I felt that Hoyle was wrong because, if he was right then matter is god, which is the view of pantheism. At the time I was only dimly aware of the work of the philosopher and mathematician, Alfred North Whitehead who was one of the originators of process philosophy and theology--panentheism--which I currently hold.


What startling scientific fact cause astronomer Fred Hoyle to abandon atheism?

Here's what astrophysicist Dr. Rodney Holder says on this in:
God, The Big Bang & Bunsen Burning Issues by Nigel Bovey, chap. 15 (Authentic Media 2008)

"The initial phase of the universe (that first fraction of a second from the Big Bang) had to be set up in a very special way in order for stars, galaxies and ultimately life to form. Cosmologist Fred Hoyle did some major work on the nuclear reactions that go on inside stars to form all the chemical elements out of the simplest building block, which is hydrogen. He discovered that there needs to be a very fine balance of the forces in nature in order to make carbon, and then to make oxygen without destroying the carbon.

Although he didn't believe in God, Hoyle said that his work let him to the conclusion that there was a super-intellect behind physics, chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.

"...The universe is sitting on a knife-edge as to whether it is going to expand for ever or eventually re-collapse. This is to do with how much total mass-energy there is in the universe. If there is more than a certain critical value, then gravity will pull the universe back and it will re-collapse. If there is less than that critical value, then gravity won't be sufficient to pull the universe back, and it will expand fore ever.

"Right back at the beginning, the universe needed to be very close to that knife-edge in order for stars, galaxies and planets to form. The mass-energy needed to be what it was to within 1 part in 10/60 (that's ten with sixty noughts after it). That kind of accuracy would be the same as firing a gun from one end of the universe to the other (some ten billion light years away) and hitting a coin you were aiming at.

The question is: Was that a lucky shot or are you a brilliant marksman? Likewise, is the fine balance of the universe a lucky happenstance or is there a brilliant designer behind it? I believe that there's a brilliant designer behind it."
Source(s):

http://tribes.tribe.net/mindovermadness/thread/c9d0105e-8cf1-4537-8cd2-34060e885834
Quote:
Ex-atheist, Lee Strobel said, "Essentially, I realized that to stay an atheist, I would have to believe that nothing produces everything; non-life produces life; randomness produces fine-tuning; chaos produces information; unconsciousness produces consciousness; and non-reason produces reason. Those leaps of faith were simply too big for me to take . . ."
With no intention of being doctrinaire, here is my personal solution: GOD, like all that is ultimately, creatively and gloriously real, is no thing and you and I are one in, and with, IT. Things are the toys we create when, like the children we are, we just want to have some fun. Loving fun--the kind that brings true joy to us and others, at no ones expense, is my idea of heaven. How about it? What is your idea?


Last edited by Revlgking; 07/01/11 01:18 PM. Reason: Always a good idea!

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org