Dannyboy: Genesis
Submitted by Derek on October 06 2000 01:41:11
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Let me see if I can walk through the beginning of Genesis and parallel it to the Big Bang theory.. 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was [1] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The first thing that happened after the Big Bang was that there was matter and time. Matter was formless at first, probably a big cloud of rapidly expanding, burning and fusioning, dust. Eventually planets formed. A distinction between the heavens and the Earth. However, there was not much else. Still dust everywhere, just barely the form of a planet. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Dust settled in to a star, the Sun. Keep in mind that the entire story in Genesis takes place from the vantage point of Earth, which is in the process of formation, so some of these descriptions may seem like an awkward way to describe the Big Bang, but it does seem to make sense... 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. There was still tons of dust in the air, diffusing the sunlight all over the place. Slowly, the dust settles, enough that there's a definite difference between the light and the dark, the day and the night. Now, this day... evening and morning. Although I don't know for sure, I'm going to guess that perhaps this was longer than 24 hours. In this formative setting, there's no reason the Earth and Sun must be moving such that a day was 24 hours long. It could easily have been several million years or more, as we measure time today. I'm not an astronomer, so I might be wrong about this possibility (I haven't done the math), but this is one scenario that could be true, I think. 6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. Here a bit of knowledge of ancient beliefs needs to be addressed. The original language word translated here as "expanse" (also translated as firmament, I think in the KJV) was originally thought to be a hard, transparent plate of some sort that held the sky (thought to be water) above the earth and air and oceans. Given that this text was written by people around 2000 BC (I think), you have to remember that it had to be understandable to them at the time. Knowing what we now know about the nature of the sky (it's blue color, the fact that rain falls from it occasionally), we can interpret this slighting differently. The expanse is actually an atmosphere. God caused a separation (condensation) of the water so that oceans were formed below, but some water was kept above, in the atmosphere... clouds, etc. 9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. At first there was so much water that it covered all the land. Eventually things settled down and dry land appeared. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. Once there's land, and light, it's obvious that we'll get some vegetation. Here it is. Obviously this was a complicated genetic process, but nothing's too difficult for God, we know that. I'm still not sure if these are exactly 24 hour days, but I'd guess that by now the days are close to being what we understand to be days now. Dunno for sure. 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day. So now the dust has settled enough that not only do we have light and dark, but we can actually see the sources of the light clearly. There's the sun and the moon, one much brighter than the other... and then we see thousands upon millions of other little lights, other stars way out there... By this "day" we see clearly that the seasons, years, days, etc. as we know them are being established. With a clear view of the sun and the moon, I believe that the days that Genesis speaks of are undoubtedly defined by an apparent rotation of the sun around the Earth (remember, we're looking at this all from the perspective of Earth). 20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. Vegetation, now animals too. Makes sense. Biology tells us that plants were around before animals: it was the oxygen produced by the plants that made animal life possible. 24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Eventually the animals moved from the water out on to the land. This is consistent with biological/historical beliefs. "According to their kinds" is interesting. I'm not sure what the significance of that is, but it's definitely interesting. Possibly this is to show that God created each species individually and intentionally; it was not the case that there was one original life form and all evolved from it. Dunno... just a thought. Notice also the repetition: this is common in writing of the time period. Key points (or every point, in some cases) are stated twice, with slightly varying wording. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [2] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [2] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. There you have it. I don't think anyone doubts that humans were present on Earth after animals were around. And all this work was leading up to this one point. God had the entire thing planned out from the beginning. Even to this day, every bit of life, every one of us, was planned out to even the smallest detail... the number of hairs on your head, your personality, your desires... And God said it was very good. Not just good, like the heavens and the earth and the light and the plants and the animals, but *very* good. God's love for us is incredible. I can't help but remember what someone (can't remember who!) said in relation to the fact that we were created in God's image: Today, the closest we have to the form of Adam, which is the closest form to God, is the form of a beautiful, pure, innocent boy. I'm not sure how far the comparison should be drawn, but if you want to get an idea of what God looks like, find the most perfect, beautiful boy you can, and multiply that beauty be a bazzilion. :) Wow... :) Take that charming, delighful, perfect personality, and multiply it by the same factor. :) God is amazing, no? :) -- Derek |
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