In an expanding universe one could hypothetically conceive of a moment in the past where all matter and energy was concentrated in a single high density state. That is, the universe had an origin in time.
In the 1950s this idea got the believers in the big bang theory (Gamov, Dicke, Ryle) the label “evangelicals” (they were largely from the US) even though they were atheists.
This was in contrast to the believers in the steady state theory (Hoyle, Bondi, Gold), also atheists, but believed the universe had no beginning and no end. Sir Fred Hoyle, was such a believer, and though fiercely opposing it, coined the name “big bang” in derision. Unfortunately the name stuck.
Nowadays I have heard it said that more than half of all US evangelical Christians do not believe in the 6-day Genesis creation account, here illustrated by Fig. 1 above. So what do they believe and why?
The majority believe in the big bang origin of the universe from a singularity about 14 billion years ago, followed by cosmic evolution of galaxies, stars and planets and then eventually a Hadean Earth, which cooled, and from the side of some volcano a warm pool of chemicals hatched out life from the pond scum. Fig. 2.
Hot plasma of the protoplanetary system cooled and formed the Earth in an hellish condition. Fig. 3. But that allegedly cooled and formed the planet we know today. This is the solar system formation part of the big bang belief system.
Such beliefs on the origin of the universe — big bang or Genesis creation — is not a theist / atheist division. It is a worldview issue.
There are Christians on both sides of this debate. There are compromisers on the Genesis creation account from the word of God. The compromises they hold to vary from a complete rejection of any history in the first 11 chapters of Genesis to a mixture of history and allegory.
I break them down into two of the main “evangelical Christian” groups by their doctrine:
Progressive creation: Dr Hugh Ross and his “Reason to Believe” ministry has adopted a worldview very very close to the secular big bang timeline. In fact it is indistinguishably close.
Hugh Ross teaches that the 6 days of creation were indeterminately long periods of time, even billions of years, and pliable enough to fit with the secular big bang timeline. But the difference he claims is that biological evolution did not occur. God supernaturally created new species over 4 billion years on Earth. As one species went extinct He created another. This is to match the alleged evolutionary timeline from the fossil record. It just looks like one evolved into another.
Theistic evolution: Dr William Lane Craig and his “Reasonable Faith” ministry has adopted a worldview that is identical to the secular big bang timeline in everyway. The only difference is that he says God used the big bang, cosmic evolution, the origin of first life from pond scum and Darwinian evolution over 4 billion years since the Hadean Earth.
William Lane Craig uses the big bang origin in time as an apologetic for the Genesis account. He argues the famous Kalam cosmological argument for God’s existence — the first cause argument. It is flawed because of his implicit acceptance of the big bang being the reality for the origin of the universe. What if there was no big bang?
Many other mainstream church denominations, non-evangelicals, accept all of the secular big bang worldview without question. It is a foundation built on sand, because the secular atheistic worldview is to eliminate that origin in time. It is very uncomfortable for them. So what do people like Ross and Craig do when the prevailing worldview becomes the eternal (no beginning) big bang universe?
Therefore if now the majority of “evangelicals” no longer believe in the historicity of the Genesis account are they still evangelicals? Good question!
The primary and secondary definition of the word “evangelical” according to the online dictionary.com are:
- pertaining to or in keeping with the gospel and its teachings.
- belonging to or designating the Christian churches that emphasize the teachings and authority of the Scriptures, especially of the New Testament, in opposition to the institutional authority of the church itself.
Without a straightforward historical reading of the Genesis account the gospel message is lost. If there is no history there and Adam and Eve are fictious characters, what is original sin, and why did Jesus need to redeem us from that? Was Jesus also a metaphor? A metaphor cannot die for your sins.
Read my Related posts listed below! Reject the fairy tales of big bang pagan mythology!
Related Reading
- The Big Bang is Pagan Philosophy
- The Big Bang is Not a Reason to Believe!
- Saved by a False Gospel?
- The Big Bang Theory vs the Big God Theory
- Cosmic Storytelling
- An Eternal Big Bang Universe
- An Eternal Quantum Potential or an Eternal Creator God
- Cosmic Mythology: Exposing the Big Bang as Philosophy Not Science
- Hell on Earth?
- Debunking LUCA: Science or Speculation?
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