Big Bang Theory

• What does the Big Bang theory suggest?

  That everything we now see came from a single cosmic event 13.8 billion years ago
• what does the Big Bang theory remove?

  the need for a designer, God, through science
• how does the big bang theory remove the need for a designer, God, through science?

  it gives an alternative explanation for the origins of the universe, that’s supported by evidence
• for most Christian’s, what does the Big Bang theory suggest?

  that the universe had a beginning, and that this was how God created the universe
• The Big Bang theory provides evidence of the start of the universe but…?

  God is still the first cause - physics explains that all events are caused
• the Catholic Church fully accepts the Big Bang theory (God sets it off), how?

  because it doesn‘t contradict Genesis, because Genesis isn’t supposed to be taken as a literal account (metaphorical/spiritual truth)
• what does Pope Francis say?

  it ‘does not contradict‘ belief in God, as who is ‘not. magician with a magic wand’
• what does the ‘fine tuning’ argument, where God caused the Big Bang suggest?

  to produce intelligent life, the cosmological constants have to be in a correct configuration and only God could’ve fine-tuned the constants
• what is the multiverse theory?

  where there are lots of universes which all began with the Big Bang
• who rejects the multiverse theory view? why?

  Polkinghorne, as other universes are unobservable by science, but he agrees that God caused the Big Bang
• However, what does 6 day (young earth) creationism argue?

  The bible - entirely correct/accurate

  All humans - from Adam and Eve
• (Modern responses to BBT)what are creationist views?

  Those christians who reject scientific accounts of the universe
• (Modern responses to BBT)what is young earth creationism?

  a version of creationism which uses the genesis timeline to argue that creation occurred in 6 literal days
• (Modern responses to BBT)what do young earth creationists hold?

  that earth was created by God between 5700 and 10000 years ago, instead of what scientific evidence shows (universe - 13.8 billion, earth - 4.8 billion years ago)
• (Modern responses to BBT)young earth creationists believe all humans descended from…?

  Adam and Eve, there was no death before the ‘fall’ and species were created ‘as seen’ by God, and not produced through the evolution of species
• (Modern responses to BBT)what did Ken Ham believe?

  Noah’s flood (at 2348BC) ark carried enough species for biodiversity, therefore it actually happened
• (Modern responses to BBT)what is old earth creationism?

  a version of creationism according to which the age of the earth/universe is given correctly by science, but Darwinian evolution is abandoned/modified in favour of God’s unique creation of species
• what is ‘Yom’ (day in Hebrew) taken to mean?

  ‘creative epoch’, so God had bursts of creative activity, followed by long periods of equilibrium
• (Modern responses to BBT)what does old earth creationists reject?

  evolution, in favour of the view that God created species uniquely
• (Modern responses to BBT)new arrivals were created by…?

  god’s intervention as an ‘intelligent designer‘
• (Modern responses to BBT)old earth creationists dont accept Adam as the first man but…?

  they believe he was the first man created with a soul
• The ‘fine-tuning’ argument for the BBT has been taken by many to be a proof that God created the universe, what is this?

  posits that the universe's fundamental laws and constants are so precisely balanced, or "fine-tuned," that they are uniquely suited to support life, suggesting a deliberate design rather than a random occurrence
• however, what deflates the fine-tuning argument?

  multiverse theory - posits that our universe is not unique, but rather one of many, potentially infinite, universes, each with its own distinct laws of physics and constants, forming a larger "multiverse"
• who rejects multiverse arguments?

  Polkinghorne, because he considers it to be unscientific, because parallel universes cannot be observed
• However, against Polkinghorne, if multiverse theory is speculative because other universes are unobservable…?

  so are all ideas about an unobservable and transcendent God - moreover Polkinghorne cannot show that the creator is the god of Christianity