Name: Brayan F.

Martinez Camargo

Course: CWV-301 Christian Worldview

Date: 10.03.2020

Instructor: Eric Speir

Origins
Christian Beliefs

The origin of the universe according to Christians maintains that the earth and every living being that
inhabits it comes from an act of creation of God. According to professional theologians, the basic
meaning of creation refers only to that which God has made. Similarly, a creationist is simply someone
who believes in a Creator. Today Christian Scholars uphold the historic doctrine of creation and assert
that it is a religious belief and not a scientific theory. (Lamoureux, 2008).
Genesis, the first book of the Bible tells the story of the origins of the universe and of humanity. It places
man in his cosmic environment and shows his uniqueness and greatness, but also deals with the origin of
evil in the world and God's dealings with man from that moment on. From the genesis to the apocalypse
the sacred scriptures reiterate "The whole cosmos is the work of God's hands". For young Earth
creationists, this includes a literal biblical interpretation of the creation narrative presented in Genesis and
a rejection of the scientific theory of evolution
According to the BBC (2020), “Fundamentalist Christians believe that as the Bible comes directly from
God, everything in it must be the exact truth. Anything that contradicts the Bible is wrong. Therefore, for
fundamentalist Christians, the Big Bang theory is not correct.” (BBC, 2020).
As for the Christian approaches to creation, the six-day period of creation in the book of Genesis is key.
Young earth creationism asserts that God wanted readers to interpret the days of creation as ordinary 24-
hour periods. However, they argue that God created the earth with a mere appearance of age, probably
just like He created Adam as a mature man, and not a boy. Old earth creationism interprets the word
"day" as an era or some other long period. Another term used for this position is "day-era". That is, each
day means a large period.

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Current Understanding

My current understanding of the origin of the universe is more supported by scientific and physical
theories than by the ones exposed in the bible.
"Scientists believe that the Universe was initially so hot and dense, that even elementary particles
like protons and neutrons could not exist. Instead, different types of matter collided together,
creating pure energy. But as the Universe began to cool during the first few minutes, protons and
neutrons began to form. Over time these protons, neutrons and electrons came together to form
Hydrogen and small amounts of Helium. During the billions of years that followed, stars, planets
and galaxies formed to create the Universe as we see it today" (Singh & Bang, 2005).
During the Big Bang, an initial speed up expansion phase was experienced, followed by a decelerated
phase in which subatomic particles that were in a state of very high density, began to form planets, stars,
and galaxies. Through this initial process, not only our universe emerged but also the space in which it is
located.
With NASA's Cobe satellite, it was possible to detect irregularities in the universe and thus confirmed the
hypothesis that it began with a large explosion. The irregularities measured in the background radiation,
the footprint of the Big Bang, is an energy that bathes the entire Universe in the form of microwaves. As
mentioned by Singh and Bang, (2005) "because if the Universe had an origin, it would leave a signature
of the event, just as an echo heard in a cannon represents a “signature” of the original sound."
In 1929 Edwin Hubble correlated the distance of objects in the universe with their speeds to determine the
age of the earth which leaded to determine the age of the Universe at approximately 15 billion years.
Impact of Current Understanding

I have a Catholic worldview, but my understanding of the origin of the universe is based on scientific
theories. Although they are not related, they do not get impacted by each other in any way. As Kurtz
(2013) explains, " scientific progress could only occur when the teleological and philosophical authorities
of the past were discarded, and a fresh bold approach to nature was adopted. This led to unparalleled
breakthrough in field after field of research" (Kurtz, 2013).
Starting from here it is important to know that religion and science do not complement each other
regarding this topic, and it is for this reason that I choose not to relate them. Another point that I would
like to mention is that science has only one truth, and everyone accepts that only one truth. Religions, on
the contrary, each have their own truth. In general, science tries to understand the nature of the material
world around us, how it has come to be, how we know it and what laws govern it. Religion deals with
what transcends the material world and puts man in touch with what is beyond, with the mystery of God
and his relationship with man and the universe.

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As a Catholic person I believe that we must put our soul and our life in the God´s hands and also accept
Christ in our heart and entrust ourselves to him, but, although the teachings that we can find in the Bible
are of great help to be able to fulfill this objective, I think there are different options that can give us a
better understanding of the stories we find there.

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 References

BBC. (2020). Origins of the universe - Religion and science - GCSE Religious Studies Revision

- BBC Bitesize. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx7634j/revision/3

Holy Bible. (2002). New York: American Bible Society.

Kurtz, P. (Ed.). (2013). Science and religion: are they compatible? Prometheus Books.

Lamoureux, D. O. (2008). Evolutionary creation: A Christian approach to evolution. Wipf and

Stock Publishers.

Singh, S., & Bang, B. (2005). The Origin of the Universe (p. 560). Harper perennial.

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