What are people's theories on the the origin of the universe?

Question

I am an open-minded Christian who believes God created the heavens and the earth, but I was wondering what theories are out there, being the science geek that I am. :)

Answer 1

The only real accepted scientific theory is the Big Bang Theory.

Understand that in science, a "theory" is not an everyday theory. A scientific theory is not a guess, but a conceptual framework which explains observed phenomena and is supported by significant evidence. Thus, the Big Bang isn't just something someone thought up. It was derived from mathematical equations which describe movement of objects in the universe.

Basically, what the big bang says is that a long time ago, between 10-20 billion years ago, the entire universe was concentrated in an infinitely small point. this exploded, shooting out matter, and formed the beginning of the universe.

The reason why this theory comes about is from the observation that the universe is expanding with time. Well, logically, if we go back in time, the universe is shrinking as we go back in time. Eventually it will be so small that it will become almost nothing.
We have tangible evidence to support the big bang theory. In 1965, cosmic background radiation left behind from the big bang was detected using radio telescopes. (later on, the two dudes who discovered it won the Nobel prize.)

The other main theory of the universe is the steady state theory. This says that the universe was always there, as the way it is now, and always will be (reminds me of Slaughterhouse Five if you've read it), and that the universe has no beginning and no end. It's explanation of why the universe is expanding is that new matter is constantly being created. Back in teh 1950's and 1960's when we had no real evidence to support anything, this was fairly popular. However, with the discovery of hte background radiation, it was dealt a fatal blow.

Answer 2

Good for you for being so open minded!

Of course, the current working scientific theory is that of the "Big Bang" (theory meant in the scientific sense, as in the theory of gravitation, the theory of evolution, the theory of relativity, and number theory, all of which are proven beyond any reasonable doubt).

I'm curious if you mean theories in the mystical sense, meaning, "where did that first singularity come from?" If so, I'm afraid there is no scientific explanation. At least for now, that remains in the realm of the supernatural.

(by the way, you've got some great answers so far to this question! Kudo's to the two previous answers.)

Answer 3

There are two widely accepted models about the creation of the universe. Iwill discuss both of them in detail.
The first model and accepted by most of the people of the world is Big Bang model.
It says that before the big bang all the mass and energy was concentrated within a small, incredibly tiny ball. There was no time and space. Then suddenly there was a bang, a big bang. Despite of its successes, this model is unable to explain many problems. e.g. it says that the universe evolved from nothingness to somethingness. I don't believe in nothingness. Was there really nothing before the big bang? So when did big bang happened? Because time evolved from big bang we would say that it happened at the start, but when? If there was nothing(no space, no time, no matter or energy), how could we say that there was a tiny ball? Because there was no space, how could we say that there was a sphere? Because there was no time, how could we say that there existed a ball before big bang?
There is another successful model. It is called the brane-world model. It is derived from the calculations of superstring theory and M-Theory. It says that our universe is consisted of 11 dimensions(10 Space dimensions and 1 time dimension). It says that there are many membranes(in short Branes or Dp-Branes or D-Branes), which have dimensions. We live on a 4-dimensional membrane or 4-Brane for short & all the matter and energy we see, even ourselves are tied on this particular brane. We can't see anything out of this brane. We can't go outside it. Our four dimensional universe (that we say and see) is entirely restricted to this brane inside a higher dimensional space, called bulk. Only thing which can leave our brane is a graviton(force-mediator particle of gravity). So, in the near future we would have constructed gravity phones which will use gravitons to communicate with the aliens living on another brane. There are problems with this model also but less in comparision to the big bang model. Its successes in describing our universe are also less in comparision with the Big Bang model.

Answer 4

Wowee! KZ's answer ranks in the 99th percentile for quality and clarity among answers on Yahoo!Answers. Thanks, KZ!

There is so much BS on this service, and only maybe ten percent of the answers people post on here are even vaguely related to reality.

The only thing I would add is that there is nothing in the Big Bang doctrine in any way necessarily contradicts belief in God or the notion that God made the heavens and the earth. Belief in God is a completely different part of the world of thought, and if you want to think freely and in a healthy way, you can reconcile the two easily.

Good luck. Peace...

Answer 5

The Big Bang

Answer 6

it has allways been in the way that god had to be here before his creations or that he knew us before we were born. the begeining the middle and the end all existing simultainiously.we only complicate things by looking to closly.

Answer 7

steady state theory
brane cosmology

Answer 8

big bang theory...