Creation: The Most Misunderstood Portion of Genesis
ECCLESIASTES 8:17
Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot
find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to
seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find
it.
As defined in the dictionary, human science is the study and interpretation of the experiences, activities, constructs, and artefacts associated with human beings. Normally used with the Letter “s,” the human sciences correspond to humanities and social sciences, but also include aspects of psychology and even mathematics.
Discussions
by Michael Dunn in The Human Sciences (2013), theoryofknowedge.net said many people do not consider human sciences as true science
because they rely on empirical observation to arrive at findings. In contrast,
the natural sciences, which are much ‘stricter’ in their use of observation,
are backed up by rational theorizing. Still they are just theories. And yet man
resorts to either in trying to understand the universe.
Therefore,
human sciences as well as natural sciences endeavoring at their best, lack
explanation in so many things that actually happen and exist. In faith and in the
Bible such unexplained thing is called mystery. This progress report, for
example, by Adam Hadhazy published in Popular Mechanics is about unsolved
mysteries of science.
Science's
8 Greatest Unsolved Mysteries: Progress Report by Adam Hadhazy
(Ref:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/sciences-greatest-unsolved-mysteries-progress-report#slide-1).
The questions include: 1) Will we find a cure for cancer? 2) Can we achieve immortality?
3) Can we create life? 4) Will we find the soul? 5) Are we alone? 6) Is light
the ultimate speed limit? 7) Can we travel through time? And 8) Will we find
other universes?
To
qualify, not everything in the Bible is considered a mystery. The Bible
contains information worded in simple words understandable even by the most
illiterate of humans. Honor and obey a father and a mother can be understood
even by a child.
EPHESIANS 6:1-2
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this
is right.
2 Honor thy father and mother; which is
the first commandment with promise;
To
do good to everybody can easily be understood by a person of good conscience.
GALATIANS 6:10
As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
But
how about having light, morning and evening the first day when the sun and the
moon were made on the fourth day? Can’t this be possible scientifically
speaking? Let us investigate within the pages of the "book" that
offers humanity the only credible and real scientific information on how the
universe came into existence!
GENESIS 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.
In
this verse, the only refuted word by unbelievers, especially the atheists, is
"God". Real science believes in beginnings. Real science believes
that there is an earth, a planet. Real science believes in the expanse that
envelopes the earth and other heavenly bodies they call "space" which
the Bible calls "heavens".
GENESIS 1:7-8
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.
To
a person well-versed on the manner of how the Bible was written, the first
verse which says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth" is easily understood as the heavens created ahead of the creation
of the earth. (The Bible speaks of first things first.) This will give us the
implication that the heavens or the universe in its entirety should be older
than the earth and this is amazingly scientific! To prove this idea let us read
verse 2.
GENESIS 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters.
While
verse 1 contains the information that the heavens and the earth were created,
we may notice that on verse 2, only the earth was mentioned to be formless and
void, meaning that the heavens were already formed at the time that the earth
was without form and void. No known and accepted knowledge in science refutes
this Biblical truth: that the earth is much younger than the universe that
contains it.
Most
scientists believe that the universe can be as old as 13 billion years while the
earth is 4 to 4.5 billion years old. But why can’t billions of years possibly
be the age of the universe when most religious apologists say that the earth is
only 6,000 years old?
The
most misunderstood portion of the account of creation is that the heavens and
the earth were created in six days, and for most of them were literal six
24-hour days, which is wrong!
The
counting of the "first day" must be noted to have commenced after the
creation of the heavens and the earth when light started to appear.
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
pronouncement, "Let there be light" does not mean that the existence
of light-emitting heavenly bodies like stars and nebulae will only begin at
that time. Remember that the heavens was created and formed already in verse 1.
From
logic, what is possible is that the process of nuclear fission in stars and
other heavenly light-emitting bodies started at the time when God said
"Let there be light." This is very much like when the starter of the
fluorescent lamp is activated!
One
important thing to consider is (in my mind but not in every mind), that the
first day mentioned, is the first day after the creation of the heavens and the
earth and not the first day on the planet earth! There are days in heaven which
are very much different from days on earth.
DEUTERONOMY 11:21
That your days may be
multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore
unto your fathers to give them, as the
days of heaven upon the earth.
This
explains the fact that only on the fourth day God caused the existence of two
great lights to light and to rule upon the earth, (Note that on earth only)
because scientifically speaking, our lights - the sun, and the moon – are very insignificant in relation to the
entire universe!
GENESIS 1:14-16
14 And God said, Let
there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the
night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be
for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it
was so.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars
also.
To
understand the scientificity of the account in Genesis we must take note of the
use of the word "made two great lights".
The word bârâ' (baw-raw), create, was used in verse 1, “In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth” while the word ‛âśâh (aw-saw), to make, was used in verse 16, “And God made
two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
rule the night: the stars also.”
“To
create” is to make something exist while “to make” is to produce something from
something that already exists. It is not only logical but scientific to say
that "God made two great lights" which biblically and scientifically means
that the sun and the moon were already in existence before God caused the sun
to emit light and the moon to reflect on earth.
This
Sub-topic3 falls under the general topic, “Possibilities and Impossibilities in
the Bible.”
More
to follow, God willing.
this is another of my test comments
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