When My Daughter Learned About the Universe

This year we’re homeschooling. We’re doing it together with a friend and her daughter.

I was in the office the other day when my friend texted: “Science book is going into creation of the universe being from Big Bang theory. Wasn’t sure if I should continue?”

“Yes, please!” I replied, pleasantly surprised that our Christian curriculum included material on this topic.

A few minutes later, she wrote, “Kids have lots of questions about the Big Bang! I think you could answer them better than me so I just told them to chat with you later about it. But I read to them what the book said.”

As I was making my 9-year-old daughter Lucy a snack that afternoon, I casually asked her what she had learned about the Big Bang. She looked at the floor. “Scientists say a big explosion started the universe. But that can’t be right, because we know God made the universe. That’s what the Bible says. I don’t have to believe that, do I?”

“Well, no…” I paused, trying to figure out which way to take this conversation. “You don’t have to believe in the Big Bang, but can I tell you what I think? There’s actually a lot of evidence for that big explosion, and I think that’s how God started everything.”

“But the book didn’t say anything about God. It isn’t a Christian book,” Lucy countered.

“It’s OK that it didn’t mention God,” I said. “It’s a science book. Science simply explains how things work in the world God has made. Let’s think about another example. You believe God made Teddy [our dog], right?” “Yes,” she said. Teddy is the subject of many of our family conversations.

“Me too. God made Teddy. But Teddy was born in a natural way, with dog parents. We could talk scientifically about how puppies are born, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t involved. I think it’s the same for the universe. God is the creator of everything, but it seems he got everything started with a big explosion.”

“Oh. Ok. Can I go watch a show now?”

And just like that, our conversation was done. There is so much more I want to share with her, like that Georges Lemaître, sometimes called the Father of the Big Bang, was a devout follower of Christ. For now, though, I think it’s a Christian parenting win if she gets two messages—First, scientific explanations and God explanations aren’t in competition. Science is simply a way of describing God’s world. Second, books (or music or movies) that don’t explicitly mention God aren’t necessarily anti-Christian. Since every square inch of creation belongs to God, we can see his fingerprints in everything that brings him glory. The study of our universe’s beginnings definitely does that!

I followed up with my friend later and shared how the conversation with Lucy had gone. I also apologized for having her teach about something she wasn’t comfortable with. It would have been better to have a conversation first to see how we should approach this topic. She acknowledged she had been uncomfortable, but it prompted her to look into the topic further. She replied:

I actually did some research of my own on this last night. Many articles from BioLogos popped up! It was quite fascinating. I don’t have much experience with doing my own study of the Big Bang or evolution. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, and my first Christian community was at college. Students talked all the time about “hot topics” like these. I was a fly on the wall for these conversations and gained my understanding from what I overheard. The conclusion about the Big Bang and evolution was always the same, that it absolutely couldn’t be true. I never heard anyone speak about the science of it. The more I heard, the more I accepted it as truth. I never had anyone telling me otherwise. I also knew that the Big Bang and evolution were what non-Christians believed in. It therefore felt very black and white. However some research last night showed me that is not the case. Definitely something I’d like to look into more!