The Sad Commentary of Astronomer Robert Jastrow

By Dennis Edwards

Robert Jastrow (1925-2008) was a disciple of Edwin Hubble the famous American astronomer whose interpretation of the red shift in light from distant galaxies gave rise to the Big Bang Theory. After Hubble died, Jastrow continued with much of Hubble’s work.  A few years ago Jastrow wrote a book called God and the Astronomers. In an interview about his faith, or lack of it, he makes an interesting observation. He starts by talking about the implications of the Hubble’s red-shift. Read for yourself from his own words:

“If you reverse the motion, the outward motions of the stars and galaxies and go backwards in time, they come closer and closer together. Finally, they reach a point where they are nearly infinite in density and temperature and further than that you cannot go. So, there’s a beginning, a point in time from which it all started. That’s a remarkable thing. It has a strong theological flavor to it, which intrigued me, because I am an agnostic. But if there was a beginning, a moment of creation of the universe, then there was a creator. But a creator is not compatible with agnosticism. I found that point so interesting, that I felt a strong compulsion to share it with others.

"That’s why I wrote the book. Just like I can’t believe there was a creator, I can’t believe that this all happened by chance, which implies, there was a creator. So you see, I am in a completely hopeless bind and I have stayed there. Again, I find it hard to believe that this is all a matter of atoms and molecules. So, I try to fit into my concept of the world the conclusion that there is a larger force of some kind which we can call God, or whatever. But I can’t accept that, because I’m a materialist in philosophy. I believe the world consists entirely of material substances (and no supernatural causes). When you specify those substances and the laws of how they interact, you have done it all. Nothing more needs to be said.

"That’s what science tells me. I have been a scientist all my life. But I find it unsatisfactory, in fact, it makes me uneasy. I feel I am missing something. But I will not find out what I am missing within my lifetime.”[1]

So here we see Robert Jastrow, who worked with Hubble on the Hubble Telescope, making an incredible confession. He’s been a materialist, an atheist, an agnostic, which is a type of atheism, all his life. Now he is coming to the end of his life and he’s having  doubts about the world view he has held all his life. He’s looked at the idea of the Big Bang, a naturalistic origin theory, and the fact that there was a beginning point bothers him. He concludes that “If there is a beginning point, then there must be a cause for why the universe came into existence. If there is a cause then it seems probable that the cause could be a Creator God." But the idea of a Creator God is contrary to Jastrow’s materialistic world view. And yet he has found his materialistic world view to be unsatisfying. However, even though his mind and conscience are leading him to reject the world view he has held all his life and embrace a world view with a Creator God, he’s not able to. He’s caught in the atheistic, agnostic mindset which gave him freedom to forget about God and believe and do whatever he wanted to do.

We don’t know how his world view affected his morality and his sexual life. The famous intellectual and writer of the 20th century Aldous Huxley candidly confessed that he chose the atheististic, materialistic, naturalistic world view because he wanted his sexual and moral freedom. Robert Jastrow doesn’t talk about that aspect of his life, but he talks about being captured in a philosophical atheistic world view or mindset, and although he no longer feels comfortable there, he is unable to make the jump to faith. He's not able to accept the belief that the universe was created and not just a result of purposelessness.  Here he is coming to the end of his life and he senses that the world view he’s followed all his life has fallen short. But he’s caught and he’s not able to make the jump to faith, to a world view with a Creator God.

 It’s a really sad commentary, a really sad statement. Please don’t make the same mistake that he made. Ask God to break you out of any kind of chains or mindset that are not of Him. Apostle Peter wrote, “Where they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.” The evil spirits and demonic doctrines of men capture us and bind our thoughts so that later on when we come to the end of our lives and we see the futility of our atheism, or the futility of our naturalism and we want to break free, we can’t, because we are caught in a web of deceit. We are caught by false concepts. We are caught by our pride and we’re unable to make that leap to faith.

I remember the story of the famous WWII war hero British Field Marshall Montgomery who led the combined Allied forces during the initial part of the D - Day Campaign. When Montgomery was coming to the end of his life, he, too, was feeling apprehensive. After the war when he gotten all the glory and fame his conscience didn’t bother him. It was fine then to get the praise of man. “Hail, Monty!” It was wonderful and his conscience didn’t bothered him one bit. But at the end of his life, at 88 years of age, he’s getting close to the end of his life and he’s not able to sleep at night. His conscience is bothering him. He calls up his best friend and says, “Hey, you’ve got to come over and talk to me.  I know I am going to die soon and I’m not able to sleep, because I don’t know what I’m going to tell God about all those young lads that died under my command. I don’t have a good argument to give Him.”

What at one point was all GLORY, now he is seeing it in a different perspective. His conscience is weighing on him and he’s wondering how is he going to justify all those deaths of those young British soldiers who died under his command. When we get to the end of our lives, we start reflecting a little bit more deeply on the decisions we have made and the events of our lives. We see our mistakes sometimes more clearly than we did when we were younger. They attack us in the quiet moments or at night when we can’t sleep and come at us like waves of doubts, almost drowning us in dispair. let's hope that Montgomery's friend was able to bring Monty to real faith in Christ who promises to forgive all our iniquities.

I am reminded of the story in the New Testament where the Pharisees  brought to Jesus a woman who had been taken in adulery, in the very act. The Pharisees had brought the woman to Jesus to see how he would judge her. According to the Law of Moses she was to be stoned to death. But Jesus very wisely answered, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” And the passage very correctly goes on to say that they, the Pharisees, when out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the youngest. The younger ones were ready to cast the stone because they felt they could justifiably kill that woman, since she was a sinner anyway. Whereas the older men knew that they would be seeing their Maker soon. The knew they needed God’s forgiveness. The sins of their lives were laying heavy on them as they reached the end of their lives. They knew they were soon going to have to face their Maker. But the younger men were not thinking about death and they were ready to stone the woman and “Get rid of that sinner.”

Please, think about these things and call out to God for help to get over your lack of faith, or your agnosticismo, or skepticism, or doubts. Reach out for Him as He’s not far from any one of us, for in Him we do live and move and have are being. And He will come as He has promised. Please, call upon Him in Jesus’s name. Just say, “Come, Lord Jesus, I open my heart, show me the way wherein I should walk. Deliver me! Help me! Rescue me!”

Saint Augustine said, “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but seek to believe that you may understand.” Seek that God would increase your faith, strengthen your belief in Him and enlighten your understanding. Jesus said it was not only necessary to hear the Word of God, which brings faith, but to understand it. So let us ask God to open our understanding of His Word! King David prayed, “Open Thou my eyes that I may behold wonderous thing out of Thy law.” Let us let God’s love come into our hearts. Let us let God’s understanding come into our minds, by calling upon Him by faith. And let faith work on our hearts and on our minds so that we can see things a new. Let us continue reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word, because if we do, we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. Then we will be able to say like C. S. Lewis “By Him I can see and understand everything else.”

---

[1] The Privileged Planet, http://www.theprivilegedplanet.com/scientists.php

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Robert Jastrow and God

By Dennis Edwards

Robert Jastrow (1925–2008) was a disciple of Edwin Hubble, the famous American astronomer whose interpretation of the red shift in light from distant galaxies gave rise to the Big Bang Theory. After Hubble died, Jastrow continued with much of his work. He later wrote a book titled God and the Astronomers (W.W. Norton, 1978). In an interview about his faith, or lack of it, he makes an interesting observation. He starts by talking about the implications of Hubble’s red shift:

"If you reverse the motion, the outward motions of the stars and galaxies, and go backwards in time, they come closer and closer together. Finally they reach a point where they are nearly infinite in density and temperature, and further than that you cannot go. So, there’s a beginning, a point in time from which it all started. That’s a remarkable thing. It has a strong theological flavor to it, which intrigued me, because I am an agnostic. But if there was a beginning, a moment of creation of the universe, then there was a creator. But a creator is not compatible with agnosticism. I found that point so interesting, that I felt a strong compulsion to share it with others.

"That’s why I wrote the book. Just like I can’t believe there was a creator, I can’t believe that this all happened by chance, which implies, there was a creator. So you see, I am in a completely hopeless bind and I have stayed there. Again, I find it hard to believe that this is all a matter of atoms and molecules. So, I try to fit into my concept of the world the conclusion that there is a larger force of some kind which we can call God, or whatever. But I can’t accept that, because I’m a materialist in philosophy. I believe the world consists entirely of material substances (and no supernatural causes). When you specify those substances and the laws of how they interact, you have done it all. Nothing more needs to be said.

"That’s what science tells me. I have been a scientist all my life. But I find it unsatisfactory; in fact, it makes me uneasy. I feel I am missing something. But I will not find out what I am missing within my lifetime."1

What an honest, yet sad confession. Here he is facing his last years of life and Jastrow senses that his materialistic worldview has fallen short. He’s apprehensive. He’s unsatisfied and wondering if he’s gotten it wrong. He senses that there has to be more, but his intellectual pride, his lifetime of holding to a materialistic belief system forces him to deny the apparent truth of a Creator. Sadly, he confesses he will go to his grave before he finds the answer.

One artist has drawn an image of an atheist scientist climbing the mountain of knowledge. When he arrives at the top he surprisingly finds theologians sitting there already. The famous scientist Isaac Newton came to a different conclusion than Jastrow. Newton wrote:

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God, or Universal Ruler."

Isaac Newton was a great scientist, but he was also a great Christian and studied the Bible as much as he did science.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, wrote something very similar to Newton. He said:

"So irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and powerful agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed through all time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to a unit, in the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a self-existent universe."2

We see Jefferson, not known as a religious man, but as a Rationalist or Deist, as they were called, also came to the same conclusion as Newton as a result of the “irresistible evidences.”

Even Albert Einstein, not known for faith, said in a 1929 interview:

"We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations."

Einstein thus came to the conclusion from viewing the evidences that there must be a “God” or “mysterious force” that is controlling the universe. Einstein's ideas were more in line with Spinoza's pantheism or the Buddhist cosmic energy, than the Christian-Judeaic God of the Bible, but never the less sound much like arguments used by the Intelligent Design movement. 

Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, who helped put America on the moon, said it a bit differently:

"For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all. … My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun?"3

Some people miss the door of salvation by so little, the distance of their heart to their head. Their pride and unbelief cause them to reject the truth of the gospel. As the apostle Peter so aptly put it: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”4 They become in bondage to their worldly philosophies, which appeared to be the path to freedom, only to fall into the hands of another tyrant demanding unfailing obedience even unto death.

Jastrow’s materialistic philosophy promised him freedom from Christianity’s “archaic” beliefs. But then, at the end of his life, when he senses he could very well be wrong about the whole thing, Jastrow is imprisoned by the philosophy that had promised him liberty. He could not escape its materialistic grasp, as much as he would have liked to. What a sad ending. But Jesus promises a way of escape. We don’t need to go to the grave wondering what is true. When we seek Jesus with all our heart, mind, and soul, He answers. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”5 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”6

(Watch the documentary The Privileged Planet here.)

1 The Privileged Planet, documentary, directed by Lad Allen (Illustra Media, 2004), DVD, http://www.theprivilegedplanet.com/scientists.php. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yv57I7dOcA

2 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1828.

3 From a letter to the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972.

4 2 Peter 2:19.

5 John 8:32.

6 John 8:36.

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Robert Jastrow e Deus

Dennis Edwards 

Robert Jastrow (1925–2008) foi discípulo de Edwin Hubble, o famoso astrónomo americano, cuja interpretação do red shift (desvio vermelho) relativo à luz de galáxias distantes originou a Teoria do Big Bang. Após a morte de Hubble, Jastrow deu continuidade ao seu trabalho. Posteriormente escreveu o livro God and the Astronomers (W.W. Norton, 1978 — Deus e os Astrônomos, em tradução livre). Em uma entrevista falando da sua fé — ou falta de fé — ele faz uma observação interessante ao mencionar as implicações do desvio vermelho observado por Hubble:

"Invertendo-se o movimento, os movimentos externos das estrelas e galáxias, e retrocedendo no tempo, ficarão cada vez mais próximos. Por fim alcançam um ponto em que são quase infinitos em densidade e temperatura, e é o máximo que se consegue alcançar. Concluímos que existe um início, um ponto no tempo em que tudo começa. Isso é notável, e tem um forte traço teológico que me intriga, porque sou agnóstico. Mas se existiu um início, um momento em que o universo foi criado, então houve um criador. Mas o criador não é compatível com o agnosticismo. Achei interessante essa questão e tive uma forte vontade de compartilhar isso com outros.

"Por isso escrevi este livro. Se por um lado não consigo crer na existência de um criador, por outro também não consigo crer que tudo aconteceu por um processo randômico, o que então implica na existência de um criador. Foi assim que entrei em um beco sem saída e ali fiquei. Repito, tenho dificuldade em acreditar que tudo é só uma questão de átomos e moléculas. Por essa razão tento encaixar no meu conceito de mundo, a conclusão de que existe algum tipo de força maior que denominamos Deus, ou seja o que for. Mas não consigo aceitar isso, porque a minha filosofia é materialista. Eu acredito que o mundo consiste de substâncias materiais (e não de causas sobrenaturais). Quando se especifica essas substâncias e as leis sob as quais atuam, morre o assunto. Não é preciso dizer mais nada.

"É assim que a Ciência explica. Eu sempre fui um cientista. Mas não fico satisfeito com essa explicação. Na verdade, fico inquieto; parece que falta algo. Mas sei que não descobrirei o que não consigo explicar durante a minha vida aqui na terra." [1]

“Para o cientista que viveu por sua fé no poder da razão, a história termina como um pesadelo. Ele escalou as montanhas da ignorância, está prestes a conquistar o pico mais alto; quando se coloca sobre o rock final, é recebido por um bando de teólogos que estão lá há séculos. ” Robert Jastrow

Dennis Edwards:

Certamente uma honesta, ainda que triste, admissão. No fim da vida, Jastrow sente que a sua visão materialista do mundo deixou a desejar. Apreensivo e insatisfeito, indaga-se sobre a possibilidade de estar enganado. Sente que tem que existir mais, porém o seu orgulho intelectual, todos os seus anos acreditando num sistema materialista o fazem negar a aparente verdade da existência de um Criador. Infelizmente, ele admite que morrerá sem saber a resposta.

O famoso cientista Isaac Newton chegou a uma conclusão diferente. Ele escreveu:

A maravilhosa disposição e harmonia do universo com sois, planetas e cometas só pode ter tido origem segundo o plano e o domínio de um Ser que tudo sabe e tudo pode. … Este Ser reina sobre tudo, não como a alma do mundo, mas como Senhor de tudo e todos; e por causa disso deve ser chamando Senhor Deus, ou Senhor do Universo.

Isaac Newton foi um grande cientista e também um grande cristão; dedicou-se ao estudo da Bíblia tanto quanto ao da Ciência.

Thomas Jefferson, o terceiro presidente dos Estados Unidos, fez uma afirmação semelhante:

As evidências de um agente inteligente e poderoso são tão contundentes que, dentre o número infinito de seres humanos que já viveu em todas as eras, eles acreditaram, na proporção de pelo menos um milhão para cada um descrente, na hipótese da preexistência de um criador eterno, em vez de um universo que se auto-criou.[2]

Jefferson, que não era conhecido por sua religiosidade, chegou à mesma conclusão que Newton, com base em “evidências irresistíveis”.

Até mesmo Albert Einstein, que não tinha fama de ser um homem de fé, declarou em uma entrevista em 1929:

Estamos na posição de uma criança pequena ao entrar em uma grande biblioteca cujas paredes estão cobertas por prateleiras cheias de livros em diferentes idiomas. A criança sabe que os livros foram escritos por alguém, mas não sabe quem ou como. Não entende os idiomas nos quais foram escritos. Ela observa uma ordem na disposição dos livros, uma sequência para ela misteriosa e incompreensível que ela consegue apenas vagamente imaginar. Para mim essa é a atitude da mente humana, até mesmo da pessoa mais importante e culta, a respeito de Deus. Vemos um universo maravilhosamente coordenado, regido por leis definidas, mas temos apenas uma leve compreensão delas. As nossas limitações mentais não compreendem a força misteriosa que governa as constelações.

Einstein, portanto, chegou à mesma conclusão diante das evidências, de que deve existir um “Deus”, ou “uma força misteriosa” que rege o universo.

O engenheiro aeroespacial Wernher von Braun, que liderou o programa aeroespacial americano que levou o homem à Lua, expressou-se de uma forma um pouco diferente:

Para mim, a noção de uma criação é inconcebível sem admitir-se a necessidade de um desenho. Não se pode ter contato com a lei e a ordem do universo sem concluir a existência de um plano e um propósito por trás de tudo. …Minhas experiências no campo da Ciência me levaram a Deus. Desafiam a Ciência para provar a existência de Deus. Mas será realmente necessário acender uma vela para ver o sol?[3]

Algumas pessoas deixam de passar pela porta da Salvação por muito pouco — a distância do seu coração às suas mentes. O orgulho e a incredulidade as fazem rejeitar a verdade do Evangelho. O apóstolo Pedro definiu muito bem quando disse: “Prometendo-lhes liberdade, sendo eles mesmos servos da corrupção. Porque de quem alguém é vencido, do tal faz-se também servo.”[4] Tornam-se cativos de suas filosofias mundanas, aparentemente o caminho para a liberdade, e caem nas mãos de um tirano que demanda obediência total, até à morte.

A visão materialista de Jastrow prometeu-lhe liberdade das crenças “arcaicas” do cristianismo. No final da vida, porém, ele percebeu que poderia estar enganado a respeito disso. Jastrow tornou-se cativo da filosofia que lhe prometeu liberdade. Por mais que tivesse preferido o contrário, não conseguiu escapar de suas garras materialistas. Que triste final! Mas Jesus prometeu uma saída. Não precisamos morrer ignorantes da verdade. Quando buscamos Jesus de todo o coração, toda a alma e todo o nosso entendimento, Ele responde. “E conhecereis a verdade, e a verdade vos libertará”.[5]“Aquele que o Filho libertou é verdadeiramente livre.”[6] (Ver documentário link abaixo ou clique aqui)

[1] The Privileged Planet, documentário dirigido por Lad Allen (Illustra Media, 2004), DVD, http://www.theprivilegedplanet.com/scientists.php. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yv57I7dOcA
[2] Thomas Jefferson para John Adams, 11 de abril de 1828.
[3] Carta endereçada à Secretaria Estadual de Educação do estado da Califórnia, 14 de setembro de 1972.
[4] 2 Pedro 2:19.
[5] João 8:32.
[6] João 8:36.

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Robert Jastrow author of God and the Astronomers

"Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a Biblical view of the origin of the world... The chain of events leading to man commence suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy." (pg.14) "It turns out that the scientist behaves the way the rest of us do when our beliefs are in conflict with the evidence. We become irritated, we pretend the conflict doesn't exist, or we paper it over with meaningless phrases." (pg. 16) God and the Astronomers

Dennis Edwards

Robert Jastrow (1925-2008) was a disciple of Edwin Hubble the famous American astronomer whose interpretation of the red shift in light from distant galaxies gave rise to the Big Bang Theory. After Hubble died, Jastrow continued with much of his work. A few years ago he wrote a book God and the Astronomers. In an interview about his faith, or lack of it, he makes an interesting observation. He starts by talking about the implications of the Hubble’s red-shift. Read for yourself from his own words:

“If you reverse the motion, the outward motions of the stars and galaxies and go backwards in time, they come closer and closer together. Finally they reach a point where they are nearly infinite in density and temperature and further than that you cannot go. So, there’s a beginning, a point in time from which it all started. That’s a remarkable thing. It has a strong theological flavor to it, which intrigued me, because I am an agnostic. But if there was a beginning, a moment of creation of the universe, then there was a creator. But a creator is not compatible with agnosticism. I found that point so interesting, that I felt a strong compulsion to share it with others.

That’s why I wrote the book. Just like I can’t believe there was a creator, I can’t believe that this all happened by chance, which implies, there was a creator. So you see, I am in a completely hopeless bind and I have stayed there. Again, I find it hard to believe that this is all a matter of atoms and molecules. So, I try to fit into my concept of the world the conclusion that there is a larger force of some kind which we can call God, or whatever. But I can’t accept that, because I’m a materialist in philosophy. I believe the world consists entirely of material substances (and no supernatural causes). When you specify those substances and the laws of how they interact, you have done it all. Nothing more needs to be said.

That’s what science tells me. I have been a scientist all my life. But I find it unsatisfactory, in fact, it makes me uneasy. I feel I am missing something. But I will not find out what I am missing within my lifetime.”[1]

What an honest, yet sad confession. Here he is facing his last years of life and Jastrow sees, he senses that his materialistic worldview has fallen short. He’s apprehensive. He’s unsatisfied and wondering if he’s gotten it wrong. He senses that there has to be more, but his intellectual pride, his lifetime of upholding to a materialistic belief system forces him to deny the apparent truth of a Creator. Sadly he confesses he will go to his grave in pride before he finds the answer.

And what about you, will you have the same fate? Some miss the door of salvation by so little, the distance of their heart to their head. Their pride and intellectual beliefs cause them to reject the simplicity of the gospel. Like Peter so aptly put: While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.[2]Jastrow’s materialistic philosophy promised him freedom from Christianity “archaic” beliefs. But now, at the end of his life, when he senses he could very well be wrong about the whole thing, he’s imprisoned by the philosophy that had promised him liberty. He cannot escape its materialistic grasp as much as he would like. What a sad ending. And you, will you call upon Jesus? He promises a way of escape. You don’t need to go to your grave wondering what is true. Seek Jesus with all your heart, mind and soul today and He will answer. “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”[3]

Footnotes: 

[1] The Privileged Planet, http:http://www.theprivilegedplanet.com/scientists.php//
[2] 2Peter 2:19
[3] John 8:32

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