I agree it is compatible, but that's not my question. But it's not only atheists who say that the BB contradicts Genesis 1. My question is, why do those who believe it is incompatible "just need to deal with it"? Why can't they just ignore it, or argue against it, as they have always done? Why do they need to just deal with it?
Yes, I should have worded that "
most" or "
usually" those that wish to portray the Big Bang is somehow against or disproving Genesis 1 would be atheists, not
all.
After all, if you count each detail variations in views, there are a very large variety of creationist ideas/theories, if you count every little difference probably even there are many hundreds if not thousands of distinct views (and many which we'd rarely see unless we try to find them)...and of course in that very large variety of creationist theories are some that
don't fit a sudden appearance of the Universe.
(having some way to reinterpret or put aside the seemingly clear meaning of Genesis 1:1 that the Universe suddenly came into being)
And we don't have to worry about them much in a way: everyone has some unique viewpoints, and no mortal human is omniscient, but will be wrong about something or many things...
And, there are on the order of 2
billion Christians, not just 2 thousand or 2 million...
-- so there is absolutely going to be a very large number of views/ideas...
So long as Christians listen (and follow) the instruction to us all in
Romans 14 NIV they won't make the awful (and sinful) wrong of falsely accusing other Christians that believe God created all of
not believing in the Bible merely because that other Christian has a
different view of the not-given in the text small details of how creation unfolded....
Not that I think those doing that wrong always are aware they are sinning. Often many don't seem to know what we are instructed in
Romans 14 NIV....
Right?
So, the issue isn't that we shouldn't say our theories/views....
But that we should not condemn others, such as by the over-the-top dangerous judging that those not agreeing with our own pet theory don't accept the Bible...
If we can obey
Romans 14 NIV, then we can share all of our unique viewpoints plenty, and have fun doing it, in a spirit of love.
So long as we are doing that in a spirit of love -- fellowship...
And don't lose it and get angry that someone points out some fact in astronomy or such...
We should
not be attached to our theories about how creation unfolded in detail (various YEC or OEC, etc. theories) as if our theories are God.
So long as we can humbly admit it's just our own understanding/view, and we aren't God, then why not share your views?
I guess the key thing is being aware one's own views are theories.
If a person thinks that their own
thoughts/views/interpretations/ideas are God or Scripture/God's Word, then they could get very offended when someone else
thinks those
thoughts/views/interpretations/ideas/guesses are wrong.
Yet, both people are just mortal humans that don't have omniscience, and should be humble...
No human's individual understanding/interpretation of Scripture
is Scripture -- instead it's just their limited understanding.
Do we agree on that? If not, it's probably a far more important topic than mere theories we have.
The 'Big Bang' is just a collection of a few theories, like "Cosmic Inflation", which are just a current leading theory/guess about what happened. Those theories are subject to change and replacement, like any theories. But this group of ideas, the "Big Bang" has been around a while, and in the most simple presentation of just the broad idea:
that the Universe suddenly began -- at least for now, that seems a very well supported view. Competing ideas like a cyclic Universe ("Bouncing Universe") and others, have been around a while, but most think the Big Bang is more likely, for now. (i.e. -- a funny observation about a new Bouncing Universe idea that tries to deal with the entropy problem: it seems that such would need a
beginning (heh heh a big bang...) --
'Bouncing' universe theory still can't explain what came first)
