Restitutio

Building on last week, Will Barlow continues to describe and analyze issues with the Big Bang Theory. He considers standard biblical and scientific objections brought forward by young earth creationists. After responding to these objections, he shows how each of the main Christian views of origins deals with the Big Bang.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yonfcv5mf6I&feature=emb_imp_woyt

See below for notes.

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The Big Bang

In basic terms, what does the Big Bang theory say?

• The Universe began approximately 13.7 billion years ago• Space and matter have been expanding and cooling since then

What is the current state of the Big Bang?

• We will never be able to travel back in time to observe the beginning• Physicists used high-energy collisions to test hypotheses related to the Big Bang• There is a physical restriction on understanding the first moment of the Big Bang

Are there viable alternatives to the Big Bang?

• Oscillating universe — Universes expand and contract until the right one pops out• Multiple Universes — Infinite number of Universes exist beyond our ability to observe them• Inflationary models• Hawking’s theory

YEC and the Big Bang

How does YEC view the Big Bang?

• In short, YEC reject several aspects of the Big Bang• YEC make both Scriptural and scientific arguments to defend their positionScriptural Objections

What objections do YEC make about the Big Bang from Scripture?“The Bible tells us that God created heaven, earth, and everything within them in the span of six days (Exodus 20:11) and rested on the seventh day. This is the basis for our work week (Exodus 20:8). In contrast, the big bang model claims that the universe and earth formed over billions of years.”

“Genesis tells us that God created the stars on the fourth day—three days after the earth was created.

Now that we've considered a bunch of the options for interpreting creation in Genesis, we are moving to look at astronomy. In today's episode Will Barlow moves into his home territory--physics. You'll learn about the weird nature of light, how particles do strange things at the quantum scale, and how the big bang model actually leads to belief in God. If you've ever been curious how to talk to science-minded friends and relatives about belief in God, today's episode should help!

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiRc2q_RFX4&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=6

See below for notes.

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Overview of Modern Physics

• Light• General Relativity• Quantum Mechanics• The Big Bang

Light

• Perhaps the most interesting and necessary to support life• Comes in many forms• Can act as a wave or a particle (unique!)• Light can act like a wave (ex: sound or water)• Light can act like a particle (ex: basketball)• Light seems to know the fastest path through a material• The speed of light is a well-known quantity and is considered the “speed limit of the Universe”

General Relativity

• Has been verified enough to use in everyday items like GPS• Gravity can bend light and make “impressions” in space-time

Quantum Mechanics

• Useful when talking about microscopic things• Shows that electrons do not orbit a nucleus like a planet around the Sun• Gives probabilities for direction and location at any given time

Imagine that you reach your hand out to touch a table:

• On a microscopic level, what you feel as “solid” is actually the electrons in your hand repelling the electrons in the table• Theoretically, your hand could pass through the table if you could line up the electrons in your hand with the electrons in the table (quantum tunneling)

The Big Bang

• Some ancient pagans (like A

Today we are going to cover gap theories and John Walton’s temple idea. Will Barlow explains how gap theories work, including the classic idea that there’s a gap of billions of years between Genesis 1.1 and 1.2 as well as the modified version. After explaining the pros and cons for these views, he briefly explains John Walton’s theory that Genesis 1 solely focuses on function not physical creation.

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Gap Theory

There are various versions of Gap Theory:

• Standard – multiple options here

Pros of Standard Gap Theory

Here are some pros with the standard formulation of Gap Theory:

• It takes the word “day” literally as a 24-hour period

Internal Evidence

Genesis 1:2   The earth was [or became] without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

“Was” or “became”?

• Generally, in Hebrew, the verb “was” is unnecessary when talking about simple existence

Genesis 23:17   So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over

“Was” or “became”?

• Some scholars suggest that the verb is needed for

We've been considering the various options for interpreting the creation account in Genesis. Last time we looked at two young earth theories and today we'll survey three old earth perspectives, including the day age theory, modified day-age theory, and a non-literal approach. For each Will Barlow explains the basics and offers a gentle critique.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2y2H1PrJ34&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=4&t=180s

See below for notes.

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What have we seen so far?

• Genesis was written to a group of ancient people coming out of slavery• The questions that they were asking of the text are different than the questions that we ask

Many views of Genesis 1Perhaps the easiest way to divide them is:

• Young-earth views• Old-earth views• Views compatible with either

Old-Earth Views

• “Day-Age” and modified “Day-Age”— Hugh Ross, Gerald Schroeder• “Theistic Evolution” — Francis Collins• Gap and modified gap — Scofield Bible• “Day-Age” and modified “Day-Age”— Hugh Ross, Gerald Schroeder• “Theistic Evolution” — Francis Collins• Gap and modified gap — Scofield Bible

Day-AgeThere are various versions of Day-Age:

• Standard• Earth-bound perspective (Hugh Ross)

Pros of Standard Day-AgeHere are some pros with the standard formulation of Day-Age:

• Generally, the sequence of events seems like it could be a plausible representation from an ancient person’s perspective of the scientific order of events• In the Bible, “day” can mean more than one 24-hour pe

Have you heard of the Gospel of Thomas? What about the Gospel of Philip or Judas? Although most Christians are only familiar with the four Gospels contained in the Bible, ancient Christians wrote quite a few other Gospels as well. How do we know which Gospels are to be trusted? My guest today is Dr. Simon Gathercole, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Cambridge. His new book, The Gospel and the Gospels, puts forward a commonsense historical methodology to determine which Gospels are most reliable.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsGhQVsPdvs

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Dr. Gathercole is professor of NT and early Christianity at the University of Cambridge. He's got degrees from Cambridge and Durham university, where he studied under James Dunn. Before we jump into the book, what was that like studying under Dunn?Well, today, we're talking about your book The Gospel in the Gospels. Writing this book must have been a monumental task. It's 576 pages, hundreds of footnotes, published by Eerdmans, how long were you working on this project? Share a little about the process.Many don't know there were other Gospels that didn't make it into the New Testament. Outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what other Gospels are there? What are they like?How can someone access these other Gospels? Would you recommend the Lost Scriptures by Bart Ehrman or The Complete Gospels by Robert Miller? or your own volume?You've done a lot of work on non-canonical Gospels over the years. What drew you to them? What about them makes them worth studying?Some say the four canonical Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--are not special or authoritative, but merely the ones favored by one group of Christians who managed to seize power and suppress all others. How com

Today we'll begin to consider interpretive options for the first chapter of Genesis. We'll see three main groupings of theories, including those that propose a young earth of only thousands of years, those that see the earth as old (billions of years), and those that are compatible with either. After introducing the main options, Will Barlow goes on to explore young-earth creationism. He presents the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Lastly, he shows why the "appearance of age" hypothesis fails to convince him.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9xyFXqh5xw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

See below for notes.

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—— Notes ——

What have we seen so far?

Genesis was written to a group of ancient people coming out of slavery

The questions that they were asking of the text are different than the questions that we ask

How can we read Genesis 1?

Does Genesis 1 begin with a continuous narrative or is there an initial creation in verse 1 followed by a “re-creation” or “reconstitution”?

How can we read Genesis 1?

How do we read the word day? Is a day a literal 24-hour period of time? Or is it something else?

How can we read Genesis 1?

Is Genesis 1 meant to be a description of creation itself? Or is it meant to describe how God ascribed function to already existing systems?

How can we read Genesis 1?

How impo

Who was the original audience for the book of Genesis? Although we might be tempted to think we are, Genesis was written a long time ago in a different language and culture. Thinking through who the audience was, will help us approach the first chapter of Genesis on its own terms. In this episode, Will Barlow labors to put Genesis in its own context. He reminds us of what Israel had just been through in Egypt as well as other creation accounts from the ancient Near East. His goal is simply to contextualize Genesis within it's own time and place in order to help us avoid anachronism.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6BJBuavTnE&feature=emb_imp_woyt

See below for notes.

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—— Notes ——

What is our assumption about the Bible?

Background to Genesis

How does this affect our reading of Genesis?

What was going on:

Exodus 1:8-10   Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land."

Exodus 3:1-2   Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Exodus 3:3-4   And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the b

Today we're starting a new class called Scripture & Science. As a college student, studying engineering, I remember a particular day at the school library when I had the thought: "Well, I guess I'm going to have to look into scientific objections to the bible." I had been raised a Christian and believed the bible was God-inspired and infallible. However, I was now taking lots of science and engineering courses and it seemed like all my professors were atheists. (I learned later that the smartest physics professor was actually a devout Christian.)

I was faced with a dilemma. Do I go with scripture or science? I began an investigation, purchasing and devouring several apologetics books designed to undercut evolution and the old age of the earth. I found the arguments convincing and moved on. That worked out fine for me, but plenty of others came to the opposite conclusion, choosing science over scripture.

This is a crisis young college students face over and over in the West. They ask themselves, "Do I go with God and the bible or science and reason?" If this is your situation or if you know someone who is wrestling with questions like these, this class is for you!

Our teacher is Will Barlow who double majored in Physics and Math at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN before going on to do graduate work. Later he pursued biblical studies and is now going into ministry full-time. His aim in this class is to survey the most common ways Christians have worked scripture and science together. His non-dogmatic approach will inform you so you can make up your own mind about what is best.

In today's episode, Barlow explains the goals for this class and introduces a few belief systems and his general approach. Instead of seeing scripture and science as enemies locked in a battle, he thinks we should learn from both the book of the bible and the book of nature.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WwypAP39Hw&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=1&t=369s

See below for notes.

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About Will Barlow:Interested in faith/science discourse since childhoodBachelor’s degree in Physics/MathematicsMaster’s degree in Secondary Education (S

Have you heard of oneness theology? Also called "Jesus only," this is the idea that Jesus is all there is. Jesus is the Father; Jesus is the Holy Spirit. Jesus has manifested himself in many ways over the years, but there is only one individual or self who is God. Although not exclusive to the Pentecostal movement, most oneness believers belong to charismatic (or apostolic) groups today. This is a classic message given by Pastor J. Dan Gill in the early 2000s. I remember sitting there in the audience listening to him share about his community's journey of faith and thinking to myself, "Wow, he's my people!" Whether you currently hold oneness theology or not, take a listen to Brother Gill's testimony and see you what you think.

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Why is Christianity awesome? Answering this question is a good exercise for us. So often we hear about why Christianity is terrible, especially in the eyes of the world. Many of these critiques are important and we should be humble enough to listen to problems, both real and perceived. However, my goal today is to focus on the positive. I'd like to spend some time just thinking about the goodness of our faith. I hope you will find it encouraging.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Christianity makes sense of reality1. explains why anything exists2. explains why there is a beginning3. explains why creation is so good and beautiful4. explains why our world is so bad and ugly5. explains why laws of nature exist6. explains our desire for inclusiveness and fairness

Christianity makes you a better person1. salvation from sin2. durable value3. ethical boundaries, duties, motives4. living hope

Christianity makes society better1. salvation from sin2. durable value3. ethical boundaries, duties, motives4. living hope5. robust identity

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