Good Heavens! The Human Side of Astronomy

The Expanse of Heaven - with Dr. Danny Faulkner of Answers In Genesis (Part 1)

On day two of the Creation week, the Bible tells us that God created the "expanse" (raqia in Hebrew). For centuries, many have believed the "expanse" to be made of something solid. On day four, God creates the greater and lesser lights and the stars and places them all in the expanse. The translators of the Septuagint translated raqia as the stereoma, a solid, crystal sphere. Jerome translated raqia into the Latin firmamentum. In this special two-part episode of Good Heavens! Wayne and Dan chat with veteran astronomer Dr. Danny Faulkner about what he has come to understand raqia and how he is using this concept to create a biblical cosmology. We think you'll find his insights quite fascinating! 

 

Dr. Danny Faulkner holds a PhD in Astronomy from Indiana University.  He taught at the University of South Carolina Lancaster for over 26 years.  He now works as a researcher, author, and speaker for Answers in Genesis (answersingenesis.org).

Check out Danny's blog.

 

Wayne maintains Good Heavens! on Podbean. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. If you would like to help Wayne defer the annual cost of maintaining Good Heavens! on Podbean, you can donate any amount at https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. Donations to Wayne are not tax deductible. 

If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/store/donations/

Donations to Watchman are tax deductible. 

 

String Theory and Faith with Dr. Tom Rudelius

What is string theory? In the field of physics, it's a relatively novel idea that suggests at the very smallest level, subatomic particles are made up of tiny, vibrating filaments, rather than point-like particles. These filaments are known as "strings", each with particular resonances, like strings on a musical instrument comprising different notes. The vibrations of the strings produce the particles physicists understand today. 

But string theory is still theoretical and somewhat counterintuitive to common sense, as the mathematics proposes that there are extra dimensions in our universe. But neither the strings or the extra dimensions have been detected and our technology is not powerful or sophisticated enough to detect them. 

So is string theory really science or just philosophical and mathematical speculation? And what does such a unique theory of the physical world have to do with the Christian faith? 

Come and see! Our guest this week is Dr. Tom Rudelius, a theoretical physicist whose field of expertise is in string theory and early cosmology (the study of the very early universe). Tom is also a follower of Christ. Come and hear his remarkable testimony and how he sees & understands the intersection of science and faith. 

For more about Tom, you can check out some work he has done with the Veritas Forum below. Some of the scientific and theological views expressed in our guests work do not necessarily reflect the views of Watchman.org, but we do strive to find common ground with our guests in the wonders of creation, in the glory of God and the person of the Lord Jesus. 

https://youtu.be/8R_TTp5c4iI

http://www.veritas.org/multiverse-podcast/ 

https://veritaschristoetecclesiae.wordpress.com/author/rudelius/

The blog by Aron Wall Tom mentioned, Undivided Looking. 

Brian Greene's work on string theory. (He is not a Christian, so far as we know, but he is a leading expert on string theory.)  Part 1 of a NOVA video on string theory here: 
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-elegant-universe-part-1/

This podcast is provided through Good Heavens on Podbean.com.  To support this program go to https://goodheavens.podbean.com/  (or the Podbean App) and look for the Become a patron link in the upper right.

God, Black Holes, and the End of the Universe with Sarah Salviander

A special Good Heavens!/Apologetics Profile presentation of Dr. Sarah Salviander's chapter on God and black holes from The Story of the Cosmos - How the Heavens Declare the Glory of God.   TheStoryoftheCosmos.com

What is a black hole? Where are they? How were they discovered? How does the majesty, mystery, and enigma of black holes point to the glory of God? Come along on this special episode and find out!  Dr. Sarah Salviander received her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a researcher at UT for sixteen years, where she specialized in the study of quasars, supermassive black holes, and galaxies. She is the author of several peer-reviewed journal papers and a comprehensive Astronomy & Astrophysics homeschool curriculum. She is currently writing books about the remarkable confluence between Christianity and modern science. 

Author Website: https://sarahsalviander.com.   

You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @SarahSalviander.  

Sarah presented her talk at LifePoint Church in League City, Texas (South Houston) on October 21st, 2020, as part of their Wednesday Night “Unfiltered. Conversations that Matter” apologetics ministry. Thanks to Trevor Shakiba and Pastor Josh Sharpe for coordinating the event and for the assistance in the production of the video. You can visit the church’s website at https://golifepointchurch.org.   LifePoint provided the audio and video. Daniel Ray of Watchman Fellowship edited and produced the final video.

 

For more information on the ministry of Watchman Fellowship, visit our website at https://Watchman.org

You can also see the video of this presentation here.
https://youtu.be/xi0CwpY5ICg

 

This prodcast is provided through Good Heavens on Podbean.com.  To support this program go to https://goodheavens.podbean.com/  (or the Podbean App) and look for the Become a patron link in the upper right.

 

The Wardrobe at 70 with Dr. Michael Ward

C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe turned 70 this month (October 2020). In the midst of a difficult year of pandemics and politics, now is the perfect time to reacquaint yourself with C.S. Lewis's timeless classic. What's in your "spare oom" that can lead to adventures undreamt and unsought? 

Come along with us on this special combined episode of Good Heavens! and Apologetics Profile as we celebrate the imaginative, cosmological, literary, and apologetic wonders of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with C.S. Lewis scholar Dr. Michael Ward. 

Dr. Ward served as Daniel Ray's master's thesis advisor at Houston Baptist University in 2016. Daniel is the first to have written a master's thesis on Dr. Ward's 2008 book (Amazon), Planet Narnia - The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis.  

Michael is the author of several published works and scholarly articles about Lewis, the imagination, and theology. He has lectured in 30 of the 50 states, holds a doctorate of divinity from St. Andrews, and has made numerous radio, podcast, and television appearances. More on Michael's work can be found at https://michaelward.net/. 

Michael Ward with Eric Metaxas in conversation about Planet Narnia.  

Michael and others from around the world reading from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  (on narniaweb.com)

Laura Miller's book mentioned in the broadcast (Amazon). The Magician's Book -  A Skeptic's Adventure in Narnia  

Image credit:  Refuge31 Films

The Constellations - Leo the Lion

This is the second episode in our series on the constellations from a biblical perspective. Leo is our featured constellation on this episode. We talk about Leo's kingly nature, a little bit of its legend and lore, and explore a few of the sights you can see within this ancient pattern of stars. 

 

The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God, they do not predict the future nor tell anyone what their fortune is. But they can and should remind us of God's glory and His faithfulness to us. 

 

So enjoy stargazing! Learn all you can about the heavens and all their hosts and how they point us to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Here are some references mentioned in the broadcast. Not all sources mentioned specifically endorse the Christian faith, but they are good references for astronomy and the history of star and constellation lore. 

From the International Astronomical Union

https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/

Burnham's Celestial Handbook
https://www.amazon.com/Burnhams-Celestial-Handbook-Observers-Universe/dp/0486235688/

Constellation Guide website

https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-map/zodiac-constellations/

Good Heavens is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship

https://www.watchman.org/

 

 

Let There Be Science! Why God Loves Science and Science Needs God

Join us as we have a lovely chat with physics professor and Fellow of the Royal Society, Dr. Tom Mcleish and physics & science teacher David Hutchings, both from the UK. We discuss why science and the Christian faith are not only not incompatible, but that science truly needs God, specifically the Lord Jesus. 

Their book, the the title of this podcast episode, is not a superficial Christian sticky-note attached to a highly secularized scientific methodology. No! Rather, it is a very easy-to-grasp, edifying, Christ-centered, tour-de-force from which readers of all ages and backgrounds can appreciate and learn something about the intersection of science and Christianity. They have written an excellent and accessible book on this topic and give us the confidence and encouragement to see how God is for "good science" and why good science must have Christ as its foundation. 

Jesus came to reconcile man with God, but that reconciliation includes reorienting our minds (Rom. 12:1-2) to see all of creation as a reflection of God's nature, of His invisible attributes, expressions of his wisdom (Job 28; 38-41). Creation as seen through the lens of Scripture, gives us reason for exploring and investigating it (Ps. 111:2) and is what inspired many of the great scientists of the past, as Tom and David point out through the many stories and examples in their book. 

So come and have a listen to our fascinating discussion about God and science, for the glory of God! 

Find out more about Dave and Tom's  book - "Let there Be Science, Why God Loves Science and Science Needs God".  Available at  https://www.amazon.com/Let-There-Be-Science-science/dp/0745968635/

Image credit:  NASA/JPL Caltech (Galex mission)

Third Anniversary Episode - Lessons for today from Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler lived a remarkable life during equally remarkable times. On this special Third-Anniversary episode of Good Heavens, Wayne and Dan talk about Kepler‘s accomplishments and his character.  He lived during the Catholic Counter Reformation in a time when there was much superstition.  In spite of great hardship and personal loss Kepler influenced people away from superstition and made revolutionary discoveries about the planets.  Kepler's Mother was accused of witchcraft in a time when many women were being wrongly executed for witchcraft.  But Kepler did a legal defense of his Mother and eventually she was freed.  He demonstrated remarkable character and faith in difficult times. 

 

Thank you to everyone for listening for 3 years!

 

For more information on Kepler check out these links:

 

Article by Wayne for this podcast

https://creationanswers.net/biographies/SuperstitionToModernScience.htm

 

Amazon link to Kitty Ferguson's book

https://www.amazon.com/Tycho-Kepler-Kitty-Ferguson/dp/0802713904

 

Website about Daniel and Wayne's book, "The Story of the Cosmos" (2017):   https://thestoryofthecosmos.com/

 

 

 

The Constellations - Orion the Hunter

This will be a new series on the constellations - short audio stories & astronomy facts about the visible constellations known today from the northern hemisphere. Each episode will hopefully be less than ten minutes. 

Our first featured constellation will be Orion the Hunter. A hunter, a god, a fool, a warrior, with many beautiful astronomy sights you can see with your own two eyes. These celestial audio vignettes will also consider how these constellations reflect the glory of God. 

Dan is going to try and cover all the visible constellations visible to us in Europe and North America. Pray for him! We hope you enjoy them. Let us know what you think! 

For more on the constellation Orion

https://www.ancient.eu/Orion/ - Legends about Orion

https://nineplanets.org/orion-constellation/

https://thestoryofthecosmos.com/ Our book:  a Biblical and integrated look at how the heavens declare the glory of God.

 

Image from on https://wallpapersafari.com/w/eJf0WO

 

The Wonder and Majesty of Binary Stars!

Cultivating a deeper appreciation and understanding of what God has created is an act of worship. God has given us two books, the book of nature and the book of Scripture. They are meant to be read together. As Psalm 19 shows, David speaks of creation in the first six verses and then speaks of God's revelation in and through His word in verses 7-13. He then concludes the Psalm with a prayer "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, my Rock and  my Redeemer." 

In contemplating both the heavens and the word of God, David is inspired and exhorted to pray that God would accept him. And in Christ, God answers that prayer not just for David, but for all of those who would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation. 

So how might a knowledge of binary stars enrich and encourage us in our faith? If David's contemplation of God's creation ultimately led him to pray, so too can our meditating on what God has made lead us in a similar way. 

The way, the truth, and the life. 

So come and listen to professor David Bradstreet with us.  Be fascinated by the wonders of binary stars and learn how they point us to the glory of God and His love toward us in Jesus. 

A short video on binary stars.  

More about Dr. Bradstreet.  

A short video with Dr. Bradstreet.  

More about Dr. Bradstreet's chapter in The Story of the Cosmos.  

Dr. Bradstreet's book Starstruck.  

The Gift of Discovery - Part 2 with Astrophysicist Dr. Tim Hamilton

On part two of our discussion with Dr. Tim Hamilton, we chat about something he discovered while sifting through images taken by Hubble!  The world is still filled with God's gifts, waiting to be discovered. You don't have to be an astrophysicist to receive from God's bounty! You don't have to be a scientist to make a discovery! God freely gives us gifts because He loves us, not because we earned it or deserved it.

When David considered the heavens, it reminded him of God's care for Him. 

So we hope Tim's story of discovery will do the same. We hope it can inspire and encourage you to consider that God also longs to give you gifts, the gift of forgiveness, of love, of mercy, or whatever else you need, maybe inspiration for your job or some difficult situation for which you see no answer. Fear not! Jesus knows, He sees, and your way is not hidden from Him. 

So come and hear Tim's story! 

 

Hubble, Discovery, Science, and Faith with Dr. Tim Hamilton

Do cutting-edge astrophysics and the Christian faith go together?

Yes!  On this episode, we speak with Dr. Tim Hamilton, an astrophysicist who recently made an exciting and unexpected discovery looking through images from the Hubble Space Telescope as he was studying quasars. The object TIm discovered is tentatively called by a colleague of his "Hamilton's Object".

 

Tim is also a Christian who enjoys contemplating how God's actions in the physical world might best explained. What are miracles? How did God created the universe? Can science find out everything God did in the beginning? 

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says of God, "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end."  

This, however, does not mean we should not keep looking to make discoveries, of course. Every new discovery about the cosmos reveals something more about the One who created it all. We read God's two books, the book of nature and the book of Scripture.  Both point us to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

We hope part one of our chat with Tim will encourage you to see that science is no threat to our faith in Christ, but it fact informs it, shapes it, and gives it life. So come along and find out more about how an astrophysicist contemplates the heavens and God's sustaining power throughout. 

For more on Tim's work, click here!  

 

Part 2 of God, Stephen Hawking, and the Multiverse

Does the Physics of the Universe do away with God?  Of course not!  On part 2 of our conversation with David Wilkinson and Dave Hutchings, we explore further the implications of the late Dr. Hawking's engagement with the idea of God and what the implications are for a universe bereft its Creator.  The late Dr. Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist whose pioneering work in black holes forever impacted the way we look at the universe. But what of the implications of his thoughts about God? Ought we to assume Hawking's brilliance in trying to understand the cosmos is transferable when he speaks of God?

The late Dr. Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist whose pioneering work in black holes forever impacted the way we look at the universe. But what of the implications of his thoughts about God? Ought we to assume Hawking's brilliance in trying to understand the cosmos is transferable when he speaks of God?  So we hope you will be encouraged by this program. There has yet to be a scientist whose theories and ideas have come anywhere close to unseating the Lord Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. The heavens are still declaring His glory! 

Here is more about Professor Wilkinson:

https://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/staff/profile/?id=2006

To get the book, God, Stephen Hawking, and the Multiverse, click here:

https://www.amazon.com/God-Stephen-Hawking-Multiverse-matters-ebook/dp/B083TY4J8B

And, Let There Be Science, by David Hutchings and Tom McLeish 

https://www.amazon.com/Let-There-Be-Science-science/dp/0745968635

 

God, Stephen Hawking, and the Multiverse Part 1

Dr. Stephen Hawking was a brilliant Cambridge theoretical physicist whose pioneering work on black holes and the origin of the universe put him in the public eye and imagination. His book A Brief History of Time was a runaway bestseller, with some 10 million copies having been sold worldwide since its publication in 1988.  Despite the limitations of ALS, Dr. Hawking went on to father children, write more books, give lectures, travel, and continue to do research. Remarkably, he lived to the age of 76, much to the astonishment of the entire watching world. His life and work define a generation of our understanding of the universe. 

 

On this two-part episode, we explore the life, work, and beliefs of the late Dr. Hawking with two distinguished gentlemen from the UK, David Hutchings, a high-school physics teacher and Dr. David Wilkinson, astrophysicist and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.  Dr. Hawking believed science had replaced God.  But he did not really engage the God of the Bible.

 

To get the book by the same title, go to this link:

https://www.amazon.com/God-Stephen-Hawking-Multiverse-matters-ebook/dp/B083TY4J8B

 

The Sun and Moon Stand Still - Encouragement From Joshua 10

Critics of Scripture have dismissed it. Skeptics mock it. And even some Christians will attempt to explain the heavenly events described in Joshua 10 as "natural" phenomenon or that Joshua's words were simply poetic or an allusion to something else. 

Did the sun and moon really "stand still" in the Valley of Aijalon as described in the Bible? What really happened? How can this passage from the Old Testament be an encouragement for us today in these troubling times?  Tune in for Wayne and Dan's discussion.  We hope it will remind you of Jesus. 

 

For more on the Long Day of Joshua see this article by Wayne:

http://creationanswers.net/answersblog/2013/11/23/joshuas-long-day/

Photo courtesy photos-public-domain.com

Wayne Reads Joshua Chapter 10:1-28

Did the sun and moon really "stand still" in the Valley of Aijalon as described in the Bible? Is Jesus still governing the goings on in the heavens and earth? We live in a time where we, like Joshua, should be strong and courageous. But only the Lord Jesus can give us that necessary strength and freedom from fear. We hope our reflections on Joshua 10 will be an encouragement to everyone. In this program Wayne reads from Joshua chapter 10, verses 1-28 (NIV, 1984 Bible).  This provides the background for a podcast coming soon on the Long Day of Joshua with Wayne and Dan.