Paddy the Golden Doodle's Cosmic Conundrum!

 

Paddy’s Cosmic Conundrum: The Fur-Flinging Truth About the Big Bang! 🐾

By Pastor Jim Allen, Trinity Evangelical Church

 

The air in Pastor Jim’s office at Trinity Evangelical Church in Mount Vernon was thick with the scent of old books, fresh coffee, and a distinct, unauthorized tobacco smoke. Paddy, the distinguished Golden Doodle, was nestled in his favorite armchair, a chewed-up tennis ball discarded nearby, a pipe jutting philosophically from his mouth.

 

“Well now, Rev,” Paddy began, his voice coming out with a perfect rolling ‘r’ after a theatrical puff of smoke. “I was just settling in for a good long think when this whole universe question trotted in. I’ve been studying the work of Dr. Stephen Meyer, and frankly, it’s keeping me up at night, unlike that squeaky toy I usually destroy.”

 

Pastor Jim chuckled, patting his good boy’s head. “Always thinking, aren’t you, Paddy? You’re like a little, golden-furred theologian! You kept nudging that science magazine with your nose, practically pointing at the page that asked: Was the universe always here, or did it have a beginning? It’s the ultimate ‘who opened the treat jar?’ mystery, as you put it!”

 

“Precisely!” Paddy declared. “And I need to know who opened the jar. You said our modern understanding all started with Dr. Vesto Slipher and the red-shift—the light stretching out like a tired elastic band—meaning everything was moving away. Then Edwin Hubble showed us those weren’t just clouds, but entire galaxies, all running away from each other!”

 

“And who do you think put that movement to a cause?” the Rev prompted. “The Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître. He used the evidence to propose a ‘singular explosive beginning’—the Big Bang. But remember the trouble that caused for Albert Einstein?”

 

Paddy’s ears perked up. “Ah, that stubborn poodle! He believed in a static universe, so he stuck that cosmological constant—a ‘fudge factor’—into his equations. He was trying to stop the universe from expanding, like putting a brick in the door to keep the sheep from running out of the barn! By the way, I have better hair!”

 

“That you do, Paddy!” Pastor Jim replied, trying not to laugh at the comparison. “Well here’s what happened, the heavens ‘talked back!’ After seeing the proof from Father Lemaître and Dr. Hubble, Einstein, to his great credit, admitted that denying the universe had a beginning was ‘the greatest blunder of my scientific career.’ You see, Paddy, the universe itself was shouting, ‘I am not eternal!’ In effect, it was God saying, ‘I started all things! I opened the treat jar!’”

 

Paddy let out a soft “woof” of agreement. “See? Even brilliant people mess up. Makes me feel better about that time I ate the entire loaf of bread. But here’s Meyer’s big point, Rev: If the whole physical universe—matter, energy, space, and time—started at the Big Bang, then whatever caused it couldn’t be physical, right?”

 

“You’ve got it, Paddy! That’s the whole ball of yarn!” the Rev exclaimed. “Scientists like Robert Dicke found a beginning upsetting because, as Dicke said, an infinitely old universe would ‘relieve us of the necessity of [explaining] the origin of matter.’ But since everything physical began then, the cause had to be immaterial and exist beyond space and time. That’s the theological concept of creatio ex nihilo—creation out of nothing. It had to be a Divine External Starter.”

 

The Christ Connection: The Ultimate Algorithm

Pastor Jim tied the cosmic puzzle to the core of their faith. “And the Bible tells us precisely who this Starter is in John 1:3: ‘All things were made through Him (Jesus). Without Him (Jesus) was not anything made that has been made.’ That is the ultimate algorithm, Paddy, one that no computer simulation can match!”

 

Pastor Jim then tied the cosmic puzzle to a personal one. “And God doesn’t just speak through physics. I told you about my old church in Wisconsin. The new pastor’s wife—a nurse, just like my Carol—was one of Stephen Hawking’s caregivers. While Hawking’s own work on the singularity theorems was silently pointing to a beginning, she was right there, speaking to him about the need for salvation through Jesus Christ. As Romans 1:20 says, ‘God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen in the creation itself, so that people are without excuse.’”

 

Paddy removed his pipe and wagged his tail, delighted. “So, whether it’s through the silent witness of a singularity or the loving voice of a Scottish nurse, the ultimate truth is the same! The whole cosmos is just a giant signpost! And that, Rev, is why I don’t need to read a complex physics book to understand the universe. The simple, ultimate truth is found in a person. It is a truth that is not found in an algorithm, but in Christ!”

 

 

 

 

The Scriptures’ Final Word

“And that is not all, Paddy, this concept is confirmed in many places in Scripture,” Pastor Jim offered, his voice gaining the rhythmic quality of a sermon. “These verses also corroborate John 1:3:

• Colossians 1:16: ‘For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible... All things have been created through Him, and for Him.’
• Hebrews 1:2: ‘...through whom He (Jesus) also made the worlds.’
• 1 Corinthians 8:6: ‘...one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we live through Him (Jesus).’
• Revelation 4:11: ‘...for You (Jesus) created all things, and because of Your will they were created and had their being.’

“You’ve earned your rest, Paddy, now go say your prayers, for God in Christ has even created you!” the Rev said, smiling warmly. “The idea that Christ is the equation for everything can give us confidence that we have placed our faith correctly!” Paddy jumped down, tail whipping the air. “Best sermon ever! Time for a treat that is decidedly not immaterial!”