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Index
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Index
Fig.1: Pleiades star cluster.
Science without religion is lame,
religion without science is blind.
Albert Einstein
[Note: all dates are approximate and may be subject to update as fresh information becomes available.]
Fig.2: The current domains.
c. 13.8 b. years ago (Space dot com)
c. 4.6 b. years ago.
| Years ago | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 2.75 b. | Cyanobacteria evolve |
| c. 2.45 b. | Oxygen in atmosphere |
| Years Ago | Event |
|---|---|
| 4.6 b. | Origin of Earth |
| 3.8 b. | First life arises |
| 2.1 b. | Eukaryotes evolved |
| 570 m. | First arthropods evolve |
| 530 m. | The first fish |
| 475 m. | First land plants |
| 385 m. | First forests |
| 370 m. | The first amphibians |
| 320 m. | The earliest reptiles |
| 225 m. | The dinosaurs evolve |
| 200 m. | The mammals evolve |
| 150 m. | First birds |
| 130 m. | Flowering plants evolve |
| 100 m. | First bees evolve |
| 65 m. | Dinosaurs and ammonites become extinct |
| 14 m. | The first great apes appear |
| 2.5 m. | Genus Homo evolves |
| 200,000 | Homo sapiens evolves |
[† The original web-page has been deleted.]
The fact of biological evolution is taken for granted.
Also taken for granted:
[Essay: The classification of the Animal Kingdom.]
[Essay: Biological specialisation.]
The church, whatever the sect, do not speak with an authoritative unity backed up by knowledge and understanding.
One group still maintains that Scripture must be taken literally if one wishes to be a Christian; another group, however, seek to paper over the problem by explaining that the Bible is not a scientific textbook. While others sit on the fence, as if the jury is still out.
To see God as the supreme Scientist and then have to say that the Bible had nothing to do with science, was so lame. To believe in a God of God's - yet one who was unable to speak to the scientist through Scripture - was to diminish Him and to give the lie to one's belief and witness.
These opening chapters in the book of Genesis speak to people throughout all generations. They are set at a level which those very early civilisations could understand. As for later civilisations, the Lord God expects them to understand the demands made on narrative in a rapidly developing world, to bear with Him, and to see behind the simplicity to His intention and meaning.
the Big Bang, gravity, genetic mutation, genotype, or evolution? Consequently, the Lord God makes use of simple narrative, analogy, and allegory to speak to early civilisations in a way which they will understand. However, the matter doesn't end there.[31] "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? [32] Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? [33] Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33 NIV)
When God speaks, He speaks at two levels, the Spiritual Level and the Physical Level. His words, voiced at the Spiritual Level, are then mapped to the Physical World either by God Himself, or by members of His Flock within the framework of the current Covenant (Two Abstract Rules).
The Lord's words at the Spiritual Level are abstract. In other words, He states His intention, but not how His intentions are to be realised (ie, carried out).
When the Lord addresses the realisation of His words at the Physical Level, He may not offer an exhaustive set of answers. The reason being that He supplies a set of answers appropriate to the current context. 'Leaving the gleanings' was a suitable commandment at the time of Moses13C; but such a commandment would not work in a heavily populated city in a heavily populated country, as may be the case today.
[Essay: The replacement of the 613 Covenant commandments by two abstract rules.]
The Lord God speaks in such a way as to allow people to draw an inductive conclusion as to the meaning of His words. With the passage of time, there will be an increase in general knowledge which will allow a more precise inductive conclusion to be drawn. In the days of antiquity, a 'day' would be seen as a twenty-four hour interval on the timeline; today, our scientific knowledge of evolution and star formation allows us to view 'day' in terms of geological intervals; undoubtedly, future generations will have an even better grasp of the time intervals involved. As far as the Heavenly Realm goes, ‘day’ is undefined and has no meaning in a place where there is no night:
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 NIV)
[Essay: "Let there be light!" (Genesis 1:3 (Tanakh))]
God's use of inductive logic (induction/Decoupling Tech) is inspired! It is a brilliant strategy! Recall that inductive logic - unlike deductive logic - makes use of incomplete evidence which does not necessarily imply or entail the conclusion. In other words, the conclusions go beyond the evidence. As the world progresses, the weight of evidence increases and becomes more accurate, delivering a more accurate conclusion. Induction is an iterative process carried out in an open public forum, in which both the evidence and the conclusions drawn from it can be questioned and discussed. For an example, one need look no further than the original conclusion that the Earth was flat - which we now know, through the process of induction, to be spheroidal (confirmed by satellite observation).
God's use of inductive logic means that the text can speak to all civilisations without misleading anyone, since - with advancing knowledge - comes a greater and more accurate understanding of what the Lord God means. My great regret is that I did not know about this use of inductive logic when discussing evolution and religion with Frank Jeffery in biology classes. How many other students have been in the same boat as myself in the various schools and colleges? What amount of damage has been inflicted by church stupidity and blindness over the years?
At the time of Jeremiah7-6C, the Lord God mentions the laws of astrophysics in connection with another matter:
Thus said the LORD: As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night--the laws of heaven and earth-- (Jeremiah 33:25 (Tanakh))
The Lord God expects advanced civilisations, with all their advantages in knowledge and science, to see - in those laws of astrophysics - the permanence and stability of His contract with Israel:
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 You see what this people said: "The two families which the LORD chose have now been rejected by Him." Thus they despise My people, and regard them as no longer a nation. 25 Thus said the LORD: As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night--the laws of heaven and earth--26 so I will never reject the offspring of Jacob and My servant David; I will never fail to take from his offspring rulers for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I will restore their fortunes and take them back in love (Jeremiah 33:23-26 (Tanakh))
However, there is more to addressing a disparate audience than strategy. For the very truth of the narrative is at stake. Scripture is predicated on the truthfulness of God. Furthermore, if God can be shown to be less than perfect, then His claim to absolute authority becomes dust and ashes. Consequently, if the Lord God can be shown to be deceitful or untruthful, then the Prime Axioms cease to be axioms, causing the complete collapse of the Covenant which is built upon them:
Fig.3: The Prime Axioms - embedded in unshakeable rock - are the foundation carrying the whole weight of the Covenant structure.
There is a parallel with Smeaton's Lighthouse, which stood for many years on the red gneiss of Eddystone (Majdalany). But the foundation became so undermined that the lighthouse was no longer safe. It was scheduled for demolition, but then the City of Plymouth had it brought back to the city, to be rebuilt on the Hoe:
Fig.4: Smeaton's Lighthouse.
Douglass' replacement, visible from the Hoe on a clear day, is lost in the haze.
Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 't is early morn:
Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle-horn.
'T is the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call,
Dreary gleams about the moorland flying over Locksley Hall;
Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts,
And the hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts.
Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.
Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. (Locksley Hall)
The Lord God is more than happy to leave poetry to Lord Tennyson!
Appreciation of poetry is subjective. The Lord God can appreciate the poetry surrounding Orion and the Pleiades, as can be seen in the Job text; but He is equally interested in the science behind them! As also shines through in the book of Job.
Quite early on, Job mentions the Pleiades and Orion:
He [God] is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. (Job 9:9 NIV)
The Lord God remained silent as He listened to the dialogue between Job and his three friends. But eventually the Lord God breaks His silence, and shows Job that He has been listening carefully and paying close attention to everything that Job had said. The Lord God picks up on Job's earlier reference to the Pleiades and Orion, and plunges straight into astrophysics as He puts Job to the question:
"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?" (Job 38:31 NIV)
But note how - in describing the Pleiades as 'beautiful' - the Lord shows His appreciation of their charm. One might wish to describe the Lord God as the ultimate Scientist-Poet!
The Lord God doesn't stop there, but presses on relentlessly:
"Can you loose the cords of Orion?" (Job 38:31 NIV)
The Lord God is being neither poetic nor is He talking down to Job. The Lord God is talking 'science', pure and simple! He is unashamedly using science to emphasise both His power and His academic prowess. Clearly those bonds were put in place not by a wave of a magic wand, but by a person well-versed in science, a master of the subject matter.
The juxtaposition of the Pleiades and Orion is not mere happenstance, for science is exploring the similarity between them:
Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades was probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula (Pleiades).
The Pleiades are what astronomers call an open cluster of stars, meaning the stars are loosely bound to each other and will eventually, after a few hundred million years, go their separate ways. ... In the infrared view of the Pleiades from WISE, the cluster is seen surrounded by an immense cloud of dust. When this cloud was first observed, it was thought to be leftover material from the formation of the cluster. However, studies have found the cluster to be about 100 million years old -- any dust left over from its formation would have long dissipated by this time, from radiation and winds from the most massive stars. The cluster is therefore probably just passing through the cloud seen here, heating it up and making it glow. (Pleiades star cluster; Pleiades (infrared))
The Orion constellation: Orion - evolution.
In returning to the questions put to Job by the Lord God, we know that it is gravitation which binds the cluster; but it is gravitational interaction with its neighbours which is loosening its bonds and which will eventually pull the Pleiades apart after some 250 million years. As for the beauty of the Pleiades, this would seem to be the result of its passage through the dust cloud.
[5] In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. (Job 42:5 GNT)
[Essay: The shift from academic knowledge of the Lord to a personal relationship is necessary in order to bear fruit.]
Induction is absolutely indispensable for arriving at all our knowledge of the universe as it is
Manicas and Kruger
See Induction
[22] I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. [23] The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. [24] The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. [25] On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. (Revelation 21:22-25 NIV)
Revelation 21:22-25 authoritatively states that there will be no night in the New Jerusalem.
by extension, this must be true of the Heavenly Realm as a whole: His home; His Temple, in which people take refuge under the altar; His dwelling place; the Hall of Remembrance (Rev. 2:5); the grounds of the estate; the wildlife park (Is. 11:8)...
Although the narrative is, shall we say, somewhat 'confused', it would appear that when John saw the New Jerusalem descending from heaven, he was standing in the grounds of God's estate in the Heavenly Realm.
Certainly, John was standing in the Heavenly Realm when the Seals were opened, for that is where the altar is. The opening of the Fifth Seal states this explicitly:
[9] When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. [10] They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" [11] Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. (Revelation 6:9-11 NIV)
God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times--the days and the years" (Genesis 1:14 (Tanakh))
In Gen. 1:14 lT, the Lord God makes deliberate use of sun, moon, and stars to provide mankind with days, seasons, and years.
The Lord is undoubtedly carrying out His research and pushing His planning along. He recognises that although He is the power source within the Heavenly Realm (Revelation 22:5), the creation of an autonomous world will require its own power source. In the case of our own world, the Earth depends on the sun for its energy.
Accordingly, 'day' has no meaning within the Heavenly Realm. 'Day' is undefined, and can be given any value the Lord desires. As Moses said:
[4] For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4 NIV)
It is thought that our universe started with the Big Bang - at least, that is the current theory.
For the first 380,000 years or so, the universe was essentially too hot for light to shine, according to France's National Center of Space Research (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales,or CNES). The heat of creation smashed atoms together with enough force to break them up into a dense plasma, an opaque soup of protons, neutrons and electrons that scattered light like fog. (Expanding universe)
When God began to create heaven and earth--2 the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water--3 God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God 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, a first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 (Tanakh))
The context of Genesis 1:1-5 T is a space set aside by God for the creation of the universe and mankind.
At this point in time, the twenty-four hour 'day' had yet to be defined. The meaning of 'day' is undefined, the perspective being that of the Lord God. The units of measure are not defined. Compare that with our situation today, when we are careful to specify which calendar and which timing standard is in use. The use of a default is acceptable provided the default has already been established.
Gen. 1:2 establishes the immediate context:
the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water-- (Genesis 1:2 (Tanakh))
The narrative takes us to that point on the timeline before the Earth was created.
Was the 'waters' a reference to 'matter'?
Was the wind mentioned in the text a reference to the interstellar wind (Interstellar wind - change in direction There is also a solar wind associated with our own solar system (solar wind effect on Mars).
It was in this context that God created light. This light was not the type of light which will illuminate the New Jerusalem, for it was to be specific to the universe. This light, then, was not the glory of the Lord (Revelation 21:23-25 NIV), but the self-same light we study and learn about in our physics classes.
God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. (Gen. 1:3 T)
For this light to exist, there necessarily had to be a source. It could not exist in the abstract. Was that source contained in what is thought by many to be the 'Big Bang'?
God's home only occupied a part of a space extending outwards to infinity. But by now He had set aside a place - a world - to which those fallen Heavenly Beings would eventually be banished; let us, for want of a better description, call this world 'Hell'. Though, on second thoughts, the name is apt for, without the Lord God, anarchy will be the order of the day, where the weak will suffer at the hands of the strong, and those who've wronged others will suffer at the hands of those they've wronged.One day the divine beings presented themselves before the LORD,and the Adversary came along with them. 7 The LORD said to the Adversary, "Where have you been?" The Adversary answered the LORD, "I have been roaming all over the earth." 8 The LORD said to the Adversary, "Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil!" 9 The Adversary answered the LORD, "Does Job not have good reason to fear God? 10 Why, it is You who have fenced him round, him and his household and all that he has. You have blessed his efforts so that his possessions spread out in the land. 11 But lay Your hand upon all that he has and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face." 12 The LORD replied to the Adversary, "See, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on him." The Adversary departed from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:6-12 (Tanakh))
At the time of creation, the Lord God had already encountered problems in the Heavenly Realm, for some of the Heavenly Beings had chosen to go their own way. So, the more complicated task of creating beings in His own image and likeness would carry an even greater risk of failure.
His home was already overrun with fallen Heavenly Beings. And He certainly didn't want to add to the disruption. The Lord God also wanted to be able to throw mankind a lifeline in the event that they fell into sin and error. A lifeline was not possible for the Heavenly Beings, for they were immortal. But, if He were to make mankind mortal, then if they fell into sin He would be able to throw them a lifeline. And so, following discussion with His Son, the decision was made to create mankind as mortal beings in a completely separate environment we call the universe. With an infinity of space available in the Heavenly Realm, the Lord could make the universe as large as requirements dictated.
The universe was created in order to provide an environment in which mankind could evolve and exist. If the project were a complete success, mankind could eat of the Tree of Life. On the other hand, partial or total failure could easily be contained without further trampling of His home in the Heavenly Realm.
I think that it is helpful to see the dual nature of God's actions. 'Let there be light' is His intention expressed at the Spiritual Level - though He does not explain His reasons. 'And there was light' states that God created light - though it doesn't say when or how this actually took place. Furthermore, I think that the meaning of 'day' is so fluid as to leave timing quite open.
The Lord God doesn't explain His reasons for creating light. One obvious answer is that it would make sight possible. But another fundamental reason is that light supplies the energy which drives photosynthesis.
The narrative mentions light. But light is only a part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Lord God realised that energy would be necessary to drive Earth's ecosystem. Our sun would supply that energy, and transmit it to Earth in the form of heat and light.
Light drives photosynthesis, which produces oxygen. This process has raised oxygen levels from almost non-existent to what they are today. At the same time, consumption of CO2 helps to purify the atmosphere.
Vegetation has been a source of food. In the oceans, the phytoplankton have been at the bottom of the food chain; on land, it has typically been grass at the bottom of the food chain.
God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water." 7 God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (Genesis 1:6-8 (Tanakh))
'Expanse' is probably a reference to space - which, from our viewpoint on Earth, we call 'sky'.
'Water' probably refers to the dust clouds which were beginning to coalesce. Water would have been a suitable analogy which early civilisations could understand.
See: Our expanding universe.
God said, "Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good. 11 And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that this was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Genesis 1:9-13 (Tanakh))
Evolution of atmosphere: umich.
God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times--the days and the years; 15 and they serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth." And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19 (Tanakh))
Here are a few links to star and planet formation:
When one looks at the science behind the creation of our solar system, God had His work cut out trying to document it with a few short sentences such that everyone might understand! It is immensely complicated. Perhaps this shows the power of the inductive paradigm...
The narrative, perhaps, gives the impression that God is documenting the sequence of the events of creation. But is this another of God's obfuscations?
The sun's light would drive photosynthesis, leading to plants which would be at the bottom of the food-chain. Typically: on land, grass; in the oceans, phytoplankton.
See:Food chain.
Photosynthesis would be the process which would raise the oxygen content of the atmosphere from next to nothing to what it is today (c.21%). The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere would allow the evolution of aerobic respiration and animal life.
God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23 (Tanakh))
The creation of marine life would give rise to fish, animals, and birds.
See: Phytoplankton (2010 archive).
See: Phytoplankton.
The creation of animals, insects, and mankind:
God said, "Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind." And it was so. 25 God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good. 26 And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth." 27 And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth." (Gen. 1:24-28 T)
Mankind were created in God's image. They were then created in God's likeness with instructions to 'fill the Earth'. 'Likeness' was mapped to limited authority to master the Earth (YLT 'subdue'), and to rule over God's creation.
As to mankind's diet, that was to be seed-bearing plants and trees having seed-bearing fruit:
29 God said, "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. 30 And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, I give all the green plants for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:29-31 (Tanakh))
The Sabbath was set aside for rest and worship:
The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. 2 On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done. 4 Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. (Genesis 2:1-4 (Tanakh))
Sequence of the 'Days':
The structure of the 'days' is such that early civilisations would have seen it as the sequence of events leading up to the creation of mankind. 'Day' would have been seen as a twenty-four hour interval. Since no one knew any different, there was no threat to God's good name or the truth of the Scriptures at the Spiritual Level. The Lord had misled no one; He'd merely allowed mankind to make an assumption.
Science has turned that simplistic view on its head. For science has shown that creation took place over geological time; and science has uncovered a sequence anomaly in the account - if indeed the narrative can be mapped to sequential points on the timeline.
Day #3, for example, mentions the existence of the Earth (the land and the sea). But this could not pre-date the formation of the rest of the solar system (Day#4), for the Earth was formed as a part of the solar system.
Not only that, but vegetation (Day #3) existed before the existence of the sun (Day #4). The text mentions all manner of vegetation, including trees of all kinds. But without the sun to drive photosynthesis, such vegetation simply could not exist. Without photosynthesis, oxygen levels would be too low to support an abundance of wildlife.
Although there are various alternative theories, birds are thought to have evolved from animals (Evolution of birds). Yet in the narrative they pre-date the animal kingdom.
The sea monsters, Day #5, would perhaps have been a reference to whales. But whales probably evolved from land animals which adapted to life in the water (Evolution of whales). So their placement in Day #5, rather than Day#6, would appear to be a chronological anomaly.
Why does God deliberately introduce this sequence anomaly into the account of creation?
Is it a deliberate obfuscation designed to hide the truth from those who prefer to follow their own path through life? If this is the case, then it is certainly successful!
Or is it meant to draw attention to the design strategy?
However, when one stands back and cuts out all the extraneous content, the list of days looks more like a list of groups:
Viewed in this light, the narrative looks like a list of topics of the various systems designed to support the creation and existence of mortal mankind.
Take day #3 as an example. Here the Lord God would be researching and designing the vegetation He wished to create. He decided upon photosynthesis as the means by which light energy could be converted into chemical energy which could then fuel the plant's activities. But how might this process impact on the landscape and seascape?
Looking back to day#2 and the evolution of the universe into the land and sea of what would be known as 'Earth', the Lord realised that in consuming CO2 the plants would help purify the atmosphere by removing one of the byproducts of the evolutionary process. There again, the O2 produced by photosynthesis would change a toxic atmosphere into one which could later support animal life, including that of mankind (day #6). Then, in researching the optimum conditions under which photosynthesis could occur, the Lord would be led to a consideration of the placement of sun, moon, and stars in relation to Earth (taking Him to day #4). The process is so clearly iterative!
We may never know all the complexities associated with the design of our universe; but, for those willing to see beyond the words, the Genesis account of creation allows us to gain an insight into the demands made on the Lord's academic prowess.
To summarise, these topics appear to form the basis for research and discussion; and as Father and Son change the variables of one of the components, they will want to see the effects on the others. One would expect an iterative approach as they optimise all the variables prior to putting their plans into operation.
Or perhaps you imagine that Father and Son didn't do any real work, but did a Harry Potter and simply waved a magic wand to the accompaniment of a magic incantation - no wonder He needed a day of rest! Honestly!!
The suggestion that the account is geared to an iterative approach to design, seems highly likely.
Furthermore, the listing above contains subjects which mankind must study if they are to master the Earth and avoid mismanagement!
The narrative must take account of the wide range of civilisations which will study it. The structure and content must be presented in such a way as to allow any civilisation to draw its own inductive conclusions. Early civilisations will take the account at face value. More advanced civilisations will need to be alerted to the need to study the narrative in greater depth.
The Lord God, in His handling of the narrative, is showing respect to everyone, whatever their abilities, education, rank, or social status. He is aware of the prickly nature of those who have a few scraps of knowledge, and avoids talking down to them!
Finally, whatever inductive conclusion is drawn at the Physical Level, in attributing creation to the Lord God, the correct conclusion is drawn at the Spiritual Level!
Yet, if mankind is to master the Earth, it is essential to know its origins and evolution. Understanding the Universe is necessary if mismanagement is to be avoided.
However, the church have effectively given science a writing of divorcement. Consequently, management of the Earth is no longer conducted under the guidance of the Most High.
Use of the word 'day' implies, in our everyday lives, a minimum of 'morning', 'afternoon', and 'evening'.
Why, then, does God's 'day' start with 'evening' - what to us would be taken as a part of the previous day?
Why is there no mention of 'afternoon' in the narrative? What happened in the afternoon? And after the afternoon, with evening approaching and night falling ... ?
We revisit and dissect day#1:
1 When God began to create heaven and earth — 2 the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water — 3 God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God 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, a first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 (Tanakh))
To assume that 'day' in this context is equivalent to an Earth day, is almost certainly an error. The day undoubtedly belongs to the Lord!
We are introduced to the Lord in the evening of His day, at the time when He says, "Let there be light!"
The question then is, 'What was the Lord doing in the morning and afternoon of that day?'
The fact that the Lord God is standing in darkness suggests that He is standing in the space He set aside for the creation of the universe. The space allocated for the creation of the universe is entirely separate from the Heavenly Realm. This space is not illuminated by the Light of the Presence, as is the Heavenly Realm, because this is the place wherein He intends to create mortal mankind. His first task is to create various light sources which will drive the formation of the universe, and allow and sustain the evolution of various life forms. There appears to be an overlap between the Lord's working day and the chronology of creation. In other words, 'day' is being applied to the Lord's working day or to the chronology of creation, depending on one's chosen view-point.
Perhaps the setting up of the domain we call the 'universe' occupied the morning and the afternoon of the 'day' in question. And so, in the evening of that day, the Lord issues His commandment: "Let there be light!"
What follows is known to us as the 'big bang'.
The Lord God saw the light and assessed it as being 'good': 'God saw that the light was good.' It is here in the light of 'day#1' that we come to the realisation of God's desire for the creation of light. However, we are not given any technical details because the Lord allows those details to be discovered inductively.
The next question concerns the suggested overlap of the Lord's day with that of the chronology of creation: "Does the text support this point of view?"
1 When God began to create heaven and earth: God is the very first point of reference. And we meet with Him when He is engaged on His work of creation of the universe.
2 the Earth being unformed and void: at this point on the timeline the Earth (capitalised because it is a proper noun) did not exist [since it had not yet been created].
with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water: we see that:
And there was evening and there was morning, a first day: A sentence/clause may several things at the same time. And this is probably the case here, in which the text is indicating the ending of the Lord's first working day of creation, and the start of the creation of the universe.
[Assignment: Discuss the truth or otherwise of Albert Einstein's assertion that: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."]
Version: 17-Jan-2024