Is the Big Bang Theory consistent with Genesis' Creation account?

ferment8 · Apr 3, 2002

I think we are all wasting our time here.
1st, do we all know enough about the Big Bang Theory to argue about it?
2nd, from a Christian's point of view: This is GOD everyone. If God DID bang the universe as some of us thought, then that will mean we have the ability to think like God. And this is not true. Humans base their thinkings on logic and God is NOT bound by logic.

I just want to say that we do not have the ability to think what God has done. If we can, then what's the significance of God? remember, we are just minute humans who are vulnerable...

Westeez · Apr 4, 2002

I don't see any contradiction between the Big Bang and Genesis. Note that this is not theistic evolution. I'm just saying that God could have brought the universe into existence with a Big Bang (after all creation may have been an explosive event) but then still created the Earth ect in 6 days. Scientifically I am nuetral about this - I don't have any strong opinions either way.

Sinai · Apr 4, 2002

Originally posted by goseyn
Sinai,

Great job in presenting these different views. I personally beleive 3 and 4 are both correct. This issue needlessly splinters the Church and is a non-salvation issue.

But it doesn't need to splinter the Church. The reason I bring it up is not to divide or defeat us, but rather because I have found that this is an area where so many Christians are most fearful about when witnessing. A surprising number of believers are largely ignorant of the tremendous about-face mainstream science has taken over the past few decades as discovery after discovery has brought mainstream science into almost complete agreement with what the first chapter of Genesis has said for thousands of years.

Optimus_P · Apr 4, 2002

Good Post Sinai.

I merged your topic w/ this one as they were one in the same.

Sinai · Apr 4, 2002

Originally posted by Optimus_P
Good Post Sinai.

I merged your topic w/ this one as they were one in the same.

Ah! So that's what happened to the other thread.

Actually, they were not intended to be the same. If I failed to properly communicate the respective topics, I apologize.

I thought I had set up this thread to relate specifically to the Big Bang theory (giving readers the chance to discuss their thoughts and feelings about a purely scientific theory that relates to the initiation of creation.

The other thread--about the age of the universe and the "days of creation" as outlined in Genesis--explores one's theological and scientific views about the entire creation process, discussing the major theories for the entire creation from the initiation (initial creation or "big bang") through the creation or appearance of man.

Because they are at least intended to be different topics, I have again started the other topic. If any of the persons who initially responded wish to do so again, you can get there faster by clicking here. Again, I am sorry if I failed to properly communicate the separate purposes and parameters of the two threads.

Thank you.

Sinai · Apr 5, 2002

Originally posted by ferment8
If God DID bang the universe as some of us thought, then that will mean we have the ability to think like God. And this is not true. Humans base their thinkings on logic and God is NOT bound by logic. I just want to say that we do not have the ability to think what God has done. If we can, then what's the significance of God? remember, we are just minute humans who are vulnerable...

Please excuse me, but I am not sure I'm following your rationale here.

You appear to be saying that if God created the universe, then we humans would have the ability to think like God. But you then go on to say that we do not have the ability to even think about what God has done.

Are you suggesting that you don't think that God created the universe...or that we are unable to think about it? Please clarify. Thank you.

Sinai · Apr 18, 2002

Ferment8, if you meant to say that it is difficult for our finite minds to comprehend the infinite, then you may be making a very good point. If, on the other hand, you are implying that we do not have the ability to even think about what God has done, than that would probably be faulty logic.

TScott · Apr 19, 2002

I believe that of the 2 major theories of the universe, the big bang theory and the steady state theory, only the big bang theory could support a Genesis like creation. In fact, after the COBE satellite discovery of the so called "big bang ripples" in 1992 that virtually sealed the probability of the big bang, the idea that God created the universe became a much more respectable hypothesis within the scientific community.

It appears that the universe was indeed "created" by something.

Caedmon · Apr 19, 2002

The two different Genesis Creation stories are ascientific and ahistorical; the stories are neither a science nor a history text. These stories were meant to convey spiritual truth, not to name the age and origin of the universe. To attempt to explain the origin and nature of the universe using the Genesis creation stories is a bit far-fetched. I wouldn't recommend using the Bible for that purpose. I find no conflict between the creation stories and the Big Bang Theory because they are not capable of true analogy; they're two different genres. You can't peel an apple like an orange. And considering the entire Bible was written from a "flat-earth" perspective... well, that's a different discussion altogether.

fragmentsofdreams · Apr 19, 2002

Originally posted by ferment8
God is NOT bound by logic.

I just want to say that we do not have the ability to think what God has done. If we can, then what's the significance of God? remember, we are just minute humans who are vulnerable...

God is bound by logic because He created it. Unlike us humans who can have internal divisions and inconsistencies, God is undivided. What seperates us from God is He knows and understands perfectly while we are limited by our minds and our senses. That doesn't mean that we can't understand rudimentary things about God.

fragmentsofdreams · Apr 19, 2002

Genesis 1 presents an adaptation of the Babylonian creation myth (they got it from the Sumerians). The order of events reflects the "cutting edge" science of the day. Because the Isrealites might start to believe the pagan parts of the Babylonian myth, a preist, inspired by God, modifies it so that it describes God's creative action. From the new account, we learn that God created the Universe from nothing, that the sun, moon, and stars are merely lights in the sky instead of gods (the are called the greater and lesser light because the Hebrew words for sun and moon were Babylonian dieties), and that humanity is made in the image of God. As time went on, the Babylonian cosmology fades into ridicule but the revelations are still as true as they were thousands of years ago.

Also, no scientific theory can completely explain the Universe. Even if we discover all of the laws of physics and can explain the formation of the Universe from the first infinesimal fraction of a second, we still do not know where these laws came from. Remember that time and space came into existence along with matter and energy at the Big Bang. To speak of before the Big Bang is meaningless.

Sinai · Apr 30, 2002

Originally posted by fragmentsofdreams
Remember that time and space came into existence along with matter and energy at the Big Bang. To speak of before the Big Bang is meaningless.

Is it "meaningless" then for the Bible to do that? After all, Genesis 1:1 tells us that "In the beginning" God created the heavens and the earth (which is the Hebrew equivalent of our word "universe"). In other words, the Bible says that before there was the universe, time or matter, there was God....and that it was God that created the universe, all matter, and time itself in the beginning.....

AV1611VET · Dec 2, 2007

jimmyboy11 said:
[shadow=limegreen]God spoke and BANG it happened. [/shadow]

sure you can look at it like that
But that's not what the evolutionist want to hear.

[glow=limegreen]God Bless![/glow]

FishFace · Dec 2, 2007

Biggest necro ever?

InTheCloud · Dec 2, 2007

The two different Genesis Creation stories are ascientific and ahistorical; the stories are neither a science nor a history text. These stories were meant to convey spiritual truth, not to name the age and origin of the universe. To attempt to explain the origin and nature of the universe using the Genesis creation stories is a bit far-fetched. I wouldn't recommend using the Bible for that purpose. I find no conflict between the creation stories and the Big Bang Theory because they are not capable of true analogy; they're two different genres. You can't peel an apple like an orange. And considering the entire Bible was written from a "flat-earth" perspective... well, that's a different discussion altogether.

True, BTW who is Rozzy Williams?

God is bound by logic because He created it. Unlike us humans who can have internal divisions and inconsistencies, God is undivided. What seperates us from God is He knows and understands perfectly while we are limited by our minds and our senses. That doesn't mean that we can't understand rudimentary things about God.

Yes, read John 1,1. The Greek version uses the world Logos instead of the English Word. So the begining Logos was with God and was one with God. Logos means in Greek both Reason and Word. So God is the origin of Reason. If humans were created in God image they have Reason and they could eventually know how God did things. And Reason was in the beginning of Creation. Reason allowed a Belgian Catholic Priest, Abbot Georges Lemaitre to correct Einstein mathematical calculus and formulate the Big Bang theory. And the Big Bang theory requires and Old, 10 billions years old. And Einstein called Lemaitre explanation in Oxford the best scientific account of creation ever made.
And the Creation Poem, the Cain, the Nephilim, the Noah stories and the transitional genealogies in Genesis 1-11 were added to the Torah late during either the Ezequiel or Esdras ministry as a revolutionary monotheistic counter to the Babilonian's Gilgamesh. It took the babilonian tales rebuilt them to a whole new level revolutionary for the time. And Genesis can be very insightfull if you do not read it with a Flat Earth mentality.

InTheCloud · Dec 2, 2007

Correction It requires a old 10 billion plus universe. And light measures say the Universe might be around 15 billions years old.

Is it "meaningless" then for the Bible to do that? After all, Genesis 1:1 tells us that "In the beginning" God created the heavens and the earth (which is the Hebrew equivalent of our word "universe"). In other words, the Bible says that before there was the universe, time or matter, there was God....and that it was God that created the universe, all matter, and time itself in the beginning.....

No is not, if fact that is the whole point of the Bible.
But sciense for now crashes when it get close of the Big Bang moment. All calculus becomes infinite.
The real question is the obsesion of fundamentalists with a literal Bible creation poem. Man, Genesis 1-11 is a poem, poems are symbolic, not sciense books.

Patashu · Dec 3, 2007

Wow, I just walked into a time portal.

What the heck was that? TheBear, a Christian?

TheBear · Dec 3, 2007

FishFace said:
Biggest necro ever?

Agreed. AV must have been really bored, with a lot of time on his hands. Bumping a 5 year old thread with nothing more than a "

", to a member who hasn't been here in over 4 years.

Good job AV! :clap:

What's next, old bug reports?

Frumious Bandersnatch · Dec 3, 2007

TheBear said:
Agreed. AV must have been really bored, with a lot of time on his hands. Bumping a 5 year old thread with nothing more than a "", to a member who hasn't been here in over 4 years.

Good job AV! What's next, old bug reports?

I didn't notice the dates at first and wondered why I saw so many names I didn't recognize. That was even before I joined the board in early 2003. I think I was still posting on OCW at that time. A real blast from the past, unless of course the thread really isn't that old and only has embedde age.

Is the Big Bang Theory consistent with Genesis' Creation account?

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