The dictionary defines a singularity as a unique, distinct, or peculiar feature or thing. It could be used to describe an unusual event or something out of the ordinary; something that stands out as an unexpected, even illogical event. However, in the view of cosmologists, a cosmic singularity has a specific reference to the big bang. It is a condition or conditions where the laws of science would break down and a mathematical description would fail. In cosmology the singularity, or big bang, is the point at which space and time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces.

The concept of the big bang as the origin of the universe originated with the discovery in 1929 by Edwin Hubble of evidence for an expanding universe. Before this the popular belief was in a "steady state" universe. Hubble's research at the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles showed a red shift in the spectrum of distant stars which he interpreted as due to the Doppler effect.

The Doppler effect causes the stretching out of the wave motion of a receding source. The more distant the star is, the faster it appears to be receding from us. He reasoned that, if the universe is expanding, then it must have at some time in the past had a point of origin from which it was expanding. This point of origin must have had infinite mass and energy.

And so the idea of an expanding universe is almost universally accepted today in the world of cosmology. However, the big bang is not so acceptable among theologians since they feel that it leaves the Creator God out of the picture. They fail to realize that what existed before the big bang is beyond the realm of science because mathematics breaks down when it confronts infinity and zero time, and this is where God comes in. Also, no one knows how God created anything. All we are told is that, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1,2). In fact, there are Scriptures that suggest an expanding universe. Jeremiah 10:12, 15:15, Isaiah 42:5, 45:12, 48:13,40:23, Psalms 104:2 all refer to stretching or spreading out the heavens as a curtain or tent. As we probe the cosmos with the most powerful telescopes, we have been unable to find the edge; there are ever more distant objects awaiting our exploration.

There are many occurrences in biblical history of what we might call singularities. The molding of earth as a place for human habitation, the universal Noachian flood, the parting of the Red Sea, Joshua's long day, the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the beginning of the judgment in heaven, and the resurrection of the righteous could all be classified as unique singularities. However, the final destruction of planet earth and the subsequent recreation of a new heaven and a new earth could properly be called "a cosmic singularity."