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2/9/2017

A Catholic's Perspective on The Big Bang and Evolution

2 Comments

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When you think of the beginning of the world... how do you imagine it? Do you imagine the traditional Creation story, the one where God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh? What is a day to God, but an undisclosed and incomprehensible amount of time to humans? I think that we can all agree that we simply cannot comprehend creation from God's perspective. When God created the universe, what was that like? When God formed the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the Earth; what did that look like? If nature is God's creation and science is the law of nature - would that not imply that science is the law of the most high God?

I do not like to picture God as though He is some sort of magician, waving a magic wand. I do not believe that light, darkness, the earth, wind, water and man simply appeared out of thin air. I believe that God used his scientific language and created nature in such a way that science can only prove His existence. Some of the greatest scientists to have ever lived, believed much the same thing.
The Big Bang Theory suggest that the universe came into existence with an resounding crash of sound and light - so massive that the radioactive waves can still be seen in our atmosphere to this day. Keep in mind, this happen 13.8 billion years ago. Thinking scientifically, how would you imagine the voice of God yelling "Let there be light!" being like? Would it not be a magnificent crash of sound; a beautiful explosion of light? Scientists are confident that the universe erupted from a mass around the size of a marble... yet they cannot explain it. How could you, other than the infinite complexity of God Himself?
Imagine, the seven 'days' of creation actually being 13.8 billion years to us. On the sixth day (roughly 2 million years ago) God started to form man from the dust. Over a period of thousands of years; God's 'dust' creation reached a point to which felt His 'image and likeness.' He breathed his divine life into it and it became man! Sounds like evolution to me. As Catholics, I believe that we need to view scientific discovery as the mechanism to which we come to understand how God created us. The beautiful part is that we already know why he created us - to love and to be loved. The 'why' is just as beautiful as the 'how.'

If you think that I am out of line - please take the time to read Pope Francis' view, here.

2 Comments

Concerned

3/24/2017 07:32:18 am

In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, God first and foremost defined what a day is: "..an evening and a morning were the first day".

A day in the Bible is not millions, thousands, even 2 days. It's one day.

Genesis 1: "3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

Some have tried to join Man's reasoning (science) into God's Word. Which is error.

Some have used the passage in 1 Peter 3:8, to demonstrate that 1 day is a thousand years. But Peter was explaining that God is being patient and not slacking in his promise. A day to us (who are impatient) is not a day to God (in His patience).

Proverbs 14: 12There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Reece Theriot (Editor of Catholic Rebuttals) link

3/28/2017 05:25:20 am

Dear "Concerned",

Thank you for your commentary. It is both respected, welcomed and appreciated here at Catholic Rebuttals! Here, we believe the best starting point for these types of conversations are with hearts full of love and understanding. As the author of the original post, "A Catholic's Perspective on The Big Bang and Evolution" I felt it appropriate that I provide a reply to your comment.

You are right when you say that God created light and darkness on the first "day" of Creation. What do you think the creation of light looked like, scientifically speaking? Also, remember that we humans define a 'day' as one revolution of the Earth, yet on the first 'day' of Creation, the Earth was not yet formed (day 3); therefore, we cannot be sure what a 'day' actually meant to God. Furthermore, 'time' is relative. God created time, for if He didn't then He would require a creator. I am sure we both agree that nothing created God. So, if the word 'day' is relative and 'time' is relative; how do we really know what a 'day' is to our God? Here's what St. Augustine had to say; "God created all things instantaneously in their potential forms or “predispositions”'. All of creation would eventually develop from this seed form over the course of time. This assumption, along with the poor translation of verse 2, caused him (Augustine) to argue that time did not exist yet while the earth was “invisible and unorganized” (Fiedrowicz 2002, p. 153).

Also, I would like to reply to your comment regarding the 'error' of mixing science into God's word. You are right'; some miracles cannot be explained by science or medicine. Several aspects of Christianity and divinity reside just outside the boundaries of reason. To try and scientifically explain God's miraculous ways would be induce human error; but not divine error. Even St. Augustine said that we would NEVER understand God for He is incomprehensible.

All that being said, 'science' is simply a word we Humans use to express, understand and relate to nature. Is nature (all natural things) not the most awesome creation of The Creator? St. Bonaventure stated that God created all things "not to increase his glory but to show it forth and communicate it." We are natural beings, created in God's image and likeness. To this fact, the way we move, eat, breath, learn, speak and love are all natural / scientific things. Where is the error in seeing God in science? Where is the error in trying to hear God's 'communication' of glory? in 1879, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Aeterni Patris, in which he reaffirmed a central principle of the Catholic intellectual tradition: the harmony of faith and reason. The teachings of the faith are God’s revelation of the truth; science, the product of human reason, is the search for truth. The true faith, therefore, cannot be opposed to good science because truth is the object of both.

I would encourage you to watch Fr. Robert Spitzer's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYfaOJATh_U&t=2750s for a rational explanation of a Creator (God) using scientific knowledge.

Thank you for your contribution!
Reece