Wednesday, July 11, 2012

UW Physicists Help Find "God Particle"

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Anna Goussiou and Gordon Watts, both University of Washington physicists, have been working with a large international group of physicists searching for the Higgs boson---the God Particle---the subatomic particle that they say gives life to the universe---the key to discovering the energy and origin of creation.


Last week, the director of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Rolf Heur, and the two leaders, Joe Incandela and Fabiola Gianotti of the worldwide effort, announced they are quite certain they have found the Higgs boson---the key to the universe.

Anna Goussiou told the Seattle Times, she wept when she heard the news.

Gianotti said, "Thanks Nature" for giving this discovery.

Incandela said, "This boson is a very profound thing we found. We're reaching into the fabric of the universe in a way we have never done before---we're way out on the edge."

As this news covered the world, some Christians have expressed concern that somehow the discovery could serve to undermine the Truth of God's Word, at least in the minds of some.

The physics aspect of this discovery is complex and multi-layered. I am a layman in these scientific matters and I suspect most of you are as well, but here are a couple of thoughts to consider as this news continues to be carried around the world.

1. The media.

2. The scientific community and the truth.

First, it's evident that some in the news media are already avoiding referring to this new discovery as the "God Particle". While the phrase was originally used by Nobel Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman, who was not a Christian, it has not generally been used by the scientific community, but often used by the media.

When this news broke, it was interesting to see the news media flee the descriptive phrase, "God Particle". None more quickly than the Seattle Times, even though the news media has used the phrase consistently since Lederman first used it.

The Los Angeles Times used the phrase.

Could it be that there is a sense in the media that this discovery may in fact affirm what Creation has told us for thousands of years? And if so, is the media already preparing their secular selves to be sure we separate church and universe?

Just a thought.

Secondly, as I said, most of us are laymen to this, but the more I follow this story about the energy source, the originator, the central creative power at the center of how the universe came to be, I'm thinking about a truth waiting to be discovered by those who seek the Truth.

Heur told the world last week, "We have a discovery." The LA Times explained it this way: "The idea is much like gravity and Isaac Newton's discovery of it; Gravity was there all the time before Newton explained it."

Which brings to mind an ancient account that has been there all the time. If scientists put aside their preconceived bias and pre-determined outcome beliefs, could it be that they may, as the Wise Men of Christmas fame, find the Truth? Could they discover that there is by design an Intelligent Being behind all this? Could they discover from their honest, open minded, unbiased research that their "Big Bang theory" still had to have an energizer--- an originator? And He sustains the Universe even now?

Incaldela said, "We are way out on the edge." Will they pull back in their search for the power behind the universe if they begin to see the Truth more clearly?

Ancient Scripture clearly teaches, "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth..." ( Gen. 1:1) It further teaches (John 1:1-3), "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

In Colossians 1:15-17 it is written, "He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the first born over creation. For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."

When you come to that Truth, it puts the daily struggles in perspective, doesn't it?