This is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 8th Edition (2008), by Dr. Walt Brown. It is designed to be read online.
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Expansion: Big Bang or Stretching?
|
|
Big Bang |
Stretching |
| The universe was once much smaller. It began soon after time began and before all the laws of physics came into operation.2 Energy and matter appeared out of nothing. |
Yes |
Yes |
| When did the expansion occur? |
Expansion has been going on ever since the big bang. |
Expansion occurred during the creation week. |
| Why is distant light redshifted? |
The more distant the light source, the greater the expansion rate. |
The light we see today from very distant objects shows the amount of stretching the light experienced. |
| Expansion began at almost a mathematical point. |
Yes3 |
No |
| Expansion energy came from within the universe. |
Yes |
No |
| The initial temperature and density of matter was |
nearly infinite |
finite |
| All expansion energy was expended |
within a tiny fraction (10-34) of a second |
as the expansion proceeded |
| Stars, galaxies, and black holes began forming |
after 500,000,000 years, in an expanded universe |
before the expansion |
The stretching explanation, proposed here, has similarities and differences with the big bang theory. Both the big bang and stretching explanations describe a very rapid expansion of the universe, beginning soon after time began, when not all laws of physics applied. As one big bang authority states:
In its standard form, the big bang theory maintains that the universe was born about 15 billion years ago from a cosmological singularity—a state in which the temperature and density are infinitely high. Of course, one cannot really speak in physical terms about these quantities as being infinite. One usually assumes that the current laws of physics did not apply [during the big bang’s rapid expansion]. ... One may wonder, What came before? If space-time did not exist then, how could everything appear from nothing? What arose first: the universe or the laws determining its evolution? Explaining this initial singularity—where and when it all began—still remains the most intractable problem of modern cosmology.2 [emphasis added]
The stretching explanation, in contrast to the standard big bang theory, does not begin with a singularity—an infinitesimal point.3 Nor does energy expended in stretching out the heavens come from within the universe or during its first trillionth of a trillionth of a ten-billionth of a second (10-34 second) or less, as with the big bang theory. Energy flowed into the universe as stretching progressed. According to the big bang theory, stars, galaxies, and black holes began forming after hundreds of millions of years. According to the stretching explanation, these bodies were formed (or began) near the beginning of time—during the creation week. Because matter and starlight occupy space, they were also stretched. You can decide which explanation the following surprising evidence supports.