Creatio Ex Nihilo

The Bible consistently teaches that the material universe was created ex nihilo, i.e., out of absolutely nothing.The strongest theories in astronomy and physics today confirm that the universe somehow popped out of nothing in "the Big Bang." Because the scientific community has generally restricted itself from positing any supernatural causes, it is constrained to say that the Big Bang was caused by an unexplained “singularity.” Of course, for us the Bible explains the singularity and the cause behind the universe in its very first verse: “In the beginning, God created ... ”

What has particularly interested me is that, from the time of the first discoveries of subatomic particles until now, physics has been closing in on the fact that our material universe is made up of “nothing,” at least nothing in the traditional sense of a thing. At the most fundamental level of the material universe, physics theory is finding nothing more than infinitesimal vibrating strings of energy! However, even on the first level of subatomic particles, the level of electrons and protons as depicted in the graphic above, the atoms that make up or material world are mostly made up of empty space. And, according to the laws of electromagnetism, these atoms should disintegrate because the like-charged protons of the nucleus should powerfully repel one another!

In the early 1970’s, a friend of mine asked his physics professor at UPS in Tacoma, "Why don't the like-charged protons of the atomic nucleus fly apart causing the disintegration of the universe?" The professor answered, “Nobody knows; that’s why I go to church.” Since then I have been told that the thing that holds the protons together is “nuclear glue” and more recently, “the strong force.” These sound suspiciously to me like names without an explanation. The Bible, on the other hand, provides a clear explanation in Col 1.17 and Heb 1.3. The same LORD who called the material universe into existence ex nihilo in the beginning, keeps it from imploding back into nothingness today by the word of His power!