Bible vs Big Bang Theory
If you haven’t read the intro post to my creation science category, you can find it here.
In continuing the posts on creation science, one of the first issues to be brought up is the Big Bang Theory. What exactly is the Big Bang theory, and can it be paralleled with the biblical account?
The Big Bang is a secular view of how the universe began, and I have to admit that from a logical stand point, taken at face value, it could be a possibility. However, how are Christians supposed to respond to this type of theory? Could it be a possibility? Could God have used the Big Bang to create everything? There are some common misconceptions when it comes to discerning this idea. Let’s look at the basic order of events from both points of view and see if they can compliment each other.
The Differences
Right off the bat we can see some interesting differences that occur from the two viewpoints. First of all, Genesis 1:1 says, “in the beginning God..,” revealing that God is eternal. He was not created in the beginning, he has always existed and is not bound by the bonds of time. The Big Bang model says, “In the beginning nothing…” and religion is created after man has evolved enough to think up the concept of God. In short, the Bible says God created man, the Big Bang says Man created God.
Secondly, the order that the land, plants, sun, moon, and stars are created have been reversed. The bible says land and plants are created on day 3, before the sun, moon and stars on day 4. Secular science of course cannot accept this as there would have had to be a sun, moon, and stars for plants to grow. This poses somewhat of a problem for Christians as it requires a leap of faith and trusting that God did it how he said he did, and there really is no science to back up how plants lived without the sun, moon, and stars. However, this is not the most faith shattering miracle in the bible by a long shot. After all, Jesus and Peter walked on water, Jonah survived 3 days in a great fish, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, and the list goes on and on.
Can the two merge somehow? How long is a “day?”
Christians will often try to merge the two and start questioning how long a “day” is. The Hebrew word for day is “yom.” This word appears in the text 359 times in Genesis alone. Only in chapter 1 is the meaning ever questioned. I believe God further defined it so there would be no confusion later on when it was questioned. In all the descriptions of the days of the creation, it is further defined as “and the morning and evening was the ______ day.” -Genesis 1:5 (day 1), 1:8 (day 2), 1:13 (day 3), 1:19 (day 4), 1:23 (day 5), and 1:31 (day 6). Not to mention, if we assume that each day is just a period of time, possibly millions of years, then how would have plants survived without the sun for millions of years?
There are also others who try to pull scripture out of context to justify this idea of a thousand years being a day. (Please read my post on Studying Scripture in Context first.) Often times there are two common passages that are used.
The first is 2 Peter 3:8 which says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.“
Let’s dig a little deeper into this passage. 2 Peter chapter 3 is actually talking quite a bit about scoffers in the end times that will mock Christians and make fun of them, clearly being blind to all the evidence around them to support the flood of Noah’s day, the creation, and the resurrection of Jesus. This passage makes no reference to the amount of time the creation took to be made. This verse is completely ripped out of context as the verses right before and after it are the ones that complete the whole idea. Verse 7 shows that the world is being preserved by God for judgement. Verse 8 shows that to God a thousand years is a day, and a day is a thousand years. Verse 9 shows that God is not slow on completing his promise, but patient. The whole point of this passage shows that if we think we have a thousand years to go, we may only have a day. If we think it will end tomorrow, it may be another thousand years. This backs up Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24:36-51 where no one will know the hour. The whole point of this passage is that God works on his timeline, not ours. This is a great passage to work with, and has a lot of cool topics, but that’s another blog post altogether.
The second common passage used is Psalm 90:4 which says, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.“
Psalm 90 is only 17 verses long. It takes about 7 minutes to read the entire chapter. Verses 1 and 2 are about creation. Verse 3 references Adam returning to dust in Genesis 3:19. Verse 4 shows that a thousand years seem like yesterday to God. Verse 5 shows that it is referring to the flood as they are as asleep. The people in the days of Noah would not repent, so God destroyed them in the flood. This passage shows that to God it seems like yesterday. This passage in no way questions the literal time frame of a day in creation.
What happens when we take the word thousand literal in some other verses?
Psalm 50:10 “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Is this a literal thousand? God only owns the ones on a literal thousand hills?
Psalm 105:6-8 “O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.” Is this a literal thousand? Only one thousand generations after Abraham?
Other Problems
If we do not label a day as a literal day, there are other biblical problems that follow.
Isaiah 45:18-19 says, “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.“
Is God a liar?
Exodus 20:11 says, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.“
Is Moses a liar?
In Mark 10:6 Jesus says, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.“
Is Jesus a liar?
More importantly, if we read John 1:1-14, we see that Jesus was there during the creation. Now if Jesus was there and the creation account in the Torah was wrong, I believe Jesus would have addressed it, as he had no problem addressing other areas of scripture that people (not God) often confused.
Big Bang in the Bible
Yes, that’s right, there is a Big Bang in the bible. actually there are possibly two of them. One in Psalms 33:6, and the very same passage we covered earlier in 2 Peter chapter 3.
Psalms 33:6 says, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” Surely if something could be labeled as a “bang,” it would be the voice of the Lord.
2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.“
Sounds like the Big Bang to me, but not in the secular scientific way.
Conclusion
I believe that the bible shows no evidence of the universe being millions or billions of years old. I believe that a day is a literal day and have seen no evidence to prove otherwise. It is interesting that despite the efforts to merge the two ideas together, they mix like water and oil when we examine the details. They simply cannot mingle. It requires a leap of faith to trust that God’s word is accurate and correct, much like we had to take a leap of faith when we decided to follow Jesus despite what the world thought.
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