God or Evolution, Will We Ever Know for Sure?

British spelling.

I write articles about the Universe and life and sometimes mention evolution, not long after my articles are published the comments start coming in, and one of the most common replies is “God created everything” but can we take that comment seriously without any factual evidence?

Some will say the evidence is all around us, just look at our amazing world teeming with millions of species of plants and animals.

I am certainly not an expert on the bible, but I am led to believe the bible tells us that the Earth and the Universe were created in 6 days and they are 6,000 years old.

Could a day mentioned in the bible be longer than the 24-hour period that we are so accustomed to, our day corresponds to the time it takes for the Earth to complete one rotation on its axis.

Scientists say that the Earth is over 4.5 billion years old, just a little younger than our local star the Sun.

The next few paragraphs will hopefully explain in layman's terms why scientists think the Earth exists.

A molecular cloud is a vast area in space that is denser than its surroundings, eventually, gravity causes parts of the cloud to collapse, and this is where protostars (young stars) begin to form, as more matter accumulates in one area it causes pressure, temperature and density to rise, when a critical temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius is reached nuclear fusion takes place and a main-sequence star is born. The star begins to shine brightly as it converts hydrogen into helium.

The protostar process can take up to a million years before a main-sequence star is born. If a protostar fails to reach that critical mass and temperature it will end up as a brown dwarf or a dead star.

Fortunately for us, our local star the Sun was big enough for nuclear fusion to take place. By the time the Sun had formed completely it had used up almost all the mass in its vicinity.

The new star the Sun was surrounded by a spinning, swirling disc of leftover material called a solar nebula, over millions of years inside this flattened disc formed the planets the dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and every other celestial body that orbits the Sun.

The reason the planets are in a level plane around the Sun is because of this flattened disc. Astronomers can see different stages of this disc formation in other star systems within our galaxy.

So, why is our world teeming with life?

Our amazing planet Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun orbiting at a distance of 149.6 million kilometres. Earth’s diameter is 12,756 kilometres and has an average temperature of 16 degrees Celsius.

One of the main reasons that life, as we know it can live on this magical planet is because it is the right size and that it orbits the Sun at the perfect distance which is called the goldilocks zone or habitable zone, this area in space ensures that it is not too hot, nor too cold, liquid water exists in this area which is needed for all forms of life on our planet.

As I mentioned the bible says the Universe was created 6,000 years ago, but scientists have estimated that the Universe burst into existence 13.8 billion years ago.

One estimate for the number of galaxies in the Universe is two trillion, and each galaxy holds billions of stars, with the latest information it is now thought that most stars will have orbiting planets, which is not unreasonable when we think of the Sun with its eight orbiting planets.

Imagine the number of planets there must be throughout that gargantuan area we call the Universe.

Among all the stars, countless numbers of planets must orbit in the goldilocks zone, so could there be life on other worlds? Considering the astronomical number of planets, it would be unreasonable to think that we are alone in the universe.

The beginning of the Universe is referred to as the Big Bang, all that there was at that time was a very hot soup of particles. 380,000 years later the conditions were cool enough for particles to form atoms, which were mostly hydrogen and helium.

Over time vast amounts of hydrogen and helium started to clump together and eventually formed the first stars that would light up the space around them.

There were no planets orbiting the first stars as no heavier atoms existed at that time. Heavier atoms were manufactured in the first stars by the nuclear fusion process. When these massive stars came to the end of their lives they exploded, we call those massive explosions supernovae.

With the arrival of heavier elements that were made in stars and in supernovae explosions, the Universe could start on its long and complicated evolutionary path.

An element is made entirely of the same type of atoms.

Our lives here on Earth are so short, so I understand why many people get comfort in believing that our inevitable death is not the end. Many also believe that they will see their loved ones again, maybe they will, but who can say for sure?

I do believe that 2,000 years ago there was a religious leader called Jesus Christ who many people followed. But, I don't believe in miracles, the laws of physics won't allow them.

We are also told that Jesus died and rose again. Over 100 billion humans have at one time lived on the Earth but as far as we know not one of them has come back from the dead.

Another question that will be baffling for most people. If we agree there is a God then where did “He” come from?

It is frustrating when we don't get all the answers to the important questions we ask. Who knows, the Universe we live in might be just one of a vast number of others out there in the unknown.

We can only imagine what our early ancestors were thinking as they gazed up at the night sky, were they curious as to what the heavens had to hide?

Now it is very different as we have developed sophisticated telescopes and other specialised scientific instruments that are helping to reveal some of the secrets that the Universe holds.

Simple life forms were living on our planet over 3.5 billion years ago, since that time billions of animal species have existed, and millions of species are still alive today.

The evolutionary path for life has been long but at last, we have arrived. Our highly developed brain has given us intelligence and curiosity, now we can try and make sense of our existence.

It must be said that there is still not a complete understanding of why life emerged on our world.

Scientists keep on discovering new information about the Universe and life but I doubt if we will ever know for sure the true reason for the existence of the Universe.

Maybe we need to keep an open mind on other possibilities!

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