I was probably a little spoiled as a kid. I can remember as a youngster walking into a store and talking my parents into getting me Play-Doh or a bag full of bright green army men that I could shoot with my Red Rider BB-gun. However, there was one request my parents could never fulfill, I wanted the moon. Not the Moon Pies that are delicious, not the big blow up moon balls in that big rack at Wal Mart, but the literal moon. I can remember standing outside of our house looking up at a clear night sky and being awestruck. There was this big bright circle in the sky and I wanted it. My parents would patiently explain that they couldn’t get the moon for me, but it would be up in the sky to look at every night forever. I couldn’t help but to imagine the ancient Egyptians and even dinosaurs looking at that very same moon. Perhaps, it was in these impressionable years that my fascination with space, science, and the universe began.
As I grew older, my fascination became a passion. In high school, my friends would laugh about my Tuesday space night. I was more concerned about the science channel than I was dragging main street with my friends. My knowledge base grew and I quickly realized that same moon that I wanted as a child had not always been there. All the science seemed to point toward a beginning of space time and it was not “forever ago”. This seemed to align with the perspective I was taught in church services. As a Christian, I was taught that the universe had a beginning and it was created by the God of the biblical text. Little did I know, that some day this would be challenged and I would have to have a good reason to believe the way I did.
In college, my world expanded. I was introduced to a world full of differing ideas that often conflicted with my Christian worldview. One of those divergent viewpoints involved the beginning or lack of beginning of the universe. As mentioned in the introductory blog, we will be tackling a few of the stubborn facts atheism cannot explain. The problem of an infinite universe is the first problem we will be exploring.
Many atheists claim that the universe had no beginning. By making a case for an infinite universe, the atheist can then make the case no God is necessary for the universe or life to exist at all. If the universe had a beginning then there could be theological possibilities for the atheist to deal with. However, the claim that the universe has no beginning has its share of scientific and philosophical problems.
The first problem with this claim is that the universe is expanding. Since, Edwin Hubble first observed the expanding universe in 1929, scientist overwhelming agree that the universe is indeed expanding. The expansion of the cosmos observed by telescopes all over the world today indicates that the universe is not in a steady-state. Additionally, if the universe is expanding there must be a point of beginning. It was this realization that led to the majority of scientists agreeing with big-bang cosmology.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that the universe had a finite beginning at some point in the past, atheist cling to other models to provide hope that the universe is infinite. One example of a popular model being cited by a few theoretical physicists and atheist today is the oscillating model of the universe. In this model, the universe is in a constant state of oscillation with periods of expansion and then retraction. If true, this could allow the universe to be infinitely old and we are just in a period of expansion. However, research suggest this is not the case. Measurements taken by scientist across the globe indicate the expansion rate of the universe is increasing instead of slowing. This clearly demonstrates that the universe could not operate according to the oscillating model. Additionally, there is not sufficient mass in the universe to cause such a contraction. Great thinkers like Stephen Hawking agree that such a model does not correspond to the reality of the universe. “Hawking notes that the Hawking-Penrose Singularity Theorems ‘led to the abandonment of attempts to argue that there was a previous contracting phase and a non-singular bounce into expansion. Instead almost everyone now believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the big bang’” (Craig, 130)
Another popular model in support of an infinitely old universe cited by atheist is the multiverse hypothesis. In this model, our universe lives surrounded by other possible universes like bubbles that push up against one another. The universes that pop in an out of existence and are created by something like a universe generator. The generator continually pops out new universes and we happen to live in a lucky one where life is possible.
This model on the surface seems reasonable, but after further investigation it becomes evident there is no scientific proof for this model. There is no way to measure, observe, or replicate this theory within the means of the scientific community. Additionally, this does not prove the universe has always existed. In this model, the universe was popped into existence by some sort of mechanism that is creating new universes. In this model, the only infinite thing would be the mechanism that has infinitely produced universes.
Perhaps, the most devastating problem with an infinite universe model comes from philosophy. An infinite universe does not make rational sense. If the universe has existed infinitely, then that would mean there are an infinite number of moments in the past. If this is the case, today would never have arrived. According to William Lane Craig, “One may consistently hold that while the actual infinite is a fruitful and consistent concept within the postulated universe of discourse, it cannot be transported into the real world, for this would involve counter-intuitive absurdities” (Craig, 117). Such absurdities are outlined clearly in Hilbert’s paradox.
Lastly, the atheist in modern culture seems to maintain that Christians are afraid to look at science, but in claiming the universe has no beginning they are undermining the sciences they so cherish. The basis of all good science involves rationale, reason, testing, observation, and replication. Science cannot escape its philosophical foundation. In the matter of an infinite universe, the atheist has abandoned science and the general principles that good science was built on.
References
Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics. 3rd. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008.