The Relative Size Of The Universe, Creation v. Evolution, and Shecky The Starfish

The relative size of the universe is nothing more than amazing. Every single time I see something like the photos below it causes one of those WOW moment in my life.

My personal theories have changed over the years as to how, exactly, this could happen. Those theories don't stray too far from conventional wisdom and religious thought. Here are my choices as taught to me all of my life:

1. God, The Almighty Creator + Time
2. A really big explosion + Time

I could use these photos to spark the debate over creation v. evolution. It's pretty simple to me, really. I'll come right out and say it. I'm a Christian (que sound: ominous hallelujah 1).

Bye bye closed minded, intolerant people. Thanks for stopping in. Come'on back now, ya hear.

However, if you're not sure where to put your subscriptions, have you thought about the starfish theory? The theory - as described to me by my friend BadBlood - is one of confused brilliance that leans, in my opinion, closer to what I believe is the correct answer.


The starfish, we'll call him Shecky, doesn't know he's a starfish. Shecky gets up every morning (do starfish sleep?) washes his points, brushes his mouth parts, and might have a piece of cold mussel, clam, and oyster pizza for breakfast. As far as he knows, he's the king of the tide pool.

Shecky simply doesn't have the capacity to understand that a hyperbola has an apex, hyperbole uses exaggerated phrases for emphasis, or hyper-threading is simultaneous multithreading technology in use. C'mon, he's a crustacean.


But does Shecky wonder? Is he smart enough to understand what tastes good to him and what doesn't? Probably. Does he think about the pressure variance upon his body four times a day? One would think such a thing doesn't go unnoticed. Has he figured out that it's the tide causing that pressure variance? I doubt it.

Assuming that you are slightly more intelligent than a crustacean, do you recognize that things change? Is it physics? Yep. Is it evolution? Yep. Is it something so big that you couldn't possibly understand? Yep.

If you believe that there is a spiritual realm, wherever the roots of your theory or belief may lay, wouldn't that be faith? If you believe it but can't see it, isn't that faith?

Faith is powerful. Faith is strong. It can take you to places that you never imagined being or allow you to accomplish the greatest of tasks. Here is the catch; faith is a laser. In order to work, it has to produce the right type of light, it has to be focused, and has to be used for it's intended purpose.


There are 100 BILLION stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, which is pretty average. The Hubble telescope with it's pinhead-size spectrum of space can see 3000 galaxies. Contemporary wisdom in the world of physics and astronomy places the number of galaxies in the universe at approximately 125 BILLION.

So:

1. God, The Almighty Creator + Time
2. A really big explosion + Time

Of Nothing In Particular

I wanted to get a blog in before I break for Christmas. I'm a state employee. We break for Christmas, ya know. It's true what they say, state pay is average to slightly below average. However the benefits are pretty darn cool.


Coming Soon: Death of the Arcade; A Photo Essay If you were a teen or pre-teen in the 80s and shoveled what seemed like millions of dollars, one quarter at a time, into the likes of Tempest, Defender, Asteroids, and other such earth-shattering advances in modern technology, you're going to like this photo essay.

One last thing: Have you ever seen one galaxy punch another? It's a bit hard to comprehend (and explain), but you can see the photo to the right.

This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy. The main galaxy is the purple-ish blob in the lower left. The companion galaxy is the smaller purple-ish blog diagonal.

A jet of particles generated by a supermassive black hole at the center of the main galaxy (blue) is striking the companion galaxy. The jet is disrupted and deflected by this impact.

I think often about the nearly unimaginable size and nature of the objects within the universe. I also think often of my little girl and the nearly unimaginable complexity of the human body. If that's too much for you, maybe just start with the complexity of, say, just one eye...or your big toe...or your response to a cold...or the processes in the body that happen after you get a paper cut.

From what I was taught in school, it all started with a really big explosion. Bing, bang, boom, eight gazillion years later I've turned from a piece of carbon to having the intelligence to write/post a blog.

Yeah, I don't think so.

The Church of the Golden Teapot

What is it about God that frightens non-Christian people?

WAIT….Before I go any further, I’m going to predict that my brothers and sisters in Christ are going to smile and appreciate this post. My non-Christian friends are going to think I’ve completely been brainwashed and have gone over the edge. Whatever—to both groups. I write to think, and not to spark opinion of others. (But go ahead and comment. That’s the most amusing part of blogging, ya know.)

“Why did [God] let Hitler kill all the Jews? He sounds like a big co*k to me.”

“He lets ONLY those who believe in him be saved? What happens to the other people in the world? Sounds like an a**hole.”

These are two of many such comments that came from the lips of one of my close friends. Another referred to my belief in my Savior as no different than someone worshiping a small golden teapot that revolves around Mars. You can't see this teapot. You just have to have faith that it's there, and that it will "fix" that which is broken or needed. The Church of the Golden Teapot quickly became the new name of said religion.

Now, some people might get upset at such comments, possibly even a few in the bar area of the restaurant in which we were sitting as evident by one of GROBs subdivision neighbors (or some similar relationship) commenting on the acoustic level of his rant. As for me, I respect his agnostic opinion. He has every right to question anything he wishes, but I’m certainly not going to tackle the Hitler question—or anything similar. Why won’t I? It’s simple; I have no idea.

Lets get one thing straight; I’m not one to spout scripture or give reason to seemingly unanswerable questions. I did, however, offer to explain how God works in my life and how my faith has helped my family and me get back on track. I could have given the It’s-God’s-will answer, but that would have been akin to me kicking him squa in da nuts, mmmkay.

And there is another thing. I consider GROB a great friend. He stuck beside me through some hard times in my life, and I pray for him during the hard times in his. He is also one of the funniest MFers I’ve ever known. Our differing beliefs will never deter me from our friendship.

Circling back to the question at hand, GROB is one to investigate and/or challenge everything; it’s in the nature of both our souls. But he chooses to judge the Christian belief versus investigating it. As he once told me, his attitude regarding Christianity is based on a childhood question he asked of his pastor. At age 10, he asked what becomes of non-Christians when they die. The pastor’s response made him turn away from the church and shun any further teaching of the Word of God.

Why is he (or others) afraid to go to church, listen, learn, and then form an opinion using adult rational? I want to know what it is that frightens non-believers out of the slightest consideration of attending anything with the word church as even a small descriptor of event XXXXX?

Just because you attend church doesn’t make you a Christian. It’s not that simple. The people from my church pressure no one to change/invent their faith, ever. The leaders of my church are educators of Christianity. They are Christians, too. It’s kinda like FOX; they teach and let you decide. There is no pressure from the congregation to “change your evil ways”. They are good people who love, and teach, and support. If you choose not to listen, fine. If you choose to argue a point, fine. There will be no judgment. And you’re still welcome to come to our services, meetings, family events, groups, trips, BBQs, or whatever. There is no “C” tattooed on anyone. No one questions why YOU are here. They’re just glad you could come, and then they will invite you back. I simply don’t understand from where all the fear comes.

The photo above is something that I made the day after GROB and I had our discussion. I did it to illustrate just how wrong I believe GROB’s opinion to be…And before you comment on how hypocritical I am because you believe that I am judging someone, try to remember that there is a difference between respecting an opinion and believing that it's misguided.

~Click the photo to make it bigger. It's certainly worth it.~