In the Big Bang Theory, the universe begins as chaos, with intense energy but no visible light because other particles get in the way so that light could not be seen. It was dark.
But then, the dark and the light were separated, so that the light of the newly created matter became visible. But there were no stars just yet. Hence, there was light but no stars — which come later — just as in Genesis 1.
Darkness was over the face of the deep
For the first 380,000 years after the Big Bang, however, the intense heat from the universe’s creation made it essentially too hot for light to shine. Atoms crashed together with enough force to break up into a dense, opaque plasma of protons, neutrons and electrons that scattered light like fog.
Let there be light!
About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, matter cooled enough for electrons to combine with nuclei to form neutral atoms. This phase is known as “recombination,” and the absorption of free electrons caused the universe to become transparent. The light that was unleashed at this time is detectable today in the form of radiation from the cosmic microwave background.
Roughly 400 million years after the Big Bang, the universe began to come out of its dark ages. This period in the universe’s evolution is called the age of re-ionization.
Separation of light from darkness
During this time, clumps of gas collapsed enough to form the very first stars and galaxies.
How could there be light and darkness before the Sun and other stars were made? Because the universe was filled with gaseous matter glowing so brightly that its radiation remains detectable today.
The early light waves filled the universe, when it was much smaller than today. As the universe expanded, its wave length was stretched (Psa 104:1-2!) so far that the light became microwaves.
After Einstein came up with the General Theory of Relativity, other scientists realized that his equations could be used to describe a Big Bang. They predicted that the light created in the Big Bang would be “visible” today in the form of microwaves, with a specific wavelength and with almost exact uniformity in all directions.
Decades later, the microwaves were found by radio telescopes, with the predicted wavelength and the predicted uniformity.
“Let there be light” describes the earliest moments of the Creation in both Genesis and the Big Bang, as well as providing the most powerful evidence of the Big Bang. And in my view, God planted that clue in Genesis 1 to amaze us.
Astronomer and Christian author Hugh Ross explains,
Many of the early church fathers and other Biblical scholars interpreted the creation days of Genesis 1 as long periods of time. The list of such proponents includes the Jewish historian Josephus (1st century); Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, apologist, and martyr (2nd century); Origen, who rebutted heathen attacks on Christian doctrine (3rd century); Basil (4th century); Augustine (5th century); and, later, Aquinas (13th century), to name a few.
The significance of this list lies not only in the prominence of these individuals as Biblical scholars, defenders of the faith, and pillars of the early church (except Josephus), but also in that their scriptural views cannot be said to have been shaped to accommodate secular opinion. Astronomical, paleontological, and geological evidences for the antiquity of the universe, of the earth, and of life did not come forth until the nineteenth century.
It’s hard to imagine a more impressive list of early Christian scholars.
Ross also explains,
The wording of Genesis 2:4 suggests a long time span for the creation week. This verse, a summary statement for the creation account, in the literal Hebrew reads, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day of their making.” Here, the word day refers to all six creation days (and the creation events prior to the first creative day).
Obviously, then, it refers to a period longer than 24 hours. More significantly, though, Hebrew lexicons verify that the word for generation (toledah) always refers to a long time period, never to anything as short as a week. Note that in Genesis 2:4 the plural form, generations, is used, indicating that even more time must have elapsed.
Conclusion
In short, it’s enough that there’s a theory that reasonably reconciles Genesis 1 with science. If there are three or four such theories, it doesn’t greatly matter which is right. It’s an interesting study, of course, but as a matter of showing that science and Genesis 1 do not contradict, we don’t have to pick among the various theories that work.
Personally, I see the Cosmic Temple and Poetic theories as working very well in concert with each other. The Day-Age theory may be true, but if it’s true, it has to be coupled with a poetic view of Genesis 1 to fit well. After all, only a poetic interpretation can explain having days, nights, mornings, and evenings before the Sun is created.
I think the poetry is the poetry of dedicating a Cosmic Temple. I like the resulting theology, and the theory meshes very well with the rest of the scriptures. But I also think there are echoes of the Big Bang and long ages of Creation in the text — because God is fully capable of inspiring Moses to write at more than one level at once.
I find it much more amazing that God did all that was done through His laws of nature.. truly amazing… than I would if He pretended to have done it but didn’t…
Price, do you mean like pretending, a god is a man?
Jay,
In keeping with the spirit of the article, will you address day six and how much took place that day. If I read my Bible correctly, land animals were all created on day six, including man and woman. Genesis 1:28 God blessed “them.” (Man and woman) Chapter two seems to be a recap with more of the details filled in. God forms the man, and breathes into him life, God places him in the garden(whatever that means-created one place and transported to another?) Then you have that seemingly important interruption and the information about the location of Eden and the rivers there, and the gold of Havilah(for what reason?).Then the narrator jumps back into the God and man story. God gives the man some commands about where to eat and where not to(always important, even today). Then God sees it’s not good for man to be alone and he decides to make him a help meet for him, but first, the man must name (all?)the beasts of the field(and the birds) so he can(one of the by-products) realize his incompleteness or aloneness? Only after all of the animal naming does God create the woman. Even if you believe God did a “poof” job with the creation of the man, the animals, and even the woman, It seems at least on the surface hard to imagine all of this and Adam’s naming of the animals fitting into a dawn to dusk situation. And I even left out the whole “bone of my bone” wedding ceremony before dark. It all seems a bit much, and this is coming from someone who has always accepted that God was giving the best language he could to describe a literal 6 days. If there were just say 1,000 birds and land animals(surely there were more with all the previous, but now extinct critters, like the dinosaurs) to name and he took just one minute of thought to name each animal, that would require over sixteen hours. If he gave each one a name in just 30 seconds after examining and contemplating them
and their unique features and their disposition it still would take eight hours.(certainly possible but when added with all the other things, it does make one wonder.
“In short, it’s enough that there’s a theory that reasonably reconciles Genesis 1 with science. If there are three or four such theories, it doesn’t greatly matter which is right. It’s an interesting study, of course, but as a matter of showing that science and Genesis 1 do not contradict, we don’t have to pick among the various theories that work.”
AMEN! The science of the ancient world was that the earth was formed from the bodies of gods slain in battle with other gods. The Scriptures say no to that. Instead, Yaweh created the heavens and earth from nothing but his own creative energy and Logos.
Now that science has come around to the Big Bang explanation of the beginning, and there are different theories about how the subsequent development of the earth and heavens correlate with the Genesis record, we don’t need to overly concern ourselves with which of these theories, if any, are the final word about HOW God did what none but he could have done.
If you laymond are referring to Jesus, I don’t think He was pretending
Lets not forget that about a third of those in heaven left to go with Lucifer the devil. Interesting that he was in the garden with Adam and Eve before God came looking.
So, about 33% didn’t think too much of paradise did they? And, they are still here, everyday seeing who they can destroy.
Always two sied to any coin, wars, battles between good and evil in paradise too.
PART 1
Monty asks,
The literalist argument is that Adam was endowed with superintelligence so he could name the animals very, very quickly.
http://www.icr.org/article/339/ (1991).
Notice the audacity. He doesn’t suggest that Adam might have been supersmart. Rather, he declares it as an established fact.
Seriously? Despite TV and movie mythology, scientists haven’t considered humans to use only 10% of their brains for quite a long time. It’s a 19th Century assertion. It’s refuted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_percent_of_brain_myth#Refutation
I knew this before looking it up. The Institute for Creation Research should hire a fact checker. Heck, anyone with a high school education could do a 10 second Google search and disprove this assertion.
(It’s just astonishing how readily the ICR makes claims that are easily shown to be bogus. I truly believe that they’ve adopted an ends-justifies-the-means ethic that is very un-Christian.)
Here’s a 1999 article (pre-dates the ICR article by two years) debunking the myth and pointing out the neuroscientists have NEVER believed the 10% urban legend. Again, the Institute for Creation Research is not doing real science — and not even bothering with the simplest of fact checking.
PART 2
It’s hard to fit the events of Genesis 2 into a single 24-hour day, but if we accept the teaching of Hebrews that the Seventh Day continues even now, then “day” is not so limited.
If we accept the Cosmic Temple theory, as well as recognizing the figurative nature of much of the language of Genesis 1, we don’t have to be restricted to a 24-hour day 6.
On the other hand, with God all things are possible. The same miraculous power that brought the animals before Adam could have empowered him to name them with extraordinary speed.
PS — Have you read Mark Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve? Available on several websites. It’s a humorous take on Genesis 2.
Jay,
Thanks .