How Would I Approach this Situation

[YEARNING4TRUTH]

Hi, I just wanted to ask about what I could tell my students about a question that they asked. They asked me how the world was created. All I could tell them is that It’s a mystery. The question is kind of bugging them to the point that they said that it kind of scares them and I just want to do something about it.

 

[Jamma]

Genesis 1.
God said,
let there be light
and the big bang took place.

 

[John_Martin]

Hi, I just wanted to ask about what I could tell my students about a question that they asked. They asked me how the world was created. All I could tell them is that It’s a mystery. The question is kind of bugging them to the point that they said that it kind of scares them and I just want to do something about it.

It is a “mystery”, which you believe is true, but “mystery” has to do with “whether it is true”, not with “what it is” or “how it happened”.
It starts with the mystery of the Trinity - how God “is” in himself and in what is not Himself.
Start here - softvocation.org/2013/12/27/the-trinity/ where I touch on creation, although mainly speak about “what is God”. At the ending I bring in how we (creation) are created.
What do you think?

 

[PaulinVA]

You know, in an academic setting I have no problem saying that some people believe it was created by God and some people believe that it just “began” and we evolved to where we are.

 

[seagal]

Hi, I just wanted to ask about what I could tell my students about a question that they asked. They asked me how the world was created. All I could tell them is that It’s a mystery. The question is kind of bugging them to the point that they said that it kind of scares them and I just want to do something about it.

The answer has a lot to do with the situation, including the age of your students. I’m assuming this a catechism class not regular school. I’m also assuming you’ve talked about the creation account in Genesis. Saying “it’s a mystery” is not a very satisfactory answer, but I’m not sure why your students would find it scary.

The answer is simply “God spoke”. Or, as John put it " In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him."

 

[Cricket2]

Genesis 1.
God said,
let there be light
and the big bang took place.

It has now been shown that there was not a “Big Bang.” However, one could explain to the children that there are several theories as to how the world was created. According to one’s beliefs and different scientific theories we believe the world was created: 1. By God. or 2. Big Bang Theory or 3. Over time by eons of different consequential events…what ever.

 

[Jamma]

It has now been shown that there was not a “Big Bang.”

Huh???

 

[Jamma]

Georges Lemaitre, who proposed the big bang theory, along with varoius other contributions to the field of astrophysics, was a Belgian, CATHOLIC Jesuit priest.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Hi, I just wanted to ask about what I could tell my students about a question that they asked. They asked me how the world was created. All I could tell them is that It’s a mystery. The question is kind of bugging them to the point that they said that it kind of scares them and I just want to do something about it.

The only necessary thing is to tell them is that God created it. And he created it good. Anything else can be debated forever…

 

[WilT]

Genesis 1.
God said,
let there be light
and the big bang took place.

 

[EasterJoy]

I would tell them that it is known that God created the universe and everything in it, although exactly how and when God did that is something that scientists guess about based on very educated guesses and very careful measurements of the state of the universe as we can know it right now. Obviously, that is a knowledge subject to lots of limitations. The “how” is not fully known, but not for lack of very intelligent people working hard to understand which guesses explain what we see now and which don’t.

This is the summary of the topic “the Creator” from the section on the Creed in the Catechism; I’d lean hardest on the part I have in bold:

IN BRIEF

315 In the creation of the world and of man, God gave the first and universal witness to his almighty love and his wisdom, the first proclamation of the “plan of his loving goodness”, which finds its goal in the new creation in Christ.

316 Though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally a truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one, indivisible principle of creation.

317 God alone created the universe, freely, directly and without any help.

318 No creature has the infinite power necessary to “create” in the proper sense of the word, that is, to produce and give being to that which had in no way possessed it to call into existence “out of nothing”) (cf DS 3624).

319 God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty - this is the glory for which God created them.

320 God created the universe and keeps it in existence by his Word, the Son “upholding the universe by his word of power” (⇒ Heb 1:3), and by his Creator Spirit, the giver of life.

321 Divine providence consists of the dispositions by which God guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end.

322 Christ invites us to filial trust in the providence of our heavenly Father (cf ⇒ Mt 6:26-34), and St. Peter the apostle repeats: “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” (⇒ I Pt 5:7; cf. ⇒ Ps 55:23).

323 Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings God grants the ability to co-operate freely with his plans.

324 The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

 

[EasterJoy]

…The question is kind of bugging them to the point that they said that it kind of scares them and I just want to do something about it.

I once heard two PhD scientists (not physicists) having a very animated conversation about this. One guessed that the universe would keep expanding out forever and ever and eventually just be very large, chaotic, and cold. The other thought it would eventually contract again, thinking that the universe had a bang-expand-contract-bang future, something akin to breathing on a magnificent scale.

I was surprised that one of them seemed very bummed at the idea that the universe might not contract again. It turned out that this person was in fact a sort of a pantheist, such that the idea of a very large, chaotic, and cold universe seemed like a death of the universe and a death even of God. The idea that there could be life in a spiritual sense when the physical world was cold, chaotic and formless didn’t seem possible.

Assure your students that God is love and God is not going anywhere. Regardless of what happens to the physical universe, God can be trusted. Those who put their faith in God have nothing to fear.

 

[Jamma]

Thank you very much.

I would tell them that it is known that God created the universe and everything in it, although exactly how and when God did that is something that scientists guess about based on very educated guesses and very careful measurements of the state of the universe as we can know it right now. Obviously, that is … ., …and and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

 

[Jamma]

I once heard two PhD scientists (not physicists) having a very animated conversation about this. One guessed that the universe would keep expanding out forever and ever and eventually just be very large, chaotic, and cold. The other thought it would eventually contract again, thinking that the universe had a bang-expand-contract-bang future, something akin to breathing on a magnificent scale.
.

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The Big Freeze is a scenario under which continued expansion results in a universe that asymptotically approaches absolute zero temperature. It could, in the absence of dark energy, occur only under a flat or hyperbolic geometry. With a positive cosmological constant, it could also occur in a closed universe. In this scenario,stars are expected to form normally for 10^12to 10^14(1-100 trillion) years, but eventually the supply of gas needed for star formation will be exhausted. As existing stars run out of fuel and cease to shine, the universe will slowly and inexorably grow darker. Eventually black holes will dominate the universe, which themselves will disappear over time as they emit Hawking radiation.

---

The Big Bounce is a theorized scientific model related to the beginning of the known universe. It derives from the oscillatory universe or cyclic repetition interpretation of the Big Bang where the first cosmological event was the result of the collapse of a previous universe.According to one version of the Big Bang theory of cosmology, in the beginning the universe had infinite density. Such a description seems to be at odds with everything else in physics, and especially quantum mechanics and its uncertainty principle. It is not surprising, therefore, that quantum mechanics has given rise to an alternative version of the Big Bang theory. Also, if the universe is closed, this theory would predict that once this universe collapses it will spawn another universe in an event similar to the Big Bang after a universal singularity is reached or a repulsive quantum force causes re-expansion.In simple terms, this theory states that the universe will continuously repeat the cycle of a Big Bang, followed up with a Big Crunch.​

Understood?

 

[phillylawyer]

It has now been shown that there was not a “Big Bang.”

This is scientifically inaccurate.

 

[phillylawyer]

---

The Big Freeze is a scenario under which continued expansion results in a universe that asymptotically approaches absolute zero temperature. It could, in the absence of dark energy, occur only under a flat or hyperbolic geometry. With a positive cosmological constant, it could also occur in a closed universe. In this scenario,stars are expected to form normally for 10^12to 10^14(1-100 trillion) years, but eventually the supply of gas needed for star formation will be exhausted. As existing stars run out of fuel and cease to shine, the universe will slowly and inexorably grow darker. Eventually black holes will dominate the universe, which themselves will disappear over time as they emit Hawking radiation.

---

The Big Bounce is a theorized scientific model related to the beginning of the known universe. It derives from the oscillatory universe or cyclic repetition interpretation of the Big Bang where the first cosmological event was the result of the collapse of a previous universe.According to one version of the Big Bang theory of cosmology, in the beginning the universe had infinite density. Such a description seems to be at odds with everything else in physics, and especially quantum mechanics and its uncertainty principle. It is not surprising, therefore, that quantum mechanics has given rise to an alternative version of the Big Bang theory. Also, if the universe is closed, this theory would predict that once this universe collapses it will spawn another universe in an event similar to the Big Bang after a universal singularity is reached or a repulsive quantum force causes re-expansion.In simple terms, this theory states that the universe will continuously repeat the cycle of a Big Bang, followed up with a Big Crunch.​

Understood?

This was the general contour of the debate for a number of years. It was assumed that immediately after the big bang and as a result of the big bang, space and matter was expanding away from each other at fairly rapid velocity. However, the gravity due to all the mass in the universe was pulling matter closer together, thus slowing the rate of expansion.

The mathematical question that physicist were trying to resolve was the density of matter in the visible universe great enough (above a certain threshold) to slow and eventually stop the expansion of the universe so that the universe eventually came back and contracted in on itself (the Big Bounce) or was the density below that threshold so that the universe would continue expanding forever (the Big Freeze). this is analgous to whether a space shuttle is moving fast enough to escape Earth’s orbit or would eventually be brought back down to earth.

For many years, this was the assumed model of the universe, and physicists were studying the motion of galaxies and the night sky to try to figure out which of these endings would occur.

However, quite recently (within the last 10-20 years or so), physicists made a shocking discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe was not actually slowing, but it was increasing. What this means is that there must be some other as yet unknown force in the universe serving to push the universe apart at every faster speeds. The term for this force is “dark energy” (as Jamma briefly refers to). Really, dark energy is just a name or a placeholder for that phenomenon that we observe, and we don’t have any idea what it is or what causes it (although there are a number of hypotheses).

Sorry for the tangent. But, God’s creation is so awesome and always more amazing than we realize. I had to add on to Jamma’s excellent explanation.

 

[Yago]

This was the general contour of the debate for a number of years. It was assumed that immediately after the big bang and as a result of the big bang, space and matter was expanding away from each other at fairly rapid velocity. However, the gravity due to all the mass in the universe was pulling matter closer together, thus slowing the rate of expansion.

The mathematical question that physicist were trying to resolve was the density of matter in the visible universe great enough (above a certain threshold) to slow and eventually stop the expansion of the universe so that the universe eventually came back and contracted in on itself (the Big Bounce) or was the density below that threshold so that the universe would continue expanding forever (the Big Freeze). this is analgous to whether a space shuttle is moving fast enough to escape Earth’s orbit or would eventually be brought back down to earth.

For many years, this was the assumed model of the universe, and physicists were studying the motion of galaxies and the night sky to try to figure out which of these endings would occur.

However, quite recently (within the last 10-20 years or so), physicists made a shocking discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe was not actually slowing, but it was increasing. What this means is that there must be some other as yet unknown force in the universe serving to push the universe apart at every faster speeds. The term for this force is “dark energy” (as Jamma briefly refers to). Really, dark energy is just a name or a placeholder for that phenomenon that we observe, and we don’t have any idea what it is or what causes it (although there are a number of hypotheses).

Sorry for the tangent. But, God’s creation is so awesome and always more amazing than we realize. I had to add on to Jamma’s excellent explanation.

Jamma introduced me to this site. I will tell him that you like it.
And i would like to add, the shape of the universe plays an important role.

 

[phillylawyer]

Jamma introduced me to this site. I will tell him that you like it.
And i would like to add, the shape of the universe plays an important role.

This is an excellent point as well. We are still trying to determine if the curvature (Omega) of the universe is positive (in which case the universe is closed, like a sphere), negative (in which case the universe is open, like a saddle), or zero (in which case the universe is flat).

Based on current measurements, the universe appears to be flat, with only a .4 percent margin for error. What this means is that either the universe really is flat. Or, the curvature is slightly positive or slightly negative, but has such a small curvature that the total size of the universe is gigantic, much larger than the visible universe.

Minimum estimates of the circumference of the total universe (if it’s closed) are around around 1 trillion light years (one or two orders of magnitude larger than the observable universe - the farthest away in the universe we can see from earth).

Some estimates say that the universe may be much much bigger even than that. So big that the ratio of the observable universe to the total universe is approximately equivalent to the ratio of an atom to the observable universe. This would mean that those 46 billion light years into the universe we can see, may just be a infinitesimal small fraction of the total universe that exists. Basically, we don’t know. But, it’s pretty awesome!

 

[Yago]

This is an excellent point as well. We are still trying to determine if the curvature (Omega) of the universe is positive (in which case the universe is closed, like a sphere), negative (in which case the universe is open, like a saddle), or zero (in which case the universe is flat).

Based on current measurements, the universe appears to be flat, with only a .4 percent margin for error. What this means is that either the universe really is flat. Or, the curvature is slightly positive or slightly negative, but has such a small curvature that the total size of the universe is gigantic, much larger than the visible universe.

Minimum estimates of the circumference of the total universe (if it’s closed) are around around 1 trillion light years (one or two orders of magnitude larger than the observable universe - the farthest away in the universe we can see from earth).

Some estimates say that the universe may be much much bigger even than that. So big that the ratio of the observable universe to the total universe is approximately equivalent to the ratio of an atom to the observable universe. This would mean that those 46 billion light years into the universe we can see, may just be a infinitesimal small fraction of the total universe that exists. Basically, we don’t know. But, it’s pretty awesome!

The mysterious Trinity made a mysterious universe.