This is a continuation of my discussion of the book Why the Universe is the Way It Is by Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe. The questions dealt with in the book are:

• Why such a vast universe? – This was the topic of the first post.
• Why such an old universe? – the topic of this post.
• Why such a lonely universe?
• Why such a dark universe?
• Why a decaying universe?
• Why a realm beyond this one?
• Why this particular planet, star, galaxy and universe?
• Why believe the Bible?
• Why not a perfect universe?
• Why these physical laws and dimensions?
• Why two creations?
• Why is the new creation better?

The book is predicated on the idea that God created the universe specially designed for human habitation, just as He created the Garden of Eden specially for humans. So, why was it necessary to have such an old universe (about 13.73 billion years old)? The universe is designed to operate under the constraints of the laws of physics. Given our understanding of how these laws work, we can build models (explanations) for why and how things work. The essential arguments to answer the question at hand are as follows:

Essential heavy elements need time to build up

Immediately after the Big Bang, only hydrogen (single protons) existed. These rapidly began fusing to make helium, and after the first 365 million years, only the first five elements in the periodic table existed (with hydrogen and helium still being the most plentiful, and lesser amounts of lithium, beryllium, and boron). Life requires over twenty elements heavier than boron to function, and none of those elements existed anytime soon after the Big Bang. These elements are made in the nuclear furnaces of stars. As stars burn over time, the nuclear process in their core begin to accumulate these heavier elements. But it requires the more massive stars to complete their life cycle and go “supernovae” to produce the even heavier elements and the raw materials for a new generation of star formation. In short, it would take 3 generations of stars to build up sufficient quantities for life to exist. And this took the first 9 billion years of the universe’s existence to accomplish. This is the minimum time needed to prepare the right mixture of elements for life, and it was at exactly the conclusion of this time that our home (Earth) was formed.

Long-lived radioactive isotopes need to build up

Some of the heavy elements created in later generation stars are the radioactive ones – elements which release energy over time. Some of these elements have quite long half-lives which means that they can continue to build up at a rate faster than the rate at which they lose their binding energy. However, at some point the rate of decay will outpace the rate of creation.

Uranium-235, -238, and thorium-232 are elements which are known to provide the energy that drives two main life-affecting processes on Earth: Plate Tectonics and the Magnetic Field. Plate Tectonics is crucial to the preparation and maintenance of land/ocean ratios and atmospheric components which help maintain livable conditions over the changing history of the sun’s brightness and the atmosphere’s thickness. Also, the Magnetic Field of the Earth is critical to shielding the Earth from solar radiation which would be harmful to life. The radioactive elements which drive these processes were not in sufficient quantity until after the first 9 billion years of the universe, but if the Earth had formed later than they, the decay rate would have been so great that the tectonic and magnetic effects would not be optimal for life.

Dangerous events must subside

While these radioactive elements are necessary to drive life-beneficial processes, the supernovae events needed to produce them also produce deadly levels of radiation and forces which are not beneficial to life. Therefore, these events need to be reduced before advanced (beyond bacterial) life can really survive. Additionally, other cosmic-level catastrophes had to decrease to allow for advanced life to prosper on Earth, including nearby nebulosities (which induce star formation and hence high levels of radiation) and galaxy collisions, and even large-scale planetary collisions. The local region of the Milky Way galaxy “settled down” about 10 billion years after the Big Bang, or about 1 billion years after the initial formation of the Earth. It was during this time that our sun became more stable and calmed itself down in a sense – just in time for more advanced life to begin to be created on Earth.

Observable Window of Time

While it’s not crucial for the survival of life, there is an interesting additional aspect of the old age of the universe that works in our favor. We actually live at the unique moment in universe history where we can know how unique our status is. If we had come on the scene much earlier in earth history, we could not have known how special things are for us. We can currently see objects about 13.5 billion light-years away. That means these objects, as we are seeing them right now, were formed within about 230 million years of the Big Bang. That may seem like a still-large number, but it is actually means that we can see about 99.9972% of the total history of the universe. We also happen to be in a spot of the Milky Way galaxy that is relatively free of dust which helps to give us a clear view. Also, because of the expansion of the universe, bright objects are far enough apart that they don’t interfere with our view of dimmer objects. And theoretical models predict that if we had come on the scene much later than this, the expansion of the universe is anticipated to accelerate to the point that we would no longer be able to see as far into the historic depths toward the beginning of the universe.

All of this does not preclude the fact that God could have arranged things or created things differently. However, I believe – and I believe the evidence demonstrates – that God set up the laws of physics to drive the workings of the universe, He uses those laws of physics as the tools through which He works, and He has placed us in just the perfect time and place to develop the technology and ability to learn all the creativity that He has used to benefit us. Psalm 8:3-5, 9 says

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor…. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!“