The Big Bang cosmology, despite being popular within the general scientific community, and the fact that a catholic priest developed it, is still unbiblical. It is ultimately based on the presumption of absolute naturalism, which at its core is a fundamentally atheistic philosophical position. The one positive thing it did was get the idea of a beginning part of the official cosmology. Even today, atheists in the scientific community seek to find ways around the idea of a beginning, despite the clear evidence of one that has always existed based on the second law of thermodynamics. So, what clues can we actually get from the Bible about cosmology?
It had a definite beginning.
Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
But the Big Bang agrees with this, you may say. While this is true, what the Bible says from here disagrees with what is described in the Big Bang cosmology. However, the first verse of the Bible clearly indicates that God created both heaven and the Earth, with the Earth in some form being created. The Big Bang has it the other way around, with most of the stars being older than the Earth.
We are near the center of the universe.
Genesis 1:6-8
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
The significance of these verses will be discussed in later sections, but contrary to the claims of some, this does not speak of a dome or any similar kind of solid structure. It simply refers to space itself. This is further supported by the fact that God calls the firmament heaven, and then later on, He places the sun, moon, and stars there.
The description does, however, suggest that we are near the center of all of this. Now this is not geocentrism, because it does not mean that everything is revolving around the Earth, but rather it is just a reference to the Earth's physical location. By the way, this is fully consistent with observation. It is purely a philosophical presupposition that says otherwise, and this philosophical presupposition is essentially atheistic.
There should be light coming from all directions with no specific source.
Genesis 1:3-5
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
The fact that God is described as separating the light from the darkness indicates that the light he created was coming from all directions and that he somehow had to block off some of it to create a day-night cycle.
We actually observe just such a light in the form of the cosmic background radiation, which has been redshifted to microwaves. However, there is no observed source to these microwaves; they simply come from every direction and are amazingly smooth.
The universe should have expanded.
Besides the fact that the description of God separating the waters requires an expansion of the universe, there are three verses that specifically speak of God stretching out the heavens.
Isaiah 40:22 - It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isaiah 44:24 - Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Zechariah 12:1 - The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
These verses were confirmed by the detection of galactic redshifts, as well as the huge redshift of the cosmic background radiation. Today, even secular cosmology recognizes that the universe is indeed expanding.
Space should have structure
Genesis 1:8 - And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:17 - And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
The fact that God calls the firmament Heaven, and that is where God places the sun, moon, and stars suggests that space itself would have structure to it. What is interesting is that General Relativity indicates that space itself has structure.
A significant amount of water is in the universe and beyond its edge.
Genesis 1:6-8
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
This is the Only one that cannot be directly tested; however, it is a fact that water is a very abundant molecule in the universe. However, one way that this water beyond the edge of the universe could be detected is that in a bounded universe, it would have an effect on the gravity between the center and the edge. This means that, if you had about twice as much water around the universe as the mass of the rest of the universe, you would get a slight blue shift, which would be equivalent to what is interpreted as an accelerating expansion. Consequently, even the one prediction we get from this idea has been confirmed.
