I. Introduction:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
This particular verse in the Bible should have already explained everything that there is to know about creation. About how the world was made and how, us, the people came into being. If only life could only be that simple. However, not all of humanity believes in this passage, and not all of humanity is Catholic, and not all of humanity believes in the Bible. Therefore, since humanity is endowed with intelligence beyond their comprehension, they started to question everything. They started to create theories to scientifically explain the “phenomenon” surrounding them.
Humans are generally curious with their surroundings and they aim to give reason for every event that’s happening to and around them. If they can’t find any reason, they would formulate a scenario and try to prove this through their scientific observations and then come up with a conclusion which they would later pass on as theories.
What is the importance of all of these? Why do we have to question our existence and then go at great lengths to disprove one another’s theories? Why can’t we just let people believe in whatever they want to believe? The reason is simple – in this highly intelligent state that we are in. A simple belief system could create a widespread outcome that would affect a lot of people or the whole of humanity. One example of this is cult formation, there was once a cult somewhere in America that recruited more than a thousand believers and exercised some practices that were so horrifying for the non-believers. In this situation, what the non-believers consider as horrifying would be considered as ordinary for the believers. Also, like nowadays, the Jihad of the Islamic religion. In the Jihad, Muslim warriors kill for their beliefs and in this case encouraged, whilst, for the non-Islam believers, we would call it murder and terrorism.
In this paper, these different rationalizations and debates would be given some light in a philosophical manner. This paper does not aim to convince or coerce anyone to believe in one thing and reject another thing. Its only goal is to enlighten the readers about the different points of view offered about how this world came into existence, and many more. Basically this paper would cover the debate about creationism and evolutionism, tackling the Genesis and Big Bang Theory plus the Darwinism Evolution of Man as compared to Genesis again. Also, technology trying to disprove paranormal existence, such as ghosts, fairies and life on the other planets.
II. Creation versus Evolution
A. Versus the Big-Bang Theory
“In the beginning, there was nothing. Well, not quite nothing — more of Nothing with Potential.[2]”
It is quite conflicting to start a religious argument with a passage from the Big Bang Theory, but just to make a point, science talks about the universe coming into being from nothing. However a question emerges, where did nothing came from? As stated in the Bible, Genesis Chapter I Verse 1, God created the heaven and earth, from this passage alone any belief system or any theories should have been already discredited.
The debate of creation versus evolution has reached a full scale that different kinds of studies surfaced disproving the existence of each other. They are called the creationist and the evolutionist. In this section, the creationist would hold an upper hand since we would try to disprove the evolutionist theory.
We are born in this world believing that there is one Supreme Being, a Designer who is responsible for the formation of the world and man. That the reason the birds can fly and we can’t is part of His grand design.
“And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing creepeth upon the earth.”[3]
The evolution theory claims that the world came into being through the massive explosion of matters in the space. That according to one theorist’s named Friedmann and further observed using a big telescope invented by another scientist, the universe, the space in the universe to be exact, is in itself, expanding. Nevertheless, this theory refuses to address the question of origin. Where did space come from? Where did the universe originated? And if according to cosmologists, that stars accumulated too much energy and formed into a bundle that eventually blew, where did these stars come from? Where did that energy come from?
In addition to this unanswered questions, even cosmologists have a hard time proving this theory is sufficient, to have created the universe that we know today. Other scientists came up with problems with this theory; an example is the presence of dark matter and dark energy. Since the theory proposes that two objects clumped together and overheated and created a supernova explosion, the dark matter observed by other scientists do not gravitate to each other therefore rejecting the clumping theory of Big-bang. Since from observations, 90% of the universe is dark matter that does not emit light, it would not be possible for these objects to have united[4]. The dark energy proposes that the objects should have at least a very heavy density[5] for it to possess the negative energy or the dark energy required to explode. It was observed that the universe do not reach up to this density in their equation of relativity.
B. Versus the Darwinism / Evolution of Man
Charles Darwin, a renowned scientist, in his Origin of Species, proposed that a single-celled organism evolved into what we know today as plants, animals and man. One scandalous theory is the proposal that man, came from apes. Rather, as time went by, apes evolved into mankind. This theory was hard to accept by many since, we can not bear to be compared to animals, let alone declare that we have descended from the apes, conclusively saying, that we are high versions of monkeys. This passage,
“God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them[6],”
From the Bible is more acceptable since man is considered higher than animals. Mankind was made and intended to be just the way he is from the very beginning. That was part of the great design of that one Supreme Being. For arguments purposes, given that it were true, that everything came from that single-celled organism that through out the years evolved into what we know now, where did that cell came from? And ever since this theory, scientists have been trying to find out if one specie would mutate into another specie (just like ape to man), but found their efforts futile for instead they found dangerous downward mutations, not upward mutations. Another flaw in this theory was the accumulation of fossil evidences that supposed to support this claim, but until now, after zillions of years, no artifact has been found to empirically prove the transition of ape to man. The so-called missing link is still missing.
III. Evolutionism Unraveled
A. Evolution in Reference to the Big-Bang Theory
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also.[7]”
Referring to this passage from the Bible, obviously, the sun and the moon and stars were created by God. But that is not so, according to many cosmologists who yearns to prove the origin of the universe through different theories. The most famous of which is the Big Bang theory.
The Big Bang theory formally proposes that the current state of the universe today is a result of the heaviness (high density) and overheating (high temperature) that it experienced and due to this overheating, the space exploded, thus creating the galaxies, the planets, the moons and the stars. It was first observed in 1912 when one cosmologist measured the first Doppler shift of a spiral galaxy. He discovered that these “nebulas”[8] are getting farther and farther away from the earth. Mathematician named Friedmann created a model that shows complicated computations that shows the distance of these nebulas from the earth. At this point, the importance of this discovery was not yet given much though until a Belgian Catholic Priest named Lemaitre, concluded that the reason these nebulas are moving away was because the universe is expanding. It was quite humorous that this kind of declaration would come from a Catholic Priest, wherein he should be pushing the theory of the Great Designer. This theory is dependable with the theory of relativity and principle of cosmology which states that the universe ought to be independent of location and point of reference.
“A nothingness in which packets of energy fleeted in and out of existence, popping into oblivion as quickly as they appeared. One of these fluctuations had just enough energy to take off. It inflated wildly out of control – one moment infinitesimally small, moments later light-years across. All of space and time was created in that instant, and as that energy slowed, it cooled and froze into matter- protons and neutrons and photons. This baby universe kept expanding, over billions of years, and those particles coalesced into stars and planets and eventually humans.[9]”
B. Evolution of Man
From the finishing account by Karen Fox in the last page, “and those particles coalesced into stars and planets and eventually humans,”[10] she is implying that from the Big-Bang theory, humanity was created from the materials blown out in the space. Mankind was created the same way planets, stars and the galaxies were made. The theory of the evolution of man is not like that, in fact, the theory presupposes that man, in combination with some environmental and genetic factors of other “living things” came to be what he is today. It did not mention anything about mankind formed from the big blast. According to the most famous evolutionist, Charles Darwin, the origin of species came forth through a process of natural selection, or in layman’s term, the survival of the fittest. Technically speaking, the positive trait developed by one specie would be later on passed as an inherited gene to its offspring, therefore, that offspring would be developing that positive trait as it grow up. Example, one insect developed scales to protect himself from larger animals. This scale trait would then later on be passed to his children and his children would be having the scales as well. This happens through mutation of the gene, in a positive way.
The theory of evolution has been very successful because of the riveting discoveries it had made in comparing mankind to apes. The similarity of the features, the similarity of bone structures, the similarity in gait – as well as brain functioning. That’s why scientists nowadays still try to make monkeys talk and act like humans. This theory was later proven, bit by bit, by uncovering fossils, skulls, and other materials related to this what they call the Homo Erectus and the Homo Sapiens. Another presented fact was the similarity of all babies in the embryo stages. All embryos look alike therefore postulating that all came from the same “tree”. However, one diverting element of this theory was its incapability to state the real origin of man. A main reason where a number of scientists drift away from this theory and started forming their own.
IV. Additional Queries
A. The Reliability of the Bible
It is already an obvious fact nowadays that the Bible is a compilation of excavated texts from the disciples of Christ. Therefore, the Bible implies part of the history and the Bible itself is a historical document, made by men. How many times have we encountered a change in history because of wrongful accounts? Man by nature is apt to make mistakes, how can we be sure that it didn’t happen with the Bible?
B. Dinosaurs Existence
As complex maybe the explanation of both creationism and evolution theories, both failed to address the existence of Dinosaurs. In Theology, it was said that God created Dinosaurs to Adam’s liking. He made Adam choose the animals that he wanted and patiently named them one by one. Therefore, in the old testament of the Bible, mankind lived side by side with dinosaurs. Why then that there was no account of tyrannosaurus rex boarding the Ark of Noah? Arguments state that God created big animals to show Adam His power, that however big these dinosaurs are, God’s power is even greater.
In the evolution theory’s side, although Paleontologists have found fossils as evidences of dinosaurs existence, they fail to connect the era of the dinosaurs with the origin of man. Suffice that basing on their single-cell theory; the dinosaurs too were ancestors of apes, before they became humans? If the natural selection (survival of the fittest gene) theory would be applied? Why it is then that mankind became small and had fragile skin as compared to the dinosaurs who are supposed to be our ancestors? Why is that then their gene of being big in size, big claws, and thick skin were not inherited by mankind?
C. The Existence of Ghosts
Theology in relation to creationism, proposes that ghosts are un-rested souls who were not able to find their way to heaven, or to be with the Supreme Being. In relation to science, the paranormal activities of ghosts are explainable. According to this article, the unintentional movement of objects may be related to tremors or movement of the earth underneath. The movement may be related to an earthquake, a train passing by, or the earth exerting excess pressure as in breathing.[11] The weird noises in the attic can be accosted by animals scurrying, weak floorboards that creak, and strong winds. In addition, faulty electrical wires and pipes may cause televisions and lights to turn on and off spontaneously, and so many others.
One question here though, are ghosts also part of the grand design? Were they purposely made to wander and disturb the living beings? In relation to evolutionism, after death, is being a ghost the next step to evolution?
D. The Existence of Unidentified Flying Object (UFOs)
This query pertains to one of the most unanswered question in this lifetime, Is there life on other planets? If we are to answer this one using the Creation Model, we can safely say that, no, there is none. Because according to the Bible, God only made Earth, there was no mention of Mars, Venus or Jupiter or Saturn. Earth was the only place in this universe that was mentioned in the Bible. Also, in accordance to science, as it claims that earth is always visited by other life forms through their UFOs and inspecting for a plausible new place for them, the pictures and videos taken, supposedly of these UFOs can be explained. The light and shutter of a still camera and of a video camera has a lot to do with this bright objects captured on film. The image captured would have different effects similar to those described by people who claimed to have seen UFOs. Moreover, where is the part of the UFOs in the theory of evolution? Is it possible that when earth was created through the big bang, in some other planets that were created too, they also evolved from a single micro-organism? There are still lots of questions about the outer space that are still left unanswered.
E. The Existence of Fairies / Gnomes
There was a famous photograph of two girls playing with fairies and gnomes that was published in 1917. It was known as the Cottingley Fairies[12]. This phenomena was later discredited by the admission of the two girls that those pictures are hoaxes. They drew fairies and cut them out and put pins on them and planted them on to the ground. Afterwards they took turns having their photographs taken. A lot of people believed that these fairies were true because at that time, digital imaging and photography manipulation was still unknown. Until of course the confession.
In the theory of creation, were fairies and gnomes also created by God? Why are they then made to live underground or made to live not to be seen by humans? What are they considered then, beasts? Fowl? Or humans in the likeness of Adam?
In the theory of evolution also, where in the timeline did fairies start to appear? Did they also evolve from the same micro-organism that humans came from?
Conclusion
In summary, both belief systems, creationism and evolutionism, still, until to this day remains a theory. Unproved, no empirical data to support their claims. That’s why a lot of people still get confused as to where did we really came from? Numerous debates and scholarly researches are devoted just to answer this question. Which up to now, the answer is elusive. In the lack of supporting empirical evidences, scientists resorted to philosophy to make their points across. A reason also that philosophy came up with questions, although some really absurd and imaginary, just for the sake of argument and the condition “what-if”, to have this theorists answer them one by one.
In conclusion, every being is entitled to his or her own opinion and beliefs about our origins. That is a right nobody can ever, ever take away. Free will, believing in anything that makes sense to you.
Bibliography
Fox, Karen C. The Big Bang Theory: What it is, Where It Came From, and Why it Works. Wiley, New York, 2002. 212 pgs.
Gospel Communications International. BibleGateway.com Getting the Word Out. Website. 1995-2007. Accessed November 16, 2007. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=1&version=9
Hallman, Max O. Traversing Philosophical Boundaries. Wadsworth Publishing Company. April 21, 2006. 682 pages.
Leeming, David Adams. The World of Myth. Oxford University Press, 1992. 362 pgs.
Lull, R.S., Ferris, H.B., Parker, G.H., Angell, J. R., Keller, A.G., Conklin, E.G., Baitsell, G.A. The Evolution of Man: A Series of Lectures Delivered before the Yale Chapter of the Sigma XI during the Academic Year 1921-1922. Yale University Press, 1922. 208 pgs.
Peacocke, A.R. Creation and the World of Science. Clarendon Press, 1979. 392 pgs.
Placher, William C. Is the Bible True. The Christian Century, Vol. 112, October 11, 1995.
Tipton, Kelli. Can Ghosts be Explained Scientifically? Online Daily Home Area News. March 28, 2004. http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2004/dh-localnews-0328-ktipton-4c27v2243.htm
The Cottingley Fairy Photographs. Paranormal Investigation Website. November 11, 2005. Accessed November 17, 2007.
[1] The Bible, King James Version. Genesis, Chapter 1 Verse 1.
[2] Fox, Karen C. The Big Bang Theory: What it is, Where It Came From, and Why it Works. Wiley, New York, 2002. p. 9.
[3] The Bible, King James Version. Genesis, Chapter 1 Verse 26.
[4] Yao, W. M.; et al. (2006). “Review of Particle Physics”. J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 33: 1–1232
[5] P. J. E. Peebles and Bharat Ratra (2003). “The cosmological constant and dark energy”. Reviews of Modern Physics 75: 559–606
[6] The Bible, King James Version. Genesis, Chapter 1 Verse 27.
[7] Ibid. Verse 16.
[8] Slipher, V. M.. “The radial velocity of the Andromeda nebula”. Lowell Observatory Bulletin 1: 56–57.
[9] Fox, Karen C. The Big Bang Theory: What it is, Where It Came From, and Why it Works. Wiley, New York, 2002. Page 9.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Tipton, Kelli. Can Ghosts be Explained Scientifically? Online Daily Home Area News. March 28, 2004. http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2004/dh-localnews-0328-ktipton-4c27v2243.htm
[12] The Cottingley Fairy Photographs. Paranormal Investigation Website. November 11, 2005. Accessed November 17, 2007.
