Tag: periodic table

The miracle of stardust

Stardust is supposed to be a miracle substance.  The following quote is how prominent cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss, explains it,

“The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded.  And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand.  It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust.  You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution – weren’t created at the beginning of time.  They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode.  So, forget Jesus.  The stars died so that you could be here today.” 1  Let’s look at this miracle stardust.

#  How did the first stars form? 

  • Basically the ‘science’ is that stardust comes from the big bang and exploding stars. It is said that stars formed from clouds of gas that were compressed by an exploding star, a supernova.
  • The problem is that stars are needed to form stars and the stardust.  But the origin of the first stars remain a mystery. 2  So where does the stardust come from?

#  The ‘stardust’ in the Periodic Table

  • Anybody who studies the Periodic Table will understand how precise the elements with their different atomic weights, et cetera, are.  It is remarkable in its very high precision.
  • The public is asked to believe that the stardust in all its complexity (elements represented in the Periodic Table) evolved by chance from stars whose origin remain a mystery.
  • But, for the world at war with the Creator God, these kinds of ‘miracles’ like stardust that formed humans, are everyday stuff.  Wave the wand of evolution, and presto, it is done.

#  How wise and intelligent can stardust be?

  • As Krauss says, stardust precisely formed humans.  That should include the earth, water, clouds, land, plants, birds, fish, animals, diamonds, et cetera.
  • That is the so-called ingenious wisdom and intelligence of the evolution of stardust: it ‘created’ all life on earth.

#  The hero: stardust!

  • Did stardust really accumulate in the right proportions of the right elements to form life?  Thousands of researchers cannot prove in the laboratory that life began naturally.  Yet stardust did it.  What a miracle!
  • Did stardust design the precision of the genetic code, the DNA, and the ATP energy producing machine in living organisms?
  • What about the immaterial mind in humans?  Was all that done by the hero, stardust?

Conclusion 

  • As we quoted Lawrence Krauss, ‘Forget Jesus.  The stars died so that you could be here today,’ terming that the most poetic thing he knows in physics. 1,3
  • Just to demonstrate the foolishness of believing that nature has a mind and creative ability: stardust will lead those who believe in it to a terrible future of eternal remorse and torture.

References

  1. Lawrence M. Krauss, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
  2. R Bernitt, Stellar Evolution and the Problem of the ‘first’ Stars, Technical Journal (16) 1, 2002; J Sarfati, Stars, Creation 36(2): 39-42, April 2014
  3. Dr Faulkner, Spinning Stardust into God, Oct 26, 2017, Answers in Genesis

Are we made of stardust?

There are cosmologists and others who teach that we are made of stardust.  By stardust they mean the elements or atoms which are the building blocks of all matter in the universe.  They contend that the elements were and are produced when new stars form.  The problem is that new stars form when existing stars ‘die.’  So where do the original stars come from if they were not created by God?

#  Let’s look at ‘stardust.’

  • The whole universe is made up of elements (atoms).
  • Dmitri Mendeleev helped to organise the mind boggling precision of the elements into the Periodic Table.  Nature consists of 92 naturally occurring elements (some say 94).
  • Of the 92 natural elements, there are some that are essential elements.  Just four elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen) make up 96% of living matter.  The other 4% are other elements and include micro-elements in small quantities.1
  • Humans need about 25 elements, but plants only 17.  In rocks we find, among others, oxygen, silicone, aluminium and iron, plus calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.

#  We have to ponder this miracle of our universe. 

  • Whether its the sun, or soil, or fish, or fungi, or rocks, or water, or plants, or bacteria, or human beings, they are all made up of the building blocks of elements.
  • As we know, there are living and non-living things on earth.  But, to emphasise, they are all made of elements or atoms.
  • The question is, who arranged the molecules in different structures and who created life in lifeless molecules?

 

#  There are two answers to the question:

  • God did it.  The Bible says that the invisible Almighty God purposefully created and arranged the ‘building blocks’ into the air, water, rocks, plants, sun, stars, fish, birds, animals and people.
  • Nature did it.  The elements ordered themselves into diverse rocks, plants, animals, water, air, et cetera, by chance over millions of years.  Stardust became rocks, water, plants, insects, whales, et cetera.

Conclusion

How do we arrive at an answer to the issue?  In the next blog we discuss an important principle we see all around us every day.

References

  1. JB Reece et al, Campbell Biology, Pearson, 2011, p 78

Did the apostle Peter know about the Periodic Table?

The most controversial verse in the Old Testament is, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’  As followers of Jesus, we want to know if that verse is true?   Are there clues in both the Bible and science to support Genesis 1:1?

#  Let’s look at a verse in the letter of the apostle Peter. 

He wrote it about 1,400 years after Moses wrote Genesis 1:1.

  • 2 Peter 3:10 &12, ‘…the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare….  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will will melt in the heat.’
  • According to this passage, everything in the whole universe that will be destroyed,  is composed of elements.  The word, ‘elements’ is also found in Galatians 4:3; 4:9 and Colossians 2:8, but there it has a different meaning.
  • Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, referred to the minute parts or portions of which things are made.  In Greek the word ‘elements’ means, ‘The constituent atoms from which …things …are composed.’ 1
  • These verses tell us that all the matter in the universe is composed of elements.  We can compare elements to building blocks, like Lego or the 26 letters of the alphabet.  One can arrange them to form thousands of different structures or books, letters, manuals, et cetera.
  • We know from science that all matter, whether rocks, metals, oils, gases and humans are made up of elements (or atoms). 2
  • The Periodic Table has the 92 or 94 naturally occurring elements found in the universe, as well as some other rare ones.

#  The logic of the Lord

Why elements?  This age is the natural age, while the coming age is the new supernatural eternal age.  That means the ‘normal’ elementary composition of matter will not suffice, since matter, made up of elements are under God’s curse.  All things run down and will be renewed.

Summary

Most people will be shocked to discover that the Bible talks about things the ancients should know nothing about, like elements.  Yet since Peter was inspired by the omniscient Holy Spirit, God’s people should not be surprised.

References

  1. S Zodhiates, The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, Baker Book House, 1984,  p 1730
  2. JB Reece et al, Campbell Biology, Pearson, 2011, p 77