The Creation Story
& the Big Bang Myth
by Nic Samojluk
In this article published by Spectrum, George P. Saxon, a retired geophysicist, makes some interesting comments about the theory of the Big Bang; which, according to most scientists, marked the beginning of the universe. The Bid Bang concept is deduced from the notion that galaxies are moving away from each other, and that those furthest away seem to be moving most rapidly. If this is the case, then there must have been a point in time, allegedly 15 billion years ago, when the entire mass of the physical universe was concentrated into a single point the size of a dot. Then it exploded, giving origin to everything.
If the universe had a beginning, then perhaps the Genesis record is supported by the recent scientific discoveries; nevertheless, we have the problem of timing. The sacred record suggest an extremely short chronology, while the Big Bang requires billions of years. How can we account for the discrepancy between God's Holy Book, and the book of Nature? Aren't we suppossed to find an greement between God's physical laws and God's inspired written Word? In order to solve this dilemma that has perplexed christian theologians and scientists who would like to harmonize the Holy Writ with the discoveries of science, the author takes the following steps.
With his expert knowledge of physics, Saxon makes the following observations from the Creation story: The author of Genesis tells us that In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth ...darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. "If there was a deep, then the law of gravity existed, otherwise the water would not have been contained" If water existed, then electromagnetism, the mechanism that holds the water molecules together, existed as well. The fact that matter existed indicates that the nuclear forces were already in existence at the time of creation, and that the creation of our planet earth might have been an event separate from the Big Bang.
Saxon makes several scientific observations about the flood story as well, including the suggestion that the flood might have been caused by the melting of the ice. He then asks the following question: "What is your interpretation of the flood story given in Genesis? Was the story as recorded a heavenly fax given to Moses? Or was the story an interpretation by an observer that was passed down by oral tradition for a thousand years before Moses recorded it?" I believe that Saxon should have asked the same question about the Creation story as well.
If Moses wrote Genesis, as tradition asserts, then why would he have failed to make reference to the source of all this information? If you read his numerous accounts of his dealings with the Israelites of old, you will discover that he faithfully explains that the laws he gave them came directly from instructions he received from the mouth of God when he was up on the mountain top for forty days and nights. He documents hundreds of instances where God communicated with him.
Nevertheless, in the case of the creation account there is not a single reference explaining how he learned what happened at the beginning. The conclusion I draw is that, since he was not a direct observer of what happened at the beginning, and he failed to associate this knowledge with a visionary experience or direct communication from above, then it must follow that he must have recorded in Genesis what he received from oral tradition going back to Adam and Eve.
I would like to conclude with a couple of observations regardingt the Big Bang theory. There are other experts who do not believe in an expanding universe. They argue that, if the red shift indicates that the universe is expanding, then we must be moving away from our sun; but we aren't. Besides, as we observe the most distant galaxies, we should detect them to be in closer proximity to each other, since what we are observing is what happened millions of years ago, because it took that much time for the light from those galaxies to reach us. The fact is that those distant galaxies seem to be spread out at similar distances from each other as those galaxies that are much closer to us.
Finally, I have to admit that I have a hard time believing that all the matter in the entire universe was concentrated in a single point the size of a dot. The day scientists manage to reduce a huge rock to the size of a dot in their laboratory, I may begin to believe that this theory is grounded on solid ground. In the meantime, I must admit that the Big Bang is another example of science fiction, a myth created to compete with the notion that In the beginnig, God created the heavens and the earth. Did he create our earth at the same time he created life on earth? Probably not. We need to harmonize God's Holy Book with his other book: Nature.
To access the "Rating the Creation and the Big Bang" story, click on the link listed below:
http://www.spectrummagazine.org/church/features/040804saxon1.html
Free Mailing List Club!
If you would like to be on our SDA Forum Mailing List, please take a minute to sign up today and join hundreds of others who have done already so. It is free, and you will have the choice of unsuscribing at will. We do not share, nor do we sell your E-mail to others.
