Stephen Hawking's 10th anniversary edition of "A Brief History of Time"
has just been issued.
Sagan's introduction in the first edition asks " -- how is it, if there
was chaos early, there is,
apparently, order today, --?" and continues "This is a book about
God". However "(there
was) nothing for a Creator to do." [THOT - how about GOD bringing
order out of chaos? HE is
capable of doing the impossible.] Hawking wrote (p.127) - "It would
be very difficult to explain
why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as an act
of God who intended to
create beings like us". [Precisely my conviction - and presumably the
statement is applicable to
the earth!!] Hawking's final statement is - " -- for then we
would know the mind of God". So can
I assume that Hawking would acknowledge the existence of GOD?
Genesis 1 is also a 'brief history of time'. The sequence of events
describes in about 650 words in
verses 1 to 27 is an extremely simplistic history of time with the
sequence of events having a
remarkable similarity to the sequence established in great detail by
modern astronomical and
geological research. The Judaic-Christian Scriptures cover the period
from the 'Big Bang' to
about 100 A.D.
The following is a complete but highly abbreviated history, in less
than a thousand words, from
the beginning, to the end of the earth and the universe, over a period
of about 10,000,000,000
years. References in this essay are to the Judaic-Christian Scriptures
and essays in my webpage
2. In the beginning, >G O D< creates(defined as 'something
coming into existence out of
nothing') the material by the 'Big Bang' event of 15+ billion years
ago(Genesis 1:1; Hebrews
11:3) with agglomeration of physical 'dust' about 4.7 billion years
ago, to form earth, as a distinct
near-spherical mass, rotating on its own axis and around the sun. The
presently known oldest
rocks are about 4.1 billion years old.
3. >G O D< activates physical and chemical processes(Isaiah
40:28) on earth, resulting in slow
continuous change, or evolution (see definition Essay #1), over a long
period of time, including
increase in size of earth; distribution of land and water; lateral
and vertical positioning of
continents, which keep changing; gaseous composition and temperature
of the atmosphere;
strength, position, and orientation of the magnetic field; deposition
and erosion of volcanic and
sedimentary rocks on land and in the oceans; a slow decrease of rotation
rate by tidal friction;
development of soil; fresh water distribution; segregation of mineral
deposits etc., ETC. The
uniform condition is unidirectional and fluctuating, continuous change,
or evolution.
4. >G O D< creates LIFE (see defintion Essay #5) by activating
this metabolic process (Romans
4:17b) in an appropriately structured organic molecule (Sc.Amer.,78/9,p.70).
The molecule is
capable of all living functions including reproduction, but all offspring
are slightly different from
parents, and each other. The time, type, and character of change for
new species by mosaic or
differential evolution of parts is accomplished by >G O D<
by such mechanisms as mountain
building; magnetic field perturbations, changes in world temperatures,
meteorite impact, etc.
Increase of species number by biological evolution is exponential,
and the rate of change is both
gradual and punctuated. [Biblical exegesis of biological evolution
is within the phrase 'after its
kind', Genesis 1:25, which is a simplistic description of speciation,
the basic principle of
Darwin's biological evolution.(see Essay #1)] Entities interpreted
as fossils of living organisms
occur in rocks with an age of 3.8 billion years B.C. Nucleate cells
occur as algae by 2.0 billion
years B.C., then organisms with male and female reproduction structures,
and eventually
organisms with separate sexes. Soft bodied animals occur by 670 million
B.C.[Ediacaran], and
organisms with external hard parts about 575 million B.C.[base of Cambrian].
Hominids with an
erect two-legged stance, the culminating form, evolve about 1.5 million
B.C. <Homo sapiens> is
a unique species.(Acts 17:26) Within all groups, size increases (Cope's
Law), and
then decreases by the extinction of the large forms, whereas the small
forms persist.
5. >G O D< creates human beings <Homo sapiens sapiens>
by infusion of the human spirit
(Gen.1:27 & Zechariah 12:1b) into one existing male and one female
(identified as Adam and
Eve), consisting of the spiritual mind, heart, soul, and strength(courage),
and possessing free will,
about 7000 B.C., correlating approximately with the Mesolithic-Neolithic
boundary.
Bishop Ussher calculated from Scripture the date was 4004 B.C. The
directive is giving to
THINK (Matthew 22:24). Humans receive mandate to subdue the earth (Genesis
1:28), that is,
determine its physical, chemical, and biological constituents, both
present and past; understand
how earth systems operate, integrate, and change through time; and
seek and use materials of
earth for their benefit. The systematic growing of crops starts, animals
domesticated, languages
develop, and eventually writing on clay tiles. People start living
in communities, and society
develops. A unique activity is conduct organized warfare, truly an
identifying characteristic of
people, a manifestation of greed.
6. >G O D< may have 'stopped work'(Genesis 2:2) including
'speciation', as no new species are
evident a) by experimentation; b) in the multitude of bacteria mutations;
and c) as fossils in the
last few thousand years. Mutations within cells occur in each new generation,
as continuous
substitution within the DNA molecule allows infinite variation during
finite time. Entropy results
in an increase of defects and diseases attributable to genetic origin.
7. Pervasive sin is activated - only in humans, who have minds - when
woman picks and eats
fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Man listens to woman, and eats.
(Genesis 3:4-6,17) Self-will
reigns and the human mind evolves as knowledge accumulates and psyche
develops - and away
from >G O D<. About 1200 B.C., >G O D< inspires
"Moses" to write the commandments
(Exodus 20) which are inadequate to curb sin.(Galatians 3:19) >G
O D< comes as the sinless
>J E S U S< to give one commandment (Luke 10:27) and
says give back your mind to >M E<
and I will give you eternal life.(John 11:25-26) >G O D<
waits upon each person
>>individually<< to yield (Romans 10:9-10,13) to this final step
in the evolution of each
person's mind.
8. Possession, and beneficial and detrimental exploitation of earth's
resources, occur at an
increasing tempo as the population increases. All organisms, especially
people, are threatened.
Prolongation depends upon self-denial and concern for others (Phillipians
2:3).
By 1975 A.D., the 'growth rate' of the human population reaches a maximum
and starts
decreasing. (1960 - 2%; 1998 - 1.4%/ UN Stat.) Species are becoming
extinct at an increasing
rate, roughly in reverse order of appearance, with the elimination
of the larger forms, as has
occurred at times of extinction in the geological past, i.e. dinosaurs
at the end of the
Mesozoic.(65,000,000 B.C.) The 'absolute' number of people starts decreasing
about 2060 A.D.,
when the 'growth rate' changes from positive to negative.(Human population,
1995 - 6.4 billion;
2060 - est.10 billion) Extinction of all humans by 2500 A.D.(Zephaniah
1:2-3) from starvation;
disease; resource depletion; pollution of land, ocean and atmosphere,
including temperature
increase; and homicide. (Jeremiah 16:16)
9. All organisms, plant and animal, are extinct by 2 billion years A.D.,
Physical and chemical
aspects of earth continue to evolve, with surface slowly changing to
the supposed aqueous
configurations now visible on Mars. Earth's rate of rotation continues
to decrease. Sun expands
slowly and consumes planets including earth. Total earth history
is of the order of
10,000,000,000 years.
10. >G O D<, and those who gave back their mind to >H I
M<, live on as
spiritual bearings -- FOREVER.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Development - Lecture to the IVCF, University of Guelph, October 1978
- Manuscript 79-01-08; between 79/2 and 80/11 sent to
100 individuals for comment.
- Revised 98-09-07
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
C. Gordon
Winder, Professor(emer.) of Geology
Department of Earth Sciences, University
of Western Ontaio
London, Canada,
tel-519-661-3188::<cwinder@julian.uwo.ca>::fax::519-661-3198