Big bang (was government thread)

[Stan Gorodenski]

> I was referring to the secular concept in Science that the Universe is in
> an endless cycle of expansions and collapses.  After each collapse there is
> a Big Bang and everything starts all over again.   I paralleled this to the
> fact that many see the Bible as teaching that the present heavens and earth
> will be done away with and totally created again and anew by God.

Ron, The big bang theory is no longer in vogue.  Recent observations of
supernovae at the outer most reach of modern telescopes indicate the
universe is actually accelerating at its outer reaches.  Einstein had
once called his 'cosmological constant' one of his biggest blunders. 
Now many cosmologists believe it actually does exist, but as a repulsive
force called dark energy. Also, astronomers are having difficulty in
coming up (as estimations from observations) with sufficient mass for
the universe to collapse, undergo another expansion, collapse again,
etc.  Many cosmologists now believe the universe will continue expanding
at an accelerated rate, and that there will be no collapse or cyclical
process.  In other words, we are part of a unique one time event.  

Actually, the term 'big bang' was an attempt by Fred Hoyle, I believe,
to ridicule the idea of the process that has taken on the name of 'big
bang'.  According to theory, the process itself was not a bang or
explosion.  There is new theory, the name of which I can't remember,
that seems to have acceptance among some astronomers that does not
require the universe to have been no larger in size than a pinhead in
the beginning, and does not require the rapid expansion which has taken
on the name of 'big bang'.  

To put a lepidopteran spin on this (since this is supposed to be a
lepidoptera discussion group), it may no longer be accurate to say that
Lepidoptera Evolutionists (as a general category, not individual
opinions and beliefs) believe in the cyclical expansion and collapse of
the universe. Thus, science (i.e., astronomy and cosmology) has once
again split from religious concepts.

Stan

 
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