Origins of the Universe
Big Bang Theory
Cosmological Argument
GENESIS 1CREATION STORY
• God created in 6 days
• Created ex nihilo (from nothing)
• Light first, simple then more complex animals
• Humans were final creation and special – made in God’s image
• Max 2 marks for simple description of each day’s activity
How did the Universe Begin?
Is God the First Cause?
Did God cause the Big Bang?
Different Interpretations of the origins of the universe
CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Literal/Creationist• God created the universe in 6 days• God has power to create in 6 days• There was no Big Bang!• Big Bang theory is not mentioned in the Bible,
and it denies God as creator• Genesis 1&2 is historical fact• Genesis is a direct revelation from God and so
true• The Big Bang theory is full of problems and
cannot be proved to be true• The universe is only 10,000 years old
Liberal• Genesis 1&2 is a symbolic account – gives us truths
about the purpose and meaning of life and were never meant to be true in a historical way
• Big Bang theory does not remove need for God – could be his means of creating the universe
• The Bible contains certain truths. God created ‘ex nihilo’, and the Big Bang supports this idea
• The universe could not be made in 6 x24 hour days – and the creationists can’t even agree about this!
• The First Cause theory may show the need for God, but not necessarily a Christian idea of God
• The universe needs a First Cause. The Big Bang shows the universe had a beginning. God as First Cause and Big Bang theory can work together.
• Science and religion can work together – science answers ‘how?’ and religion answers ‘why?’
Scientific Materialist
• The universe just created itself – doesn’t need a ‘creator’ or ‘First Cause’
• Cannot say that everything needs a cause and then say God does not need a cause. It’s illogical!
• Quantum Physics shows that something can come out of nothing
• There is no need for God, science has all the answers • The universe came out of a chance arrangement of
matter and energy• The universe is 12-15 billion years old and the earth
itself is very old • Our minds are open to new information, unlike some
Christians!
First Cause or Cosmological Argument of Thomas Aquinas
The necessary first cause is God.
Everything that exists has a cause. Nothing has to exist.
The chain of causes goes right back to the beginning of time.
Time began at the beginning of the universe.
There must have been a first cause of the universe.
The first cause’s existence must be necessary for things to
begin whereas everything else does not need to exist for
things to begin
The Three Ideas Behind Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument
Motion/Prime Mover
Everything in the world moves and/or changes.
Anything that moves and/or changes needs
something to move and/or change it.
Things only move or change if an external force is applied to it.
There had to be a something which did the
moving first
That something is the Prime Mover.
The Prime Mover is God.
The Uncaused Cause is God.
Causation/1st Cause
Nothing could be the cause of itself because if something
caused itself it must have existed before it was caused
to make itself.
You cannot go back into an infinite line of the cause of the cause of the cause and so on
Something had to start everything off.
Something that did not have a cause.
Something that was an uncaused cause.
Contingency/Necessary Being
Everything is born and everything
diesAt one point
nothing existed in the universe,
not even the universe.
Everything depends on
something else for its existence
Whatever created the universe must be
separate from it
It is needed or necessary for
anything to exist at all
The Necessary Being is God
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Cosmological ArgumentStrengths/Accept Weaknesses/Reject
The universe exists andneeds an explanation
Everything is contingent
Everything moves and changes
Can be observed
It is simple
Logical- things cannot make themselves exist
Big Bang Theory supports it
Does not prove the existenceof the Christian God – could have
been a team of gods
Why can’t there be an infiniteregression of causes
How can we talk about anythingthat is outside our experience?
It’s as easy to say that the universeis eternal as God is eternal
Just because everything we seeHas a cause it doesn’t mean tosay that everything has a cause
How can we talk about how universes were made since none of us have
experienced it?
The History of Cosmology
200 BCE
Earth at the centre
c1500
Ptolemy
Copernicus
Sun at the centre
c1550
Digges
Space is infinite
c1575
Kepler
Universe is changing
c1600
Galileo
Universe not perfect
c1650
Newton
Mechanical
universe
Ancientuniverse
Darwin
c1850
c1880
Heisenberg
Randomuniverse
Big BangTheory
Lemaitre
Hubble
c1925
Red shiftof galaxies
c1930
Microwaveradiation
Penzias
c1970
c1980
Guth
Somethingfrom
nothing
c1990
COBE
Heatdetected
c2000
NASA
Age Confirmed13.7 billion
years
2007
Most
Acceptance of Big Bang
15,000 billion years ago. Dense concentration of matter and energy.
BIG BANG!!!!!
Matter and Energy moved outwards at great speeds.
Stars and Galaxies are formed.
In our galaxy (The Milky Way), a sun surrounded by 9 planets is formed.
The planet Earth can support life.
Life begins in the sea.
BIG BANG!
•12-15 billion years ago•Universe had a point of beginning – the space-time singularity. •Massive explosion -No specific cause•‘Stuff’ (matter) emerged from explosion – particles developed into electrons, protons, neutrons and became the main atoms and molecules of the universe.
•Under the force of gravity, clouds of gas formed and the elements formed eg hydrogen, helium•Particles expanded and cooled, clumped together (under force of gravity), and formed galaxies and suns.•Solar systems, including our own formed around 10.5 billion years ago
Evidence?
Galaxies are moving away from each other– universe is expanding.
•‘Red shift’ confirms this: light coming from galaxies changes colour as it moves away (the faster the galaxies travel the light gets redder!)
•Cosmic microwave radiation background -radiation from original explosion can still be detected (CMB)
•Hydrogen and helium proportions lend weight to the theory
Big Bang Evidence
Redshift ofgalaxies
Backgroundradiation
Primordialelements
Spread ofgalaxies
Moving away fromeach other as if
from an explosion
Galaxies appear toage- universe had
a beginning
Heat from explosionhas been detected
everywhere
Hydrogen+heliumamounts today
suggest explosion
Big Bang Strengths
Physical evidence
supports it
Independently checked
by scientists
Universe is not infinite,everything
is in decay
Neutral- does not set out to support
belief system
Big Bang Weaknesses: physical evidence
The horizon problem
Temperatures atopposite ends of theuniverse should be
different but they arethe same
The flatnessproblem
Universe is curved.Big Bang would notproduce a curvedUniverse but it is
curved
Magnetic monopole
Should produceparticles but none
can be detected which means that this
evidence is missing
AgeTests
Estimates of theage of the universevary so much thatthey cannot really
be trusted
e.g. cmb, primordialelements
e.g. alwaysbeing
reviewed
e.g. everythinggets old and
dies
e.g. not tryingto prove or
Disprove God
Big Bang Weaknesses: other considerations
Add ons Paradigm Assumptions
Add to the theoryto make it work
Currently acceptedapproach
Assumptions aboutnatural laws
Making it up asthey go along
Other approachesnot accepted
Assumptions could be wrong
weaknesses not widely accepted in the scientific community
Cosmological Argument
The Universe Exists
Nothing can cause itself to exist
Everything is caused by something other
than itself
The universe was causedby the Big Bang
What caused the Big Bang?
Cannot have aninfinite series of
causes
Cannot have caused itself
Caused by something
external to it
Something thatis outside the
universe
Something thathas caused itself
That somethingis GOD
The Big Bang Challenges Christian Beliefs
A challenge because:
It says the universe is here by chance
It says that God did not create the universe
It says that natural processes created the universe
It says the Bible version of creation is not true
It says that the Earth is not at the centre of the universe
The Big Bang is how it all started.
LiteralistCreationist
Evidence for Big Bang is conflicting
Science has duped people into
accepting the Big Bang as true
Big Bang is only a theory
The Bible tells exactly how it all began.
Liberal/Integrationist
Evidence points to a Big Bang
Creationists evidence is not
reliable
Over-emphasis on authority of the
Bible in the face of scientific fact
Bible is religious not scientific
Big Bang is far more profound than Bible
Scientific Materialist
Evidence points to there being a
beginning.
Origin can be explained naturally
Science has scope to change its view- religious people do
not.
No Big Bang mentioned in Bible,
therefore wrong.
Challenges to the Bible
Three Broad Approaches to the Bibleby Christians
Literal
100% true
Historyand science
No errors
Given by God
Cannotquestion
Dictated by God
Liberal
Mainlymyth
Must question
Many authors
Work ofMan
Notscientific
Many errors
Are the views of Science & Religion compatible?
Interpretation1Creationists
REJECT Science
Interpretation2Science
REJECTSReligion
Interpretation3Christian Belief
ANDScientific Theory are compatible