GENESIS & SPACETIME - A SYNTHESIS

by

William A Edwards

Copyright (C) 1999

Acknowledgements

To my lovely wife Elaine, who displayed great patience and understanding during the many hours I spent sitting at my computer watching the punctuated evolution of this book, and to my brave friends Ewan Gear, Belinda Blunt, Paul Mallard and Peter Diamond, who read various drafts and provided me with helpful feedback which I have incorporated into the final text; I am deeply grateful.

INTRODUCTION

The great mystery which arises as a consequence of the presence of intelligent life on the Earth has perplexed generations of our species. Above all else, it is the ability to contemplate this enigma which is what separates us from the animals. Whatever success it is possible to make of our material existence in terms of increased wealth, knowledge or social status, the human animal is unavoidably confronted with the question of meaning in relation to Earthly life; and this issue is inextricably bound up with the subject of God.

The central message of the Bible, according to Christians, is that the universe was created by God, out of nothing; that mankind was created in his image; that man exercised God-given freewill to rebel, causing separation from God; that God sent Jesus Christ to the Earth with a message of reconciliation and hope; that the cost of delivering this message was crucifixion; and because of his intervention, it is possible for individuals to rebuild a personal relationship with God.

Modern science, which represents the sum of the best available thinking on the subject, has led to the construction of an alternative narrative. The universe was created from a cloud of swirling gases; Earth is one of a number of clumps of matter which attracted material orbiting the sun; conditions for supporting life on Earth were the product of random chance; life appeared spontaneously, from the primeval sludge; a multitude of life-forms, including mankind, gradually evolved on the Earth; natural law, and random action, can provide all of the necessary answers; there is no need for recourse to the notion of God. The whole dramatic story has been gradually pieced together from a succession of supporting, scientific observations.

It appears that the Bible tells one story, and science tells another - it is a conspicuous disparity. But there is an important common point of reference shared between science and the Bible in relation to the matter of truth. The biblical God is characterised by truth; and it is the pursuit of truth which is the fundamental object of scientific enquiry. A simple appeal to logic tells us that, if the God of the Bible does exist, there should be no conflict between science and the Bible.

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be: but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic. - Lewis Carroll (Tweedledee)

By Galileo’s time, the worlds of which he wrote in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, were already on their collision course. At the time, the church, officially, believed that the Earth was the centre of the solar system and indeed, the universe; which had been broadly in line with scientific opinion. Galileo,1 who had been the first person to observe the heavens with the aid of a telescope, was to produce evidence that the Sun was in fact, the real centre of the solar system. Although Nicolas Copernicus2 first broached this idea as early as 1543, it was Galileo who was to champion the cause.