Please remember that Schroeder is a Jewish Physicist, so his insights will come from a different aspect than yours or mine.
Also God has given us a lot of "wiggle room" in understanding some Scriptures, particularly prophesy and Creation.
My personal epistemology - how I know what I know and how certain I am that I actually know it - is simply this: my most certain sources for knowledge are the revelations of God the Father in 1) the Person of Jesus Christ, 2) the indwelling Holy Spirit, 3) Scripture and 4) Creation.
Every other source for information is cast in uncertainty – including my own sensory perception and reasoning - and those of my correspondents. I do not value even my own hearing and sight by comparison to the revelations of God the Father. If what I see does not comport with what He said, then it is my sight that is in error, not His words.
Thus I do not value my musings - or those of others - anywhere close to the revelations of God.
So for me, geocentricity was a musing that turned out wrong. Young earth creationism is a musing. Dispensationalism is a musing. Day-age interpretation of Genesis is a musing. And so on.
If however I have a leaning in the Spirit one way or another, I'm happy to say so. That Genesis 1 and 2 are speaking of creation of both the spiritual and physical realms is one such leaning. Scriptural evidence includes the tree of life which is in the middle of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2) and also Paradise (Rev 2.) Likewise, in Gen 2 God declares that He created the seeds before they were in the earth. Genesis 1:1 and Colossians 1 speak to the creation of heaven and earth, spiritual and physical.
That a thousand years is as a day to God also rings very true in the Spirit in the interpretation given at post 8311. IOW, it is not a poetic term but a very specific time table for Adamic man, he has a total of 7,000 years and the last 1,000 is the Sabbath, Christ's millenium reign on earth. On the Christian interpretation of the amount of time the Jews were exiled to Babylon, Christ is due any time now. But there is an approximate 250 year difference with the Jewish interpretation; their calendar is at year 5767.
Then again only God the Father knows the day and hour. Either way, Maranatha, Jesus!
The bottom line is that each of us will develop an understanding of Creation and prophesy in Scripture as the Spirit leads us whether directly or through trusted religious leaders.
The only recommendation I have for you in your seeking is to take a little time to meditate on your own epistemology to determine in advance how much weight you will be giving to the various sources of knowledge.
Yes, we have our differing viewpoints but all either point TO the truth or AWAY from it. I come from a sceptical scientific viewpoint because I know the devil is a trickster who leads many a believer astray. For instance : my own national presbyterian church just voted to go with the homosexual perverts.
After 50 years in that church : deacon, choir singer....I'm GONE; not going there again. They made their bargain with the devil, now let them live with it.
People either GRASP the bible as their linus security blanket or reject it out of hand as fairy tales for children. I look at it for scientific gems of wisdom.
Take for example the statement : "And the morning stars sang together"(in JOB I think), what does THAT mean? Well, LO and BEHOLD : astronomy(the hubble telescope and other 'scopes)has looked to the very dawn of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago. The COBE mission shows the almost uniform distribution of the 2.73 deg K background radiation and yet galaxies started much earlier than expected(quasars and black holes).
So, what came between the BIG BANG/radiation-matter decoupling era at 300,000 years and about 1 billion years and the first galaxies? It's a real poser. The only model that fits is a first generation of massive stars(100 to 500 solar masses)that quickly formed, burned, and went supernova within 50 million years or less.
Thus they seeded the gas/dust with heavier elements(beyond H and He) and the shock waves thereof created the "soap bubble" texture we see in galactic structure today.
The point? Higher intelligence gives us a phrase, a clue; but only later does SCIENCE learn : AHA, that's what they meant : a first generation of massive supernovae that blew up at almost the same cosmic instant("sang").
There's another clue : Gen 2:6; what does that mean? I know the answer. It has to do with the formation of the earth-moon system, but could you guess what it is?
Are there mistakes, wild, implausible numbers in the bible? Of course there are. Remember, the old testament was written BY old jews for young jews, not YOU. If 600,000 MEN went with moses into the desert, with women and children, that's around 2.4 MILLION people. That's probably as many or more people than were living in all of egypt at the time.
Obviously an inflated number. Or the 25,000 main men of Israel that attended a royal dinner by King David, another inflated number. Or the city of GOD. A league is 1/8th of a mile. An object 12,000 leagues by 12,000 leagues in area = 1500 miles by 1500 miles, HALF the diameter of the moon.
As a pyramidal form(half of an octahedron), the base center would be about 145 miles below the curved surface of the earth, well within the HOT mantle. Obviously an outlandish-sized object to SIT on the earth. Try 12 leagues by 12 leagues = 1.5 miles by 1.5 miles = a rational size.
Then GOLD from the planet mercury. By the TEDF theory it should have a high percentage of AU79. Then robots, computers and Wa-La a city of GOLD made without hands.
See, science and religion don't have to be at odds with each other, just different ways of arriving at the TRUTH.
Here's a test for you : is that JESUS on the shroud of Turin? Yes or no....
Good afternoon Alamo Girl,
Your comment of "Also God has given us a lot of "wiggle room" in understanding..." is true. I believe science really expands on that room and helps us understand more. Many verses can be taken to a deeper level but I don't believe it can negate the original thought. I have been taught, and belive, that there can be three different meanings, messages, in a verse but they will never contradict the other. Just my thoughts.
As you, I do not value my thoughts or others above those of God but if they are validated in scripture, with 2 witnesses, I trust them and feel they are God's way of speaking. Part of that is being led by the Holy Spirit. What I do not understand is, does everyone feel that way? As I have said before, there is only one Bible but look at the different ideas taken from it. And, everyone believes they are right, that they have the way. Is this part of God's overall plan?
Your statement of "Likewise,in Gen.2 God declares that He created the seeds before they were in the earth", made me want to tap my forehead and say, Wow, I could have had a V8 - in other words, now that you have pointed it out I can't believe I missed it. Thank you for that insight. I love gems like that.
I went to the scripture you gave, Colossians 1 about the creation, spiritual and physical. In vs.26, the "mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints." What do you think that mystery is? My understanding is that there was an age before our present one and the seeds, which He created before they were in the earth, are our souls, planted here to see how we bloom, what fruit we produce. That is part of the mystery that has been hidden. The other part has to do with some of the souls that were planted.
The 1,000 years rings true for me too but the fly in the ointment is the following, if it is true:
1.Gen.1:1 In "the" beginning...should be, In "a" beginning.
2. 5 ....And the evening and the morning were
the "first day". That should read, and the
morning was "day one".
I believe the 7 days in Genesis should be counted as 1,000 years to God (but again, I think this is the beginning of the 2nd earth age) If the above "day one" is accurate, shouldn't the clock start there? Why would that phrase be different than the rest of the days given?
Thank you for your recommendation. I will take it to heart. I left God when I was very young because of fairy tales. I wrapped all of it up in a Santa Clause/easter bunny package and tossed it. I tripped over that package a few years ago and since then I have searched. I hate lies, I do not want to be misled nor mislead anyone else. I pray each day that Father lets me discern truth and to help me take that truth to others.
Thank you Alamo Girl - you're a gentle spirit.