It’s a while since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was last in the news. We previously heard about the disaster that occurred when it broke down just days after it was first switched on. Considering the project has cost many billions of euros, that was quite an embarrassing time for the designers and scientists.
All of that is now in the past and the Collider, which is located close to Geneva, has now been fully operational for some time.
The machine is used for a wide range of experiments that are designed to explore the fundamental building blocks of the universe and attempt to gain a better understanding of how we are all made, operate and even exist.
The latest reports in the media are that the machine has been used to generate
a ‘mini Big Bang’.
Many scientists believe that the universe as we know it originated in the most enormous explosion within a tiny amount of super dense matter – the original Big Bang. Debris from that explosion has since been expanding into space to form the universe. The LHC is being used to research conditions that may have existed within a fraction of a second after the explosion.
It is believed that planets, suns, galaxies and all the rest of the exotic objects we see in space have been formed from the results of the ‘big bang’, including our own planet earth, moon and sun.
All this has happened and is governed by the nature of matter and the forces and laws that cause matter to behave in the way it does. These are the physical phenomena that scientists are investigating with the Large Hadron Collider.
The ‘Big Bang’ theory is just one of a number of explanations for the origin of the universe though it has to be admitted that it is the most popular theory at present and has been for probably the last half century or more.
The discoveries from the Large Hadron Collider about the very nature of the universe are truly fascinating and you can read much more about them (and about the machine itself) in the FAQ and Guide to the LHC.
Christians believe that God created all things within and beyond the universe, though the bible tells us very little about how He did it. Nevertheless, the more scientists discover about the nature of the universe, the more amazing that act of creation is seen to be.
The bible was never intended to be a scientific treatise on the nature of the universe. It does not concern itself with how we came into existence. It is far more concerned about the nature of mankind and our relationship with God. It is all very well to discover some of the more extraordinary facts about the universe, but a much more urgent need is to understand our own behaviour and why there are so many wars, murders, poverty, sickness and even death on our own little planet.
The bible is concerned about explaining human behaviour in this world and the implications that has for the next world. It offers solutions for problems that scientists, philosophers and religions have struggled for many generations to understand but have failed to do so.
Actually, the explanations that the bible puts forward are not complicated in themselves. The biggest hindrance to putting them into practice is the natural inclinations of our hearts that choose to ignore what God has to say and choose to do things our own way. Consequently we only have ourselves to blame for the awful state of our world today and the great injustices faced by most of mankind.
The Large Hadron Collider is a very expensive and an amazing machine but it will never produce answers to the greatest needs of mankind. Only the bible can do that and you can buy a copy for just a few pounds in almost any decent sized stationery store.
For a brief synopsis to the ultimate solution found in the bible, see our article
‘How Can I be Saved?’.
