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| Palawan Underground River, Palawan, Philippines |
Man is a rational being that has eternal aspirations. He is
not simply contented with hypotheses rather he wants to know the ultimate
reasons of everything. The ever constant
question why? manifests man’s longing
to arrive at the ultimate truth that would satisfy and eventually quench his
eternal quest.
THE ENIGMA OF THE UNIVERSE
One question that still remains an enigma to man is the
origin of the Universe. How did it come into existence? Where did it come from?
What existed before it? Why did it appear? These are just some of the many
questions that the human being still continues to ask since time immemorial.
Different religions around the world have their own accounts about the origin
of our universe. Our own Bible begins with the story of the Creation of the
world/universe. The Sacred Scriptures, however, do not try to narrate what
exactly happened, or how God created the universe. Using metaphors and other
literary means, the Sacred Book rather conveys an important message and fact: God
created the universe. Nevertheless, many are still not satisfied or convinced
with this. They want a scientific explanation, not simply a religious myth or
speculation as they consider the biblical story.
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| Palawan UNderground River, Palawan, Philippines |
Among the scientists, there are two prevailing theories as
regards to the origin of the universe. The first espouses the idea of a static
universe or the Steady State model of Fred Hoyle and supported by Albert
Einstein. However, many recent scientific discoveries contradict the idea of a
static universe. Even Albert Einstein conceded after various strong evidences
supporting the Big Bang theory sprouted, although he had some reservations
regarding the theory of the primeval atom of Georges Lemaître.
It cost Einstein to accept the theory of the expanding universe and likewise
the theory of the primeval atom because a universe with history and beginning
reminded him of the creation. These contradict his religious views as Mariano
Artigas noted. [1] The
Steady State model of the Universe entails an eternal, infinite Universe. And the
idea of an eternal, infinite universe does not require a God- creator. But this
idea has various unanswered questions. How did it come into existence? Why did
it appear? Could the universe initiate, design, create, and develop itself? An
idea of a universe that sprang spontaneously into existence is absurd and its
subsequent explanations will always suffer inconsistencies. Stephen Hawking’s
statement (“Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will
create itself from nothing…”) is never devoid of its own contradiction. Neither
is acceptable that the universe is a result of chance.
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| Sohotan National Park, Samar, Philippines |
The other is the Big Bang theory developed by Georges Lemaître.
It is based on the observations of the structure of the Universe and from
theoretical considerations. According to the Wikipedia, it is the prevailing
cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. This theory
upholds that approximately 13.7 billion years ago, the Universe was once in an
extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion
caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in its present continuously
expanding state. According to this theory, our Universe begins from a
singularity. But it has to solve a lot of questions. What was this singularity?
What did it consist of? Where did it come from? Was there an explosion or an
expansion? If there was an explosion, did space already exist prior to the Big
Bang? If there is a continued expansion, is there another space outside our
universe? These are just some of the questions that continue to puzzle us.
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| Hinagdanan Cave, Bohol, Philippines |
According to the Wikipedia, the Big Bang is a well-tested
scientific theory which is widely accepted within the scientific community
because it is the most accurate and comprehensive explanation for the full
range of phenomena astronomers observe, and that, since its conception,
abundant evidence has arisen to further validate the model. However, it states
that there is little evidence regarding the absolute earliest instant of the
expansion; consequently, the Big Bang theory cannot and does not provide any
explanation for such an initial condition; rather it describes and explains the
general evolution of the Universe going forward from that point on. This
affirmation just shows that even science depends on speculation. This just
means that science cannot provide us the truth as many scientists pretend. Science cannot give us a definite and
satisfying answer to such questions as this- why is there a universe instead of
nothing? Moreover, science is always marked with the admission of the change of
opinion, the temporary validity of a scientific proof until its eventual
revocation when another more convincing proof is found, and its principle of
uncertainty.
THE POINT OF CONVERGENCE
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| Callao Cave, Cagayan, Philippines |
The Roman Catholic Church never teaches creationism that is,
taking up literally the biblical account of the Creation. Behind that
figurative language, the biblical story of the Creation relays an absolute
fact: God is the source and author of everything that exists. We do not know how
God did it, and it is always beyond our understanding. Various popes have
reiterated that the Big Bang theory does not contradict the Christian doctrine
of creation. The Big Bang theory, however, should not be considered as an
alternative or an explanation of the creation. One important lesson from this
theory is that the universe had a beginning. A universe with beginning requires
a God-creator. Although the theory does not tell us or describe the state prior
to the existence of that singularity, it presupposes that nothing existed prior
to the beginning, not space, time, matter, energy, or the physical laws. If nothing existed prior to the existence of
the singularity and its subsequent expansion or explosion, what caused the
singularity to exist in the first place?
We have only, therefore, two logical options regarding its
possible origin: first, that the universe created itself. In order to create
itself, however, it must be in the state of existence since it could not create
itself while it is inexistent at the same time, that is, in the state of
nothingness. The other possibility is that the universe has existed ever since,
without beginning, but it is already refuted by scientific discoveries as
mentioned earlier. And the other option is to accept that someone, an
intelligent being, made that singularity. Here we can say that the Big Bang
theory is compatible with the Judeo-Christian belief of creation.
THE BIG BANG THEORY: RELIGION MASQUERADING AS SCIENCE?
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| Callao Cave, Cagayan, Philippines |
Most scientists received with indifference the “intrusion”
of a Catholic priest in a largely atheistic ambience of science. Some suspected
that what Lemaître tried to do was to “Christianize” science, to inject
religious ideas into scientific theories. The suspicion even grew when Pope
Pius XII declared, at the November 22, 1951 opening meeting of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences that the Big Bang theory accorded with the Catholic concept
of creation,[2]
and hinted that science and in particular, the new discoveries about the origin
of the universe were proofs of the
existence of the divine creation.[3]
There are, thus, scientists who believe
that the Big Bang theory is actually, in the exact words of Rhawn Joseph, a
religion masquerading as science, that is, the intrusion of religion into the
scientific field. Joseph thus states in his article: “Lemaître
used math and a flawed understanding of physics to make his religion
scientific. The theory of the Big Bang is in fact, a religion masquerading as
science, it is the Biblical story of Genesis dressed up in the language of
science. ”[4]
Accusations like this are baseless. Lemaître himself never intended to exploit
science for the benefit of religion.[5]
The Catholic Church will never manipulate science to make its doctrines
scientifically accurate. The Christian doctrines do not need to be
scientifically proven to become veridical.
The Church never teaches truths that are provisional and subject to
future modifications. On the other hand, later scientific researches and
discoveries have solidly upheld the Big Bang theory: the abundance of light
elements in the universe, the redshift, cosmic microwave background (CMB)
radiation, among others.
The truth of faith and the truth of science must not
contradict each other, but it does not mean, however, that the truth of faith must
depend on the truth of science just like what some scientists pretend. Theology
depends on the divine revelation that could never be an object of study for the
empirical sciences. While philosophy deals with the first principles and
ultimate causes, science is concerned with the contingent explanations of
things. Science has its limit and could never go beyond that.
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| Our Universe |
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| Msgr. Georges Lemaitre and Albert Einstein |
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