Philosopher-theologian Janet Martin Soskice was once asked if she would participate in a radio program considering the issue of whether there are miracles or not. After she agreed she was told that there would be a leading humanist putting the opposite case. She was asked, “What would you say to him?” She replied, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” A baffled silence followed and the program organisers decided to ask someone also to participate other than Soskice.
One of the books I am currently reading is astrophysicist George Smoot’s Wrinkles in Time. Describing the debate between big bang and steady state theorists he comments that “steady state theory was based on a seemingly indigestible idea: the routine creation of matter from nothing.” He quotes Fred Hoyle:
This may seem a very strange idea and I agree that it is, but in science it does not matter how strange an idea may seem so long as it works - that is to say, so long as the idea can be expressed in a precise form and so long as its consequences are found to be in agreement with observation.
Hoyle had postulated the existence of a hypothetical ‘creation field’, akin to a gravitational or electromagnetic field. Hoyle proposed that the rate at which matter was created was determined by the rate at which galaxies receded. So the more rapidly galaxies receded the faster the rate of matter creation. Hoyle also argued that the creation of new matter caused the cosmos to expand and illustrated this with what happens at a cocktail party when new guests arrive and force earlier guests to move outwards.
Steady state theorists argued that the slow, steady creation of matter from nothing made more sense than the instant creation of all matter, as per the big bang theory. But whether one punts for big bang, steady state or an antimatter-and-plasma cosmology the question still remains, “Why is there something rather than nothing?”
Answer: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Here it must be remembered that ancient cosmology considered that the gods lived in the heavens above the sky dome, with windows or apertures in the dome making it possible for rain to fall (much as in the artificial world of The Truman Show). When Genesis 1:1 speaks of “the heavens and the earth”, it is not merely speaking of the physical universe. Consequently, all reality other than God - material or spiritual - is created by God. That is why there is something rather than nothing. Accept this and accepting the reality of miracles is a cakewalk.
Posted May 1, 2008
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