[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

[B]If you are a true believer then you should know the bang theory is not consistent with the Bible...

Wow, such certainty.

I am a true believer that the Big Bang theory is consistent with the existence of God, and could also be consistent with The Bible, since The Bible is so open to interpretation.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by Gramps666

...One other thought. If this universe was created by a supreme being, who created the supreme being?

I love these sorts of questions. If you're a believer in the Big Bang theory (which I am), what was before the Big Bang?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by blueash

Is a red flower prettier than a yellow one? Does your spouse love you? Answers to this sort of question would begin with I Believe that... They are questions of feelings or beliefs. They are not science questions and while a scientist might examine your neurochemical response to a photograph of your spouse that would only explain that you respond to your own belief. And we all know that the answer to "does your spouse love you" can be very different next week or next year" Faith or belief is not science. Why do people conflate them? 2 + 2 is 4 You don't ask if I believe it. The sun appears to rise in the east because the globe rotates from west to east. You don't ask if I believe that. Science is based on a foundation entirely different from religion. Science is testable and mutable. Religion is untestable and immutable. The great strength of the scientific method is its opportunity for evidence to completely reconstruct knowledge. Religion offers no mechanism for change other than reinterpretation, or "we didn't really mean that" Is the earth flat, Is the earth the center of the universe and the sun goes around it? Is slavery sanctioned by your god? Is a woman here to be dominated by her husband? Will eating a lobster send me to hell? Does the FSM touch me with his noodly appendages? When will the world end?

For those of faith, whatever their faith you believe you have answers to these things and point to one book for your evidence. Is your book a Bible, a Koran, a loose cannon, a tipitaka? You can argue all you like that your book or your religion is the right one but your certainty is not science it is faith. And faith is a wonderful thing. It gives solace and creates a community for support. And faith is a terrible thing. It creates fanatics who are more than happy to die for their god, and citizens who are certain that their faith's rules should govern everyone.

So no scientific theory needs to concern itself with whether or not it is congruent with a holy book. And please don't get all confused on the use of the word theory. Theory does not mean a stab in the dark with no evidence. Do you understand the theory of gravity? Do you understand the germ theory of disease? A scientific theory establishes a structure for understanding observable natural phenomena. A good theory not only explains what we observe but makes predictions which can be tested which would disprove its accuracy and subject it to modification. Newton's theories were terrific but on the edges, wrong and have been replaced with Einstein's relativity theories. And these are subject to testing and certainly in the future will be shown to be wrong as well. The fact that science asks to be proven wrong and thus improved is its greatest strength. So the question is the Big Bang consistent with the Bible is meaningless to a scientist and only of importance to a person who feels the need to make their religion be not wrong if one accepts the science. It becomes either find support for the Big Bang in the limited words of your holy book, or attack the science because it does not explain everything (which is of course the whole point of science in that there are always unanswered questions)

Well said. AND KINDLY said.

[kstew43]

One other thought. If this universe was created by a supreme being, who created the supreme being?[/QUOTE]

exactly......

....who came first the chicken or the egg.....

[Bavarian]

Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

Did you know it was a Catholic priest, a Jesuit priest, who first proposed the expansion of the universe theory or the hypothesis of the primeval atom which we call The Big Bang Theory? Georges Lemaitre.

..."Should a priest reject relativity because it contains no authoritative exposition on the doctrine of the Trinity? Once you realize that the Bible does not purport to be a textbook of science, the old controversy between religion and science vanishes . . . The doctrine of the Trinity is much more abstruse than anything in relativity or quantum mechanics; but, being necessary for salvation, the doctrine is stated in the Bible. If the theory of relativity had also been necessary for salvation, it would have been revealed to Saint Paul or to Moses . . . As a matter of fact neither Saint Paul nor Moses had the slightest idea of relativity"...

-Lemaitre

The Big Bang Theory was developed as said by a Catholic Priest and Scientist as a way to scientifically prove Creation. The Big Bang is Creation. There was nothing and Bang the Universe was created, by God The Father. No contradictions. The Big Bang says nothing then Big blast when God said Let there be Light.

[Villages PL]

Book: "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired Into Our Genes" by Dean H. Hamer

Of course this has been debated but it's interesting to note that religion has existed everywhere in the world throughout history and has taken on many different forms. So it seems to point to a need that people have within them to create something to explain the unknown. It suggests that we are the creators who created the concept of "God the creator."

[tcxr750]

Interesting insight from Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end."

[Sophie11]

Isaiah 40:21-22 you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Proverbs 8:27
When he established the heavens, I was there: When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,

This scripture Jesus talks of 1 day and 1 night - at the same time
Luke 17:31-34
On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.

Job 26:7
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

[tedquick]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

Book: "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired Into Our Genes" by Dean H. Hamer

Of course this has been debated but it's interesting to note that religion has existed everywhere in the world throughout history and has taken on many different forms. So it seems to point to a need that people have within them to create something to explain the unknown. It suggests that we are the creators who created the concept of "God the creator."

Or is it possible that God, the Creator, has instilled in us the need to know our Creator?

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by Walter123

I thought Gary Morse created the universe. I know he created mine.

Mine too!
He turned my life around. I will always be grateful.

[DAWN MARIE]

Originally Posted by tedquick

Or is it possible that God, the Creator, has instilled in us the need to know our Creator?

I believe this is it in a nutshell. The sad part is most are trying to fill this need with anything but the creator who created us. We need to realize that everything has a designer behind it. Everything we do now starts with a thought followed by an action. Why is creation thousands of years ago any different?

[SALYBOW]

As I studied for my Masters in Theology degree we learned that the theory posits that the universe as we know it was created from a singularity, that is. a point or region in spacetime in which gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density; associated with Black Holes,) This singulaity was caused by matter interacting with other matter. There was then a universe which evolved from that singularity. Does that preclude the idea that God created the universe? Not at all. God was the creator of the matter and the gravitational forces. He is the first mover." Even in the creation story in the Bible it was not explained by what process God worked each day.

God was definitely the creator of the universe.

[chachacha]

very interesting, sallybow! and i like tedquick's remarks, also.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by SALYBOW

As I studied for my Masters in Theology degree we learned that the theory posits that the universe as we know it was created from a singularity, that is. a point or region in spacetime in which gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density; associated with Black Holes,) This singulaity was caused by matter interacting with other matter. There was then a universe which evolved from that singularity. Does that preclude the idea that God created the universe? Not at all. God was the creator of the matter and the gravitational forces. He is the first mover." Even in the creation story in the Bible it was not explained by what process God worked each day.

God was definitely the creator of the universe.

I like you so much Salybow and I like all that good stuff you learned at Xavier University in Cincinnati, but most of all I like that you teach what you believe without words. Your warmth and caring attitude is genuine and makes everyone who knows you feel accepted and loved. You are smart and you have a kind heart.

[rubicon]

This is all faith based. Belief in God the Creator, the bible, etc requires faith.

In that same vein the genesis of theories espoused by scientists are also based on faith.

Inquirying minds need to know and because of that this vacuum needs to be filled and the content depends on your belief system.

I would agree that if God did not exist it would be essential to create him because the human race needs guidance.

I feel strongly both ways