(”>Genesis was written for a primitive people. It is not a metaphor. It is an attempt to accurately explain an event to people who have no vocabulary for it. “Dust” is a good choice of words, for something that we would call elements and atoms, and still not be metaphorical about it.
That just means it has no excuse for being blatantly wrong. Once more, there are quite a few inaccuracies and mistakes even assuming that it’s a necessarily simple tale for a primitive people.”)
If I may interject....
The term “Adam” has two meanings...”one who blushes” and “a deeper root meaning “red mud or red dust man”. That is important because iron oxide is the primary pigment in red dust....why is that important you might ask? What is the primary active element that allows human hemaglobin to function as it does?
The ancients knew God had made Man out of red dust but they couldn’t have known what modern science tells us; that the iron in that red pigmented dust was used in the formation of our blood, liver and blood forming systems!
And skeptics say there is no science to be found in the book of Genesis...the ancient prophets titter at us modern fools, chiding us even from 4000 years ago by stating...”The blood is the life of a man!”
There is a difference between “let” ( allow or permit) and “create”. Later in the New Testament we are told that Jesus ( God) is the light of the world. It doesn't say, “like the light of the world”.
Well, matter and light are irrevocably connected. If God is eternal ( who *is** the light of the world) then matter and light is eternal.
Those who mock Genesis are fools. This is especially so when they consistently so evidence of never having read it or studied it.