Each question and it's following answer will be provided by "500 Questions And Answers From The Bible" (Mark Fackler, Editor, 2006, Barbour Publishing Inc.)
(Genesis 1:1)
Q; Where did the universe come from?
A; Who has not heard a child ask that question? Unfortunately we have no eyewitness around to answer it. We do have a record, however. Genesis 1 is the story of God's creation of the word and its heavens. Genesis does not intend to be a comprehensive, detailed account of how God created all there is. The story moves in wide, sweeping strokes. Yet it does answer two fundamental questions about when and who-in the beginning and God.
Most religious faiths recognize that the world could not have created itself. For the universe to do that, it would have to exist before itself, which is logically impossible. Something outside of and existing prior must be responsible for its creation. That something, the Bible tells us, is Someone-God.
Nothing forced God's decision to create. The decision was an expression of God's character: creative, rational, loving. God created the world to say something about Himself, to extend His relational nature to embrace beings who bear His image, and to communicate with them.
Genesis does not provide a scientific record of how and when the universe was created. Christians who wish to argue with science about these matters become caught in the give-and-take of empirical data and scientific interference, a debate that the Book of Genesis was not intended to solve. (Recall that not long ago Christians firmly believed that a Biblical view required that the earth was the center of the universe and all other heavenly bodies revolved around it. Nowadays, thanks to scientific measurement, only crackpots make such an argument. Christians can and should learn from science.)
Genesis teaches that the universe sprang from God's nature and will. The mechanics that God employed to give expression to His will are the important domains of science (physics, chemistry, biology), which like other fields of study has sometimes, regrettably, forgotten about God. But each source-the Genesis account and science-plays a vital roll in our understanding of God's creation. Genesis identifies the God whom we should praise, and science employs God's gifts of intelligence and curiosity to uncover clues the mechanics of God's work.
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So, in a nutshell, in my mind, Genesis just lays out the subtle clues as to how God made way for us to be where we are today. I believe personally, in both the scientific theory of the "Big Bang" , as well as that God laid the beginning foundations for the rest of it all to come in to play.
As a Christian myself, I cannot deny science. I cannot deny what they have discovered about the universe and of what discoveries that they have made concerning our world, and of us. But I also cannot deny that there is MORE to the picture. Something we will NEVER be able to explain. And that is God's hand in how we came to be.
He gave us gifts. Every one of us possess reasoning and the ability to use our logic ALONG SIDE our faith. God also gave some of us a lot of logic and intellectual ability (think medical doctors, scientists of all kinds, teachers). We all have a contribution. Because God made it so. By creating what we know of...Earth, land and sea, humans in His image, the universe.
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Please feel free to also share your thoughts and ideals in the comment area. Just keep it CIVIL, is all that I ask. Debate is great! But I will NOT have fights.
