Comparisons And Controversies Surrounding The Formation Of The Universe

1939 Words4 Pages

The Universe is all of space-time and everything that exists there, including all the planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the smallest subatomic particles, and all matter and energy (Wiley, 2010). The creation of the universe is something that we have taken for granted. We have live in this part of the Universe, the earth, for our entire life, yet most of us still do not know the origins of it. Without the Universe, we would cease to exist; even the greatest physicists and philosophers like Newton and Aristotle would never have been born. So where did our Universe really come from? There have been numerous theories and controversies surrounding the formation of the Universe, ever since its creation. Each theory is …show more content…

I feel that the scientific explanation of the Universe creation as it is one that has the least conflictions and has been widely proven and researched on unlike other ideas. The first ideas of the creation of the Universe are mainly religious beliefs. Many of the world's religions, such as Christianity and Islam, have ideas and beliefs about the origin of the universe, including people and animals. Usually, these take the form of creation accounts in the sacred books of the religions concerned (Polkinghorne, 2006). Such theories, especially those of the Christian faith, were dated as far back as the 800 BC. For example, many Christians believe that the Universe is created by God. From the first two chapters of the book of Genesis, which is found in the Bible, it speaks that God created the heavens and the earth on the first day of the initial week of earth’s history. Thereafter in the remaining five days, attention was directed to earth, the home of man—who was uniquely created in the image of the Creator (Genesis 1:26, 27). The sun, moon, and stars were also made. The Scriptures make it perfectly clear that the whole creation came …show more content…

In the 3rd century BC, a less known group of philosophers came out with a theory of Stoic Universe. They believed in a kind of island universe in which a finite cosmos is surrounded by an infinite void. They held that the cosmos is in a constant state of flux, and pulsates in size and periodically passes through upheavals and conflagrations. In the Stoic view, the universe is like a giant living body, with its leading part being the stars and the Sun, but in which all parts are interconnected, so that what happens in one place affects what happens elsewhere. They also held a cyclical view of history, in which the world was once pure fire and would become fire again (Mastin, 2009). They have briefly mentioned about the Big Bang Theory, referring to the world was once ‘pure fire’, similar to the start of the Big Bang. Yet, there was minimal evidence supporting this claim. Many people in that century lost interest in their claim as they felt it was just pure guesswork as there were no concrete examples and explanations. Thus, the scientific idea of Big Bang was more widely accepted as compared to the ideas of historical and religious

Open Document