creation... woooo
well, it's been a long time since I've updated this aspect of my blogging triumvirate, mainly because I've had nothing to say, but now I do, and I'm not even sure if people read this anyway
recently I've been struggling with the creation account that's in genesis. I've done a lot of research, and I understand evolution and creation, and I can honestly say, I don't believe in young earth creation as genesis tells it. I don't think the account in genesis is useless or irrelevant, I just don't think it's literal.
a few things have bought me to this point, mainly science showing me that evolution works and that everything points towards coming from the big bang and evolution, and also the apparent oddness of the genesis account.
another big thing that got me started was realising that christianity has been in this place before, with the earth as the centre of the universe thing. back when galileo offered up the idea that the earth rotated around the sun, the catholic church called him heretical and told him to recant what he had said as it opposed the bible. galileo was a christian, and he agreed with Saint Augustine that not all scripture is necessarily literal, for some of it is poetry or allegory. if you want to know if Saint Augustine was worth listening to, well, he's basically the very start of the reformation, and if you're non catholic (or if you are catholic and you enjoy the catholic church being non corrupt) then you have him to thank. the whole idea here is that galileo proved something "contradictory" to the bible, and he was punished for it.
so is that what is happening today with the whole creation evolution debate? the bible claims one thing and science claims another. I've studied evolution and it works, I have no reason to believe evolution itself is wrong, and I also understand the big bang, the science behind it and how science has come to that conclusion. and to be honest, I think it's greater glory to God to say he did it all that way instead of just "making the earth".
so what's the point of genesis then? I believe it's basically to point out that God did create everything, and that he planned it all and that it was all for his glory. it points out the meaning of everything.
if you want to look up some stuff for yourself here are some links Allegorical Interpretations of Genesis & Saint Augustine
2 comments:
Hey there Mr. Andy.
An interesting post you have, well...posted. Just a couple of quick comments.
About Augustine and the Reformation, chronologically and historically the Roman Catholic Church as we know it today did not really come into 'force' until 6th Century, whereas Augustine died in 430, the 5th Century. The Reformation, whilst having its seeds planted in the Renaissance, came into flight at the time of Luther, the 16th Century.
For your musings on the creation account of Genesis, I would have to agree, for many reasons. One, I personally am not a subscriber to the 'literal' interpretation of the Bible, as not everything is 'literally' true (for example, where Scripture says that God is a rock, the literalist would have to say what kind of rock God is). Indeed, there are genres such as poetry, prose and narrative, and each genre has its own basic 'rules' of how one interprets it.
To say that God did what Genesis recounts as a 'literal truth' is to say that God did it one particular way. While indeed I believe God created this universe, my human mind is not capable of shrinking God to one way. God could have created the world any way He wanted to. A lot of interpreting Genesis rests on how one translates the Hebrew word Yom, which most English Bibles render as 'Day' (but it can also mean 'Epoch', 'Age').
Oops, sorry about the long comment. I wrote more than I thought I would... =)
Hey Andy,
My studies lead me to believe we can take Genesis in its most straightforward literal sense, and consign the scientific theories to "mythology". You might like to check out my commentary on Genesis 1 & 2. Dale's Genesis Commentary or my list of quotes as to what the earlier (holy spirit led?) church believed. Earth history Quotes. I am quite impressed that you have managed to develop a complete understanding of the science behind the big bang though. An impressive feat. I respectfully disagree that we should understand Genesis 1 as "God created everything". Perhaps you would like to understand John 3 as "God saves"?
Regards
Dale
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