God
created! Christians must ask the difficult questions that are essential for the
understanding of existence. What is creation? How did anything come to exist?
Who or what created matter? How do such implications have any bearing on me?
The exploratory nature of such questions will ultimately lead the Christian
desiring answers, but can such questions be answered? In this brief paper, I will
argue that the big bang scientific theory is not only a viable option for the
Christian, but also one that adds depth to theological studies, and is in line
with a biblical worldview. I will accomplish this task by engaging with big
bang cosmology, its implications, and limits. Moreover, I will attempt to clear
up some scriptural misinterpretations that have plagued biblical studies, especially
the creation account in Genesis, for centuries.
When dealing with theology and science, one
should not let either infringe on the other’s territory. In the past,
especially before the scientific age, it has been presumed that the creation
account in the Bible is to be affirmed to have happened over a course of six
twenty-four periods, with the universe coming into existence at day one. In
what way does this understanding become unharmonious with science? Scientists
do not believe that the earth can be calculated in ways that young earth
proponents, for example, calculate it—often through biblical literalism. Is a
Christian to believe science over scripture? Surely, the two cannot be within
the same sphere; one must be right and the other wrong. The question must be
asked differently. Was the Genesis account ever to be the scientific backbone
for its recipients, the Israelites? These texts were not scientific guides on
the workings of how creation came to
be or how it is sustained, which
leads to the big bang as a viable option for Christianity; rather, the text is
set in place to understand the more theological question of why the universe came to be and why it is sustained.[1] Faith
and science then do not sit opposed to each other, but rather should be
complementary to one another. Christians and the scientific community should
feel no real urge to push back on one another, as they operate on separate
levels. Geneticist Steve Jones states it best; “The conflict between science
and religion resembles a fight between a tiger and a shark. Each will prevail
on its own proper territory, but it will be hopelessly defeated by encroaching
on the domain of the other.”[2]
The
big bang cosmological theory observes that the universe is expanding, and as it
does this it becomes less dense. Therefore, reversing this process one can observe
that the universe becomes denser until it arrives at infinite density—a
singular point in which all mass existed. Georges Lemaître’s model, which came
to be known as the big bang theory, suggested that the universe was not eternal
in the past, but rather came into being within finite time. This original model
then suggests a creatio ex nihilo. A
number of objections have been raised against Lemaître’s model. Two major objections
include the cyclical model (this suggests that the universe is eternally
expanding and contracting)[3]
and chaotic inflation model (this theory maintains an eternal spawn of
universes). These theories attempt to
dismantle a theory of fine-tuning by showing that there was no beginning to the
universe. Many of these theories have serious flaws, and have led scientists to
question their validity. For example, the second law of thermodynamics
maintains that the world has inclinations towards equilibrium. Apply this theory
on the larger scale to the universe, and eventually a state of equilibrium is
expected take place; the universe will continue to expand, and eventually burn
up all its energy, and reach equilibrium. If in fact the universe is eternal then
why has the universe not reached this point? How, if the universe did not
begin, is there continued expansion and life? It is among reasons such as these
that scientists like Stephen Hawking can conclude, “Almost everyone now
believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the big bang.”[4] This
scientific understanding fits well within a biblical worldview. Although with
one major change, the Bible states that God is the first cause of creation. The
ancient mindset of Genesis would have never questioned whether God, who put
into function the out-of-order cosmos, actually created the materials within
the cosmos. The Bible states that “In the beginning God created,” but what does
that mean? Does it imply that matter was already there and God mixed and
matched to make it combine into one ordered world? Did God at some point create
the material world? What did the hearers understand the “beginning” to mean?
Immediately the modern mind is drawn to a point in time in which material things
start, but as Old Testament Scholar John Walton points out, “In Hebrew usage
this adverb (רֵאשִׁית) typically introduces a period of time rather than a point
in time.” In other words, the “In the
beginning…” is not a way to speak of a moment in time prior to the seven days,
rather it is a way the author explained the seven day period. Often it has been
noted that the beginning is when God started material activity, but if we
conclude this we must account for the material waters[5] that
pre-existed before the “beginning.” This account does not give a material
account of God creating out of nothing. As the ancients saw, this conclusion
should lead Christians to understand that God did create everything out of nothing, but when and how God did this
is not a matter of theology, but science. At this juncture, the big bang Theory
becomes a probable explanation.
The
Genesis one and two accounts are written to the Israelites, people from an
ancient society, a culture that is much different from the current one. What
does it mean that God “created?” It should be noted for clarity that the
English definition for “create” is to “cause to come into being or existence.”[6] Would
the Israelites have understood “existence” in the way? The ancient Israelites
would not have understood the terms “creation” or “existence” in the same way a
modern thinker does. An Israelite would have thought of something as existing
by its function, not its material qualities. In other words, the Israelites did
not count a thing to exist simply by its material nature; the material nature
had no bearing on a things “existence,” only when a thing is put into a
functioning order does it have “existence.” Old Testament scholar John Walton
remarks that ANE creation stories “often observe that nothing material is
actually made…instead everything is function oriented.”[7]
The Genesis one and two accounts are not the “start” of creation ex nihilo, but rather it is the story of how the chaotic
material world is given order. This view does not discredit God of creating the
material world—all ancient people would have assumed God as the creator of such
material objects. God then, at the big bang, could be said to have allowed the
natural process of expansion while directing it in a purposeful manner—this is
why the universe appears to function with some sense of order. This is how God
brings the universe into “existence.” In addition, an examination of the Old
Testament usage of the word ברא, (create)
Walton states, “No clear example occurs that demands a material perspective for
the verb.”[8]
Verse two of the Genesis one creation account
reads that the universe was “formless and void.” These Hebrew words are תֹּהוּ (tōhû) and בֹּ֫הוּ (bōhû). Other
occurrences in the Old Testament point to a usage not as something that is
non-material, but rather non-productive or non-functional. For example, in First
Samuel 12:21 the same Hebrew word for “formless” is used, “And do not turn
aside after empty things that cannot
profit or deliver, for they are empty (emphasis added).”[9]
The words are not denoting the non-material; rather Samuel is rebuking and
telling the Israelites to turn from sin and worship the productive God, not the
“gods” who produce nothing. The language in Genesis, then, provides a clear biblical
path for the approval of the big bang theory. In fact the big bang gives
explanation for the material world prior to God putting it into a functioning
chaos-free world. In addition, it seems that this ordered world gives
explanation for a fine-tuned world and purposeful big bang—most clearly seen
when Genesis one, and two, and the anthropic principle are coalesced.[10] Objections
are raised as to the purposefulness of the big bang, and have been challenged
by writers like Tanner Edis, who claim that such “fine tuning” is easily
explained by multi-verses.[11] This
theory explicates that our universe is one of many universes, possibly infinity
of them. The fact that our universe is produced with ordered appearance is only
a result to be expected. However, Edis’s claims cannot be proven by the nature
of the theory itself, which assumes information cannot be transferred between these
universes. Moreover, the nature and high complexity of the big bang theory
provides further evidence that there is a God behind such a theory. Take for
example, the expansion rate of the universe at the big bang, “If it were
greater…the matter in the universe would have become too diffuse for gravity to
gather it into stars and galaxies. If it were less…gravity would have
overwhelmed the expansion and pulled all the matter back into a black hole.”[12]
It appears that science, and the big bang theory, can support a conclusion of
divinity, so why so much fuss? Political and interpretative disputes overwhelm
what should be a fruitful conversation between religion and science.
The
majority of battles are waged over religious interpretive preference, and
politics. Literalism, and political agenda overrides proper biblical exegesis.
As Edis notes, “Debates over evolution, then are rarely purely intellectual
affairs. They involve politics, struggles between conservative and liberal
religiosity.”[13] Christian
literalists have tried to explain away the many difficulties of the Genesis one
account, on material terms—again this misses the point of Genesis one. The
Genesis story is giving the reader an account of God taking, that which was
chaotic and out of order, and bringing it into order to function! As theologian
Alister Mcgrath states, “Creation is a imposition of order on a formless chaos.”[14]
God created a functioning cosmos for humanity. The Genesis account is giving
the story of God’s great love, as creator, towards humanity and the universe. It
is in this understanding that big bang cosmology does not stand against
Christianity, but further gives scientific explanation to the how of creation—a question, which
theology, simply, cannot supply an answer.
Bibliography
Edis, Taner. Science and Nonbelief.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006.
Giberson, Karl, and Francis S.
Collins. The Language of Science and Faith : Straight Answers to Genuine Questions. Downers Grove,
IL: IVP Books, 2011.
Goldman, Jonathan L., and Andrew N.
Sparks. Webster's New World Student's Dictionary. New York: Macmillan USA, 1996.
Hawking, Stephen, and Roger
Penrose. The Nature of Space and Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Holy Bible: English
Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001.
McGrath, Alister E. Theology: The
Basics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Walton, John H. The Lost World of
Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009.
Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis.
Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987.
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