THE BIG
BANG THEORY OF CREATION
The “Big Bang” theory has come to exist in our generation as the
predominate theory for the creation of the universe. The first direct scientific evidence for the Big
Bang dates back to 1916 when Albert Einstein noted that his equations of
general relativity predicted an expanding universe, as opposed to the
prevailing theory of a steady state universe.
Even Einstein did not initially accept the implications of his equation,
so he introduced a “cosmological constant”, a fudge factor, to prevent his
equation from converging to a finite beginning of the universe.
In 1929, Edwin Hubble observed that the velocities of galaxies
result from a general expansion of the universe. In 1946, George Gamow calculated that nothing
less than the universe expanding from a near infinitely hot condition could
account for the present abundance of elements.
In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson observed the background
radiation predicted as a remnant from the energy at the origin of the universe
that was not converted to matter. At
present, the Big Bang is the “Standard Model”, the generally accepted theory for
the creation of the universe. The
Big Bang theory, and many of its supporting details, were described in Genesis
over 3500 years ago, long before science theorized and modern technology
demonstrated. In the
words of Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder, Ph.D (MIT), an Orthodox Jewish physicist and
author of Genesis and the Big Bang,
“It is remarkable that the
theistic description, which was developed millennia before, and therefore in
isolation from the current scientific description, so closely matches the broad
perception of current cosmology and paleontology. It is not that theology responded to modern
scientific discovers. Theology presents
a fixed view of the universe. Science,
through its progressively improved understanding of the world, has come to
agree with theology.” [1]
“In 1992, science historian Frederic Burnham
commented that belief in God is ‘more respectable today’ among scientist than
at any time in the last hundred years.” [2]
(Gen 1:1), “In the beginning…” The book of
Genesis goes out on a limb to postulate a radical idea; the universe had a
beginning and a finite age. “No other
‘holy book’ makes such a claim on its own.
The concept appears elsewhere only in those books that borrow from the
Bible, such as the Quran and the Mormon writings.” [3]
Scripture took this position over 3500 years ago,
long before the advent of modern technology capable of supporting or countering
this position. One thousand years later,
Aristotle and the Greek held universe to be eternal without beginning and
end. At the beginning of the 20th
century, the position of most scientists mirrored that of the Greeks; the
universe had no beginning, but eternally existed in a steady state
condition. Forces that could be observed
in the universe, such as gravitational and electromagnetic forces, were
constant and could be used to explain the past and predict the future.
By the beginning of the 21th century, most
scientists have come to accept the “Standard Model”, which supports a beginning
and a finite age of the universe. Under
the Standard Model, the universe did not adhere to the observed laws of the
universe at the very beginning, for some infinitely small amount of time,
perhaps 1 x 10-35 seconds.
After this initial period of time, the current observable laws of the
universe came into effect.
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