Understanding Genesis.

Scientific investigation has repeatedly uncovered evidence of an ancient earth. The young earth creationists claim the evidence is being misrepresented but their view is not supported by mainstream science. Some believers perceive this as a conflict between their faith and science. Many erroneously think there are only two choices: people can hold to the “literal” interpretation of Genesis and a young earth creation date, while rejecting science, or accept the evidence of an ancient earth as proof and reduce Genesis to a collection of myths and legends.

But another very logical option exists. Genesis can be read literally, while the evidence of an ancient earth will actually support this view. Let's read Genesis again more carefully...

Day 1

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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. And 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. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen 1:1-5).

Before the big bang nothing of our universe existed — not even time or space. It truly was in the beginning when God caused the universe to explode out of nothing. One of the laws of physics is the law of causality which, paraphrased, says that an effect can not be part of its cause. Translation: nothing cannot produce something, any way you look at it, unless acted on by an outside force — in this case — God. Space, time, matter, and energy spread out like a curtain at God's command. In the big bang model of creation, it is expected that photons would have been the first recognizable particles of matter to form. A photon is a particle of light. Imagine that! Many billions of years pass with stars forming and collecting into swirling galaxies. In the next verse (1:2) Genesis tells us that the Spirit of God was hovering over creation, organizing and enlivening everything. The newly forming sun condenses until the nuclear furnace ignites and light fills the solar system. This was +14 billion to 5 billion years ago.

Day 2

“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. And the evening and the morning were the second day” (Gen 1:6-8).

God, using the laws of nature that He designed, molded the planets of our solar system out of elements of the cosmos — the leftovers of the gas cloud that formed our sun. This swirling cloud clumped and condensed into the individual planets. Day 2 expresses the work of God in forming and shaping one of these. The core of the gaseous ball that was to become the earth begins to cool until it solidifies. This distinctly separates the “waters” (gases) of the intergalactic space from the “waters” (superheated gases) of the young earth, 5 billion to 4 billion years ago.

Day 3

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto 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. 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” (Gen 1:9-13).

The earth continues to cool, steam condenses into a shallow sea over the earth. With time dry ground rises above the oceans, due to plate movement and volcanic activity. A heavy cloud of water vapor and carbon dioxide envelops the earth. Life appears in the fossil records of the very earliest rocks that formed, 4 billion to 1.5 billion years ago.

Day 4

“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: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Gen 1:14-19).

A casual reading of Genesis suggests that the Sun, Moon and stars were made on day four. Taking all of Scripture into account we see that these existed long before. But scripture records creation from the perspective of an earthbound observer. This observer would see the earth was enveloped in a heavy cloud of volcanic gases, steam and carbon dioxide. The light of the sun was visible — but not the sun or the stars — until the cloud enlivening the earth started to clear. As volcanic gases and ash settle, single-celled life forms in the ocean, including blue-green algae, are at work cleansing the atmosphere and enriching it with oxygen, making air-breathing life possible. The sky with the sun and its stars now became visible — 1.5 billion to 700 million years ago, or on the “fourth day” of Genesis.

Day 5

“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. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, 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” (Gen 1:20-23).

During “day five” we see the filling of the seas and the skies with new creatures. About 570 million years ago the single biggest period of creation takes place, which scientists call the “Cambrian explosion.” Creatures with hard-shelled bodies like trilobites and shellfish were created, creatures with skeletons such as fish spread throughout the ocean depths. Soon after, the Earth sees the first creatures appearing on land, apparently brought forth by the sea: amphibians, reptiles, and insects. Another great explosion of life begins 225 million years ago as dinosaurs appear and they dominate for 160 million years.

Note that the KJV translates the Hebrew tanniyn as whale. The translation used in the NIV is creature but it also means a marine or land monster i.e. a sea serpent or dragon. The NASB translates it sea monster as does the RSV and Darby versions. Young’s Literal translation translates it simply as monster. The KJV uses dragon many times in the Old Testament. The dragons are not dinosaurs, as they were extinct millions of years before man was created. The dragons are probably crocodiles with an occasional hippopotamus, but they are not dinosaurs. The same Hebrew word is translated dragon and whale, but Genesis 1:21 calls dinosaurs gadowl tanniyn or great monster.

Late in this “day” birds begin to fill the skies above the heads of the dinosaurs. — 700 million to 65 million years ago.

Day 6

“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 creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 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 every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day (Gen 1:24-31)… And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7).

“Day six” begins as the dinosaurs become extinct. 65 million years ago, mammals begin to rule the earth with the appearance of the grazing animals and wild beasts. True Man appears last with the creation of Adam and Eve. — 65 million to about 10,000 years ago.

What about prehistoric men? They are included with the beasts of the earth — just as monkeys and apes are beasts. No matter how similar to us they were, they did not possess a human soul. The human soul, created in the image of God, is that invisible part of man that is endowed with intelligence, creativity, conscience and the desire to be in communion with its Creator. More on this later.

            It is the book of Genesis which reveals to us that God calls the Earth to a synergy, to a creativity that is indicative of the God-given internal creative abilities of the Earth. Different stages in the history of Creation open with God’s call upon “earth.” The world, being called to growth and development, acts in cooperation with God. This theme of cooperation of God and His creation appears in the Bible long before the creation of man. The fact that the earth in response to the Word is producing life indicates that it is not merely a lifeless substance, out of which an external action is “molding life,” overcoming inert matter. The Bible is unlike the Vedanta, and matter in it is not a synonym of death and non-being.

            This is how St. Basil describes this creative response in his Homily V: “See how, at this short word, at this brief command, the cold and sterile earth travailed and hastened to bring forth its fruit, as it casts away its sad and dismal covering to clothe itself in a more brilliant robe, proud of its proper adornment and displaying the infinite variety of plants.”

Day 7

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because on that day he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Gen 2:1-3).

We are now in “day seven” — the day of rest. Nothing new has been created since man appeared. During this last “day” the history of mankind unfolds. This is indeed a very long period — certainly much longer than the 24-hour period of the young-earth creationists!