Origins of the Universe Big Bang Theory Cosmological

Origins of the Universe Big Bang Theory Cosmological Argument

GENESIS 1 CREATION 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 x 24 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 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 necessary first cause is God. 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. Causation/1 st 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 and so on Something had to start everything off. Something that did not have a cause. Something that was an uncaused cause. The Uncaused Cause is God. Contingency/ Necessary Being Everything is born and everything dies At 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 Argument Strengths/Accept The universe exists and needs an explanation Can be observed Weaknesses/Reject Does not prove the existence of the Christian God – could have been a team of gods Why can’t there be an infinite regression of causes Everything is contingent Everything moves and changes It is simple Logical- things cannot make themselves exist Big Bang Theory supports it How can we talk about anything that is outside our experience? It’s as easy to say that the universe is eternal as God is eternal Just because everything we see Has a cause it doesn’t mean to say 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 Earth at the Space is centre infinite Ptolemy Digges c 1500 200 BCE Universe not perfect Ancient universe Big Bang Theory Microwave radiation Darwin Lemaitre Penzias Galileo c 1575 c 1550 c 1600 Copernicus Kepler Sun at the Universe is centre changing c 1880 c 1850 Newton Mechanical universe c 1930 c 1925 Heisenberg Random universe Heat detected COBE c 1980 c 1970 Hubble Acceptance of Big Bang Most c 2000 c 1990 Guth Red shift Something of galaxies from nothing 2007 NASA Age Confirmed 13. 7 billion years

15, 000 billion years ago. Dense concentration of matter and energy. Matter and Energy moved outwards at great speeds. BIG BANG!!!!! 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 theory

Big Bang Evidence Redshift of galaxies Moving away from each other as if from an explosion Background radiation Primordial elements Spread of galaxies Heat from explosion Hydrogen+helium Galaxies appear to has been detected amounts today age- universe had everywhere suggest explosion a beginning

Big Bang Strengths Physical evidence supports it Independently checked by scientists Universe is not infinite, everything is in decay e. g. cmb, primordial elements e. g. always being reviewed e. g. everything gets old and dies Neutral- does not set out to support belief system e. g. not trying to prove or Disprove God Big Bang Weaknesses: physical evidence The horizon problem Temperatures at opposite ends of the universe should be different but they are the same The flatness problem Universe is curved. Big Bang would not produce a curved Universe but it is curved Magnetic monopole Should produce particles but none can be detected which means that this evidence is missing Age Tests Estimates of the age of the universe vary so much that they cannot really be trusted

Big Bang Weaknesses: other considerations Add ons Paradigm Assumptions Add to theory to make it work Currently accepted approach Assumptions about natural laws Making it up as they go along Other approaches not 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 caused by the Big Bang What caused the Big Bang? Cannot have an infinite series of causes That something is GOD Cannot have caused itself Something that has caused itself Caused by something external to it Something that is outside the universe

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. Literalist Creationist The Bible tells exactly how it all began. No Big Bang mentioned in Bible, therefore wrong. Evidence for Big Bang is conflicting Liberal/ Integrationist Evidence points to a Big Bang Creationists evidence is not reliable Bible is religious not scientific Science has duped people into accepting the Big Bang as true Over-emphasis on authority of the Bible in the face of scientific fact Big Bang is only a theory 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 viewreligious people do not.

Challenges to the Bible Three Broad Approaches to the Bible by Christians Mainly myth 100% true No errors Dictated by God Literal Given by God Many authors Many errors Liberal Cannot question Work of Man Must question History and science Not scientific

Are the views of Science & Religion compatible? Interpretation 1 Creationists REJECT Science Interpretation 2 Science REJECTS Religion Interpretation 3 Christian Belief AND Scientific Theory are compatible