The Bible and science on the origin of the universe - Is There a Conflict?

Every existing worldview attempts to give some type of explanation of the origin of the universe. Many of these assertions are metaphysical in nature, sometimes with a material sub-claim. In this article, I will attempt to analyze the claim of the Biblical worldview on the origin of universe and see if it has any conflict with the science of today.

The Biblical worldview makes a metaphysical claim about the origin of the universe, plus a material sub-claim. The metaphysical claim is that God created the universe in the beginning. The material sub-claim is that the universe had a beginning.

Here is the breakdown:

Metaphysical claim: God created the universe (all of time, space and matter) in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). Note that the Hebrew language doesn't have a specific word for ‘universe.’ The phrase 'Heavens and the earth' is used here instead to indicate 'all physical reality.' In Greek, the equivalent word is 'cosmos.' Sometimes other phrases in Greek that mean ‘all things’ can also be used to refer to the universe.

Material sub-claim: The universe (all of time, space and matter) had a beginning. In other words, the universe is not eternal; it began to exist at some time in the finite past.

In the first verse of the Bible (Gen 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”), two things are made clear:

1) God created the universe (metaphysical claim)

2) The universe had a beginning (material sub-claim)

It is difficult to come up with any alternate interpretations of this verse, as the claims are stated quite clearly and objectively. It answers two important questions about the universe: Who created it? God created it. Is it eternal? No, it had a beginning.

We will leave the metaphysical claim (God created the universe) alone since science, by its very nature, can have no bearing on that part. It is a self-evident truth that science cannot prove or disprove metaphysical claims, as such claims do not deal with matter (which is the realm of science).

But science can be used to defeat material sub-components of metaphysical claims, if any exist. As we have seen above, for the Biblical worldview, there exists a material sub-claim that the universe had a beginning. This claim of the Bible doesn't give any information on how old the universe is; it simply asserts that God created the universe in the beginning. This (The Biblical claim) clearly indicates that the universe is not eternal, but rather, it began to exist at some point of time in the finite past.

One of the most established scientific theories in our time pertaining to the origin of the universe is known as the Standard Model [of the Universe]. The popular name for this theory is the “Big Bang Theory.” According to this theory, the universe is constantly expanding. So if we go back in time, we can see that the universe (all of space, time, and matter) had an absolute beginning approximately about 13.7 billion years ago (by most calculations). This theory was proposed in the early 1900s, and after generations of study and experimentation, it is one of the most established scientific theories concerning the origin of the universe. Many of the predictions and observations laid out by this theory have been proven to be true/valid. In a nutshell, the Big Bang Theory states that the universe is not eternal; rather, it had a beginning. It does not and cannot give any hint on ‘who’ or ‘what’ could have created the universe; it simply shows that the universe had an absolute beginning.

So as you can see, today's cosmology actually confirms the material sub-claim of the Biblical worldview. Robert Jastrow, a late NASA scientist, said, “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Claim of Biblical worldview: The universe had a beginning.

Claim of today’s science: The universe had a beginning.

As you can see, there is no conflict between the Biblical worldview and science when it comes to the nature of the origin of the universe.

If there is any worldview or system of beliefs that has a material claim saying that the universe is eternal, it is safe to assume that such a worldview cannot be held to be true, based on the current scientific findings and knowledge. But for the Biblical worldview, it is a great confirmation from science. What Moses, the author of the book of Genesis, wrote approximately 3,500 years ago in Genesis 1:1 has now been confirmed by modern science. Again, I am not talking about ‘God creating the universe,’ but rather the claim that the ‘universe had a beginning.’

A few clarifications:

I am not arguing here that a worldview needs the help of science to establish its truth. No, the claim of a worldview can stand on its own. And it is not wrong for people to believe the claims of their worldview on the basis of faith, as long as there is no clear “defeater” for that belief that can be found in science or in our everyday observations. Once the defeater to a claim is present and valid, then it is not a good idea to adhere to such a claim, as it poses a clear contradiction between what we believe in faith and what we know from science.

Also, I am not using modern science to try to interpret the Bible. I am taking the claims of the Bible and that of science independently and comparing them to study their compatibility or incompatibility. This is a good, even vital exercise for all of us to do with whatever worldviews we adhere to.

It is important to note that the Big Bang Theory, as a scientific theory, does not and cannot say anything about what happened before the beginning of the universe. Since there is no time, space and matter before the point of singularity, science is unable to comment on anything pertaining to that, as it can only deal with the material world, which didn’t begin to exist until the beginning.