 In 1917, Albert Einstein realized that his General Theory of Relativity pointed to a universe with a beginning at some point in the past. Instead of accepting this, he included an extra number in his equations to keep the eternal universe model intact. Why would he do this?

 In response to the fine-tuning argument, one might say that our universe is just one of several universes, and ours just happens to support human life. What is a problem with this hypothesis?

 A common objection to the moral argument looks something like this: Either something is good because God commands it or God commands something because it is good. Either way, good becomes independent of God. How would you answer this?

The Origin and Age of the Universe

 Is huge  Est. 91 billion light years  Est billion galaxies and stars  Est planets  Is complex  Laws of physics  Gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear forces  How is this explained?

 Origin of the Universe  Eternal or not?  Caused or uncaused?  Order of the Universe  Fine-tuning, chance, or necessity  Age of the Earth  Thousands of years? Billions?

 Some accept a beginning  Big Bang Models  Some want to avoid a beginning  Eternal/Steady State Model  Oscillating Universe  Fine-tuning implies a design

 Whatever begins to exist has a cause.  Only nothing comes from nothing  Only applies to things with a beginning  The universe had a beginning.  More in a minute  Therefore, the universe has a cause.  God!

 Cosmic expansion from a huge event  Thermodynamics points to a singularity in the finite past  Based on 20 th century observations (Hubble, etc.)  Accepted by some religious people  The universe does show age  However, does not avoid a First Cause

 Eternal Model  Pre-Big Bang  Commonly accepted for centuries  No expansion, conflicts with thermodynamics  Problem of infinite time  Hilbert’s Hotel  Steady State Model—Eternal pt. 2

 Series of expansions and contractions  Attempts to avoid a singularity  Insufficient energy in the universe  Thermodynamics, again  Increasing entropy  increasing expansion  Popular today  String theory, etc.

 Earth couldn’t have happened by chance  Anthropic Principle  128 parameters—1 in chance  Not enough planets in the universe!  Multi-worlds hypothesis  Firing squad analogy  Does not answer the probability problem

OLD EARTH CREATIONISM YOUNG EARTH CREATIONISM  Figurative reading of Gen 1-11  Up to billions of years based on Carbon dating  Day-age or gap theories  Literal reading of Gen  6,000-10,000 years based on Biblical text  Rejects day-age/gap theories

 Hebrew yom  Overwhelming use to mean “day”  “Evening” and “morning”—consistent  New Testament references  Mark 10:6  Apparent age  A mature creation

 When the Big Bang theory was first proposed, it was met with much theological backlash— from atheists. Why do you think this happened?

 As we’ve seen from the Fine-Tuning argument, the odds of a life-supporting Earth happening by chance are extremely low. What problems does this present for the theory of evolution?

 Why do you think someone who believes in God and the Bible would be inclined to accept an Old Earth Creationist (OEC) position?