CONCEPTS OF ORIGINSCONCEPTS OF ORIGINS

Cosmology is the field of study that looks at how the universe came into being, why it looks as it does now, and what the future of the Universe holds.

Cosmologists make astronomical observations of the Universe in an attempt to deduce theories that describe how the Universe works using the mathematical tools of modern physics and the observational tools of modern astronomy. Thus, cosmology might be thought of as a hybrid field of astronomy and physics

3 major tasks in the field of cosmology:

1. to understand how galaxies evolved from the earliest times to the present;

2. to refine and extend the scale of cosmic distances; and

3. to test fundamental theories of the expanding universe.

According to Aristotle, philosophy begins with a sense of wonder about the world, and the most profound question a man can ask concerns the origin of the universe.[

The most basic question of life: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Leibniz answered this question by arguing that something exists rather than nothing because a necessary being exists which carries within itself its reason for existence and is the sufficient reason for the existence of all contingent being. He identified the necessary being as God..

Belief System Age of the Universe in Years

Biological Evolution happened?

Evolution driven by God?

Young Earth Creation Science

Under 10,000 No N/A *

Theistic Evolution

Billions Yes Yes

Naturalistic Evolution

Billions Yes No

Old Earth Creation Science

Billions No N/A *

* N/A" Not applicable because they do not believe in evolution. Thus God did not drive it.

More detailed descriptions of each belief system: (Based on a Gallup Organization poll conducted during 1997.)

Young Earth Creation Science: (44% public support; 5% support among scientists generally; 0.15% support among earth and life scientists). 1 God created the universe during 6 consecutive 24 hour days, less than 10,000 years ago. God rested on the seventh day. All of the various "kinds" of animals that are present on earth today (and those kinds like dinosaurs which once existed but are now extinct) are all descendants of the animals that God created during  days in creation week.

Theistic evolution: (39% support). The universe is over 10 billion years old; the earth's crust developed almost 4 billion years ago. God caused the first living cell to appear. Humans evolved out of lower forms of life under the direct guidance of God. God steered evolution, at least to some degree, as a mechanism to guide the development of new species.

Naturalistic evolution: (10% support). Same beliefs as for theistic evolution, except that God is assumed to have played no part in the processes. Evolution was driven by purely natural forces.

Old earth creation science:  (Under 7% public support) 1They believe that each "day"

in Genesis may have been much longer than 24 hours; others believe that there were very long gaps between one or more of the "days."

Young earth creation scientists: These comprise about 0.15% of all earth and life scientists. Most are Evangelical Christians who believe that:

• the world is less than 10 thousand years of age.• all of the "kinds" of animals that ever lived were created during creation week.• a worldwide flood in the time of Noah wiped out all humans, except for the 8 people on board Noah's ark.• all of the land animals similarly drowned, except for the 2 or 7  pairs of each species who were lucky enough to get a ride on the ark.• the earth's life forms have never evolved. For example, God created dinosaurs along with the other animals; they coexisted with humans on earth until they died off and became extinct. But minor changes within a "kind" have happened.

Theistic and Naturalistic Evolutionists Almost all scientists who are not fundamentalist or evangelical Christians believe that:

•the world coalesced about 4.5 billion years ago.•the earth developed a crust about 3.9 billion years ago.•crude, primitive forms of life appeared shortly thereafter.•species have been evolving ever since.•dinosaurs became extinct many tens of millions of years ago, long before the first humans evolved.

Old Earth creation scientists: Some Christians believe:

•The world was created by God billions of years ago.•God created all of the kinds of animals over a relatively short period, as described in Genesis.•Kinds of animals are fixed. No new ones are being created. But minor changes within a kind have happened.•Dinosaurs were created not long before humans, but became extinct.

Can science determine the age of the earth accurately?Science will never be able to prove absolutely that the world is over 10,000 years old. Collecting countless pieces of evidence for an "old earth", is supportive of their theory, but is not proof. Creationists can simply counter scientists' arguments.

The heavens still declare the glory of God, and yes, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen from God's creation. But to hear what the heavens declare and to see what the creation makes manifest, we need to get rid of our metaphysical blinders.

FAITH