I am 32, old enough to remember being told to refute the Big Bang as untrue by my parents and the religion they brought me up in.
it was a big decision for me even as a teen, I knew I was choosing a side, I remember my physics teacher laughing and mocking me and the other JW for denying the Big Bang. Our parents arranged that in our exams we were allowed to answer questions on the big bang in a unique manner:
"scientists claim......... but as a JW I do not subscribe to this belief."
I remember countless Sunday talks mocking the idea of a Big Bang, of course they were laced in ignorance of the theory, with no effort to look at the evidence, but it was said without hesitation. Genesis and the bible clearly describes the formation of the universe, yet the Big Bang explanation gave another, very different explanation, not divine at all. When mapped on computers about ten years ago, the Big Bang model mapped the universe as we find it.
For years now in Europe, at the large hadron collider they replicate the first millionth of a second of the Big Bang, the boundary of sciences knowledge has come that far in the years since my youth. Yet still no budge from the JWs, yet there was evidence for the Big Bang even back then......
and now..... now they have mapped the radiation of the Big Bang confirming once and for all that I was indeed on the wrong side of the fence, I was taught untruth and lied to.
The Big Bang has been proven true and the silence speaks volumes.......
Planck telescope maps light of the big bang scattered across the universe
Most detailed ever chart of cosmic microwave background confirms remarkable accuracy of current cosmological models
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/mar/21/planck-telescope-light-big-bang-universe
No doubt this evidence will be ignored as angry atheist rhetoric or some odd intepretation of the bible will be presented. Either way, the Big Bang model is a done deal.
This was a huge and significant news story for me, I dont think I could ignore it if I still clung on to the words in those ancient scrolls, proven untrue AGAIN. I would have to contend with huge questions..."How could the creator NOT know how the universe was formed? "Or is the bible that flawed?
Every huge piece of evidence confirming my decisions regarding the side of the fence I now stand, not only brings great reassurance but frustration too. It is clear that evidence was clearly not part of the decisions my parents made in what they taught me or what the elders spouted in those Sunday talks. Evidence is irrelevant to the people that will go down with the ship,their children in tow, adamant to stand by beliefs that they have chosen.
Where are the Christians saying ....."Wow!" or "We were wrong" or "I need to explore my beliefs and reassess!".....???
Its too much to expect "Sorry" I know.
Many believers think atheists come across as angry and frustrated. After you have finished making the bible fit the scientific Big Bang model, maybe take a few minutes out to consider all of this again.
Maybe take a trip to the museum and check out some of the other evidence for things science claims to be true.... Maybe it isn't all a conspiracy against your beliefs
snare