For centuries, the battle has been raging between science and religion over the question of how man came into being. The two opposing forces have clashed countless times in history, with such violent conflicts as to result in bloodshed and death. Probably the most controversial issue debated by the two sides is the creation of everything in the universe, from stars and planets to plants and people. Christians use the Bible, specifically the book of Genesis, to support their belief of creation, while scientists support their ideas with observational data and mathematical calculations.
Although the Bible provides a credible explanation for the origin of Earth and its life forms, the scientific perspective of creation presents a thorough explanation of the beginnings of the Earth and man with more information and evidence. Using the book of Genesis as support, devout Christians believe that God is the creator of the universe. As it is plainly stated in the first verse of the Bible, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, (Genesis 1:1). God also created everything on the earth, including water, land, plants, and animals.
The first humans, Adam and Eve, were made by God in his own imagemale and female created he them, (Genesis 1:27). Even the concepts of day and night and seasons and years were of divine origin (Genesis 1:14). All of these objects and ideas were created in the course of six days, and all were formed by the work of God. On the other hand, believers in science take a completely different approach in explaining the origin of the universe. Although there is more than one theory, the most popular today is the concept of the big bang, in which an explosion sent debris through space that eventually formed the universe as it is now.
The earth, along with the other planets, was formed from the debris of the big bang, but only after billions of years did it look like it does today. Scientists believe life began as a single-cell life form hundreds of millions of years ago, and after millions of years evolved into the plants and animals of today. Humans did not come into existence until a few thousand years ago, evolving from an ape-like species. Of the two explanations, the scientific theory seems to have more evidence of being truth than does the religious theory.
First of all, the Bible is thought to be written by Moses (with divine inspiration), but nobody can prove this as his name is mentioned nowhere as the author. In addition, the Bible tells nothing of the expanse of the universe, or even of any other planets, but only mentions objects visible by the human eye, such as the sun, moon, and stars. Omitting those invisible objects suggests that the author had access to only the scope of human knowledge at the time. As the Bible leaves the unexplained to the handiwork of God, science tries to explain the unexplained.
Over many years, science has come up with evidence to support their theories of creation. For example, judging by the position and motion of stars in the sky, scientists have discovered that the universe is expanding, which could be the result the big bang sending matter outward through space. The motion of the stars also implies that the age of the universe is greater than that of the earth by several billions of years, while the Bible suggests that the two entities were created at the same time.
Furthermore, the discovery of fossils and bones underneath the earths surface present proof of early life forms especially dinosaurs, which are never mentioned in the book of Genesis and carbon-dating techniques confirm some of these bones to be millions of years old. Clearly, the scientific argument on the creation issue is backed by more concrete evidence than the writings of the Bible. Still, the presentation of scientific data does not necessarily imply truth; the Bible, although backed by the belief in its divine origin, can very well be the true account of creation.
Human nature, however, tends to believe more in concrete and visible objects. Science makes its explanation of creation more believable by supplying those objects, especially more recently with pictures taken by spacecraft of distant planets and galaxies. In the end, since nobody actually witnessed the creation of the universe (obviously), the true story can never be found, and the battle between religion and science will remain for future generations.