Theories on the Origin of the Universe
Cosmologist and Theoretical Physicist Sean Carroll is trying to figure out how we got to where we are. In the process, he is making as many arguments for intelligent creation as he makes for natural formation of the universe. I don’t think he means to do this and, frankly, I’m not into looking for opportunities to say “gotcha” every time a scientist has a question about our origins.
I actually love to hear about new theories and new areas of study about how we got here. God gave us these brains for a reason and I don’t think he has any problem with us saying “How did this happen?” or even “Why did this happen?” However, as physicists and cosmologists study the universe, it becomes more and more difficult to explain how things came to be in the absence of some “outside force”. I think one major flaw in the current scientific climate is that whenever scientists bump up against this reality, they simply throw out that theory and look somewhere else. In other words, they work on a theory just up to the point where it requires input from an outside force because they have determined that there are no outside forces acting on the universe.
What if some of these scientists decided to actually continue pursuing one of these theories? What if instead of trying to explain the origin of the universe without action by an outside and/or creative force, they simply tried to figure out what that force was? What if the thing on the other side of the Big Bang was not simply a nice, balanced, symmetrical “other universe”, but was actually a force far greater – one that, once discovered, would open up to an entirely different understanding of the universe and of our existence in it. It seems like that should be interesting enough for someone to look into.
However, the scientific community and the faith community have a common fault. By and large, they have dismissed each other out of hand. The “intelligent design” folks stop listening as soon as they hear the words “Big Bang” or “evolution”. Likewise, the “big bang/expanding universe” folks stop listening when they hear the words “intelligent design” or “creation”. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if people like Sean Carroll got together with people like N.T. Wright and actually tried to discover where theology and science intersect. I believe that together with one another, we would discover deeper truths about science, nature and God than we ever will apart from one another.
I’ve included a 2 part talk from Sean below which gets a little heady at times (and a little “out there” at times) but which captures his current theory and study. Then, I’ve included a very short video of N.T. Wright discussing the power and depth of the Genesis text.
SEAN CARROL PART 1
SEAN CARROLL PART 2
N.T. WRIGHT
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#3 written by Matt 3 years ago
“However, the scientific community and the faith community have a common fault. By and large, they have dismissed each other out of hand. The “intelligent design” folks stop listening as soon as they hear the words “Big Bang” or “evolution”. Likewise, the “big bang/expanding universe” folks stop listening when they hear the words “intelligent design” or “creation”. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if people like Sean Carroll got together with people like N.T. Wright and actually tried to discover where theology and science intersect. I believe that together with one another, we would discover deeper truths about science, nature and God than we ever will apart from one another.”
Just to inform you, that one of these ideas has no value compared to the other and mixing science and religion is by definition pseudo-science and retards progress and doesn’t enhance it. Creationism and intelligent are both unevidence and by definition ignorant (as they ignore the masses of evidence available) and hence putting them on any sort of level ground is ridiculous.
When you put religion into science you get a dark age, not progress, science is and always should be secular and any change to that is nothing but detrimental.
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IMO the general problem with the church’s approach to science throughout history has been the need to draw a line and say “here, but no further!” to scientists. The line is inevitably drawn just beyond whatever is accepted knowledge at the time. In this case, it is equally counterproductive to draw a line at the Big Bang (or maybe, the point before which relativity falls apart) and say “here, but no further!”
We can say that the extreme fine tuning of the universe clearly points to an intelligence behind its design, and moreover to a design intended for the specific purpose of human life on our specific planet Earth, but we cannot say that the Big Bang was definitely the beginning. We can suppose, and the multiverse is pretty far-fetched, but it would be continuing the history of line-drawing to say that we should attribute everything prior to what we understand directly to God and therefore stop trying to understand it.
Many in the church (all throughout history) have built their house on the sand of a particular narrow scientific view which then turned out to be wrong, to which many scientists have reacted by throwing the baby out with the bathwater (i.e. throwing God out with the arrogance and ignorance of people in the church).
It has long been time for the church to put on some humility and allow that truth discovered through science is nevertheless true, understand that the Bible is not a science text, and grow up. Imagine the effect on the world if people in the church just stopped arguing with the rest of the world from the little corner they’ve been painted into, and actually came out and learned something for a change.
I think there is something of a “meet in the middle” discussion to be had, but it’s not accessible until the church repents, IMO.
I definitely feel the pain of trying to walk in both worlds (as you can probably guess by this post), and I think a lot of people do. Far more have been completely alienated by outright hatred from the church, and the only road back to those people is one of absolute repentance, humility, and openness… even from those in the church who haven’t done the alienating. We need to undo the damage, not merely refrain from any more.
Thanks for the post, good stuff! I love N.T. Wright… he always seems to have the appropriate dose of reality for some aspect of church religious BS.