What the Theory of Evolution Says

  The Theory of Evolution is biological theory intended to describe the origin and development of life on Earth.  However, the word evolution is used in astronomy to describe the origin of the universe and simply means “change” over time.  Stellar evolution, the evolution of the stars, for example, describes star burning process during the life of a star, from “birth” to “death”.
Many early scientists and philosophers thought the universe was static, continuous and unchanging.  The current major theory offered for how the universe “evolved “ is the Big Bang theory.  This theory proposes that the entire universe, including the Milky Way galaxy containing our solar system, exploding from super-hot “point”, some 15 billion years ago.  The theory says that the universe continues to expand, as predicted by solutions to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. 

What Evolutionists Say We Ought to See 

If the Big Bang theory, proposed in 1917, explains the formation of the universe, we should see stars and planets moving away from each other like particles moving away from the point of an explosion.  We should also still see some radiation from the Big Bang’s fiery explosion, predicted by physicist George Gamow and his students, in the 1940’s.  Both of these effects have been observed exactly as predicted.
The Big Bang theory and general relativity predict that the universe had a beginning and that space and time were created at a point some 15 billion years ago.  Scientists do not know what caused the Big Bang.  They simply call it “the CAUSE “. 

What We Actually Observe in Nature 

Scientists observe that the universe is expanding and most likely had a fiery beginning.  In 1914 astronomer Vesto Slipher, cited by Kitty Ferguson, observed that some galaxies are moving away from our Milky Way galaxy at enormous speeds as predicted subsequently by the Big Bang theory.  In the late 1920’s another astronomer, Edwin Hubble, measured the distance to and the velocity of many more of these galaxies establishing the expansion rate for the universe.  Those galaxies farthest away, move at the greatest speeds.  If we could look back in time, all the matter of the universe might appear in a very compact state at a very high temperature. 
The universe is far from being static, as some philosophers and scientist proposed; rather, it is expanding. The Big Bang theory which predicted that traces of energy from and initial fiery explosion would remain today got a big boost in 1964 when two physicists, Amo Penzias and Robert Wilson of Bell Laboratories, measured this background radiation remnant.  More than 25 years later, further measurements of this radiation by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE Satellite) fit the Big Bang theory ‘s prediction perfectly. 

What Scientists Say 

Some scientists have resisted the Big Bang idea, possibly because it sounds too much like Biblical Creation.  In the 1920’s Albert Einstein proposed a rival theory of a static universe --- infinitely large and indefinitely old --- with no beginning (no Big Bang).  He had to change the general relativity equations to obtain these results.  However, this modified theory did not agree with actual observations.  Later, Einstein was quoted as saying, “this was the greatest mistake of my life.”  Einstein finally accepted the necessity of a beginning and the  presence of a superior reasoning power, but not a personal God.
In 1948 eminent astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle and a few other scientists developed a continuous creation solution called the steady state model. However, observations now prove that the steady state model is impossible.
Currently the Big Bang theory, based upon many observations and proofs, is widely accepted by astronomers. 

Explanations Offered By Creationists 

All creationists believe God created the heavens and the earth as the Bible says in Genesis.  Many creationists accept the Big Bang theory as a description of “how” God created the universe.  They say that this theory echoes what the Bible says about “the beginning” in Genesis 1.  There are two major groups of creationists: “old-earth” creationists and “young-earth” creationists. Both groups believe that God set up the laws of physics to allow the universe to run in a predictable way.