The beginning of the universe had a cause. Its order, symmetry, and design call for a designer. The universe did not come from nothing it was created by God, he brought into being, without the use of pre-existing materials, everything that is. (Gen.1: 1; Heb.11: 3; Rev. 4:11). Understanding this gives us understanding of other doctrines such as man who is a separate being from all other creation and from God Himself. We also understand that God as being “good” and not evil He pronounced nature as good. The plan of God was to create and activate the universe for His glory. The doctrine of creation distinguishes Christianity from other religions. It does not contradict true science but it may have encounters with philosophical science.

The Big Bang Theory

The big bang attempts to explain the origin of the universe without God. Theorists tell us that the entire universe began with something about the size of a marble three quarters of an inch in diameter. They say, “In the beginning was an explosion. This explosion filled all space from the beginning with every particle of matter rushing apart from every other particle.” Within a tiniest split second, the temperature hit 100000 million degrees Centigrade. Ordinary matter could not hold together and eh molecules, or atoms, or even the nuclei of atoms, could not have held together. The matter rushing apart consisted of elementary particles as negatively charged electrons (where did they came form?), positive charged positrons, and neutrinos, which lack both electrical charge and mass (where did they come from?). The universe was filled with light… we have a universe. I was all done in about the time to make a sandwich….once there was nothing now there is a universe. “Stephen Winberg, The First Three Minutes.” WAIT A MINUTE let us back up. Can an intelligent person believe this? This is more like a fairy tale. Who created the gases for the explosion, who created the space? Is it not illogical to get “something from nothing as he believes.” Talk about blind faith this is the epitome of it. People who believe in the big bang usually interpret the evidence according to their already-existing belief in the big bang. In other words, they just assume that the big bang is true and they interpret the evidence to match their beliefs. Of course, the Bible can also be used to interpret the evidence. And since the Bible records the true history of the universe, we will see that it makes a lot more sense of the evidence than the big bang does. Now let’s look at some facts about the universe regarding its age. We will see that the evidence is consistent with 6,000 years but doesn’t make sense if we hold to the big bang. Of course, big bang supporters can always reinterpret the evidence by adding extra assumptions. So, the following facts are not intended to “prove” that the Bible is right about the age of the universe. The Bible is right in all matters because it is the Word of God. However, when we understand the scientific evidence, we will find that it agrees with what the Bible teaches. The evidence is certainly consistent with a young universe.

Whatever begins to exist has a Cause

“To me it seems absolutely bewildering. It is metaphysically necessary that anything that begins to exist has to have a cause that brings it into being. Things just don’t pop into existence, uncaused, out of nothing…” “..the idea that things came into being uncaused out of nothing is worse than magic. At least when a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat there is the magician and the hat…. but in atheism, the universe just pops into being from nothing, with absolutely no explanation at all.” ” (William Lane Craig PHD, THD. The Case for the Creator pp 114-115). The Bible tells us Who caused the universe, “In the beginning god created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen.1:1). Everything began with the voice of food calling into existence light and all there is. “By faith we understand that the worlds (universe) were framed at the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb.11:3 c.f. 11:1). Christians have substance for their faith as opposed to those who say it all came from nothing. The physical universe, it operation and administration were made by Him. He framed or equipped them. “Not made” refers to God creating the universe out of something which cannot be seen. It was by God’s power hat He energised the worlds. The is an intelligent thing to be is a Christian. “For since creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom.1:20). The Creator made all we see and all things invisible to the human eye and constantly sustains it by His awesome power.

Creation out of Nothing – Ex- Nihilo

Ex-nihilo means “out of nothing” but He caused it to happen. God brought into being all realty and material things without the use of pre-existing materials, everything that is. (Gen.1: 1; Jn.1: 1-3; Heb.11: 3; Rev. 4:11). He done this in 6 consecutive days of 24 hour periods called “day” and distinguished by “morning and evening.” It is no older than 10000 years at the most. He continues to develop and fashion it as He so desires. Genesis 1:1 refutes all of mans false philosophies.

It refutes ATHEISM because God created the universe.
It refutes PANTHESIM because God is transcendent to that which is created.
It refutes POLYTHEISM for one God created all things.
It refutes MATERAIALISM, for matter had a beginning.
It refutes DUALISM, because God was alone when he created.
It refutes HUMANISM, because God, not man, is the ultimate reality.
It refutes EVELOUTION, because God created all things from nothing.
The First Beginnings Gen. 1:1

This verse is the foundation verse of the Bible. Everything else is built upon it. It summarises the universe and all therein. It is the most important verse of the Bible and contains first words ever written or spoken. If a person believes this verse he will have little trouble believing the rest of the Bible. Since God created all things, then He controls all things and can do all things.

“In the beginning.”

God existed before creation, He has always existed. (Ps.90:2). This is the beginning of the universe, of time and space.

“God”

“Elohim” This stresses His deity and majesty. It is a plural name with a singular meaning; it refers to the uni-plurality of God. Moses made no attempt to explain the existence of God he just states the fact that He is and was.

“Created” “Bara” – used only in the work of God, it is to call into existence that which had no existence. “He called those things that be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17 ; Col. 1:16; Rev. 4:11; Heb. 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:6).

Men can “MAKE” things and “FORM” things but not out of nothing. Man cannot create life out of nothing he needs pre-existing material.

The Hebrew words “ASAH” and “YATSAR” can refer to God making and forming out of materials He brought into existence, more complex systems.

However the “ACT OF CREATION” refers to God speaking into existence something that had not previous existence. God spoke into existence the physical universe and it was an act of His will. He could do this since he is eternal, infinite and all-powerful. If matter was infinite it contradicts the scientific laws of cause and effect, enthropy. The complexities of our universe presuppose a highly intelligent mind. This happened a few thousand years ago not millions.

The Reason He created is “FOR HIS GLORY” it glorifies Him (Ps. 19:1). He used atom as his building blocks.

Anything that has developed since i.e. varieties of roses, dogs, cats, cattle, fish etc came from the original. Various species have developed through laws of genetics but each with in its own species, i.e. the horse family, the tree family, the fish family, the human family. Man has even been permitted to become a partner in this, i.e. breeding, producing, better grass, corn, wheat, etc. But we must note that man is working with what God has already established, man merely fashions what was already there.

“Heaven”

“Shamayim” = heavens (not the stars- they were made on the fourth day Gen. 1:16; 2:1). It means – the space- mass- time universe. It could include “OUTER SPACE” and “INNER SPACE”, atmospheric space and so on. It refers to the component f space in a basic Space-Mass- Time universe. All god’s creation is summarised in the “heavens and the earth.”

“Earth”

“Earth “eretes” means ground, land, just as the word “heaven” is used either as a particular portion or in a general sense this word can mean either (Gen. 1:11; 12:5). Refers to the component of matter in the universe. At the time of the initial creation there were no planets, stars or matter bodies in the universe, nor did many of them come into place until the 4th day. The earth at one time had no form, it could have been basic elements of matter organised into structural earth (Gen. 1:2.

“In The Beginning”

In this phrase God introduces Time as well as Space and MASS, no one is meaningful without the existence of the other two. Matter includes energy and must function in SPACE and TIME; Space is measurable and accessible through Time and Matter. God called into existence Space, Time and Matter. Aristotle falsely believed that God did not create the universe but that he simply imbues order into it and both God and the universe are eternal. The discovery in the twentieth century that the universe is not eternal and is aging according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics blew this notion out of the water. “Age” has a point of beginning, time is not eternal, it began. It is contradictory to say the universe is infinite then point to time to prove ones point, since time is going somewhere, “to a terminus.” The angel in the book of Revelation said, “..and time shall be no more.”

With reference the Lord Jesus Christ, He was before the beginning, before time, he was God the second person of the Trinity, “In the beginning, was (the verb highlights the pre-existence of the Word) the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was (Jesus Christ had all the attributes of deity) God” (John 1:1). “He is the eternal God and existed with the Father and the Spirit before creation. Even in his incarnation when he emptied himself , He did not cease to be God but took on a genuine human nature/body and voluntary refrained from the independent exercise of the attribute of deity” (J. McArthur’s Study Bible John 1:1). God brought the world into being by His Word (Ps. 33:6; 107:20; Prov.8:27).

The Perfect Universe and Death and Decay

Genesis 2:1-3 States that God finished His creation and it was Good. We are told twice God rested on the seventh day. The active complex world, teeming with life and activity with its marvellously designed structures and relationships was complete with the termination of the 6-day creation. He set processes and laws in motion and physicists, scientists, biologists, chemists, geologists, the medical science, hydrology, ecology, metallurgy, meteorology, palaeontology and all other sciences are trying to understand these ever since and use them for mans welfare. The creation is completed and sustained by Hs power but the curse and decay and death are now in creation. The following two scientific laws give testimony to the proof of Scripture.

Conservation- “All process involve interchanges and conservation of an entity called energy, which the total energy remaining constant. Scientifically this is called the law of conservation of energy or this is called the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Disintegration – All processes tend toward decay and disintegration, with a net increase of called entropy, or state of randomness or disorder, of the system. This is called the Second Law of Thermodynamics.” (Henry H. Morris The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth pp. 14-15). Change is not upward as evolutionists believe but downward as the Bible and science teaches.

Genesis 2:4 is a summary of what happened in chapter one. Nothing new is being created. God completed creation which is now being sustained by Him (Col. 1:16-17; 1 Peter 1:2-3; 2 Pet. 3:5-7; Psalm 148:5-6; Isa. 40:26; Neh. 9:6) ).

A spanner in the works. All that He created “was good,” vs. 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31; there was noting evil in the original creation. Man therefore cannot justify his evil behaviour by blaming the evil realm of matter; our own freedom makes us responsible. If God made it all good and perfect why then is there decay and disintegration? Why does “the whole creation groan and travail in pain together until now”? (Rom. 8:22 ). Energy is being used up until it no longer will be converted into useful work. “The Second Law of Thermodynamics is an intruder into the divine economy, not apart of either the original creation or God’s plan for His eternal kingdom. The principle of decay and death came into existence with the fall of man in Genesis 3. The Creator “cursed the ground” (Gen.3:17). The elements were brought into a state of decay (Rom. 8:21 ). “Yea, all these shall wax old , as a garment” (Ps. 102:26).

The Curse is not permanent and irrevocable, however, but only remedial and disciplinary (Rom.8:21; Rev. 22:3; 2 Pet. 3:13). At the same time God pronounced the Curse, He also promised a redeemer, the seed of the woman (Gen.3:15) who would someday provide salvation , both for the individual souls and for the whole creation. (Henry H. Morris The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth pp. 17-19). The developing World.

Although the physical universe is winding down along with the morality of man sinking lower in the morass of sin, God permits man-developing skills (medical knowledge, engineering knowledge etc) in creation. They are in partnership with God and are using materials He provided.

Five Christian views of Creation

The Gap Theory. – This theory believes there were millions of years between verse 1 and 2 in Genesis 1. The earth became void and without form. There may have been a pre- Adamic race. The earth was created complete millions of years ago but a catasthrope occurred between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. The creation became empty and void (uniformed) God then re-created the earth a few thousand years ago, in 6 days, populating it with all the species. The age of the earth and fossil records are attributed to the first creation. The catastrophe is often linked with the Fall of Satan.

2. The Flood Theory – views the earth as only a few thousand years old. The huge waves and winds of Noah’s day picked up various forms of life and flung them at tremendous velocity into earth and mud deposited them in solidified rock, under tremendous pressure. The mud solidified and wave pressure created various rock strata this usual conditions speeded up geological processes. What geologists believe happened in 3 billion years happen in the Flood.

3. The ideal- Time theory – God created the world ain six days a few thousand years ago but he made it as if it were millions of years old. If this is true then Adam was evolved and not created a fully-grown man.

4. The Age Day theory – a day may mean a thousand years or more, along period of time. The geological and fossil records correspond to the order of these creative acts. “Yom” means 24 hours or some believe it was a period of time. i.e. 1000 years, long periods. Geology and fossil records correspond to created acts. There may have been a pre- Adamic race.

5. The Pictorial – Day theory – It is more a logical than chronological order. God’s revelation came to Moses in 6 pictures or periods.

Development Within Creation

Although form has changed and modified each species stays within “its own kind.” People and animals adapt to environment but it is not the “survival of the fittest”. Each animal and plant brought forth “after its own kind.”

Theistic Evolution. This view is that God created in a direct fashion at the begining of the process and ever since has worked for within through evolution. He modified a creature and gave it a soul or spiritual nature.

Progressive Creationism. God created in a series of acts over along period of time. They first was created then evolved. However a lot of what was beloved never existed i.e.. Piltown man.

God’s Creative work.

Genetic engineering will not reduce God’s creative work. Man cannot create human beings out of nothing. He takes the materials e has, works with it, and rearranges it. He will plan it and engineer it out of existing material. They begin with matter; they cannot create something out of nothing. God produces what they use; they are dependent upon the creator.

 

The developing World. Although the physical universe is winding down along with the morality of man sinking lower in the morass of sin, God permits man-developing skills (medical knowledge, engineering knowledge etc) in creation. They are in partnership with God and are using materials He provided.