Unapologetic - Brian Seagraves

Episode 38 - Is the Big Bang Theory Compatible with the Bible?


Listen Later

Audio
TranscriptWhat does the Bible say about the Big Bang theory? In some pockets of the world, Christianity, and more specifically, Christians, have the reputation of being anti-intellectual, at least to some. Because to some people, holding to the claim that God created the earth and everything that exists in six literal 24-hour solar days is a contradiction of modern scientific evidence, and it flies in the face of all of the available evidence, at least to them, so this is an anti-intellectual claim. To such a person, they believe that you have to turn your brain off in order to be a Christian. Now in principle, we can demonstrate that the Bible, and the New Testament especially, does not have this idea of needing to not see evidence in order to believe. In fact, John's whole gospel is written so that we might know, and in knowing come to believe or trust in the son of God, Jesus. Numerous other times in the New Testament we have examples of Paul making a case and wanting people to know, to understand, to reason through things, to use the mind in order to come to faith or trust in Christ. The standard set by the New Testament isn't anti-intellectual, but to some people the young earth claim of six literal 24-hour days is an anti-intellectual claim. Now that isn't a reason to reject it. Just because it flies in the face of science, that doesn't make it not true. However, we're left with the question: What does the Bible say about the Big Bang theory: the idea that something like 13.8 billion years ago everything came into existence, that it started out very dense, very small, very hot and rapidly expanded, and that it's still expanding today? The universe had a beginning. That is what the Big Bang theory points to, that all matter came into existence at a point in time in the finite past.Now what does the Bible have to say about this, you may ask. Well, not much. I also don't think the Bible says much at all about a young earth either. I've written about this before: http://brianseagraves.com/blog/context-the-often-forgotten-consideration-when-reading-genesis-1 Here's the highlight. Genesis, the first book in the Bible, starts with "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Some people have read this like it's a summary or like a chapter title of what's to come. Then the book goes on to describe the actual creation of the heavens and the earth. However, better scholarship points to a different conclusion, that this is its own distinct event, that God creating the heavens and the earth is literally how the Hebrews would have considered God creating the universe. For when they spoke of the universe, they used the term heavens and earth. In other words, everything that exists, things under our feet and things above. The first verse in the Bible starts with "God created the heavens and the earth." Then we focus in on that creation, specifically on earth. It says, "And now the earth was formless and void." What amount of time could have passed in that gap there between the creation of everything and zooming in to focus on each, in what we might call special creation on earth? Who knows how long that time gap could have been. But I don't think there's any good biblical reason to reject what science says about the age of the universe. God could have created the earth and everything on it in six literal days, and the universe be 13.8 billion years old. Even everything on earth could have been created 6,000 years ago and the universe could still be 13.8 billion years old. Now you may ask why such a long gap in between creating the universe and earth. But what is time to a God who has always existed? What are a few or multiple billions of years? They’re nothing; a blip on the radar. Just because there's a large a…
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Unapologetic - Brian SeagravesBy Brian Seagraves

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

21 ratings