Three reasons why the "Big Bang" theory does not contradict a Creator God

This August, millions of people were inspired by the Perseid meteor shower. Each year, the earth passes through the trail of debris left by the Swift-Tuttle comet as it completes its 130 year orbit around our sun, providing a dazzling light spectacle for stargazers to enjoy. And each year, many debate whether the beauty of such events points to a Creator God – or merely to an arbitrary "Big Bang" billions of years ago.

Most scientists and astronomers dismiss the idea of a Creator God. They deny God and point to a "Big Bang" as the cause for the creation of all things, where all matter arbitrarily exploded into existence without the design or aid of a Divine Creator. They scoff at the notion that the Bible could "agree with science."

Notice three common assertions about the Big Bang model: first, that our universe is billions of years old. The second is that the universe is rapidly expanding. And third that our universe is composed of clusters of galaxies that are threaded together in unimaginably huge, three-dimensional patterns ("Largest Ever Survey of Very Distant Galaxy Clusters Complete," Science Daily, July 3, 2009).

Recorded in your Bible thousands of years ago – long before the availability of modern scientific instruments – are these very same characteristics! This is incredible when one remembers that just a few hundred years ago, people believed the world was flat and that the solar system revolved around the earth! Only God could have known and recorded such accurate descriptions of our universe thousands of years ago.

How old is the universe? Is it only 6000 years old, as many Bible students wrongly believe? The Bible tells us that before the universe was created, the Word and God the Father existed (John 1:1-3). Before time even began, They created the heavens and the earth (the word God is the plural 'elohiym in Genesis 1:1). Most scientists point to the universe being about 14 billion years old – and this does not contradict the Bible. God's Church has long taught that the Bible reveals a "time gap" between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Notice that Genesis 1:2 could be properly translated that the earth became (hayah) "without form and void." Simply, Genesis 1:2 occurs long after Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1.

What about our very "modern" notion that the universe is rapidly expanding? Isaiah 42:5 and Jeremiah 51:15 are just two passages where God revealed that He "stretched out" (natah) the universe like one casting out a net. Hundreds of years ago, people were burned at the stake for claiming that our solar system was anything but a fixed model where everything rotated around the earth. But thousands of years ago, God revealed in the Bible that the universe is rapidly expanding, as something "thrown" out, just like modern science is finally beginning to fully realize!

And finally, what of the even more recent realization that the universe is structured on an incredible scale with entire galaxies "threaded" together in unimaginably huge patterns? Verses such as Isaiah 40:22 speak of the "heavens" being like a tapestry or a curtain – something that is woven, in an immense pattern. So, a third time, ancient scripture and modern science agree.

True science and the Bible continue to agree! To the skeptic, it is a curiosity. To the atheist, it is a contention. But to those willing to be honest, ancient scripture and modern science not only reconcile, but are irrefutable declarations of God's glorious handiwork (Psalms 19:1; 97:6), proving His eternal power and Godhead (Romans 1:20).

Of additional interest may be the excellent booklet, The Real God: Proofs and Promises, and the powerful Tomorrow's World article,"Seven Proofs of God's Existence."