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Well, we all have small minds when it comes to comprehending the universe's creation, but scientists have studied it well enough by now to have learned most of what we need. If you'll permit me, I'd like to walk you through just the highlights. [You're already aware from my nickname and tagline that I'm a Christian.]

Astrophysicists and cosmologists are in near-universal agreement that the hot big bang model is correct. When you hear of developments, they're in the order of refinements, not changes.

A beginning implies a transcendant Beginner. These same scientists routinely acknowledge that (and astronomers are theists in great proportion and almost uniformly at least deists), but they often desperately cast about looking futilely for alternatives.

In other words, your surmise as to God's involvement is entirely correct. It's been proven and acknowledged scientifically that there was an intelligent Creator, but most scientists and journalists aren't eager to publicize that.

For one example--and this is just one example of many hundreds of scientifically proven evidences for intelligent and purposeful design--the mass-density of the universe at three minutes after the Big Bang ranks as the most exquisite proof of God's fine-tuning. By three minutes after the creation event, as the infant universe was expanding at enormous velocity and rapidly cooling, only hydrogen atoms existed. As the universe expanded and cooled from roughly 200 billion degrees down to about 18 billion, a portion of those hydrogen atoms fused into helium atoms. If too little helium formed, then the universe's continuing expansion would have prevented galaxies from forming; whereas if too much helium had formed, then only black holes would have resulted. In neither case would life of any kind ever had been possible.

With me so far? Here's the clincher: the rate of helium formation depended on how quickly the universe cooled, because helium fusion was only possible in that temperature range. The universe's expansion-rate determined the cooling rate, and the expansion rate depended on the total mass of the universe: obviously, a "heavier" object explodes, and cools, more slowly than a lighter one. What scientists have discovered is, if the universe's mass had been greater or lesser by just the mass of one of our dimes, then we'd either have no galaxies at all or else only black holes. That's how finely-tuned God crafted our universe.

If you're interested in learning more, please visit www.Reasons.org, the website of Reasons to Believe, founded and run by Christian astrophysicist and minister Dr. Hugh Ross. You'll find it, I think, well worth your time. Dr. Ross has authored over a dozen books on this and related subjects, including: Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, Creation and Time, Creation as Science, Beyond the Cosmos, The Fingerprint of God, The Genesis Question, and most recently Navigating Genesis.

And, if you'd like to discuss it further with me here, I'd be glad to try helping. I imagine that you, as the Father of Five, feel the need not only for personal understanding but also for the ability to guide and educate those of whom you're obviously so proud. That's how God feels about us.