In The Beginning

    The sequence of events believed to have happened by many of today’s scientists concerning the creation of the earth corresponds very closely with the description given by the Bible.

    "In the Beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Many leading scientists agree that a single event, some call the "Big Bang", set in motion the steps that led to the formation of the universe we observe today. The Hebrew word "bara", used here in the original Hebrew, means the same thing as the English word "create", which means to cause to exist or bring into being.

    "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep." Scientists now have evidence indicating, that the elements, composing our planet are formed during the violent death of stars. Star-dust compares favorably to the Bible's description of the early earth. It could have been star-dust, drifting through the universe as cosmic dust, without form and void. Many scientists also believe there was no visual light emitted in the early universe. The Bible also makes a very profound statement about that very thing, at this point, when it says "And darkness was on the face of the deep". This statement is very different from simply saying, "It was dark". I believe our scientific understanding of how light was trapped agrees very favorably with that statement. The timing corresponds favorably also.

    "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." This is a very brief description of God's supernatural intervention, to identify vastly scattered sources of water and causing those sources, through gravity, to start clumping together, congealing into the shape of a sphere. As spheres were formed from this cosmic dust all types of materials were trapped within these spheres. Some of the elements trapped had been created and then scattered about by exploding stars. After the earth took shape, some scientists believe the earth's mass grew larger, as enormous showers of meteors, containing around 5% water showered it's surface. They also believe during this period of the earth's development, that its surface cooled from around 6000 degrees to 200 degrees, allowing water to collect on the surface as a liquid. However, there are no good scientific explanations for why the earth has way more than its share of water, compared to other planets. I believe the phrase, "Moving on the face of the waters" was the bible's way of saying that this was a supernatural happening, outside the normal operating laws God established to control this natural cosmos. God directed the formation of the earth's environment, by natural means, and some interventions of the supernatural. I believe that the arrival of water on the planet in the correct proportion was the result of one of his supernatural actions. First, He identified (the face of waters) sources of water and then caused (God moved) them to come together on the planet.

    "Then God said let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night." I believe this describes the instant that the density of the cosmos decreased enough, as it expanded outward, to allow light to shine forth. As the cosmic dust which formed earth became more compressed into the shape of a sphere, that dust cloud began to spin as it entered an orbit around the sun. The earth became more solid as it fell closer and closer to its present orbital position around the sun. Initially this orbit was very unsteady. The sun was formed much earlier, from a much larger mass of matter. That mass was large enough to have created sufficient force to set off an atomic chain reaction at its core. Light from the sun's nuclear reaction grew brighter, as the earth came closer. Darkness would have been divided from light as the earth began to spin. This would have been the beginning of light and dark periods on the earth. However, the earth would not have been in the stable orbit that exists today, and would not have been tilted on its axis as it is today. Most scientists believe this trimming of the earth's movements around the sun was the ultimate result of the moon colliding with the earth. Without that happening in just the precise way it happened, there would have been no possibility of life existing on earth.

    "So the evening and the morning were the first day." The Bible makes it perfectly clear that God's measurement of time is not like our measurement of time. (Psalms 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8) Moses wrote the Genesis. Many also believe that he wrote the 90th Psalm. In verse 4 he mentions the relativity of time. At this point in the creation we must realize that I have mentioned events necessary for the existence of life, which far exceed the laws of probability. Those laws state that it would have been impossible for things to occur as they have occurred by only natural means. Keep in mind, however, that all things are possible with God. Job came to the realization that God can do anything and we must come to that same conclusion, if we are to grow in understanding of even the natural much less the supernatural. Since there was no man around to witness the events which I am discussing here, there can only be theories on the length of time it took for the events, described here, to take place. Keep in mind, however, that the cosmos was much denser at the beginning of its expansion outward. We know now that time slows down as velocity or density increases. This recently learned scientific fact simply means that one of our days now could have been have been billions of years back during that first day of creation. I believe it is foolish for Christians to argue about the length of those days in the Genesis especially since we know about the relativity of time.

    "And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 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." And God called the firmament heaven." I believe these verses are briefly describing the formation of what scientists call a "water world". Here water began to condense into liquid, from a vapor state, as the earth cooled. I also believe the event being described here is being described in the only way the ancients would have been able to understand. (Remember, the bible is a book written for all generations) Scientists believe the initial temperature of the earth's surface was around six thousand degrees. At those temperatures, although atmospheric pressure was much greater at this stage of the earth's formation, all water would have been in a vapor state. As the earth cooled sufficiently, scientists believe the enormous quantities of water vapor, suspended in the atmosphere, rained down for millions of years to produce an ocean that covered the entire globe. They also believe that island land masses, formed by volcanic eruptions were too unstable to form lasting land masses because they could not withstand the eroding forces of the earth's extreme global weather patterns at that time. At this stage of the earth's development, there would have been a separating of water vapor above, from the liquid water covering the entire planet below, just as the Bible describes. As I have said, there would not have been any stable solid land masses.

    "So the evening and the morning where the second day."

    "Then God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good." Scientists believe that volcanic activity mixing with the liquid sea of water, which covered the planet, formed a much stronger, but lighter rock, called granite. This granite rock became the building block of the continents, because it was able to withstand the erosion factors created by the terribly violent weather on the earth's surface. As more and more granite was produced, the continents grew in size. Granite is being formed this very same way today, under the ocean, off the coast of Hawaii, where volcanic activity is taking place. Granite rock is the building block, which forms continents and it happened at this very stage in earth’s formation, just as the Bible says.

    "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day”. Notice that the writer did not say that God created the grass. Instead, he said, "God said let the earth bring forth grass". This is a very profound statement. It is a command that not only causes the genesis of life, but also gives life, itself, power to regenerate. This is an ordered process commanded and ordered by God, which could look a lot like accidental evolution to a carnal observer, considering only his own natural explanation for the genesis of life through the five senses and rejecting anything which he cannot see, touch, smell, taste or hear. However, to an objective observer, statistically speaking, the only rational hypothesis to be made is for intelligent design. Science says plants came before animals, and that is exactly what the Bible is saying here. Plants came before animals.

    "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” Astonishingly, the writer mentions animal life beginning in the ocean, which is exactly what most scientists believe.

    “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” This very short summation of the genesis of animal life states very clearly, that God brings all life into being. The writer uses the Hebrew word “bara” for “create”. Ordered events like the formation of life have not one example that has happened accidentally. The scientific process cannot prove that the God of the Bible created life, but it also has not one documented observation showing life accidentally creating itself.

    The universally accepted definition of the scientific method is as follows. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses. These experimental studies must be repeatable in order to predict dependably any future results. By the use of this process, there has not been a single experimental study performed, which will support the theory of random design. However, there are untold numbers of observations, which support the theory of intelligent design. Never mind how life changes as it responds to the environment around it. The real question is how did it get here in the first place? all experimental study of science says that order comes only from order. There is not one single scientific explanation, to support a theory of order, coming from chaos. So, the scientific method leaves much more room, by far, for a theory of the God of the Bible being the creator of life than it does for life just happening by accident.

    "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.” Here, again, the unbiased mind can see the truth of the Bible as it describes the completion of the sequence of the creation of plants and animals. Plants came first by God’s command, long before the earth and moon came to rest in their present positions. Then animals in the water were then commanded into existence. Finally, God commanded land animals to come into existence. This sequence of creative events lines up with what nearly all scientists believe today. What are the chances, that an ancient writer would get this sequence of events right? It would have been impossible, if these writings were not dictated by some power with far greater abilities than ours. Show me another ancient account, other than the Bible, that describes any ancient event in such detail, with such accuracy. I do not know of one such writing, myself.

    “So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” The writer uses the Hebrew word "bara" meaning “create” here when he describes the genesis of mankind.

    Again I say that it is foolish to argue about the events mentioned in the Genesis concerning the creation. However, as our knowledge grows, it does seem to verify more and more of the statements made in the bible.

 

Wayne Wade 12-17-11