• Question: if the big bang started the world why does the bible say god did?

    Asked by jadoolan to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 19 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by oliviabu007.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi @jadoolan
      Great question.
      I am agnostic, which means I have thought about it a lot and I really don’t know whether God exists. I don’t believe the world is as young as some people say the Bible tells us, and I don’t believe the world was created in 7 days.
      I believe that living your life by the morals presented in the Bible (most of them anyway) is a good way to live your life.

      I wonder whether the Bible was created as a set of stories to help people live a moral life, and over the years it has become more ‘real’ to people following it, and has been taken more literally?

      The Bible was written when there was hardly any scientific understanding of the world we live in. It is not surprising that they way people thought back then was different to the way people think now.

      So although the Bible says it is the ‘word of God’ maybe it is actually just advice for living your life, rather than a factual account of the beginning of the world.

      The evidence collected in lots of different fields of science all point to the earth being much much older than the Bible suggests, and developing over a long period of time, not just 7 days. But of course we can’t go back in time and find out the truth, so for religious people there will always be an element of doubt.

      What do you think?

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I also think that, in a way, you can have it both ways. If you go back beyond the beginning of the Earth to the Big Bang, you still have to explain how the Big Bang got to happen. I don’t think that’s something that many scientists study, as perhaps you can’t look back that far. Anyone else?

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