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I do want to continue to write about the definition of God as a reflection on Question 4 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. However, “real life” continues to get in the way. Last week I was asked by Pastor Dave to share some thoughts about the size and fine tuning of the universe to help him prepare for yesterday’s sermon. I was flattered that he actually quoted from much of what I wrote in his sermon. As a result I wanted to share here what I gave to him.

Dave,

Here are my thoughts on this passage per your request to provide input on the fine tuning, size, etc. of the universe.

Per Calvin et al, God has written two books: special revelation in the Bible, and general revelation in His creation. Our generation has been the recipient of unprecedented “data” through the second book. We now have knowledge about the vastness of the universe on one hand, and the minuteness of the universe on the other hand.

For example, astronomers using their wide variety of telescopes, including the Hubble which orbits the earth outside its filtering atmosphere, have determined that the universe is immense beyond our comprehension. Most astronomers believe there was a single creation event (called the Big Bang) that occurred about 14 billion years ago. Since light travels at a finite speed of 186,000 miles per second, the age of the universe suggests that the size of the universe is about 14 billion light years in size. However, since the creation event, the universe has been expanding, so much so, that it is now believed that the “diameter” of the universe—if we conceive of the observable universe as a giant sphere—is in fact about 92 billion light years in length. That is the distance that light travels in 92 billion years.[1] For comparison, the distance from the earth to the sun is about 8 light minutes.

Because of the extraordinary position of our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy we are able to observe not only our own galaxy of about 100 billion stars, but also the other 80 billion or so galaxies in the observable universe. If our sun and its planets were closer into the center of our galaxy we would be bombarded with deadly radiation that would not only obscure our observation, but would kill the human observers! Likewise, if we were too far out, in one of the spiral arms, a rocky earth-like planet probably could not have formed, and if it did radiation there would also be too high for life to exist.

As a result of our unique position in our galaxy, our telescopes are able to “count” stars, and thus conclude that the entire universe has at least 80 billion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars. That’s 8000 billion billion stars: an unimaginably large number.

Interestingly enough, on the opposite end of the size scale, the number of gas molecules in a cubic box about 3 inches on each side is comparable to the number of stars in the entire universe. So there is this tremendous span of sizes in the created universe, from the minute size of atoms to the vast expanse of the universe itself, all comprehensible by instruments made by man in the last century.

Finally, there is in the laws of physics what is called the “fine tuning” of the universe. It is observed that very small changes in the so-called constants that enter into various physical laws or formulas that describe the forces & particles of our universe would make carbon-based life, us, impossible. Changes in certain constants as small as 1 part in a billion billion billion will produce a universe hostile to life.

In Peter’s day, there were scoffers. In our day, there are skeptics—some of them quite hostile to Christian faith such as the author of the recent best seller The God Delusion. Like Peter’s scoffers, today’s natural man looking only at the Book of General Revelation, unguided by the Book of Special Revelation, will say “when is he coming?” Or more accurately, “there is no he at all.” They see this incredibly vast universe with its glorious tuning just right for human life, as a colossal accident, and concoct theories to support their claims.

It’s worth noting in passing that current understanding about the future of our sun, based on its similarity to other older stars, suggests that its temperature will rise sufficiently in about 500-700 million years so that all water on earth will be boiled away, making life impossible. By then, and hopefully well before then, Peter’s prophecy of the earth’s judgment being reserved for fire will come true.

John

[1] [Reference: Scientific American Article at: