True science is the study of God’s Creation. Physics is a study of how Creation works. One important aspect of physics is relativity – and especially how the theory of relativity applies to light, motion and gravity. I do not presume to know everything about this subject, and I won’t try to cover relativity in depth here. But I would like to focus in on some aspects of that theory in several articles and consider how that theory interacts with the Bible.
It is important to remember that there is no conflict between true science and true religion. Science studies physical reality, while religion studies spiritual reality. Both are true. And if you follow the evidence to its ultimate conclusion, both agree that there is a God who created all things.
Science didn’t discover that the universe was expanding until the 20th Century. But the Bible said it thousands of years ago. Many Scriptures clearly state that the universe is in motion and is expanding. One of those is Job 9:8: “Which alone spreadeth out the heavens.” Also God asked in Job 37:18, “Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?” And the Bible says, “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Jeremiah 10:12.
The galaxies in our universe are moving away from each other – at differing speeds. Andromeda galaxy (our nearest large neighbor) is moving at a speed of around 100 km/s (225,000 mph). NGC4151 (a nearby active galaxy) is moving away from us at 1000 km/s (2,250,000 mph). The most distant galaxies observed are moving away from us at 580,000 km/s (1,305,000,000 mph). (This is faster than the speed of light and is a result of the shape of the universe!)
Some of this may be hard to understand; but if so, remember that you don’t have to understand relativity to appreciate the greatness of God. The point of this article is that science has proved that our perception of reality is “relative.” Your reality and my reality might be different – depending on how we observe the events that happen. There may be two alternate – but both real and true – realities.
In Albert Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, E stands for “energy,” “m” stands for “mass,” and “c” stands for the “speed of light.” It is significant that “c” is constant; it never changes. The speed of light is a little over 186,000 miles per second (mps), or almost 671,000,000 miles per hour (mph).
Since “c” never changes, then energy and mass must be variable, that is, they must change relative to each other. That is relativity. Energy can convert into matter, and matter can convert into energy. Energy converted into matter when God created all things. God’s Holy Spirit is some type of energy (or can act as energy.) God converted energy into the galaxies, stars, planets, rocks, trees, animals and everything.
When the universe was “without form and void,” Genesis 1:2, the only energy in that void was the Holy Ghost. When God said, “Let there be light,” in verse three, energy converted into matter and light particles and waves came into existence. That energy set our universe into motion – stars moving in galaxies, planets orbiting stars, electrons orbiting nuclei, etc.
Einstein showed that the laws of physics depend upon your frame of reference. That is, the laws are not the same; they change, depending on your relative position. If you and I do not have the same frame of reference, say because you are moving in a jet at 500 mph and I am standing still, the laws of physics will not yield the same results for the two of us. This is scientifically explained by Einstein’s theory. Everything is relative. Even the laws of physics are not absolute. Things change, depending on your frame of reference. Even time and motion are relative.
Objects in constant motion do not sense motion. A person moving with an object, such as a car or airplane, does not feel the motion. They only feel when the speed or direction changes. Our sensation of motion is relative, depending on whether you are moving with the object.
For example, at the equator, the earth is rotating from day to night at an approximate speed of 1000 mph. (The circumference of earth is about 24,000 miles, and it rotates once each 24 hours, so 24,000 divided by 24 equals 1000.) But since you and everything you see on earth is moving with you, you do not sense the motion. Our planet is revolving in an orbit around the sun at a speed of 67,000 mph. We don’t notice it. Think about that. If you were in a spaceship standing still and looking at earth and then looked for earth again an hour later, it wouldn’t be where it was; it would have moved 67,000 miles!
And if you were standing still outside our galaxy and pointed a telescope at our sun, then went to lunch and came back in an hour; the sun wouldn’t be where you last saw it. It would have moved more than 500,000 miles from its last position. This is because our sun – out on one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy – is rotating around the center of the galaxy at over half a million miles per hour. We think of the sun as standing still, while the earth and other planets revolve around it; but in reality, the sun and its planets are all revolving around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy very, very fast. But because we are moving with the earth and sun, we do not sense any motion. Our perception of motion is “relative” – depending on whether we are moving with the object we observe.
We are on a globe spinning at 1000 mph, revolving at 67,000 mph around our star, and following that star as it moves at more than 500,000 miles per hour. This is life in the fast lane, indeed. We don’t realize that we are moving very fast even when we think we are standing still. That’s because our perception of motion is relative. If we are moving with the object, we don’t notice its motion. But if we are observing from outside the moving object, and are not moving with it, its motion is very noticeable.
Again, you are on an earth that is rotating at 1000 mph. You don’t sense that because your body is moving with the ground. If you throw a ball at 50 mph and measure it with a radar gun, you get a reading of 50 mph. But if you were outside and not rotating with the earth, and measured that throw, it would be moving at 1050 mph.
If you are in a car moving at 70 mph, and throw a ball up; it appears to you to go straight up and come straight back down into your hand. But if someone stood outside the car, they’d observe the ball go up at an angle, and back down at an angle, because your hand was moving forward at 70 mph with the car. Your reality was that the ball went straight up and down; but their reality was that it went up and down at an angle.
What we “perceive” to be reality is different from another person’s reality. We perceive that mountain to be stationary, but in fact it is moving through space at a very rapid pace, thousands and hundreds of thousands of miles per hour. We don’t perceive that motion, but it is there.
Our perception is relative, depending on our frame of reference.
And truly, everything is relative. We perceive things one way, but another observer will have a different perspective. Life happens one second at a time – from our relative perspective. But the angels may have an entirely different perspective on human life. They may not even perceive events in time the way we do. Everything, even time, is relative – depending on your frame of reference.
angels in our midst, but the Bible tells us they are there. They encamp round about those who fear the Lord. Psalms 34:7.
Things we cannot see are still real. Our human perception is limited by our plane of reference. Just as we are really moving very fast through space but cannot perceive it, there may be other things that are real and happening but we cannot perceive them from our human frame of reference.
Job 33:14 says God speaks, but man perceiveth it not. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Lord upholds all things by the word of His power. Other versions say “by the power of His word.” The entirety of Creation is sustained, and held together by the power of God’s Word – but like our constant motion, we don’t perceive that word all around us. Yet we are surrounded by various forms of energy. That energy can convert to matter in an instant to heal a disease. That’s why the Roman Centurion was correct when he said that Jesus would only have to speak the word, and his servant would be healed. See Matthew 8:8.
Things that we don’t “perceive” to be happening may still be occurring. We may not “perceive”
Want to know more about the interrelationship of physics and the Bible? If so, order Bro. Glenn Goodwin’s book and DVD set, “Physics and the Bible,” from our website: www.dmgac.org.