“Knob” No. 2 – Gravity

Gravity, along with electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces, is one of the Four Fundamental Laws of Physics. And it was Isaac Newton’s favorite mystery – a mystery he famously figured out scientifically. More on Newton in a moment.

The Bible is not a “science book” per se. That said, consider Job 26:7:

In this verse alone, we see three laws of nature:

• the expansion of the universe – “stretches the…skies”
• gravity – “hangs on nothing” (gravity can be measured by its evidence, but is itself invisible)
• the water cycle – “wraps up water in clouds” – Energy from the sun causes water on the surface to evaporate into water vapor – a gas. This invisible vapor rises into the atmosphere, where the air is colder, and condenses into clouds.

Let’s focus on gravity.

In 1687, Newton, published his Law of Universal Gravitation which states:

“The force of gravity acting between the earth and any other object is directly proportional to the mass of the earth, directly proportional to the mass of the object, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance which separates the centers of the earth and the object.”

Translation:

Every object in the universe is attracted to every other object in the universe by the force of gravity. The more mass an object has, the more other objects are attracted to it. This boggles the mind. For instance, not only does earth have to have a precise gravitational pull to hold the moon in its place. But, the moon must have its own precise gravitational pull to make the “marriage” between the earth and the moon work so that life can exist on planet earth.

More on this later.

The universal laws of gravitation have to be so precisely calibrated that if in the beginning there had been too much matter in the universe, then this gravitational attraction would have caused the universe to collapse back in on itself shortly after the big bang. If in the beginning there had been too little matter, then everything in the universe would have spread out too fast, and then there would not have been enough gravitational attractive force for matter to bunch together to form galaxies and solar systems.

Further, as we look at any planet or star in the vacuum of space, it behooves us to ask, “What is keeping it in place? Why is that celestial ball not crashing into us, or vice versa? What is it ‘hanging on? Can it be blind, unguided chance? Or is there a law of nature behind it? And if there’s a law of nature, what/who created that law?” That was Newton’s question.  The Bible answers that question in the passage cited above.

Moving on: as an example of gravity’s fine-tuning being critical to permitting life,  let’s use our nearest celestial neighbor – our moon.

 

This stunning photo of the moon against the background of earth gives the appearance there is not a great deal of distance between the two.  But you would be surprised.

In way of trivia, if the earth were a basketball, then to scale, the moon would be a tennis ball – ¼ the size of earth. This is not arbitrary and is of life-giving importance. Given the basketball and the tennis ball, if we held them up next to one another and asked, “How far away should the tennis ball be in order to be to accurate scale?” Most reply “a few feet.”

Would you believe it’s actually 24 ft?

Which represents 238,000 miles. There is so much distance between the earth and the moon every planet in our solar system could fit in between. But why is that distance so important?

VIDEO LINK

Again, Brian Cox explains the finely-tuned position of our moon in relation to the earth. Watch the video clip here.

Not only does the earth’s gravitational pull have to be precise for our moon not to fly into space or crash into the earth, but the moon’s gravitational pull has to be precise so our earth doesn’t wobble and our tides don’t rise to a height of the Empire State Building.

God chose what was recorded in the Bible on purpose. So, considering the significance of our moon, it’s no surprise that when, in Psalm 8, David is marveling at “the heavens”, he specifically mentions the moon.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,…” – Psalm 8:3

 

“Knob” No. 3 – Laws in Nature

Ever since Polish astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus, scientists and philosophers have wrestled with the question, “Why are there physical laws at all?” Purely unnatural, blind, unguided processes can’t account for that. Logic dictates that to have physical laws that rule the universe, there must have been a Law-Giver.

Note what the Bible says…

On the laws of nature, Steven Hawking said,…

Citing the precision of the Four Fundamental Law of Physics, Eric Metaxas writes,

“If the ratio between the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force had been off by the tiniest fraction of the tiniest fraction—by even one part in 100,000,000,000,000,000—then no stars could have ever formed at all. Feel free to gulp. Multiply that single parameter by all the other necessary conditions, and the odds against the universe existing are so heart-stoppingly astronomical that the notion that it all ‘just happened’ defies common sense. It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads 10 quintillion times in a row.”

Neil Degrasse Tyson; Astrophysics for People in a Hurry – Degrasse Tyson then takes these laws a step further:

“This universality of physical laws (of the cosmos) tells us that if we land on another planet with a thriving alien civilization, they will be running on the same laws that we have discovered and tested here on earth…Science thrives not only on the universality of physical laws but also on the existence and persistence of physical constants… If you do the math, you can determine that a star’s luminosity is steeply independent on the universal law of gravity.  In other words, if gravity had been slightly different in the past, then the energy output of the sun would have been far more variable than anything the biological, climatological, or geological record indicates. Such is the uniformity of our universe.”

To date, the breadth of our observable universe is 93 billion light years. To transverse our universe, one would have to travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) for 93 billion years. And, according to physicists, the same laws of nature we have here are what we would find anywhere.

Degrasse Tyson used the term “uniformity.” Does universal uniformity arise from blind, unguided processes? I don’t have enough faith to believe it does.

John Lennox is Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University (emeritus).

 

“Knob” No. 4 – Our Privileged Planet

Have you ever considered our location in our Milky Way Galaxy and why it’s important? Let’s take a look and see if our location matters.

Remember going to the mall and looking at a map to find a store? The first thing you looked for was the little arrow with the statement, “You are here.”

This is our little galactic cul-de-sac.

Milky Way – 105,000 light-years from one side to the other; it’s so big it takes our solar system 220 million years to complete a single orbit.

Scientists programmed the Hubble Telescope to look toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy and take a photo. Here it is.

 

Our privileged location in our Galaxy.

Why is our location in our galaxy important – or “privileged”?

Astronomers call our location the Galactic Habitable Zone. Why? Because it is the specific region within a galaxy where life is most likely to develop. Here’s why:

• Low Radiation: The center of the Milky Way packs a supermassive black hole and dense star clusters that blast out deadly X-rays and gamma rays. Earth is far enough away to avoid this constant sterilization
• Stable Orbits: Being too close to massive star clusters would pull Earth out of a stable path around the Sun via gravitational tugs. Our quiet neighborhood prevents chaotic orbital shifts
• Balanced Density: Our location has enough heavy elements to form Earth, but it avoids the extreme overcrowding that triggers constant stellar disruptions.
• The “Sweet Spot” Balance: Too close to the center means too much radiation; too far out means too few heavy elements to build Earth-like worlds.

Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards, together holding Ph.D.’s in astronomy, physics, philosophy, and theology. I saw them speak in Dallas at a conference on Science & Faith as they talked about their book ‘The Privileged Planet.” 

Our location in the “Galactic Habitable Zone” appears to be anything but arbitrary. It appears to be by design. And design requires a Designer. Blind, unguided chance? I don’t have that much faith.

Our privileged location in our Solar System.

Why is our location in our solar system important – or “privileged”?

Why are we, to borrow the title from a beloved 90’s sitcom, the “3rd rock from the sun” and, say, not the 2nd, 4th, or 5th rock from the sun? Did chance place us where we landed, or was it by design?

Like our universe, our solar system is sustained by gravity so precisely fine-tuned it is beyond comprehension. Remember, the gravitational force of all planets in our solar system must be precisely and inversely related to one another, as well as with the star around which they all orbit, our sun. Without that precision, our planets would wobble out of their orbits and crash into one another, making our solar system uninhabitable. Consider the significance of Jupiter and its relationship to life on our planet.

Jupiter acts sort of like a giant vacuum cleaner. Without a massive planet like Jupiter nearby, whose gravity “sucks up” asteroids, a thousand times as many would hit Earth’s surface.

• Note the asteroid belt between Jupiter & Mars. As we read of meteors crashing into the earth in the book of Revelation, I imagine God removing the gravity required to hold the asteroid belt in place. Just like God removing our perfectly, fine-tuned ozone layer when people are “scorched by the sun.”

A planet that has any hopes of being able to inhabit human life requires precise parameters. Astrophysicist, Hugh Ross, shares,

“322 parameters must characterize a planet if it is to have the capability of supporting [human life]. Every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart. The odds against life in the universe are simply astonishing.”

Ross cites just eight parameters:

• the earth’s 23.5 degree tilt,
• the earth’s electromagnetic field,
• earth’s ozone,
• earth’s photosynthetic zone,
• the ration of oceans to land mass,
• the speed of the earth’s rotation,
• the speed at which we orbit the sun,
• our “eccentricity”/slightly elliptical orbit.

These are only 8 parameters. Another 316 (that we know of so far) are required.

In Steven Hawking’s final book, ‘The Grand Design’; Ch 7, The Apparent Miracle. He writes,

“Our solar system has lucky properties without which sophisticated life-forms would have never existed.”

Call it “lucky” if you want. I don’t have that much faith.

Our planet’s position is precarious – yet perfect.

 

Earth’s “Goldilocks Zone”

This pic was taken by a NASA satellite positioned closer to the sun than Venus. Notice the earth to scale at the top right.

Again, the sun is 93 million miles away, making the light we see from it 8 minutes old. Did you know the sun is not yellow, but blindingly white? Earth’s atmosphere diffracts the sun’s light into the blue sky we all know and love.

Above photo: A solar flare releases a massive burst of total energy (equal to millions of hydrogen bombs) in large flares. This electromagnetic radiation travels at the speed of light and reaches Earth in about eight minutes. Earth is seen to scale at bottom left.

Now you know why your cell phone won’t work during solar flares. They are so insanely powerful and radioactive they knock out our satellites.

The sun should cook us. Yet, we’re placed in the “Goldilocks Zone” – not too hot; not too cold.

Again, Gonzales & Richards from The Privileged Planet:

 

Earth’s Special “Address”: Why?

We enjoy a “galactic address” perfectly positioned to be able to see and study the handiwork of God. It’s one of the ways he says to us, “I am here.”

God has placed earth at a specific “address” in our “galactic neighborhood”.

Earth’s location in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy provides a unique observational vantage point, being free from the dense star fields, high radiation, and space debris found in galactic centers or arms, allowing for a clear, unimpeded view of the universe.

Neil deGrasse Tyson frequently discusses how Earth’s unique position and atmospheric conditions are ideal for observation, sometimes describing it as an “amazingly privileged position.”

That the Earth is also perfectly positioned to observe the universe that God created. There are astronomers who are astounded by the fact that the positioning of the earth in the universe around it means that we have a clear view of the universe in order to study it. It is almost as if God intended for us to learn about His creation by virtue of the position where He placed Earth. Earth just happens to be not buried in the midst of a dense cluster of stars. Rather, it is positioned high and free to give us the best position to observe our surroundings.

I read once,

It’s as though God placed us in his universe at the perfect “address” in order to discover him.

Theologians refer to the two revelations of God:

• one they call “special revelation” i.e. He Word/the Bible;
• the other they call “general revelation” i.e. nature – how he gives
• evidence of his existence in everything from stars to quarks.

Paul refers to “general revelation” when he wrote,

 

As we conclude, let’s take one last look at the size of our universe.

The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 ltys away (1.5 quintillion miles). The light we see from Andromeda is 2.5 million years old. You can actually see it with the naked eye.

Fly in a little closer.  Andromeda is a full third larger in diameter than our Milky Way.

A little closer (stay with me – there’s a point to our “journey”).

Next  photo – as the telescope moves in closer, we begin to see stars. But the pic is still cloudy.

Closer and we begin to recognize the “cloud” as stars.

Now, one last photo with even a deeper, more detailed view of Andromeda…

Andromeda is merely one of trillions of galaxies. Yet, the Bible says,

 

The Hubble Deep Field

In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope stared at a tiny region of space in the constellation Fornax for 11.3 days to get this very deep image. They call the image the Hubble Deep Field.

The image required 800 exposures taken over the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth. The total amount of exposure time was 11.3 days, taken between Sept. 24, 2003 and Jan. 16, 2004.

They were not prepared for what they saw…

What you see are 10,000 galaxies (not stars, but galaxies) of different sizes and ages. AND this represents 1/24th millionth of the known sky. This would be like holding up a grain of sand to the sky on a starry night.

The Bible says…

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that, over time, what began should begin to break down. Think about a car, or a lawn mower, etc. As the “new” wears off, items such as these get old and wear out. This is called entropy.

But our universe, even at 14 billion years old, continues to be finely tuned to a calibration beyond our comprehension.

R.C. Sproul once commented,

What is holding it all together? Or, Who is holding it all together? The Bible gives us the answer.

 

Closing Remarks: Chance or Design?

Yale Law School grad and former atheist, Lee Strobel, shares,

“Picture a ruler across the entire known universe, 15 billion light-years long, broken down in one-inch increments. That ruler represents the range along which the force of gravity could have been calibrated. It could have been anywhere along that ruler, but it happens to be at the exact right place so that life can exist. What if we changed it? If we change the force of gravity by just one inch on that “ruler” compared to the 15 billion light-year width of the universe, intelligent life becomes impossible anywhere in the universe. Just with that single change.”

Another favorite example Strobel likes to mention is,

“The ratio between the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force. It must be finely tuned to one part in 10,000 trillion trillion trillion.”

So, what is the best explanation for our universe being the way it is?

What explanation is most rational, reasonable, and logical? Chance or design. Per Occam’s Razor, what is the simplest, most logical conclusion? What makes best sense of reality. What conclusion takes less faith? Let’s, once more, revisit the odds of an explosion we call the Big Bang exploding into unimaginably fine-tuned order with each cosmological constant tuned to a number so precise, to deny design it falls under the category of “absurd.”

Astrophysicist Hugh Ross, offers another mind-blowing example of “chance” being a position that requires a mountain of faith. He says,

“Imagine covering the North American continent in dimes up to the moon—238,000 miles high. But we can’t stop there. For the math to be right, we have to imagine a BILLION North American continents covered in dimes 238,000 miles deep. Now, choose one dime at random, paint it red, and put it somewhere in the piles. Blindfold a friend and have them pick out one dime from the billion continents. What are the odds he’d choose the red dime? One in 10,000 trillion trillion trillion – a number beyond human comprehension.”

I believe this is one reason Abraham Lincoln pondered,

German theoretical physicist, Werner Heisenberg, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics, said,…

Jonathan Feng is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. Feng shares,…

Pastor and author, Dustin Benge, offers wonderful biblical truth…

 

So, if the Beginner/Designer of our Universe existed before time, space, and matter – how do you explain that?

Jewish physicist, Gerald Schroeder, received his PhD in nuclear physics and earth and planetary sciences from MIT. As I watched one of his lectures, here was this orthodox Jew, his white-board filled with advanced mathematics while he’s attempting to offer an explanation for how the universe could have come into existence out of nothing. He turned to look at his students and said,

“What kind of a cause could bring the universe into existence? It must be transcendent because it existed apart from the creation. It must be timeless or eternal because it existed before physical time came into being. It must immaterial or spirit because it existed before the physical world was created. It must be powerful given the immensity of the creation event. It must be caring because he created such as fine-tuned, wonderful habitat for us to exist in. It must be personal because he had to make the decision to create. These attributes perfectly describe the God of the Bible.”

Only a transcendent Force outside of space, time, and matter could, by logic, created something out of nothing. We can’t wrap our minds around that using mere human logic, reason, and intellect. The Bible says,

By faith? Yes. But, as you’ve seen from the scientific data I’ve shard in this blog, it’s not blind faith. 

Former atheist, Alister McGrath,  is a professor at Oxford and possesses a PhD in Molecular Physics. He concluded,

Robert Jastrow was an American astronomer and planetary physicist. A NASA scientist, he earned his PhD in physics from Columbia University. He once observed,

So let’s conclude with the words of a few theologians.

Finally, Lee Strobel perfectly sums up how the non-theist worldview requires a great deal of faith. Based on the evidence (and it’s overwhelming), the biblical worldview is the best explanation of reality.

A Final Word

Some may be thinking, “This is all good but I’ve never doubted my faith. The evidence for God’s existence is indeed overwhelming but I really don’t need to know about it for my faith in God to remain strong.”

That’s wonderful – for you. But what about others?

Knowing why we believe what we believe is not an option; it’s a command.

Peter, during the reign of the psychopath, Nero, with Christians being tortured and fed to the lions for sport, encouraged his fellow Christians to be prepared to give encouragement to people who were wondering during that tumultuous period, “Where is God? Is he even there?” Peter wrote,

“Always be ready to give a [logical] defense (GR: apologia) to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance that is within you, yet [do this] with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)

When we can’t offer a reasoned, logical explanation for why we believe what we believe, or when we are unable to help someone with the hard questions about the Christian faith, we become, as one author put it,…

…”just one more reason for a non-believer to dismiss the Christian faith i.e. ‘If a Christian doesn’t believe their faith important enough to give a logical explanation for why they believe it, why should I consider their faith important.'”

Nick Watts