Creation Flashcards
What do Christians believe about creation?
- The Bible says that the world was created in 6 days and God rested on the 7th
- God made the world and everything in it; including human beings
What do Christians believe about creation? (Adam+Eve)
- In the second creation story it shows that Adam was created from dust; God breathed life into him (created before animals)
- He was placed into the garden of Eden
- Eve was created as a partner for him from his rib
What does the creation story teach Christians?
- It teaches them that God is responsible for us and everything that exists
- The world, and everything God created is good
- Humans are a special part of creation
How do Literal Christians View the creation story?
- Bible is the literal word of God
- If the Bible says it took 6 days then it did
- If science says something different science is wrong
- No reason to doubt the story as God is omnipotent
How do Non-Literal Christians View the Creation Story?
- The story is not literally true, it explains God is the reason for the world
- Science explains how, religion explains why
- Science is a gift from God, he wouldn’t give us false knowledge to confuse us
CHRISTIANITY - SOURCES OF WISDOM FOR CREATION
“so God created mankind in his own image.” - GENESIS 1:27
” let there be light.” - GENESIS 1:14-19
“and God saw that it was good.” - GENESIS 1:31
What do Muslims believe about creation?
- There is no explicit creation story in the Qur’an
- Allah created the Earth and everything in it
- He created the heavens and the Earth over six long periods
- No chronological account of creation, or detailed explanation
- Some verses make references to the nature and origin or the universe
- Qur’an 7:54
- Qur’an 36:81
- Qur’an 21:30
- Adam was made form clay and God breathed life into him
ISLAM - SOURCES OF WISDOM ON CREATION
“and indeed we created the heavens and the Earth and what is between them in six days.” - QUR’AN 50:38
ISLAM - SOURCE OF WISDOM ON POWER OF ALLAH
“if Allah decrees a matter, he says ‘be’ and it is.” - QUR’AN 2:117
“we constructed the universe with power and we are expanding it.” - QUR’AN 41:57
The Big Bang Theory
- The study of cosmology
- 1965 - a scientist discovered that the world began around 15 billion years ago
- It began with an explosion, due to the expansion and contraction of the atmosphere
- Stephen Hawking showed the universe began from a “singularity”, a point that expanded
- Supported as the universe is still expanding
Charles Darwin - The Theory of Evolution
- 1859
- We are the result of millions of years of genetic mutations
- Creatures evolved over millions of years
- Developed to survive their surroundings
- This being known as the “survival of the fittest”
- Humans evolved from apes
Is religion and science compatible? - LITERAL CHRISTIANS
NO
- They find it hard to accept the theory of evolution as God created humans as a special part of creation
- The Bible is the literal word of God so there is no room for science
Is religion and science compatible? - LIBERAL/NON-LITERAL CHRISTIANS
- They tend to agree that life came about through evolution
- However they believe that:
- God directly intervened in this process
- Evolution is the natural process but God set these laws down before the universe existed
Is religion and science compatible? - ISLAM
- The Qur’an makes specific reference to Adam’s creation, therefore many will refuse to accept the idea of human evolution
- they will often accept other forms of evolution
- Some see no problem in accepting evolution as the Qur’an does not give much detail
- Science cannot disprove God’s existence
Are religious views on creation out of date? - NO
- Science cannot prove their theories, so they could be wrong
- The Bible and Qur’an explain the idea that God is responsible for the world
- Many still use and tell the Bible and Qur’an stories so they can’t be out of date
