Chapter 1

Where did it all

come from?

Science and the Bible

• Our goal is not to study the book of Genesis, but to discuss the theories of science as to how the world and life began.

• However, because the first eleven chapters of Genesis discuss the three most influential scientific events in human history, we will refer to the book of Genesis many times.

• Genesis 1:1-2:4 – The beginning of the cosmos

• Genesis 2:4-25 – The beginning of life

• Genesis 6:1-8:22 – The flood

Three Most Influential Scientific Events in Human History As Recorded in the Bible

All of these events are

found in the book of

GENESIS!

Importance• Genesis is important because it lays the

foundation for everything else.

• If Genesis is not true, there is no reason to believe anything else the Bible says.

• If we can believe that Genesis is true, there is no reason to doubt anything else

the Bible says.

A Summary of Genesis 1:1 – 2:4• Genesis 1:1 - God, through a

unique act, created all that is within our physical existence.

• Genesis 1:2-2:4 - God, through a series of unique acts, added elements to the earth that He had created.

• All of these works of God were completed within six solar days.

the evening and the morning were the first day…second day…etc.

• On the sixth day, God finished creation.

Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Genesis 11 In the beginning God created the heaven

and the earth.

The Bible makes a clear statement about how the cosmos began. The statement is either true or false. Many of the voices in science today says it is false. They have their own ideas as to how the world and life came into existence.

Some within the scientific community have been whittling at the Bible’s credibility for over a century. So much so that a majority of today’s population no longer believes the Bible is true.

It is time for Christians to learn what is true about the Bible and falsely taught in science. That is the goal of this study.

How did the world come to be?

Some Bible doubters formally believed the cosmos was eternal. From time to time, some

want to pretend that theory is still possible.

However, science has now proved that theory as impossible.

The following two examples are given by scientists as proof the

cosmos had a beginning:

1. The expanding universe

2. The amount of light in the night sky

The following article was located on the University of Michigan’s website.

While we would not agree with everything it says, note what is highlighted.

1. The expanding universeAbout 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event, all of the matter and energy of space was contained at one point.The origin of the Big Bang theory can be credited to Edwin Hubble. Hubble made the observation that the universe is continuously expanding. He discovered that a galaxy’s velocity is proportional to its distance. Galaxies that are twice as far from us move twice as fast. Another consequence is that the universe is expanding in every direction. This observation means that it has taken every galaxy the same amount of time to move from a common starting position to its current position.http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/bigbang.htm

Hubble Telescope

The fact that the universe is expanding has proven that the universe had a beginning.•"The conclusion of this lecture is that the universe has not existed forever. Rather, the universe, and time itself, had a beginning in the Big Bang, about 15 billion years ago." Stephen Hawking The Beginning of Time

A majority of the scientific community considers the expanding universe and the Big Bang to be synonymous. I do not accept an expanding universe as proof of the Big Bang theory, but I do accept the fact that the universe is expanding.

•"Many once believed that the universe had no beginning or end and was truly infinite. Through the inception of the Big Bang theory, however, no longer could the universe be considered infinite. The universe was forced to take on the properties of a finite phenomenon, possessing a history and a beginning." Chris LaRocco and Blair Rothstein, University of Michigan •"The present location and velocities of galaxies are a result of a primordial blast known as the BIG BANG. It marked: THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE! THE BEGINNING OF TIME!" Terry Herter, Cornell University •"The universe cannot be infinitely large or infinitely old (it evolves in time)." Nilakshi Veerabathina, Georgia State University•"The universe had a beginning. There was once nothing and now there is something." Janna Levin, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/beginning.html#r0xCkL9VypcK

2. The amount of light in the night sky.

Many scientists had originally thought that the universe might be infinite and eternal. However, there was a major problem with the theory. If the universe were infinite, the amount of light falling on the earth would also be infinite (assuming an approximately uniform density of galaxies throughout the universe.)

Scientist have proven that if the universe were infinite, expanding, and filled with stars like our solar system, the stars would produce so much light that we would have

no night sky.

It is important to understand…

Modern-day scientists no longer believe the cosmos is eternal. That means it must have had a beginning, a point in the past when it started.

That evidence strongly supports the Bible!

The important question then is…

How did the cosmos come to be?There are only two possibilities.

1. It was made

A. UFOs, aliens – But, then, who made them?

B. In the end, Someone who is eternal and all powerful had to create the cosmos.

C. Genesis 1 says that “someone” was God.

D. This is a reasonable and sound conclusion.

- but then we must ask “By whom?”

Logic and evidence will always lead you

to a Creator!

I live in a house…• The house has not always

been there.• There was a time when it did

not exist and then it did.• It is both reasonable and

logical to suppose that someone built it.

• To suppose anything else would be unreasonable and illogical.

• I live in a cosmos.• The cosmos is far more intricate and detailed than a

house!• It is both reasonable and logical to suppose that

someone built it.

An example of how the logic ofscience will lead to God

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that, left alone, any system will decay. Yet our earth contains life-forms that are highly organized and complex, far from the “formless and empty” state this universal law of nature predicts.

In Russia Dr. Boris P. Dotsenko, then head of the nuclear physics department in the Institute of Physics in Kiev, began to think seriously about the nature of the universe.

“It suddenly dawned on me,” he wrote later, “that there must be a very powerful organizing force counteracting the disorganizing tendency within nature, keeping the universe controlled and in order. This force could not be material; otherwise it too would become disordered. I concluded that this power must be both omnipotent and omniscient. There must be a God—one God—controlling everything” (Larry Richards, It Couldn’t Just Happen [Fort Worth: Sweet, 1989], p. 17).

Later, in Canada for further studies, Dr. Dotsenko picked up a Bible. There he met the God he had decided must exist, and became a Christian.

(THE 365–DAY DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY, By Lawrence O. Richards, VICTOR BOOKS, Libronix Digital Library System, Genesis)

However, the first possibility cannot be taught in public schools.

State creationism laws were passed during the 1980's in Arkansas and Louisiana, to force the teaching of creationism in place of evolution. In a 1987 case, Edwards v. Aquillard, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that these laws were unconstitutional because they violated the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment of the U.S. constitution. Creation science was seen to be a expression of religious belief.Creation science was judged not to be a true science because it could never be falsified -- i.e., it was firmly held as a religious belief by its adherents so that no amount of contradictory physical evidence could change minds.

(http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_school.htm)

That rule should also be applied to the other theories of origin and

evolution.

Those who adhere to them will not change their minds no matter how much contradictory physical

evidence is presented against them.

How did the world come to be?

There are only two possibilities:

1. It was made or…

2. It just happened.

SO WHAT IS LEFT?

If you believe that the world just happened, you must also believe…

1. That nothing can produce something.There was a time when there was absolutely

nothing. Then, something appeared. Regardless of whether that something was a

water droplet, a chunk of iron, a gaseous vapor, or a 747 Boeing jet, without a Creator, nothing

had to produce something.

Does that seem logical to you???

You must also believe…

2. That something can produce everything.At some point, the thing that nothing produced,

began to groan and moan, until it turned into everything else. If that something was a water vapor, it became nickel, and ore, and sulfate. If that something was a gaseous vapor, it had to

become silver and quartz. Whatever the something was that was first formed, it had to

become everything.

Does that seem logical to you???

And you must believe…

3. That a “thing” can come to life.No matter what the something was that turned into everything, the biggest hurdle of all is that

a “thing” could come to life. Yet, we know there was a time when there was nothing and life is

here now. Somehow, something had to become a living thing.

Does that seem logical to you???

The reality is…

• In an attempt to hold to an impossible theory, many scientists have abandoned both science and logic.

• No other venue of science is so given over to unprovable and contradictory reasoning.

• Yet, it is those who believe in a Creator that are mocked and called “RIGHT WINGED.”

In the minds of some of the “experts” who hold sway over the Texas public school textbooks, Joe McCarthy was an American hero, white men are responsible for civil rights, and “evolution is hooey.” Over the past 15 years, Washington Monthly reports that an activist bloc has methodically taken over the Texas State Board of Education, bent on injecting hard-right ideology into the state’s textbooks. According to these activists, the Founding Fathers never wanted a separation between church and state, and they’re doing their best to break down the wall by changing the schoolbooks in Texas.The politicized textbooks would be a problem just inside Texas, but economic factors have given the state a huge influence over textbooks throughout the country. Unlike many other states, Texas makes the decisions on a state level on what books local school districts can buy. So when the state makes a decision on what books to purchase for its 4.7 million high schoolers, publishers take notice. The only bigger market for textbooks in the country is California, a state whose budget is in such disarray, it announced that it won’t be buying new books until 2014. In the meantime, an anonymous industry executive told Washington Monthly, “publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list,” even if that means caving in to right-wing activists.In what’s already been a fearsome battle, the Texas State Board of Education is in the midst of its once-each-decade meeting to decide which books are purchased throughout the state. The Washington Monthly meticulously documented how conservative activists took over the meetings, forcing out moderates, accusing them of being pawns of the “radical homosexual lobby” and similar claims. With meetings taking place until March, the conservative activists are in prime position to push textbooks in Texas and throughout the country to the right. Don McLeroy, a particularly vocal activist on the state’s school board and a staunch advocate of teaching creationism in schools, told Washington Monthly, “Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have.”

http://www.utne.com/Politics/Right-Wing-Activists-Rewrite-US-Textbooks-6418.aspx

Right-Wing Activists Rewrite U.S. Textbooks January 15, 2010

 by Bennett Gordon

Texas school board believes in creation and so they are

considered strange.

So how does this “normal, rational” scientific element explain how the cosmos began?

To explain the beginning of the cosmos, scientists have hypothesized the Big Bang

Theory.

National Geographic said, “The most popular theory of our universe's origin centers on a cosmic cataclysm unmatched in all of history—the big bang.”

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/origins-universe-article.html

The following summary information came from:

http://www.big-bang-theory.com/

All About Science – An overview of the Big Bang Theory

This is a Christian’s view of the Big Bang Theory.

Big Bang Theory - The Premisehttp://www.big-bang-theory.com/

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at

the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in

astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to

that moment there was nothing; during and after that

moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and

after that moment.

According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as a "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago.

What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are

thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is

thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly

boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why

did it appear? We don't know.

After its initial appearance, it apparently inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, going from very,

very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this day and we are inside of it:

incredible creatures living on a unique planet, circling a beautiful star clustered together with several hundred billion other stars in a galaxy

soaring through the cosmos, all of which is inside of an expanding universe that began as an

infinitesimal singularity which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown. This is the Big Bang

theory.

The Big Bang Theory

• DOESN’T ANSWER THE QUESTIONS!Where did everything come from?

We don’t know.Why did it appear? We don’t know.

• IT CREATES MORE QUESTIONS!We are living in a “singularity.”

What is that? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure.

Stephen Hawking on Religion: 'Science Will Win' June 7, 2010

“Celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking knows more about the universe than almost any other person ever to walk the planet, but some answers still escape even him.

“When asked by ABC News' Diane Sawyer about the biggest mystery he'd like solved, he said, ‘I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing.’”

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Technology/stephen-hawking-religion-science-win/story?id=10830164

If Big Bang theory is the best effort of the scientific community to

explain the origins of the universe…

…then they have no explanation at all!

The Big Bang Theory

Is not the only theory scientists have for how things appeared. It is just the most popular.

However, all of their theories answer the question of how nothing produced

something the same way.

They don’t because they can’t, and they never will.

So the questions to ask one who doubts creation is?

Where did everything come from?

Why did it appear?

Then insist on a logical, rational answer!

When they can’t giveyou one, tell them…

The Bible says that God created the cosmos.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God

created the heaven and the earth.

Since God created things developed and functioning, there is no need for a Big Bang.

This means the cosmos is not eternal, but had a moment of

beginning.

What’s more…

God made the cosmos for the

purpose of creating a home for

mankind, a people made to worship and to

serve Him.

The logical fashion and order of the cosmos proves an intelligent Designer. In this way, God intended His creation to direct mankind

to Him.

Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

It takes more faith to believe the cosmos came into existence

without a Creator than with one.

Remember,