Cosmology - In the Real Beginning
There could be no time if there were no space. There could also be no time if there were nothing that could be changed because time in the normal sense is a measure of change. Even without the no boundary condition the question of what came before the Big Bang has no relevance and is meaningless.
The cosmic age of our universe is confirmed in part by the known age of Earth itself at 4.5 billion years. We can date rocks by measuring the ratios of radioactive and non-radioactive atomic isotopes and comparing them to the ratio that existed when the rock was created. The greater disintegration of the radioactive isotopes will document a greater age. We have rocks samples that are four billion years old.
The relatively young geological science of plate tectonics gives us an understanding of how rocks are formed. The earth’s magnetic poles have flip-flopped on a number of occasions in geological time. When molten rock made with magnetic material hardens in a magnetic field it will take on the magnetic orientation of the field around it.
Rocks on the floor of the Atlantic ocean are magnetized in bands that exactly parallel the Atlantic mid-ocean ridge. The new rock has been slowly formed over hundreds of millions of years as the molten magma comes to the surface taking on the magnetic orientation that existed at that time.
Modern cosmology presents a rich theoretical structure with evidence that has been confirmed by many mutually supporting empirical observations. The great age of the earth is confirmed in numerous ways by modern geology.
There is not the slightest need to assume God for any part of the process and there is ample evidence that would contradict any Biblical theory based on a literal understanding of the Bible.
References:
(1) KJV Heb. 11:1
Recommended Reading:
Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
Michael White and John Gribbon, Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science, Second Edition (2002) p-183
Web address: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309084105/html/183.html
NASA web site-Cosmology: The Study of the Universe
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
Supermassive Black Holes
http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/blackholes_sm.html
USGS: Developing the Theory
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/developing.html
