The Big Bang: Cosmological Discussion with My Parents
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:44 am
I want to share two experiences I have had with my parents regarding current theories about the origins of the universe, and how it has led to discussions about God.
1) One day, I was driving my mom (the Nereid Thetis) to Cache Valley from Brigham City. We were listening to the radio, and as we entered Sardine Canyon we lost the signal for the radio station and it went to white noise. I had been reading and thinking about cosmology, and I said:
Achilles: I've recently learned where that sound comes from...
Thetis: Where does it come from?
Achilles: We're listening to the Big Bang. It's the sound of the cosmic microwave background radiation...
Thetis: Do you believe in the Big Bang?
Achilles: Yes, I do. I think that's how the universe was created...or something like it...
I sensed she felt uncomfortable about the religious implications of my belief and said:
Achilles: Why shouldn't it be the way God created the Universe?
Thetis: I don't know. I guess it could be?
(Tangent--Oh, how I miss her! In four days she will be gone 1 year. Unlike the immortal Thetis, my Thetis has passed into eternity...)
2) Recently, Peleus, King of the Myrmidons was watching a YouTube video about astronomy, and noted:
Peleus: I guess the Universe isn't shaped like a sphere, but like a flattened disc or a donut... If the Big Bang really happened, wouldn't it be shaped like a sphere?
Achilles: What's outside the universe?
Peleus: Outside?
Achilles: Yes. Why wouldn't there be something outside the universe...maybe the inflation of the universe is being constrained by what's outside. Isn't God outside the universe?
Peleus: I suppose so...
***
I bring these discussions up because they get right to my beliefs and the beliefs of my parents about God and existence. I'm personally agnostic about God (currently), but I don't see how something like the Big Bang couldn't be true and also created by God... Anyway...
I've always liked cosmology, particle physics, the nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements, the life cycle of stars, how solar systems form, etc. And yet what I learned about these things was in tension with my previous TBM religious beliefs. Somehow I was able to compartmentalize the two ideas. But eventually I had to take it off my shelf and examine it. I don't see why this couldn't be the way God makes universes and matter, energy, etc. I don't currently believe that there has to be a God to do these things, but I don't see why it couldn't be that way...
My dad has been watching Fair Mormon...maybe he's in trouble...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVeZLP_1-Rc
Watch if you dare... It really isn't that bad once he gets into his "talk"...
1) One day, I was driving my mom (the Nereid Thetis) to Cache Valley from Brigham City. We were listening to the radio, and as we entered Sardine Canyon we lost the signal for the radio station and it went to white noise. I had been reading and thinking about cosmology, and I said:
Achilles: I've recently learned where that sound comes from...
Thetis: Where does it come from?
Achilles: We're listening to the Big Bang. It's the sound of the cosmic microwave background radiation...
Thetis: Do you believe in the Big Bang?
Achilles: Yes, I do. I think that's how the universe was created...or something like it...
I sensed she felt uncomfortable about the religious implications of my belief and said:
Achilles: Why shouldn't it be the way God created the Universe?
Thetis: I don't know. I guess it could be?
(Tangent--Oh, how I miss her! In four days she will be gone 1 year. Unlike the immortal Thetis, my Thetis has passed into eternity...)
2) Recently, Peleus, King of the Myrmidons was watching a YouTube video about astronomy, and noted:
Peleus: I guess the Universe isn't shaped like a sphere, but like a flattened disc or a donut... If the Big Bang really happened, wouldn't it be shaped like a sphere?
Achilles: What's outside the universe?
Peleus: Outside?
Achilles: Yes. Why wouldn't there be something outside the universe...maybe the inflation of the universe is being constrained by what's outside. Isn't God outside the universe?
Peleus: I suppose so...
***
I bring these discussions up because they get right to my beliefs and the beliefs of my parents about God and existence. I'm personally agnostic about God (currently), but I don't see how something like the Big Bang couldn't be true and also created by God... Anyway...
I've always liked cosmology, particle physics, the nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements, the life cycle of stars, how solar systems form, etc. And yet what I learned about these things was in tension with my previous TBM religious beliefs. Somehow I was able to compartmentalize the two ideas. But eventually I had to take it off my shelf and examine it. I don't see why this couldn't be the way God makes universes and matter, energy, etc. I don't currently believe that there has to be a God to do these things, but I don't see why it couldn't be that way...
My dad has been watching Fair Mormon...maybe he's in trouble...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVeZLP_1-Rc
Watch if you dare... It really isn't that bad once he gets into his "talk"...