#nebular hypothesis

If the modern age of astronomy could be summarized in a few words, it would probably be "the age of shifting paradigms." Thanks to next-generation telescopes, instruments, and machine learning, astronomers are conducting deeper investigations into cosmological mysteries, making discoveries, and shattering preconceived notions.

This post will be a little different from most of the articles we publish here on Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life. It is the final paper I wrote for my high school senior philosophy class when I was seventeen years old. I’ve updated the punctuation a bit and fixed a few typos, but otherwise it’s exactly what I turned in to my philosophy teacher almost five decades ago. Though I haven’t…

Pierre-Simon Laplace

Pierre-Simon Laplace, a French mathematician, was born Mar. 23, 1749.

The following is a brief description of the secular view of the formation of the universe and of the earth according to the nebular hypothesis from that chapter [9] :

No scientists have observed the random beginning of our universe. But according to secular scientists, as the universe slowed and cooled, hydrogen, helium, and small amounts of lithium were formed from the energy released after the “big bang”. These gases gathered into nebulae which then gave birth to stars and planets. As the early stars produced energy through nuclear fusion, heavier elements (heavier than iron) formed and were eventually scattered into the universe after the stars exploded (supernovas). These scattered heavier elements accumulated in the universe over billions of years. Our solar system allegedly began as a nebula that began to spin and collapse due to gravity. As the nebula spun faster and faster, a star began to form and a disk of dust and gases surrounded the star. Planets (like earth) began to slowly form as the dust particles stuck to one another. Pre-planets formed close to the center of the disk containing the rocky elements like iron and silica. Over billions of years, the pre-planets supposedly collided with one another or stuck together through gravitational attraction. As the collisions continued, the planets were completed.

Not only does this scenario not follow the creation account in the book of Genesis, a doctor of chemistry points out that:

No one has ever detected ice-coated dust grains sticking together in this manner. Imagine the number of dust grains that would have to collide and stick together in order to form a sphere as large as a golf ball, never mind one as large as the Earth — which is over 8,000 miles (13,000 km) in diameter.[10]