Stars do exist, but can die away and explode, and out of such explosions come the phenomena of supernovae (plural of supernova) and black holes. But what do they prove?
What is supernova and what is a black hole?
As defined by Merriam-Webster, supernova is the explosion of a star in which the star may reach a maximum of intrinsic luminosity one billion times that of the sun. Supernova is the largest explosion that takes place in space, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It also said a supernova happens when there is a change in the core or center of a star and that such change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova –
The first type of supernova happens in binary star systems. Binary stars are two stars that orbit the same point. One of the stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star. Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter. Having too much matter causes the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.
The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star’s lifetime. As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core. Eventually, the core is so heavy that it cannot withstand its own gravitational force. The core collapses, which results in the giant explosion of a supernova.
The sun is a single star, but it does not have enough mass to become a supernova. (Reference) .
On the other hand, Astronomy defines black hole as a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape. According to NASA, most black holes are remnants of supernovae explosions.
Most black holes form from the remnants of a large star that dies in a supernova explosion. (Smaller stars become dense neutron stars, which are not massive enough to trap light.) If the total mass of the star is large enough (about three times the mass of the Sun), it can be proven theoretically that no force can keep the star from collapsing under the influence of gravity. However, as the star collapses, a strange thing occurs. As the surface of the star nears an imaginary surface called the “event horizon,” time on the star slows relative to the time kept by observers far away. When the surface reaches the event horizon, time stands still, and the star can collapse no more – it is a frozen collapsing object. (Reference)
Supernovae and black holes are extra-ordinary happenings that prove the authenticity of the Bible. It is because they involve billions of time to happen, giving implications for the most probable age of the planets including the earth – and their temporary existence.
These phenomena also connect with science because their happening involves space-time dimensions as well as mass-energy dimensions as predicted by scientists like Albert Einstein. But while they happen, they point to a creator that has engineered these heavenly bodies not to collide with one another as they perform their assigned tasks and then die.
Human knowledge about these phenomena is a very recent science. Space.com summarizes the information thus –
Though formulated as early as 1905 and then 1916 respectively, theories of special and general relativity of Albert Einstein were proven in 1971 when a black hole was found. His theory of special relativity says that space and time were interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. His theory of general relativity says massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. But it was some six decades later that the very first black hole was “discovered.”
According to Paul Butterworth for the Ask an Astrophysicist Team of NASA –
The first object to be generally recognized as a black hole is the X-ray binary star Cygnus X-1. Its effect on its companion star suggested as early as 1971 that it must be a compact object with a mass too high for it to be a neutron star. (That was 2 years after the American astronomer John Wheeler coined the term ‘black hole’).
This discovery is very much like the knowledge about microbiology, which was not available before the mid 1980’s. All of these knowledge were prophesied exactly in the Bible 2,500 years ago. Here’s an excerpt from Cliff Notes of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt about microbiology –
The development of microbiology
In the late 1800s and for the first decade of the 1900s, scientists seized the opportunity to further develop the germ theory of disease as enunciated by Pasteur and proved by Koch. There emerged a golden age of Microbiology during which many agents of different infectious diseases were identified.
In the 1940s, the electron microscope was developed and perfected. In that decade, cultivation methods for viruses were also introduced, and the knowledge of viruses developed rapidly. With the development of vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s, such viral diseases as polio, measles, mumps, and rubella came under control. (Reference)
As impressed by the Bible, some things are really reserved for the future.
DANIEL 12:4
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
The book of Daniel was written in Babylon, once a center of civilization and knowledge. With what they knew during those times about science and technology, it will not be a guess if we presume that no one in those times will ever think of cellular phones, computers, tablets, power banks, and the like. This is where the Bible as a book is outstanding! In the Bible, we may know the ending from the beginning because it is not like just any book made by men but it comes from somebody who knows what will be the end from the beginning.
ISAIAH 46:9-10
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Most books authored and published by men are teeming with records of the past (Many are not reliable) but not with a single thing that is going to happen in the future. This thing for me is marvelous! To tell exactly what is going to happen 2,500 years ahead is not within the knowledge of any existing being except God!
PROVERBS 27:1
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
This declaration from the Lord is not just a fact but can be a challenge to whosoever will not believe. A story is told about a lady cooking at midnight and when asked by her son what she is cooking answered, “Something special for our breakfast.” But she never had that breakfast because she died while sleeping.
Tomorrow is the nearest future there is, but humans cannot be certainly sure of what is going to happen from today’s moment.
Back to the stars, according to scientists and astronomers, (I do not want to include astrologers) black holes are formed when a red giant star explodes.
According to science, the life span of a star can be as many billions of years. Therefore, before a black hole can ever exist, it will allow billions of years for a star to exist with all its glory and splendor. Science declares this –
As stars get smaller, they live longer. Our own Sun has been around for 4.5 billion years, slowly turning hydrogen into helium at its core. The Sun will run out of this hydrogen fuel in another 5 billion years or so, and it will turn into a red giant. It will expand to many times its original size and then eject its outer layers and shrink down to a tiny white dwarf star, a dense object the size of the Earth. So the total lifespan of a star with the mass of the Sun is about 10 billion years.
It’s believed that the smaller red dwarf stars will live for 10 trillion years or more.(Reference)
The Bible describes the glories of the sun, moon, and stars where their glory differs from one another. But how do their glories differ from that of the Creator?
I CORINTHIANS 15:41
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
But in spite of all its glory, a star will not forever exist. It will be outlived by its Creator!
HEBREWS 1:10-12
10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Biblical truth allows “the growing old” of a star – a clear evidence that the six days of creation are not literal 24-hour period days! It is silly to say that each day in creation is a literal 24-hour period! That would not be scientific anymore. The reckoning to be considered is eternity as the Creator who made stars and everything that exists is eternal. To recklessly conclude that the creation happened in less than a week is stupidity. Clearly, time to man is different from time to God, the eternal.
PSALMS 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Consider this biblical truth.
II PETER 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The verse shows the infinity of the Creator and gives us an idea of what eternity is. What a human can afford to do in a day, he cannot do in a thousand years! Existing a thousand years to man is just like existing for a day to the creator. Such denotes the eternal power of God.
THE ROMANS 1:19-20
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
The Bible though written some 3,500 years ago declares scientific facts of billions of years’ existence. What does this mean? It means that before the Bible was written, billions of years have passed from creation of the universe. Let us bear in mind that IF everything that exists was just created 6,000 years ago like some religious groups believe (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventist, and others like them), we may only realize the truth written in the Bible in the billions of years to come. Here’s what they say:
In contrast, here’s what the Bible says –
HEBREWS 1:10-12
10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
These verses must allow billions of years to be proven true – if we believe the Seventh Day Adventist and the Jehova’s Witnesses, Ken Ham and the group he represents – that such creation happened only 6,000 years ago. Then one may doubt the authenticity of God’s word and live with that doubt for the next millennium, thereby disqualifying him for salvation.
HEBREWS 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
REVISED STANDARD VERSION
JAMES 1:6
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
Supernovae and black holes are proofs of the authenticity and the wonderful truth in the Bible. They are phenomena arising from what the Creator has made. When stars grow old, they dissipate as taught by the Bible, because there is to be a new world that God has in store. Modern Science, history, and prophecy go hand-in-hand, backing up what the Bible teaches about the universe.
