One of the few times that Einstein was embarassed was when he was bested in 1927, by Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, who predicted that the recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the universe. The priest was the one who informed the renowned genius of "Big Bang." Einstein considered it hogwash and later backpedalled. Today it is standard science.
To many (not all) Christians, the Big Bang concept is practically blasphemous because it seems to contradict the creation account in Genesis. One day, as I was looking at a Big Bang diagram in TIME, I realized there were some amazing analogies between the Genesis 1 account and the presently accepted scientific model of the progression of things from Big Bang.
I took the liberty, below, of using some information from a scientific paper and pasting it over the creation account. Behold:
Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth didn't have any shape. And it was empty. Darkness was over the surface of the ocean. At that time, the ocean covered the earth. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day." He called the darkness "night." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.
13.7 billion years ago - The Big Bang: beginning of the universe as we know it!
6 God said, "Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water." 7 And that's exactly what happened. God made the huge space between the waters. He separated the water that was under the space from the water that was above it. 8 God called the huge space "sky." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.
13.3 billion years ago - Reionization: the first stars heat and ionize hydrogen gas.
4.55 billion years ago - Formation of the Sun.*
To many (not all) Christians, the Big Bang concept is practically blasphemous because it seems to contradict the creation account in Genesis. One day, as I was looking at a Big Bang diagram in TIME, I realized there were some amazing analogies between the Genesis 1 account and the presently accepted scientific model of the progression of things from Big Bang.
I took the liberty, below, of using some information from a scientific paper and pasting it over the creation account. Behold:
Genesis 1
The Beginning
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth didn't have any shape. And it was empty. Darkness was over the surface of the ocean. At that time, the ocean covered the earth. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day." He called the darkness "night." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.
13.7 billion years ago - The Big Bang: beginning of the universe as we know it!
6 God said, "Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water." 7 And that's exactly what happened. God made the huge space between the waters. He separated the water that was under the space from the water that was above it. 8 God called the huge space "sky." There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.
13.3 billion years ago - Reionization: the first stars heat and ionize hydrogen gas.
4.55 billion years ago - Formation of the Sun.*
4.45 billion years ago - Formation of Earth complete; storm of asteroid impacts.
9 God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear." And that's exactly what happened. 10 God called the dry ground "land." He called the waters that were gathered together "oceans." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds." And that's exactly what happened. 12 The land produced plants.
1.3 billion years ago - First plants.
Each kind of plant had its own kind of seeds. The land produced trees that bore fruit with seeds in it. Each kind of tree had its own kind of seeds.
God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day three.
1.3 billion years ago - First plants.
Each kind of plant had its own kind of seeds. The land produced trees that bore fruit with seeds in it. Each kind of tree had its own kind of seeds.
God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day three.
14 God said, "Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky.
*The sun and the earth are already there, but the sun and moon are not visible because of the haze over the earth up until this time. This is why very primitive plant life appears before the "lights" become visible.
Let them separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs to mark off the seasons and the days and the years. 15 Let them serve as lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth." And that's exactly what happened. 16 God made two great lights. He made the larger light to rule over the day. He made the smaller light to rule over the night. He also made the stars. 17 God put the lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth.
18 He put them there to rule over the day and the night. He put them there to separate light from darkness.
God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day four.
20 God said, "Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the ocean. He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created all kinds of them. He created every kind of bird that flies.
150 million years ago - First birds.
And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them. He said, "Have little ones and increase your numbers. Fill the water in the oceans. Let there be more and more birds on the earth." 23 There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five. 24 God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.
114 million years ago - First modern mammals. World begins to cool.
Let there be all kinds of them." And that's exactly what happened. 25 God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all kinds of livestock. He made all kinds of creatures that move along the ground. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground."
5 million years ago - Humans split off from other apes (gorillas and chimpanzees).
27 So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female.
100,000 years ago - Homo sapiens arrives in the Middle East.
28 God blessed them. He said to them, "Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that bears its own seeds. I am giving you every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. All of them will be given to you for food.
8,800 years ago - The first cities.
30 "I am giving every green plant to all of the land animals and the birds of the air for food. I am also giving the plants to all of the creatures that move on the ground. I am giving them to every living thing that breathes."
And that's exactly what happened. 31 God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day six.
5,500 years ago - Invention of the wheel, writing.
5,500 years ago roughly coincides with written history. Anything beyond 10,000 years ago is now called "pre-history." And, using what is called the Masoretic Text of the Bible, adding up the years, you always get a date for Adam of 6,000 years ago. That's why so many insist on a 6,000-year-old earth. But science definitely seems to contradict that age. There's the rub....and it's a sore one.
*The sun and the earth are already there, but the sun and moon are not visible because of the haze over the earth up until this time. This is why very primitive plant life appears before the "lights" become visible.
Let them separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs to mark off the seasons and the days and the years. 15 Let them serve as lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth." And that's exactly what happened. 16 God made two great lights. He made the larger light to rule over the day. He made the smaller light to rule over the night. He also made the stars. 17 God put the lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth.
18 He put them there to rule over the day and the night. He put them there to separate light from darkness.
God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning. It was day four.
20 God said, "Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the ocean. He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created all kinds of them. He created every kind of bird that flies.
150 million years ago - First birds.
And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them. He said, "Have little ones and increase your numbers. Fill the water in the oceans. Let there be more and more birds on the earth." 23 There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five. 24 God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.
114 million years ago - First modern mammals. World begins to cool.
Let there be all kinds of them." And that's exactly what happened. 25 God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all kinds of livestock. He made all kinds of creatures that move along the ground. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground."
5 million years ago - Humans split off from other apes (gorillas and chimpanzees).
27 So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female.
100,000 years ago - Homo sapiens arrives in the Middle East.
28 God blessed them. He said to them, "Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that bears its own seeds. I am giving you every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. All of them will be given to you for food.
8,800 years ago - The first cities.
30 "I am giving every green plant to all of the land animals and the birds of the air for food. I am also giving the plants to all of the creatures that move on the ground. I am giving them to every living thing that breathes."
And that's exactly what happened. 31 God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day six.
5,500 years ago - Invention of the wheel, writing.
5,500 years ago roughly coincides with written history. Anything beyond 10,000 years ago is now called "pre-history." And, using what is called the Masoretic Text of the Bible, adding up the years, you always get a date for Adam of 6,000 years ago. That's why so many insist on a 6,000-year-old earth. But science definitely seems to contradict that age. There's the rub....and it's a sore one.
4 comments:
What a huge leap of faith in Darwinism. First of all, if one believes that, he then must replace Natures God with just Nature. Instead of "God let" it becomes "nature let". The time thing is where everybody really gets messed up on. It is easily understood by this fact,"SIN changed everything". God made all this stuff and his 7 creation years might have been 13 billion years. There was no sun so you could not have measured all that in 360-day time anyway it is in Pre-sin years where there is no decay or death. I think where those who trust in Darwin fail is they call natural change evolution. Animals adapt, we adapt. Plants adapt its in creations DNA to adapt to ones changing environment and who's to say that God isn't still creating? They find new species all the time. They just found 24 new animals in Borneo the other day. Paul talked about oppositions of science. I think when scientist start trying to move into God areas like cloning and creation without a faith in God and a fear of God mix they easily believe lies and because they are so esteemed in the eyes of men, no one questions them. I don’t see the 7 days of creation as 365 type days but do believe that each creature was hand made by God just like we were formed from the dust of the earth no from a monkey who got smart.
"What a huge leap of faith in Darwinism. First of all, if one believes that, he then must replace Natures God with just Nature."
While I think some New Agers do that with evolution, it doesn't have to be. I'm not a pantheist. All Christians believe God created it: none of us really knows how. We just assume He did it in six days or whatever. We think if we take it literally, that solves everything. But it has no bearing at all on my faith in Christ. Pat Robertson once said that if he found out evolution was true, it wouldn't shake his faith. And actually, it could be true, or closer to the truth. So I'm dealing with it.
"I think where those who trust in Darwin fail is they call natural change evolution.
Microevolution vs. macro. Most evangelicals believe in the micro, not the other. And Darwin did have a crisis of faith which he seemingly never resolved. But I think it was more over his daughter's death than evolution. God knows.
"who's to say that God isn't still creating?"
I think He is, unless He set it up like a clock to tick on its own. He is perfectly capable of creating anything in a split second or an eon. But what if He has let some of this information leak out in our time for some reason? But I now think it's ludicrous to be fighting about it. I don't think we're really leading people to Christ that way, or at least very effectively.
Your observation about blind scientists seems true enough, about some of them. They can be fundamentalist about their own biases. But we shouldn't paint all science or scientists with a broad brush. Many of them believe as we do, but just don't insist on the doctrine of creationism. It is a doctrine of men, you know. It is not gospel.
Actually I didn't attend to paint them with a board brush. Is that a female brush? I wonder what Darwin would say. I said that Scientist should stick to discovering "why" not "what". It is in the Gospel by the way. Hebrew's By Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed or something like that. Many scientists think Knowledge is God much like the ancient Greeks. I am glad these learned folks try and discover things like medicines, cures and what have you but Knowledge puffs up into denying God as creator and worshiping the creation. Like you said the New Ager's do. I don’t know what creationism is I do know what the written word says. It isn’t real clear about the time it took God to make things but I am sure he did because I am here and I haven’t seen any humans changing into space aliens.
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