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Post by ignominius on Sept 9, 2011 6:30:40 GMT -5
Hi All,
Today is a day for rejoicing because it's the day that the Lord has made, but also because I stumbled upon 'The Anomoly'. I've been looking for something like this for so long.
I love writing, I especially love science-fiction and speculative fiction.
I also love discussing theology, the bible and philosophy with people.
I have a background in science - once spent some years working on high powered laser systems and have a degree in Geology and Computer Studies. I work as an IT specialist for an American company (I'm in the UK by the way). I've studied the bible and am currently teaching myself biblical Greek, and have studied Biblical Hebrew.
I'm not published yet, I'm still working on that - I have the start of two novels I'm working on but time is a commodity that is in short supply for me and so I don't get as much time for writing as I'd like.
Anyway that's me, I've already posted a couple of times but thought I'd introduce myself properly.
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Post by tris on Sept 9, 2011 9:31:57 GMT -5
Welcome. You do realize of course, that saying you have a background in the sciences is like painting a target on yourself? Now we know who to ask for those pesky techno babble questions.
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Post by Bainespal on Sept 9, 2011 16:44:17 GMT -5
You definitely have a lot to contribute. I'm glad you found us. Good discussion go on here, when everybody's not sleeping.  I'm curious. As a Christian who has studied science and specifically geology, what do you think about the Age of the Earth issue? That's not a trap question; it's just something I've been wondering about. I've decided not to take a stance on most Bible-science relationship issues, since these things go so far beyond me. I will say that the Young Earth position sounds reasonable to me, but I'm not committed to believing that theory. Sorry to pester you about science already; I guess it's like Tris said above. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. |
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Post by ignominius on Sept 9, 2011 18:27:57 GMT -5
Yes, I know, but knowledge is something to be shared and I enjoy sharing!
The issue of the age of the Earth doesn't necessarily conflict with the biblical account of creation.
All the different methods of dating largely agree with each other so we can be pretty sure that science has got it right. How does that square with the biblical account of creation?
Well, If I was to put my money on one of the two schools I would subscribe to, it would be the one based on quantum mechanics. I'll try and summarise as the subject would require a whole book. Science - Astrophysics postulates that the universe started from an infinitesimaly small singularity. This would place the creator outside of time and space - which also gets around the problem raised by philosophers about God and the universe (that's another topic - if Christians claim cause and effect to the creation of the universe, the philosophers then ask who created God...but that's another debate topic). Interestingly enough the Hebrew account of creation rather than the English translation, uses the verb Reshit - meaning to create and in that case means to create from nothing. It's used only twice, at the creation of the heaven and the Earth, and the creation of Man. The other creations such as plants, trees, etc are created from something - here the Hebrew uses the verb Asah. Anyway back to the creation,
As the universe comes into existence - physics suggests that it was a giant explosion - the expansion of the material and energy of the universe would be at the speed of light. Now as we all know, anything running at the speed of light will experience time dilation effects. Outside of the expanding universe time will pass normally, inside the expanding universe time will be passing much quicker, but to the observer in the expanding universe it will seem that time is passing as normal. Now, given that on the first day God created the heaven and the earth this might indeed have taken only one day, but inside several billion years would have passed. On day 2 God created the firmament. As the expanding universe starts to slow down so does the time dilation affect, so that by Day three we are getting towards the start of the Cambrian period 650-700 mya. As time goes on the expanding universe is rapidly slowing and cooling and we get to the final three days until the 6th day when Man is created and time is almost running at the same speed as time outside of the universe. By the seventh day it is now in synch. I hope that makes sense and would allow for both accounts to be correct. The biblical account is correct but not meant to be manual on quantum mechanics and universe building. Science gives us the accurate information that the bible gives us in a way that we can understand and from God's point of view is also correct. He did do it all in 6 days.
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Post by Bainespal on Sept 10, 2011 14:39:27 GMT -5
Hmm... I've heard people discuss a similar creation model to that one, but with a different perspective. The way I heard it before, the Earth (or the formless point that would become the Earth) was at the center of the universe, at least during Creation. The explosion was going outward from the point that was to become Earth. According to the view that I've heard, the "time dilation effect" caused time to pass more slowly the further away from the center of the expanding universe, while at the center time was passing "normally" (whatever that means). Therefore, although the stars were created on the fourth day, after dry land and plants, by the end of the creation week billions of years had passed in the extremities of the universe, allowing the light from the stars already to have reached Earth, which was only six days old. As I said before, it's all far beyond me. The thing I really don't understand is the relationship between time and the universe -- how could time be passing outside of the universe? I thought time was part of the universe, intrinsically tied to it. But since I've never taken a physics class in my life and probably never will, I guess I'm not qualified enough to wonder things like that. I just realized that the "Old Earth" version of the "Christian Big Bang" allows for a physical region located above and around the universe -- the third and highest heaven, perhaps. The Young Earth version may imply a physically infinite universe. Interesting. Welcome, Ignominius! Thanks for the insights.  |
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Post by ignominius on Sept 10, 2011 16:46:22 GMT -5
Thank you for the welcome. It's an interesting topic and one that maybe one day will have a thread and a full debate started. It'd be interesting to hear the different views and ideas. Quantum mechanics is just one way to align the biblical creation account with the facts about the universe and the Earth as we know them (or at least think we know them). I believe strongly that science and the bible don't contradict each other. The bible was written for ordinarly people and the it's account of creation is God's way of explaining how it came into existence in non-technical words. Science just goes into the detail. The bible afer all is not a hand book on science, it's about spiritual guidance and the way to live a spiritual , holy life not how to split the atom.
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Post by Teskas on Sept 10, 2011 19:43:30 GMT -5
Welcome, Ignominius.
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Post by choosybeggar on Sept 11, 2011 16:21:23 GMT -5
Welcome, fellow scientist! Or fellow science-head, at the least, since I'm not an accredited professional. I hope to hear your opinions on science-y things here on the Anomaly!
Caveat: I'm going to disagree with you on stuff. I don't have much of an opinion on the time-dilation, but I don't agree with one of your simple statements. The various dating methods used to measure old strata and such disagree wildly. When you find two dates that match, they're representative of a small percentage of the results.
If you want to discuss this, I guess I'm up for a little old-Earth young-Earth and dating method palaver. If you don't, I'm equally fine and content with non-discussion and -argument. Hope to see you around!
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 11, 2011 21:18:34 GMT -5
Welcome, Ignominius! It's great to have you here. I'm sure you'll have no shortage of folks looking to bounce stuff off your areas of expertise. Enjoy the like minded wackiness. |
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Post by ignominius on Sept 12, 2011 15:00:03 GMT -5
@choosybegger, I'd be more than happy to discuss old earth v young earth and dating systems. Just start a thread in the appropriate section of the forum and I'll wade right it! ;D beckyminor thanks for the intro. I'm sure I'm just as whacky as the rest. Especially when you find out what I have been up to in the past!! Believe me it gives you a whole new perspective on life. |
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Post by Andy on Sept 18, 2011 20:19:04 GMT -5
Hey ignominius,
Glad to have you on board! Thanks for the thoughts on time dilation, I've wondered about that in relation to quantum mechanics. How millions of years can go by within the universe, while an outside perspective would be a single day makes sense.
We're blessed to have someone with your skill set and knowledge on the forum! Looking forward to some good discussions!
Andy
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Post by machinelasera on Apr 10, 2013 4:02:17 GMT -5
Hi All, Today is a day for rejoicing because it's the day that the Lord has made, but also because I stumbled upon 'The Anomoly'. I've been looking for something like this for so long. I love writing, I especially love science-fiction and speculative fiction. I also love discussing theology, the bible and philosophy with people. I have a background in science - once spent some years working on high powered laser systems and have a degree in Geology and Computer Studies. I work as an IT specialist for an American company (I'm in the UK by the way). I've studied the bible and am currently teaching myself biblical Greek, and have studied Biblical Hebrew. I'm not published yet, I'm still working on that - I have the start of two novels I'm working on but time is a commodity that is in short supply for me and so I don't get as much time for writing as I'd like. Anyway that's me, I've already posted a couple of times but thought I'd introduce myself properly. really helps us a lot today. Many businesses use it as the best way to raise their profits. |
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Post by newburydave on Apr 14, 2013 21:15:34 GMT -5
Welcome ignominius; Interesting handle by the way, I'd be interested in your thinking in choosing it. No matter how "old" the Earth/Universe is God put it here and sustains the physical universe moment by moment. (I'm a younger earth special creationist by the way. I am not a uniformitarian (the metaphysical belief/assumption that current physical laws have to describe the creation), in fact based on what I find in the Bible I totally reject the notion that Physics can even describe creation. ie. How old was Adam when he was created? The world was created with all that man needed to survive and prosper at the point of creation and plant life was created a day or two before the sun. Seems a bit of a conundrum for a uniformtarianist who doesn't believe that a "creation day" was of the 24 hour variety. But; that is a discussion for a separate discussion, probably over in the "Learned Disputations" thread. Glad to have you aboard. My background is in Philosophy/Comparative religions (before I met Jesus), Engineering / Science, Pastoral Theology (I've preached the gospel for 42 years, 38 in active ministry) and I write Hard Science Fiction, Space Opera, Romance, Police procedurals (in space) and others as the Lord gives inspiration. My wife is a Physics teacher so I've got to behave when it comes to technical stuff. If you've a mind to check out my online critique group .
So pull up a hover chair or anti-gravity node (relativistic effect you know), grab a cuppa and join the conversation. Glad to have you aboard mate.
Write on bro
SGD
dave |
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Bethany J.
Full Member
Visit me at my blog (simmeringmind.com) or my Facebook page (Bethany A. Jennings)!
Posts: 176
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Post by Bethany J. on Apr 15, 2013 17:01:40 GMT -5
Welcome, ignominious! It's good to have you here. |
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Post by Bainespal on Apr 15, 2013 17:19:52 GMT -5
The post from April 10th must be spam. Laser printers were not brought up in the conversation on this thread. The link on the words "laser systems" leads to a corporate website. The poster is a guest login.
If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. But I don't think it's good to let a spammer profit from us, is it? Who knows whether or not that laser printer company is even legitimate?
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