Posted on 01/15/2005 3:57:44 PM PST by Catholic54321
Was the world created exactly as it says in the book of Genesis, or is the theory of evolution a more accurate account? Not every faith that includes Genesis among its Scriptures feels compelled to debate the matter. For the vast majority of Jews, any discrepancy between science and faith was pretty much settled 1,100 years ago, said Rabbi Steve Vale of Congregation Ha-Makom (The Jewish Community of Solano County).
Saadia Gaon, a Babylonian rabbi who helped codify Rabbinic Judaism, resolved the conflict, Vale said.
"Saaida Gaon said that if there is scientific evidence of something and it contradicts what Torah (Scripture) says, the Torah can't be wrong and science can't be wrong. I'm wrong. I'm interpreting it wrong," the rabbi explained.
Genesis, for instance, says the world was created in seven days. "There's no compelling reason for us to say a day is 24 hours," Vale said. "There's no reason to say God could not create the world through evolution."
Nor do Jews necessarily hold that Genesis is the start of the story. "'In the beginning' really means, 'when God was beginning the world,' " Vale said. "The Bible starts the story with the beginning of life and human beings, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it was the beginning of God or his creation."
It is impossible to know whether the world evolved or was created as Genesis describes it, Vale said, but that's not the point of Scripture.
"For Jews, the Bible is a book about why we are here and how we're supposed to act, not how we're created. People are welcome to read that into it, but it's not for us," Vale said. "I'm more interested in how I'm supposed to act, how I'm supposed to treat people on the streeet, how am I supposed to connect to God through the acts in my life."
A similar philosophy guides Roman Catholic teaching.
"We say that the lessons of the Bible are lessons about God's relationship with the human race and our relationship with God - that all the stories are calculated, if you will, to elucidate something of the relationship between God and the universe and his people," said the Rev. Vincent O'Reilly of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Vacaville. "So the Bible tells us who made the world and what the responsibility of creation is to the one who created it, but we rely on science to teach us how the world developed."
In the Catholic church, science and faith collided in the 17th century, when astronomers Johannes Kepler and Galileo upended the church's teaching that the Earth was the center of the universe. In the intervening 400 years, Catholic theologians and scientists have come to a truce.
"All truth has to come from God," O'Reilly explained. "If science is telling us some truth about the development or evolution of the universe, then that's the truth as we know it today. Five hundred years from now, some scientist may come up with a slightly different version. But that won't change our position that a creator designed the universe and we're striving to understand how."
Besides, he added, how God created the world isn't the point of the creation story. "The story is ultimately that human beings are the highpoint of God's creation. And God has charged humans with responsibility for the rest of creation."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also doesn't spend a lot of time debating the fine points of evolution or creationism. Its official teaching lies between the two points.
"We believe that God created the world, but not necessarily in seven days," said Dayton Call, a spokeman for the church in Solano County. "When it comes to evolution, we don't believe human beings evolved. We believe we were descended from Adam and Eve. But that's as far as the church's position goes on the subject. If there's evolution involved as far as the creative process, we would not argue that there's not."
Orthodox Christians also steer clear of the creation vs. evolution debate, said the Rev. Silas Ruark of St. Timothy Orthodox Church (Antiochan) in Cordelia.
"Orthodoxy basically accepts the fact that there is very much we don't know about the beginning and the end," Ruark said. "We know that in the beginning God created. And we know that in the end he will bring it to a close. But to venture into a great deal of speculation about the how or even the when is for us to assume that we can understand the mind of God."
Most Orthodox Christians accept the Genesis account as being a "true revelation of God's creation and God's interaction with humankind," Ruark said. Orthodox Christianity also teaches that the world has "gone haywire" through the disobedience of humankind.
"But the exact hows of the creation, the hows of his incarnation and the hows of his second coming are known only to God," Ruark said.
Read Gen 2:4. It can only be translated as day meaning an indefinite period of time. It refers back to the days of creation. It is thought poetry with the first few verses of Gen 1 (synthetic parallelism).
Any interpretation of yom as a 24 hr day makes the Bible internally inconsistant. This cannot be.
Umm, I already said that Gen 2:4 was not a literal day, it is the days of Genesis 1 that this is about.
Please read more carefully.
I am a Hebrew linguist. Gen 2:4 refers back to all the periods (yoms) of Gen 1. I have studied these passages in the Hebrew for almost 20 years. I don't think they can be read any more carefully than that.
Reading in the English alone, just doesn't allow for good interpretation.
I will acknowledge that there are certain passages of Scripture that are obscure. However, we have access to the entire revealed Word of God for study. But we may only have 1% of the knowledge contained in the universe. Humble scientists are the only honest scientists.
1. We don't know if there is extraterrestrial life in our universe.
2. We don't have a detailed understanding of quantum physics.
3. We use such a small percentage of our brains capacity.
4. Predicting earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricane paths, weather...
5. Cures for the flu, colds, cancer, HIV, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Muscular Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, diabetes, balding and a host of debilitating viruses ...
6. Efficient transportation using other than oil reserves.
We aren't very impressive in the scientific realm. Only using 10% of our intellectual capacity has it's drawbacks, namely, discerning scientific truths with inadequate tools, and faulty preconceptions.
I am so glad God kept the Gospel so simple that even a child could understand.
"I am so glad God kept the Gospel so simple that even a child could understand."
Genesis is not part of the Gospel.
Then you should agree with me, that the word YOM in Genesis 1 which includes the modifiers evening and morning means a literal 24 hour day...which is what this is all about.
Why? I have told you that Gen 2:4 defines the previous yom uses. The fact that no Sun existed eliminates any chance that the first three days are really 24 hrs.
There is no reason to believe that the simplistic creationist view of the text has any merit whatsoever.
Death is fundamental to the Gospel's efficacy. If sin didn't bring on death, there was no need for Christ to literally conquer death through His physical resurrection. The entire Jewish sacrificial system that was a typology of Jesus Christ, required shedding of blood for the covering of sin.
Death was not part of the original creation.
Jesus Christ shed is sinless blood and therefore gave up his life unto death, because He is God, He was able to take up His life again from the dead so that, like Him, we can have eternal life.
As Paul clearly states, Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, overcame the penalty of death brought on by Adam's sin. If evolution was true, Jesus Christ would have had no reason to resurrect Himself because He could have become a spirit being and went straight to heaven.
Sin brought death into the world, and death needed conquering by the shedding of sinless blood. Jesus Christ allowed His life's blood to pour out for us. He had the power to lay down His life for His friends.
Getting back to the original creation.
Isa 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust [shall be] the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
On death, shed blood and sin:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Luk 24:39-40
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them [his] hands and [his] feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
Jhn 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (emphasis added in scripture text)
Good to visually know you. :-)
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You were just a few verses short of the whole Bible.
I have access to about 40 or 50 different Bibles on my computer, but thank you anyway.
Genesis is still not a Gospel.
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