Getting Ready For Genesis: Anthropic Principal

I am getting excited about Sunday. I will be be preaching Genesis 1. In preparation I have been studying some very interesting, but slightly controversial material concerning the age of the earth, the week of creation, and how God did what He did in Genesis 1. Christians hold to wide range of divergent views and we must maintain a humility and realize that we are not God, we are finite probing the infinite, we are weak and frail probing the omnipotent, we sinful probing the holy. But, I think we can learn a lot from Genesis 1 and I am excited about that.

Here are some interesting facts from science that are referred to as the Anthropic Principal. This the notion that our world is amazingly finely tuned and the exactness and precession of seems to leave out blind chance and at least calls for a cosmic mind or deity to have out it into motion.
(Warning some serious science content is below, Sunday Morning's sermon will be more fun that this I promise. These come from Dr. Norman Geisler)

1. Oxygen comprises 21 percent of the atmosphere. If it were 25 percent, fires would erupt, if 15 percent, human beings would suffocate.

2. If the gravitational force were altered by 1 part in 1040 (that’s 10 followed by forty zeroes), the sun would not exist, and the moon would crash into the earth or sheer off into space.² Even a slight increase in the force of gravity would result in all the stars being much more massive than our sun, with the effect that the sun would burn too rapidly and erratically to sustain life.

3. If the centrifugal force of planetary movements did not precisely balance the gravitational forces, nothing could be held in orbit around the sun.

4. If the universe was expanding at a rate one millionth more slowly than it is, the temperature on earth would be 10,000 degrees C.³

5. The average distance between stars in our galaxy of 100 billion stars is 30 trillion miles. If that distance was altered slightly, orbits would become erratic, and there would be extreme temperature variations on earth. (Traveling at space shuttle speed, seventeen thousand miles an hour or five miles a second, it would take 201,450 years to travel 30 trillion miles.)

6. Any of the laws of physics can be described as a function of the velocity of light (now defined to be 299,792.458 miles a second). Even a slight variation in the speed of light would alter the other constants and preclude the possibility of life on earth.⁴

7. If Jupiter was not in its current orbit, we would be bombarded with space material. Jupiter’s gravitational field acts as a cosmic vacuum cleaner, attracting asteroids and comets that would otherwise strike earth.⁵

8. If the thickness of the earth’s crust was greater, too much oxygen would be transferred to the crust to support life. If it were thinner, volcanic and tectonic activity would make life untenable.⁶

9. If the rotation of the earth took longer than 24 hours, temperature differences would be too great between night and day. If the rotation period was shorter, atmospheric wind velocities would be too great.

10. Surface temperature differences would be too great if the axial tilt of the earth were altered slightly.

11. If the atmospheric discharge (lightning) rate were greater, there would be too much fire destruction; if it were less, there would be too little nitrogen fixing in the soil.

12. If there were more seismic activity, much life would be lost. If there was less, nutrients on the ocean floors and in river runoff would not be cycled back to the continents through tectonic uplift. Even earthquakes are necessary to sustain life as we know it.

As we study this week let us remember the wisdom of Psalm 19:-1-8

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.

2 Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.

3 There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.

4 Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.
In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.

5 It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber;
it rejoices like an athlete running a course.

6 It rises from one end of the heavens
and circles to their other end;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

7 The instruction of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.

8 The precepts of the LORD are right,
making the heart glad;
the commandment of the LORD is radiant,
making the eyes light up.

Thinking hard and enjoying every minute, Pastor Phillip