Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 14:41 (Apr 2010)
Article: Should Christian Apologists Advocate the Big Bang?
Author: Jonathan F. Henry

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JODT 14:41 (April 2010) p. 7

Should Christian Apologists Advocate the Big Bang?

Implications for Dispensationalists

Jonathan F. Henry

Jonathan F. Henry, Ph.D, professor of natural science; and, chair, division of science, Clearwater Christian College

The purpose of this article is to address claims by some Christian apologists that the Big Bang was God’s method of creation. Another common claim is that the Big Bang is an apologetic for biblical creation. By this reasoning, Genesis 1:1 states that there was a beginning, and the Big Bang was also the beginning of the universe. Therefore, the Big Bang is an evidence for creation not evolution, which is a mistaken conclusion. It is inconsistent for a dispensationalist to believe that God will work miraculously in future events, yet to insist that God was constrained to employ natural law acting over billions of years in past events.

The ministries of the Christian apologists named in this article, in addition to others that could be named, generally take a “high view” of Scripture that strengthens Christian faith. The focus on Big Bang advocacy in this article should in no way be taken as a broad criticism of any of these ministries. Before proceeding further a note on word usage is needed because there are many variants of Big Bang theory. Throughout this article, “Big Bang theory” means all variants collectively considered as a group; the phrase “Big Bang model” refers to a specific variant.

Common Claims Of Christian Apologists

Christian apologists advocating the Big Bang include William Lane Craig, Norman Geisler, Hugh Ross, David Noebel, and Lee Strobel. William Lane Craig, research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, was interviewed by Lee Strobel.1 Strobel asked, “And the universe came into being in what has been called the Big Bang?”2Craig answered: “Exactly. As [astrophysicist] Stephen Hawking said, ‘Almost everyone now believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the Big Bang.’”3

In an interview with Norman Geisler, who is research professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina,4 Geisler referred to “agnostic” Robert Jastrow as claiming that “the Big Bang points to God.”5On the basis that the Bible and Big Bang theory both posit a beginning for the cosmos, Geisler also accepts that “modern astrophysics . . . affirms�...

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