The Big Bang Theory is the most-widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe among evolutionary scientists. Many Christians (evolutionist and otherwise) also endorse the idea, concluding that if God did create the universe all at once, there most certainly would have been a loud noise.
The Big Bang Theory says that all the “stuff” in the universe was at one time jammed into a ball less than the size of the head of a pin, including everything we know of: the mountains, the sea, the whole earth, sun, moon, solar system and everything else in the universe! This point of matter became unstable and exploded, sending particles at a huge velocity in every direction (hence the term “Big Bang”). Out of this chaos of explosion, for some reason the particles then began to congregate and eventually form this tremendously ordered place called our universe.
This is currently acclaimed as the best of today’s science, but does it really make sense? When a stick of dynamite is lit and put at the bottom of a pile of bricks, do we get a building or do we get a pile of dust and fragments? Of course we get chaos. The only way we get the building is to follow a blueprint and harness a great deal of energy to construct it according to a predetermined plan. Order does not come from chaos and neither does a highly ordered universe come from a “Big Bang!”
The main evidence given for the Big Bang Theory is a phenomenon referred to as the “Red Shift.” This is a characteristic pattern in the wavelength of light which many interpret as evidence of an object moving away from us. However, there are numerous other explanations of the Red Shift and much controversy surrounding its true interpretation. Another line of evidence used in support of the Big Bank is a certain type of “background radiation” that has been detected in space. Some scientists interpret this as the “echo” from the Big Bang. This too can be explained in various other ways. The scientific evidence supporting the Big Bang Theory is at best inconclusive. Many careful scientists are now looking for a better way to explain the origin of our ordered universe.
Originally published in the Sep/Oct 1985 issue of Think and Believe.
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