Why did God create such a large universe?

[MH84]

You’re right, God could have done that, but God created a universe for us, not an aquarium.

What would be wrong with an “aquarium”? Are you planning to go to Mars soon or something? Even if you were, how does that help our salvation? If anything you would be depriving yourself of going to Mass, now wouldnt you? .

 

[Leopard]

What would be wrong with an “aquarium”? Are you planning to go to Mars soon or something? Even if you were, how does that help our salvation? If anything you would be depriving yourself of going to Mass, now wouldnt you? .

No.

 

[DanteAlighieri]

For starters, whats the point of the rest of the solar system besides the sun and the moon?

Well, for one thing, the sun keeps us alive. For the sun to exist, if one subscribes to the Big Bang theory, it had to accrete from a mass of gas and dust, which is also the source of the moon and other planets. If this process is true for our solar system, it has to be part of the way the universe works. For that to be true, it has to happen elsewhere. We can observe the way our universe behaves, and there is order in it, so it stands to reason that what works for our solar system works for all the others.

To me, this answers your main question about why the universe is what it is. On the one hand, it had to become what it is to support life, so God ordained that it would do what it did to get that way. On the other hand, the vastness and awesome nature of such a universe really gives us a glimpse into God’s majesty, don’t you think?

Peace,
Dante

 

[MH84]

Well, for one thing, the sun keeps us alive. For the sun to exist, if one subscribes to the Big Bang theory, it had to accrete from a mass of gas and dust, which is also the source of the moon and other planets. If this process is true for our solar system, it has to be part of the way the universe works. For that to be true, it has to happen elsewhere. We can observe the way our universe behaves, and there is order in it, so it stands to reason that what works for our solar system works for all the others

Okay, if we are going down that way:

if we are the main point of creation, why did God decided to create a universe that existed billions and billions of years for a species that will exist for a much shorter time. Why didnt God decide to do what the Creationists (and I think Muslims) believe? God can make things work in any way. God didnt need there to be dust and gas to provide light and heat for the world.

On the other hand, the vastness and awesome nature of such a universe really gives us a glimpse into God’s majesty, don’t you think?

I think Jesus is enough majesty for the human race.

Does believing in an enormous universe (compared to our planet) mean that we fear God more or think He is smarter etc? No, it doesnt. The very fact that He created us is enough for us to respect Him I think.

Also, the ancient Israelites didnt know about the outside universe so to speak, but they in general had a great fear and respect of God. Moses didnt want to see great creation, he wanted to see God’s glory.

Exodus 33

18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

www.biblegateway.com

 

[ricmat]

Okay, if we are going down that way:

if we are the main point of creation, why did God decided to create a universe that existed billions and billions of years for a species that will exist for a much shorter time. Why didnt God decide to do what the Creationists (and I think Muslims) believe? God can make things work in any way. God didnt need there to be dust and gas to provide light and heat for the world.

Good question. One answer at least is in the book of Job, chapters 38-41.

I think Jesus is enough majesty for the human race.

Perhaps God gives us more than we need.

Does believing in an enormous universe (compared to our planet) mean that we fear God more or think He is smarter etc? No, it doesnt.

Or the answer could be, yes it does.

Seeing beauty and grandeur in the size of the universe can lead us (some at least) to be more humble. And that’s really the key, isn’t it. Fear of the Lord?

 

[Leopard]

…if we are the main point of creation, why did God decided to create a universe that existed billions and billions of years for a species that will exist for a much shorter time…

We will exist for eternity.

Not that this means it was necessary for God to create a durable universe for this reason, but why shouldn’t He have? It’s not as though it was any more difficult for Him to do this than not, or that He was wasting a limited supply of resources at His disposal.

 

[chewchoo]

God is infinite, so his creation can be too.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

Did Jesus possibly mention his alien followers in John 10:16?

lol…I guess its a perfectly good reading…Cudo’s Neil…nice find…

It does kind of show does it not that scriptures can in some small way at least support nearly anything you want to assert if you look long enough.

 

[DLC]

I don’t understand that if we as humans are probably the greatest piece of creation God has made when we consider that He sent His only Son to save us, and perhaps the centrepiece of creation so to speak, (maybe along with the angels), what is the meaning of us existing in such a large universe.

I mean what is it all for? There are all these unknown planets and stars (most of which are uninhabitable), blackholes etc that the human race will never see, and it seems really unrelated to the livelihood and salvation of man.

I think we agree that the creation of the universe doesnt increase the glory of God or that He cares about proving that He could create such a large creation. I think we also agree that after we die, I dont think we will be spending our time looking at all the planets etc, hopefully we will be with God and have eternal and true peace.

Also, if its true that there are dimensions in the universe, I can’t see why God would create such a large and complex creation for us, if this place was only intended to be a temporary home.

In conclusion: was the universe created for another reason besides us?

The Bible tell us that we have a large universe because it declares the glory of God. "The heaven declare the glory of God.
Ps 19:1-3
The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
NASU

 

[catharina]

I don’t understand that if we as humans are probably the greatest piece of creation God has made when we consider that He sent His only Son to save us, and perhaps the centrepiece of creation so to speak, (maybe along with the angels), what is the meaning of us existing in such a large universe.

I mean what is it all for? There are all these unknown planets and stars (most of which are uninhabitable), blackholes etc that the human race will never see, and it seems really unrelated to the livelihood and salvation of man.

I think we agree that the creation of the universe doesnt increase the glory of God or that He cares about proving that He could create such a large creation. I think we also agree that after we die, I dont think we will be spending our time looking at all the planets etc, hopefully we will be with God and have eternal and true peace.

Also, if its true that there are dimensions in the universe, I can’t see why God would create such a large and complex creation for us, if this place was only intended to be a temporary home.

In conclusion: was the universe created for another reason besides us?

In deference to Almighty God, isn’t it as logical to ask why did God create such a small universe? The universe exists to show forth the glory of God. We’re in awe? We should be.

 

[DanteAlighieri]

Okay, if we are going down that way:

if we are the main point of creation, why did God decided to create a universe that existed billions and billions of years for a species that will exist for a much shorter time. Why didnt God decide to do what the Creationists (and I think Muslims) believe? God can make things work in any way. God didnt need there to be dust and gas to provide light and heat for the world.

I think Jesus is enough majesty for the human race.

Does believing in an enormous universe (compared to our planet) mean that we fear God more or think He is smarter etc? No, it doesnt. The very fact that He created us is enough for us to respect Him I think.

Also, the ancient Israelites didnt know about the outside universe so to speak, but they in general had a great fear and respect of God. Moses didnt want to see great creation, he wanted to see God’s glory.

Exodus 33

18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

www.biblegateway.com

I don’t think it’s necessary that the universe is what it is in order for us to appreciat God’s majesty; it merely helps. As to why He would choose to do it this way, when He clearly could have willed the universe into a fishbowl, I have no clue. I suppose it’s a similar question to the one about why He chose to redeem us the way He did, when He could merely have willed it – He wanted us to learn something about Him.

Peace,
Dante

 

[estesbob]

I don’t think it’s necessary that the universe is what it is in order for us to appreciat God’s majesty; it merely helps. As to why He would choose to do it this way, when He clearly could have willed the universe into a fishbowl, I have no clue. I suppose it’s a similar question to the one about why He chose to redeem us the way He did, when He could merely have willed it – He wanted us to learn something about Him.

Peace,
Dante

Maybe from his perspective he has willed it into a fishbowl.

 

[catharina]

Maybe from his perspective he has willed it into a fishbowl.

estesbob - honest to goodness, I had the same thought!

 

[estesbob]

estesbob - honest to goodness, I had the same thought!

Great minds think alike!

 

[YACatholic]

The problem is the more people explore the universe and learn more about it, the more people tend not to believe in God or head towards agnosticism.

 I would disagree.  I believe any unbelief present in the discipline of astronomy is indicative of those who have searched out a way to explain and rationalize their disbelief.  In other words, they became astronomers because of their unbelief; not believers who became atheists after studying astronomy (the same can be said for Mathematics or any Earth Science). 
 Please understand that I am not saying that there are not dedicated, loving Christian astronomers; there may be in fact a majority of dedicated loving Christian astronomers in the discipline.  I am merely trying to convey that astronomy does not lead people away from God.  If it did, the study of astronomy would be prohibited by the Church.  Many projects dealing with the universe have been financed and supported by the Church (Galileo, Kepler, etc.).  
 Also, make sure you distinguishing astronomy from astrology.  Astrology attempts to predict and explain the divine based on the physical universe.  Astronomy only attempts to to explain the physical universe. Nothing wrong with that.  If a scientific discipline answers the questions, How? and/or What?  it is fine.  Science is only a problem if it attempts to answer the question For what purpose/Why?, that is a problem.  However, at that point is ceases to be science and becomes religion.  Science and religion can coexist harmoniously because they answer different questions.
 Any (name removed by moderator)ut, comments, or replies are welcome.  Have a great day!

God Bless,
YACatholic

 

[steveandersen]

What would be wrong with an “aquarium”?

It would put an upper limit on the size of the human population.
Which would kinda get in the way of being fruitful and multiplying and of our descendants being more numerous than the stars.

Are you planning to go to Mars soon or something?

I’d love to
Some of our descendants will most likely go there and beyond
It is a likely candidate for terraforming.

Even if you were, how does that help our salvation?

how did my ancestors settling the new world from Europe help in their salvation?
It didn’t other than giving space for more humans so more could be saved

If anything you would be depriving yourself of going to Mass, now wouldnt you? .

I’m sure that one day there will be churches in space

(You need to say that with a lot of reverb CHURCHES …… IN …… SPAAAAAACE! )


As to the general question of the size of the universe….

How big is too big?
Many parent indulge their children with big toys.

And how do we know that we are the only ones in it?

God has reveled only those portions of his plan that we need to know.

Who knows what he has planned for the Moons of Meepzorp

Another race with their own Adam?

Or maybe it is just a continuation of what has already been? Christ was only able to visit a small portion of the earth and his followers and to carry the Good News beyond that. Taking centuries to do so. Maybe a missionary in a space ship is not really any way different than one in a sailing ship.

 

[CentralFLJames]

The Universe is simply exactly the size it must be to consistently manifest every aspect of “the equation and order of life”. If nothing else the semantic of “universe” and the word Catholic is born in the concept of Creation’s vastness. We have also in the Universe a vivid physical expression of infinity too profound to fully ponder yet all around us such that it can be pointed to as being both “here and out there”.

Every physical phenomena we have in Creation conforms beautifully to certain intrinsic or axiomatic physical rules or truths (and no doubt even mirror spiritual expressions as well). There is amazing consistency of order that scales up to the cosmological perspective and scales down to the subatomic perspective. Everything is all integral and interlinked in a holistic “system” of cooperating entities that all obey consistent rules. Thus the vastness and the smallest of the components of the Universe each manifest a principal of consistency and order and hint of the nature and character of The Creator. God is consistent and not chaotically random.

To me, God, in forming His profound Creation put in place a great, self evident and joyous expression of “I Am!”. It is an act of profound love. We are simply invited by our nature to look up at the starry things, take delight in the majesty and greatness of it all and share in the joy of “being”. God through his works invites us each to come to the profound self realization that “I Am Here Daddy - Thank-You God for Being God!”.

Creation and Life are just the first birthday presents. There are much bigger things yet to come that are as unfathomable to us as is Creation!

Hope to see everyone on the other side.

James

 

[joecap]

Besides the Universe being so infinite as to give us awe and wonder, there is lots of scientific speculation that it is the exact size it is (meaning the amount of matter) because everything is so perfectly balanced that if there were any LESS or any MORE matter in it, life on Earth could not even be supported.

EVERYTHING is perfectly balanced, including our solar system. Nothing is random or coincidental.

You should check out godandscience.org/
Lots of great info there. The author is a Christian, but I don’t believe he is a Catholic.

The universe is larger than we can conceive, and there are objects in it bigger than we can conceive of, at distances that we cannot even comprehend. God specifically made it this way, and gave us the knowledge and curiosity to learn about it to keep us from getting bored, AND to know His might and glory.

 

[buffalo]

What is most interesting is that the size of man is right in the middle of the smallest distances and the largest.

 

[joecap]

Yes, you are correct.
In fact, you could actually say there is also an infinite amount of SMALLER things in the universe. On this downward trend, we have discovered smaller and smaller things…the tiny things are also so small we can’t conceive of THAT either!

And all of this would cease to exist immediately if God stopped willing it.