Dismantling the Big Bang Q&A

MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Welch, Publicist, 1-800-999-3777, laura@newleafpress.net, www.nlpg.com

WEB FEATURE:DISMANTLING THE BIG BANG & REDISCOVERING THE UNIVERSE

Q & A with authors Alex Williams & John Harnett (as noted)

Q. Why is this book important?

A. Because it shows Christians that they can believe the first page of their Bibles. Many Christians no longer believe that God created the universe in six days because they think science has proven it evolved over billions of years. But if you substitute man?s opinions for God?s word on the first page, then there is no reason to stop at the first page, and you can substitute man?s opinions for God?s word on all the other pages as well. But our book shows that six day creation is actually a better explanation for the origin of the universe than is Big Bang theory.

Q. What is it?s relevance to the average Christian?

A. It tells the average Christian that the Bible is not just an old book of stories but it is a powerful revelation from the Creator about the real world, and it gives us better understanding of the real world than the naturalistic theories that are being taught in our schools and universities today.

Q. Why write yet another book on Big Bang?

A. There are many Christians today who are pushing Big Bang theory as being the way that God created the universe. This is particularly so with Dr Hugh Ross and his ministry called Reasons To Believe. But we believe this is an error that needs to be corrected, for two very important reasons. First is that Big Bang theory doesn?t work, so it is a big mistake to substitute a wrong theory for what the Bible tells us. And second, God wrote down with His own finger in stone in the Fourth Commandment that He created the universe in six ordinary-length days. That makes six day creation a personal eyewitness account from God and it is a very serious matter that Christians are opposing God in this way.

Q. How do you explain the issue of a very big very ?old? universe within the timescale of the Bible, ie about 6 or 7 thousand years?

A. In about a dozen places in the Bible it tells us that when God created the heavens He also ?stretched them out.? Now we are told in Genesis 1 that God created the heavenly bodies on Day 4, so that means God made the universe vast in size?that is, billions of light years in size?during a single Earth day. This is entirely consistent with Einstein?s theory of relativity, which tells us that time and space are not fixed, they can stretched and squashed. So while billions of years of physical transformation may have occurred in the most distant galaxies, it all happened during just one Earth day. And since we mark the passage of time from here on Earth, it remains true to say that the universe was created in six days in the time of Adam, just a few thousand years ago.

Q. Who should read this book?

A. The book is written for the average Christian layperson. You don?t need to be a rocket scientist to understand it. We use simple language and pictures and everyone from teenagers up would find it understandable. We believe every Christian should read it because the insights we bring out in this book have not been explained in this way elsewhere before. It will strengthen the faith of those who already believe what God?s word says, and it will powerfully call those Christians back to biblical faith who have wandered into compromise on the issue of six day creation.

Q. Are there viable alternatives as an origin account to the Big Bang theory?

A. JOHN: Yes indeed, and we look briefly at four of these in the appendices at the back of our book.

Q. If so, what are they?

A. JOHN: I have recently published a series of papers on the Carmeli model. This is an extension of Einstein?s theory of relativity that takes into account the expansion of the universe. It assumes that our galaxy is at the centre of the universe and that the universe is only of finite size. It has already performed better than Big Bang theory and there is still more to come. We are really only just beginning to develop it. There is also the Quasi-Steady State model developed by the late Sir Fred Hoyle and others, there is the Arpian universe developed by astronomer Halton Arp, and the Meta-Model developed by astronomer Tom Van Flandern. Another model that we have not discussed is the plasma universe developed by plasma physicist Hans Alfven and others. None of these models provides a complete explanation for all that we see, because a model is only a simplification of reality. The main point of our book is to tell people that just because Big Bang theory is popular does not mean it is true.

Q. Starting with the Bible only, can you arrive at a better explanation than the Big Bang for the origin and structure of the universe?

A. JOHN: Yes. I have developed a biblical model that I call the Young Solar System model, based on the sequence of events in Genesis 1 together with the references to God stretching out the heavens. This provides a more comprehensive fit to the different time scales that we observe in the universe and here on Earth. I have also developed the Carmeli model which places the Earth (or perhaps rather the Milky Way galaxy) at the centre of the universe, a point which is not stated in the Bible but it is consistent with the Earth being at the centre of God?s attention in the universe. So these two models, which are based on biblical foundations, do provide better explanations for what we observe than does Big Bang theory.

Q. Why is any of this important to our day to day lives? Why is it relevant? Can?t we just say God did it and ignore the details?

A. No, we cannot say that ?God did it? and ignore the details, because God has given us the details in the Bible. Genesis 1 & 2 provide us with a remarkably detailed account of God?s work of creation. We have the Ten Commandments, written with God?s own finger in stone, to confirm the fact that He created the universe in six ordinary-length days and this is to be perpetually commemorated in the Sabbath. We also have Jesus quoting directly from Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 which tells us that he considered them to be authoritative in regard to the creation of Adam and Eve. This position is also reiterated in several places in the New Testament.

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