Can The Big Bang Theory Be Biblical?

Last updated on: August 27, 2015 at 10:30 am by Jack Wellman

Can The Big Bang Theory Be Biblical? 2015-08-27T10:30:17-05:00 Jack Wellman

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Is the “Big Bang” biblical? Can the Big Bang fit into the creation story? Are they compatible?

The Big Bang

The Bible is not a science book about the heavens; it is a book about how to enter heaven. One thing we do know for sure is that God created the universe and mankind for the purpose of glorifying Him as the Scripture says “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). We know that the universe is expanding and if you wound everything backwards, there would have to be a finite starting point. To say, as some do, that the universe is eternal seems to be contradictory to the law of causation which states that every material effect must have an adequate antecedent or simultaneous cause. Is there anything in the universe that exists that was not caused? Looking closely at the Book of Genesis we find the cause. Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There are five categories in our universe that substantiate the creation: Scientists and physicists agree that everything there is fits into one of these five categories and these categories are time, force, action, matter, and space and they all fit the description of the creation account in Genesis 1:1.

The Five Categories of the Universe

Genesis 1:1 says “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” and here we find the five given categories: In the beginning (that’s time), God (that’s force), created (that’s action), the heavens (that’s space), and the earth (that’s matter). That reveals the Law of Causation. The last figure we have for the age of the universe, and it seems to be constantly changing, is that it’s 13.8 billion years old. The late Carl Sagan once said that billions of years ago the universe exploded into being but something’s very wrong about this statement. If it “exploded into being” then where did matter come from? If it wasn’t in a state of “being” and then suddenly, it “exploded into being” wouldn’t it have had to be before it exploded into being? How can it not be and then be? If it exploded into being, then wouldn’t it have had to exist prior to that? If the universe is eternal, then what was the first cause? Doesn’t everything require a cause?

The Unmoved Mover

The Greek Philosopher Aristotle saw the necessity of being as coming from something or Someone. He tried to explain the existence of and the cause of the universe in a logical way. He called the cause the “unmoved mover” or the “prime mover.” This was his way of proving that the universe had a single cause which is explained through an examination of the notion of movement. Aristotle wrote about the importance of how something can only be something else unless there was something that came before it. In other words, Aristotle logically concluded that there must be a first unmoved mover in order to explain all other motion. In Aristotle’s “Book Number Eight of Physics,” he wrote that “Motion cannot begin without the prior existence of something to impart motion in another thing, so that there will always be something in motion, since something at rest cannot cause motion in another thing.” If motion were not eternal, “then time would not have always existed, since time is the measure of motion.” Aristotle saw the conundrum that “no one would be willing to say that time has not always been in existence” (8.1). Aristotle saw the impossibility that motion was self-caused.

Age of the Universe

The description of the creation in Genesis does not give a specific time period in the first few verses. It only says that God created it. There is something interesting in Genesis 1:2 because it says that the “earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The Hebrew word for “form” as “without form” is “tohuw” and “means formless, confusion,” or “emptiness” and we know that God is not the author of confusion (1st Cor 14:33). It’s appears that there was nothingness or empty space after the earth was created. In the Jewish vernacular, the Hebrew word “tohuw” can also mean wasteland or wilderness. Also, the word used for void is “bohuw” which is close to the Hebrew word “tohuw” meaning “emptiness, void,” and “waste” so we could actually read Genesis 1:2a, as saying “And the earth had no form or was formless and was a wasteland.” It was not until the Spirit of God, which is the name of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, moved upon the face of the waters, which we can assume, sat on a formless, wasteland-like earth.

Time + Chance = Everything?

The fact that all matter had a beginning force us to conclude that everything had a cause and that cause was God and it was not random or blind chance since we know that there must be a cause for every effect. To believe that time + chance = everything is as ludicrous as it gets since chance is nothing or is a non-being. We had a 40% chance for rain the other day but to believe that the mathematical probability caused the wind shear to increase, the dew point to rise, and the clouds to form is simply ridiculous. My favorite team was given the best odds of winning the Super Bowl last year and they were very good odds too but the odds couldn’t intercept a pass, sack the quarterback or make a touchdown so chance is not enough to make something happen. Chance is nothing; no thing! It’s not even a noun.

Conclusion

There were no eye witnesses but God at the moment of creation. The most important thing for you to believe is that God desires to save you (2 Pet 3:9). Ezekiel writes “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die” (Ezk 18:23-24) “but if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live” (Ezk 18:21-22).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.

Aristotle’s Source “Book Number Eight of Physics“

Bible Answers

Big Bang

Creation

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