Origins of the Universe

Big Bang Theory

Cosmological Argument

http://kids4truth.com/Dyna/Creation/English.aspx

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