The Big Man, the Big Bang, and the Big Question

Space... is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.

- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So where did it all come from?

For the sake of simplicity of the discussion, let's consider two possibilities for the origin of everything:

1. the Biblical account found in Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
2. the Big Bang theory and all that it entails, as it is the most widespread, standard, and uniformly accepted scientific model.

OK, so which is right?

Or are both of them right?

Does the truth of one define the falsity of the other?

Notice that my reference to the Biblical account is limited to Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Is that verse any less true if God used the Big Bang to do it?

I've had this conversation before, and I've had it on three different levels, and I'm pretty sure you fall into one of the following three categories.

Category 1: The Big Bang theory disproves the Biblical account because...

I didn't finish that header because I don't really know what to put there. I know that there are a lot of people out there who consider the Big Bang theory to be sufficient evidence against the presence of a Creator, but the problem is that there are some pretty substantial leaps in reasoning being taken here. Just because science has developed a theory - a pretty plausible one, based on the evidence that we have at this point - that explains the mechanics of the creation of the universe, does that mean that God didn't create it?

This line of thinking, as logically shaky as it may be, is unfortunately very prevalent in the world today. There are plenty of people whose beliefs hinge upon the idea that because we know how the universe was created, there is therefore no Creator.

This would be similar to finding a 1908 Model T in the middle of a factory in Dearborn, Michigan, along with filmed footage of the assembly line production of said Model T...

...and then using this as evidence to denounce the existence of Henry Ford.

Category 2: The Biblical account disproves the Big Bang theory because that's not how the Bible says it happened.

The objection here is that the idea of the Big Bang goes against the rest of the Genesis creation account found in Genesis 1:2-3:24, up to the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

This is an understandable objection at first, as it stems from a desire to hold the Bible up as an accurate and reliable source of truth, but it falls apart under closer scrutiny.

Consider some scripture with me.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

- Psalm 19:1-4

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

- II Timothy 3:16-17

If Psalm 19 is true, which I believe it is, we should be able to learn about the glory of God, the incredible power of God, the awe-inspiring works of God, through our study of the universe, right?

Well... The study of the universe, even on a very, very, very elementary level without having to get into any crazy deep science, tells us that the universe is several billions of years old, standing in stark opposition to the roughly 6,000 years projected by Ussher's chronology, the model accepted by "Young Earth" creationists who take the Genesis account a good bit more literally than I do.

But if II Timothy 3:16-17 is true, which I believe it is, doesn't that mean that I'm contradicting myself by not believing in the literal 6 day creation of the earth as presented in Genesis?

Well... I certainly don't think so!

And that brings me to...

Category 3: What if the Big Bang is actually how God created everything?

I don't want to go so far as to say that I don't believe that there was an actual, literal, temporal Garden of Eden, or that there weren't actually an Adam and Eve...

But I will go ahead and say I don't think it really matters, because that's not the point of the story anyway.

Paul tells Timothy that Scripture is useful for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" - which is exactly what I believe the Genesis account is to be used for.

When I read Genesis, I'm not reading it to understand how God created everything, I'm reading it to understand why He created everything the way He did and what it means for the way I'm supposed to behave. That's a very important distinction that I think we've slipped away from understanding.

Do I believe that God created the universe? Entirely! Wholly! Completely! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

But do I believe that the point of the Genesis account is to tell us the names of the first four people in the world? No. Goodness no. Merciful heavens, no. Not at all.

What good would that knowledge do me in my pursuit of holiness? What benefit comes from my knowing that the Garden was located between the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon and Gihon rivers? Especially since we only know where the Tigris and Euphrates are!

But you know, there's a lot I can learn from the story of temptation, rebellion, holiness, punishment...

And I believe that's the part that matters.

Do I believe the Genesis account is true? Yes, I do. Just like I believe the parable of the Good Samaritan is true.

Do I believe that there actually was a man lying in a ditch, and that an actual priest and Levite passed him by, and that an actual Samaritan came and took care of him, transcending issues of racial prejudice and extending God's Love to a fellow human being?

Well... No. I think it was just a story that Jesus told to illustrate the point of Loving our neighbors by showing us that Love crosses all boundaries.

But if it's "just a story that Jesus told," does that mean it's not true?

What if the first 5 chapters of Genesis are "just a story"? Does that mean it's not true?

Does that mean God didn't create the universe and everything in it?

Or does it maybe mean that there's a bigger truth behind it all?

Please, don't think for a second that I'm trying to dismiss the credibility of the Bible. I'm not at all trying to do anything close to that.

What I'm trying to say is that maybe we're in one of those "forest vs. trees" situations.

Maybe the point isn't that God created the earth in 144 hours and then took a day off. Maybe the point is that God created the earth and instilled it with order so that we could learn to submit to and worship Him.

And maybe the point isn't that Jesus died for our sins so we can be forgiven and then we can be good people and then we can take part in the Kingdom of Heaven forever. Maybe the point is that Jesus died for the world's sin so the world can be forgiven and then the world can be good people and then the world can take part in the Kingdom of Heaven forever.

Maybe the point isn't that we are the people God called to leave this place because it's so terrible. Maybe the point is that we are the people God called to love this place so it will be better tomorrow than it was today.

I believe that Genesis 1:1 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. If the listener believes that verse to be true, then everything else falls into place. An understanding of morality as defined by the Creator of the Universe makes sense because, after all, He created the Universe. I think that gives Him license to tell us how to behave.

I've heard people in Category 1 say that the Big Bang disproves the existence of God solely based upon the fact that the Big Bang doesn't fit the 6 day creation account.

I've heard people in Category 2 say that God planted false evidence in the fossil record and the background radiation of the universe to confuse the scientists into thinking the earth is older than the Bible says it is so we'd have to choose between trusting God or trusting science.

And what I don't understand is how either of those goes with or against the simple truth that all we are asked to do... the only thing that matters... the whole point of God telling us the story in the first place... is to Love God and Love Others.

At least, that's the way I see it.