Hrum Hoom! Treebeard and a Telescope

The "science" of the universe is daunting for most of us, in fact, quite literally in not a few ways, it's "over our heads"! 

Recently, the new James Webb Space Telescope has revealed some pretty spectacular never-before-seen vistas of some of the deepest regions of the universe. On this episode Wayne and Dan try to break some of it down and how we think it points to the glory of God. 

A careful reading of Scripture leaves one with the impression that God intended that everyone not only know about the cosmos, but that He created it for His glory. 

Big science spends billions of dollars annually to gaze more intently upon the resplendent handiwork of God, but increasingly make little or no mention of God when discoursing about the laws, mechanics, and elements of the universe. 

It's something akin to going to an art museum and looking past the beauty and symmetry of the art itself and instead focus more intently on what the painting or sculpture is made of. Knowing, for example, what elements comprise the paint in Van Gogh's Starry Night or what from what sort of stone Michelangelo's David is made tells us nothing about why Starry Night or David exists in the first place. What are those things? 

They are the handiwork and intimate expressions of the artists.

The heavens is no less an expression of God's glory. In the beginning, it was Jesus as the Master Craftsman, creating the cosmos (Gen. 1-2, John 1, Prov. 8; Col. 1; Heb. 1). . 

So what does Treebeard (maybe you're asking who or what is Treebeard?) have to do with the James Webb Space Telescope? You'll have to listen to find out! 

We here at Good Heavens! try to show you the human side of astronomy and how we as believers can revel in the wonders of the heavens and how that can encourage and strengthen our faith. We try to talk about the big science in understandable and accessible ways and offer some thoughts about how what is "above our heads" can be translated for our encouragement here on earth. 

We hope this special episode will encourage you. 

Here is a link to Wayne's accompanying article for this episode. https://creationanswers.net/answersblog/2022/08/25/images-from-the-james-webb-space-telescope/

Below are links to three scientific papers about the new James Webb Telescope images:

Mysterious red galaxies
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.00132.pdf

'Normal' looking galaxies less than 250 million years before the Big Bang?
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.00986.pdf

"Panic! At the Disks . . ." On distant galaxy shapes
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.09428.pdf

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