OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF
NIGEL T.  FAITHFULL

December, 2017

UNIVERSE

This latest book, Universe,  is available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UNIVERSE-Time-Space-Things-Together/dp/0999655906/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524562286&sr=1-1&keywords=nigel+faithfull+universe

Introduction

We are living in an information age, with universities having departments of information studies, and communications are through the 'information superhighway'. In the UK, The Office for National Statistics in Newport monitors every conceivable aspect of the British economy, population and society, and conducts the 10-yearly census.  Internet resources, such as Wikipedia, give instant access to knowledge which researchers could only have dreamed about 50 years ago. The media bombards us with the latest news of space exploration, fossil discoveries, and advances in medical science and genetics. It is a struggle to process all this data and make some sense of it so that it relates to our worldview. At the end of the day we probably just try to keep up our daily routine and leave the universe to sort itself out with the help of the experts. We stoically carry on regardless, with our head in the sand like the ostrich.

This may work for a while, but it leaves a deep sense of hollowness - a vague awareness that we are lacking something. Will we exit the stage of our lives having missed out on finding the purpose for our existence and the meaning behind our wonderful universe? Hopefully this book will begin to open your eyes to the fact that there is a God who designed everything, and intended to have a personal and loving relationship with you.

I began taking an interest in experimental science from the age of about 3 years, when I prodded an electric fire with an ornamental candle to see what would happen. In God's providence my mother checked up on me just as the flames were spreading. She wrapped me in a rug and smothered the flames of the burning carpet and cushion. Years later my main scientific interest was concerned with the use of flames in spectroscopy for chemical analysis. While growing up I collected scientific apparatus and chemicals to furnish a home laboratory, but although it was an absorbing interest, there was still a missing dimension to life. I was raised in a Christian home and knew about God, but I had not yet discovered for myself what was needed to make life truly satisfying. I had not yet made sense of God or his universe.

All that changed when God revealed himself to me. He showed I was a sinful person who had lived a self-absorbed existence. I saw that Jesus Christ had come to this planet to die for me and all who trust him to be their Saviour. The Holy Spirit renewed me inwardly, and opened my eyes to see how the whole magnificent and beautiful universe around me had been designed, and is being upheld, by God. He is the Director of all of history, and at the end of time will come again to judge and renew the world. He also made it clear to me before I went to read chemistry at Aberystwyth University that I should aim to be involved with the chemical analysis of plants and soils. That came true in quite a remarkable way, so I had no doubt it was God's will for me.

Whether your calling is scientific, connected with the arts or social studies, or one of the many other useful trades and professions, hopefully this book will help you come to see the part you can play in the grand scheme of all things. The general thrust of television programmes, school curricula and presentations in museums is that we are here because of a 'Big Bang' and chance evolution over millions of years. That is a cold and miserable scenario and not one which is accepted by all secular scientists. To believe in a Creator God is not being feeble-minded when some of the greatest scientists have done so, such as Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.

This book is for those with an enquiring mind, but not necessarily experts in any particular discipline. The various references may serve as starting points for further research in areas of specific interest. We will look at the basic properties of matter, time and space, and how they affect our lives. The conundrum of the origin of life and its meaning will be dealt with in an historical context, with reference to the emergence of eugenics from the soil of Darwinian evolution. Finally, we try to humbly consider the being and nature of God. Throughout the whole book I have attempted to interpret our observations on the universe, life and faith in the light of the Scriptures, which are the only source of objective truth on origins available to us, and which enable us to avoid merely human speculations.

To God be all the glory.

Nigel Faithfull

Newport

November 2017

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