory of general relativity (and experimental confirmation of the theory)
  • Hubble’s observations of red-shifted light from distant galaxies
  • Measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation
  • Confirmed predictions of light element abundances (H and He abundances)
  • The second law of thermodynamics

When you present the kalam argument, you should present it exactly the way Doug does here. You should hang the entire argument on the progress of science. Once upon a time before science, there was ignorance. But now we know better, thanks to the progress of science. Science disproved atheism. Five times over.

Choosing my religion: why I am not a Hindu

I’ve decided to spend some time writing extremely short explanations about why I am an evangelical Protestant Christian instead of anything else.

I have two aims.

First, I want show how an honest person can evaluate rival religions using the laws of logic, scientific evidence and historical evidence. Second, I want people who are not religious to understand that religions are either true or it is false. Religions should not be chosen based where you were born, what your parents believed, or what resonates with you. A religion should be embraced for the same reason as the theory of gravity is embraced: because it reflects the way the world really is.

Why I am not a Hindu

  1. Hindu cosmology teaches that the universe cycles between creation and destruction, through infinite time.
  2. The closest cosmological model conforming to Hindu Scriptures is the eternally “oscillating” model of the universe.
  3. The “oscillating” model requires that the universe exist eternally into the past.
  4. But the evidence today shows the the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the big bang.
  5. The “oscillating” model requires that the expansion of the universe reverse into a collapse, (= crunch).
  6. In 1998, the discovery of the year was that the universe would expand forever. There will be no crunch.
  7. Therefore, the oscillating model is disconfirmed by observations.
  8. The oscillating model also faces theoretical problems with the “bounce” mechanism.

So that’s one reason why I am not a Hindu.

(The absolute origin of the universe out of nothing is also incompatible with Buddhism, Mormonism, etc. because they also require an eternally existing universe)