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Is the Big Slurp a Clue to the End Times?
Biblical teaching on the eschaton–– the end times–– features a complete restoration of the created universe. This conflicts with the most common ideas about the fate of the universe, such as the Big Crunch or the Big Freeze. But three recent science articles are causing a rethink of this fate, and the new idea some call The Big Slurp, may support the idea of a sudden ending and a new beginning of creation.
The traditional teachings about the “new heavens and the new earth” in Christian eschatology challenge anyone seeking answers through the “two books.” Those two books are the Word of God contained in the Bible and the book of nature. This idea of seeking truth from these two sources dates far back, at least to St. Augustine. He chided believers when they said the Bible taught things contradictory to what is known from studies of nature. In Book 11, Chapter 28 of his book The Literal Meaning of Genesis, he wrote:
“It is a disgrace and dangerous for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talking nonsense on scientific topics, claiming it’s based on Scripture. If they find the Christian mistaken in something they know about from reason and evidence, how will they trust the Bible on matters of salvation?”
That very common sense response seems lost on many Christian hyper-literalists, most notoriously those called Young Earth…
