The Stars Died

Psalm 8:3-4
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

The atheist physicist Lawrence Krauss believes he has life figured out. As a cosmologist, he adheres to the Big Bang view of origins, believing that the universe came into existence from a singularity about 13.7 billion years ago.

The Big Bang theory is not compatible with a biblical understanding, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the theory as if there were only one point to it. Over the decades, as with the Theory of Evolution, a very sophisticated set of ideas has been woven around Big Bang cosmogony.

Krauss has referred often to stardust. “We are all made of stardust,” he has opined. The reason for this assertion is an evolutionary concept of the birth, life, and death of stars. Big Bangers have an explanation for how they believe stars formed from the original universal matter and began nuclear fusion. However, these models do not suggest a route to producing enough of the heavier elements found in the universe. So, scientists like Krauss suggest that these stars eventually die and explode, and new stars grow from the older, exploded stardust. He supposes that the only reason we, as humans, could have evolved is because of the production of gradually heavier elements, by second- and third-generation stars. Krauss says, “Forget Jesus – the stars died that we might live.” Krauss, like his biology parallel Richard Dawkins, believes in presenting a kind of awe of science to young people. So it is to the stars that he supposes this awe must be directed because they are our saviors.

The Bible, in contrast, explains that the stars are not a subject for awe, except in the sense that they point us to God, so that we worship Him.

Prayer: Indeed, what is man, Lord – what are we that You should care anything about us when we consider the glory of the universe You created? Yet, You intended all this for Your glory, especially that we might come to know You through repentance from our sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. Amen.

 Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Krauss, L. (2013), A Universe from Nothing, (Atria). Image: NASA, Public Domain.