{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Sgwrs Tei Bow","provider_url":"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy","author_name":"Clarke Roberts","author_url":"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/author\/clarke-roberts\/","title":"Is the Solar Eclipse Evidence for God? | Bow Tie Talks","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"AvEab2FwZE\"><a href=\"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/2015\/03\/20\/is-the-solar-eclipse-evidence-for-god\/\">A yw'r Diffyg Haul yn Dystiolaeth am Dduw?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/cy\/2015\/03\/20\/is-the-solar-eclipse-evidence-for-god\/embed\/#?secret=AvEab2FwZE\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Is the Solar Eclipse Evidence for God?&#8221; &#8212; Bow Tie Talks\" data-secret=\"AvEab2FwZE\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","description":"As many of you will have heard and in fact seen, today saw the celestial alignment of the Earth, its moon and the sun, resulting in a solar eclipse. A marvel to witness by anyone&#8217;s standards, it demonstrates the immense power of the natural world and the universe. Scientists and astronomers are able to predict when such alignments will happen, how long they will last for and the reasons behind these occurrences, but is there anything from the eclipse that we can infer about God? I aim to demonstrate that perhaps, there is. We are extremely lucky on Earth; our place in the solar system is so perfectly tuned, that life was able to emerge and evolve to lead us to the millions of different species we see today. Some scientists claim that if the Earth were a few miles either closer or further away from our star, that life could not exist in any way. Not miraculous, but certainly extremely lucky. Today&#8217;s eclipse provides another example of this so called &#8220;fine-tuning&#8221;. Now, the following numbers aren&#8217;t exact as there are from memory. The reason that we can experience full solar eclipses is because the distance of the Moon from Earth is approximately 400,000 km; the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon and so we see the discs of each at roughly the same size! Nowhere else in the solar system will such a phenomenon occur; pure chance or is something else behind it? Of course as the title of this piece suggests, I am hinting at some involvement from God. But don&#8217;t get me wrong, I&#8217;m not suggesting that God is sat somewhere playing with planets, moons and suns like marbles. More, I am hinting at something which astronomers and philosophers call the\u00a0anthropic principle. Now the anthropic principle is a widely accepted theory that is discussed in almost every academic text that concerns itself with science, the Big Bang, cosmology and its relationship to theology. Stephen Hawking discusses it\u00a0in\u00a0A Brief History of Time. The theory is simple: the conditions in the universe that led to the emergence of life (on Earth, although potentially not exclusively) are so perfectly-tuned, that they could not have happened by mere accident. Many atheists and scientists who do not believe in God will staunchly reject this claim. After all, I share their views that nature is a thing at which to be marveled; nature can produce some spectacular things and I would not want the credit stripped from the natural world and placed with a hypothesised entity. But in order for us to see these anthropic coincidences, these life-giving conditions with having any relation to God, I believe we need to head back in history, to a point before everything existed. The Big Bang. The most widely accepted theory of how everything in existence came to be. The observations made by the Hubble telescope show that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate; there must&#8217;ve been an initial point from which [&hellip;]","thumbnail_url":"http:\/\/52.19.228.105\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/CAiHEIYWcAA-21y-225x300.jpg"}