Cosmology and Creation

Question 1

What is the Scientific View for the origins of the universe and life?

Answer 1

The Universe: It is that the big bang, a huge expansion of all matter occurred 14 billion years ago.

The Origins of Life: Living things gradually evolved to more complex life over million years i.e. evolution

This all occurred without God

Question 2

What is a religious view of the Universe?

Answer 2

One is that God made the universe exactly as the Bible says. This is the Fundamentalist view because they take the Bible literally and they believe science is wrong. Alternatively, Liberals believe that the stories are myths but God still made the universe, using the scientific process to do it.

Question 3

In what order did God make things in the ‘Judeo-Christian Creation Story’?

Answer 3

1. Light and Dark
2. Sky and Water
3. Land, seas and plants
4. Two lights, a bigger and a smaller light
5. Sea creatures and winged creatures
6. Land animals and humans
7. Rested

Question 4

According to Fundamentalists, how old is the universe?

Answer 4

10,000. They add up all of Abraham’s descendents up until Jesus, then add 2000 years.

Question 5

Define the following terms:

• Theist
• Atheist
• Agnostic
• Scientific Atheist

Answer 5

Theist: Someone who believes in God

Atheist: Someone who doesn’t believe in God

Agnostic: Unsure about God’s existence; believe God’s existence can neither be proved nor disproved.

Scientific Atheist: There are many reasons to be an Atheist, but a Scientific Atheism uses science to support their Atheism.

Question 6

Briefly explain different stages of the big bang

Answer 6

At first there is absolutely nothing. No time, no space no matter

Approximately 14.7 billion years ago, a tiny dot called a singularity appears, origins unknown, it contains the entire universe in a hot compressed state

Almost instantly, it expands massively to the size of an orange

It continually expands, releasing huge amounts of helium and hydrogen

This allows stars to form

When the stars died, billions of years later, they released gold, silver, carbon, nitrogen and lithium

The released elements for planets

Approximately 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was formed

Question 7

State 2 key pieces of empirical evidence for the big bang

Answer 7

Light from distant galaxies shifted towards the red end of the spectrum, showing the universe is expanding.

In 1957, the Big Bang was proven when Cosmic Background radiation was discovered, it proved the universe’s initial conditions

Question 8

Explain the story of evolution by natural selection

Answer 8

Complex molecules form in the sea, including the DNA molecules which is able to make copies of itself

Bacteria form in the sea, successful ones multiply, unsuccessful ones go extinct

Over millions of years, fish evolve, successful ones reproduce, unsuccessful ones go extinct

Some early fish evolve and go onto land, developing into amphibians, then dinosaurs

Climate gets colder, dinosaurs die

500,000 years ago, complex mammals evolve, human beings

Question 9

What is evolution by natural selection?

Answer 9

The process in which species, over long periods of time, acquire mutations that make them better adapted to survive in their environment. The better adapted of the species reproduce and live, but the worse adapted, go extinct.

Question 10

State 3 pieces of empirical evidence for evolution

Answer 10

• We an observe natural selection happening today in species like bacteria
• Fossil records show gradual change in species over time
• We have vestigial (leftover) organs