adapted from from Stephen Hawking’s “The Universe In a Nutshell” Bantam Press; London:2001) pp. 168 -169 Figure 6.7

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TIME SEQUENCE

0 YEARS – 0.00003 billion years. The big bang and a fiery, optically dense, inflationary universe. Matter / energy decouple. The universe is transparent.

1 BILLION YEARS – Clusters of matter form protogalaxies synthesizing heavier nuclei.

3 BILLION YEARS – Galaxies recorded by Hubble Space Telesciope in Deep Field Exploration.

5 BILLION YEARS – New galaxies like our own, with heavier nuclei, are formed.

10.3 BILLION YEARS – Formation of our solar system with orbiting planets.

11.5 BILLION YEARS – 3.5 billiojn years ago life forms begin to appear.

15 BILLION YEARS – 0.0005 billion years ago early humans appear.

Thje huma race has been in existence for only a tiny fraction of the history of the universe. (If this chart was to scale and the length that human beings have been around was 7 cm, then the whole history of the universe would be over a kilometer.) Any alien life we meet is likely to be much more primitive or much more advanced than we are.

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QUESTIONS:

1. What was God doing for the 15 billion years before creating humans?

2. Is it feasible that the fate of the whole universe (past and future) is based on the actions of people on earth?

3. “If there’s life on other planets then I’m sure that he must know and He’s been there once already and has died to save their souls” – Larry Norman “UFO”

- If there is intelligent life on other planets how will that change the view of Christianity?

- Did Jesus also die for alien lifeforms? How would alien lifeforms know about this?

- Would alien life forms have to accept the bible as “the Word of God”?

4. For the creation pseudo-scientists …… Does the bible say anything about M-Theory (A theory that unites all five string theories, as well as supergravity, within a single theoretical framework, but which is not yet fully understood)?

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I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. (Galileo Galilei)

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Romans 12: 2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”

Notice the word “THINK”. It is a change of thinking not an abandonment of thinking. The end result is a KNOWING …which involves thinking.

Being “spiritual” does not mean that one abandon’s one’s God-given brain.

I Corinthians 10:4 -5 ” …for the weapons of our warfare are NOT WORLDLY but have DIVINE POWER TO DESTROY STRONGHOLDS. WE DESTROY ARGUMENTS AND EVERY PROUD OBSTACLE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE to obey Christ …”

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Great minds talk about ideas. Average minds talk about things. Small minds talk about people.

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