Why couldn't God have created the Big Bang, as well as evolution? This "either or" logic doesn't hold water, specially for those who believe in a non-denominational God.
I guess it is harder for bibiophiles, as well as koranophiles, since Big Bang and evolution negate their point of view. But, in my view, it only serves to reinforce my belief in God. Who/what other force could have come up with something so fantastic?
A fair question. One might also ask, "Why would God want to cause the Big Bang and evolution?" Since the Bible tells us that God's greatest interest is in the relationship He has with the people on this planet, why would He create a process in which He had to sit around for a few billion years while He watched the slime mold turned into humanity? It seems pointless. As God, He can do what He wants, but the slow, ruthless process of evolution to enable "life" to give rise to a species He could relate to, reveal Himself to, and ultimately to redeem, seems a waste of valuable resources.
Secondly, if God created everything in a bang, followed by billions of years of evolutionary change, then He lied to us in the early chapters of Genesis. A common theory is that the creation story of Gen. 1-2, up through the story of Noah and the flood, are myth, and that real history picks up when Abram comes on the scene. But where does the book of Genesis indicate that myth ends, and real history begins? The Bible doesn't give us the luxury of that convenient dismissal of the first chapters of Genesis.
The Creation story tells us that on one day God created plants, and the next day he set the sun in the sky to provide light. I'm sure you'll tell us how plants requiring photosynthesis to live can last for eons in pitch darkness.. They don't. Even the hardiest plants begin to wilt in a matter of days - not months or years - let alone eons.
Evolution creates more problems than it solves and it blasphemes God in the doing. Relegating the rise of mankind to an accident in nature instead of making it a direct and willful act of God. Theorizing attempts to gloss this over and make it seem acceptable amongst liberals who have more ability to be duped by philosophy than they have faith in God. That speaks ill of those people, not the evolutionists. Evolution has come along like the snake in the garden and has said 'God didn't really say that. He knows that if you do x you'll be as a god yourself...' It makes God's word a lie on it's face and those pretending at Christianity in some part haven't the sense to recognize blasphemy as the same groups largely have surrendered faith in God to philosophy and reason to begin with.
There are those that believe that 'In the beginning, there was the Word. . ." might actually allude to the Big Bang.
"Why couldn't God have created the Big Bang, as well as evolution? "
No reason. I consider myself a biblical Christian and I have no problem with alternative theories of either the beginnings of the cosmos or the beginnings of life. In fact, if you read the first couple of chapters of Genesis it sounds a lot like the Big Bang. (If you go look it up, also note that in the progression of the 7 "days" of creation, some of those occurred before the creation of sun and moon, day and night-- it's a clue. ;))
Anyway, my belief that God created the universe, in pretty much the order stated in Genesis, and by means and methods unknown to us is not even slightly challenged by any of these scientific theories. Interesting, though, that God has chosen to hide the inter-species evolutionary fossils. Sort of similar to the way in which the Resurrection ensured that Christ's body isn't around for DNA testing.
Pretty smart guy, that God. ;)
"Why couldn't God have created the Big Bang, as well as evolution? This "either or" logic doesn't hold water, specially for those who believe in a non-denominational God. "
In fact, an omnipotent God could. But the Creationist God is only limited to irrational acts that make no sense, because that's the only way to befuddle the primates into worshipping Him.
In other words, Creationists believe in a crippled God. To me, Darwinism is a tautology (if the strong didn't survive, then they wouldn't be strong!), it has little to do with God. I'm just looking for the truth, even if that turns out to be some mix of Creationism and Darwinism.