Vanity: Genesis As Science, Chapter 1

A few people asked me to write this, after a couple of comments I made on another thread. The first few chapters of Genesis are, with minimal mental gymnastics, a clear and accurate statement of science, as we understand it today.

I am not talking from any particular creed here. Though a Catholic, (and without any authority!), I am from a background of a devout Protestant and much less devout Jewish culture who is, like many people, simply looking for answers. My training was as a Biochemist, at a time when we were first starting to map the genome. So, feel free to take this with a grain of salt, or a bargeload. This is not doctrine. Not meant to persuade or compell people to my views. Heck, I am still working out my views! My faith is solid. So is, to me, the evidence.

It is simply to analyse Genesis under the same scientific method that nuclear physics is examined. I will, for clarity, be using the King James Bible, available on-line at http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/KjvGene.html, as it is the version most people both know and accept. I will be simplifying some concepts - not losing the core concept, but trying to make them accessible. And please forgive me for any formatting screw-ups, I am more used to writing and passing things on to editors!

1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5: And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Verse 3 is the core of the story here. "Let there be light." According to current cosmological theories, roughly 13.7 billion years ago, there was nothing at all. Without form and void in truth - there was no space, no time, nothing. Then that nothngness exploded. Why? We haven't got a clue. While we know it happened since the universe's background microwave radiation hum confirms that, We don't know why. We can never know why. Yet we know that the dark, formless universe exploded for no reason, creating it, and by extension us. We are told why, the word was spoken, and the universe in all it's glory was created.

6: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7: And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8: And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Stars don't come from nothing. Nor do planets. We can see the slow, steady aggregation of gases into stars. We have pictures, again testifying to the glory of God. Stars form from clouds of hydrogen gas. The heavier elements get spun out and away from the protostar. Eventually, the star's gravitational field gets strong enough to light the star. It is another flare of light, with the sudden solar wind forcing the light gases well out and starting random aggregations of heavier elements spinning and collecting. Getting bigger while orbiting the star. Outer planets catch a lot of the gas blasted away when the star ignites. Inner planets are looking at the heavier stuff that doesn't shift much under light pressure.

9: And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10: And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13: And the evening and the morning were the third day.

This is a twofer. A spinning ball of molten rock eventually cools down, though it keeps on spinning. There is water there. It can't escape, gravity is too strong. Something that hydrogen can do, water can not. It simply stays in the air as vapor, until the surface temperature cools to a level where it can condense and land. Then, of course, it finds the lowest level it can. You know the phrase "Water finds it's own level."

Our original atmosphere was totally unbreathable. That is in the rock record, not a guess. A mix of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide and Methane, a teeny bit of sulfur, with a tiny bit of Hydrogen and a mass of water vapor thrown in. Genesis mentions the seas for a reason. All life comes from the sea. The first life to creep out of the sea and onto the shore was plants.

14: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17: And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18: And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19: And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

OK, for this one I have to hit more rogue science than accepted science. I apologise for that. Roughly 3 billion years ago, after photosynthesis started, we got hit, hard. A huge blast of molten rock headed into orbit from the Pacific Basin like a homesick meteor and aggregated around our satellite. It is slightly rogue, but we know that lunar rock and Earth rock are identical. We have been there and checked. The rocks are identical.

20: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21: And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22: And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23: And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Every last living organism comes from the sea. Our blood chemistry proves it conclusively. Whether iron based or copper/magnesium based, if I take 10cc of blood from you, I can guarantee that the salt proportion is identical to the sea a couple of billion years or so ago. Again, there is no guess work involved, we have seas that have been dry for that long for comparison of the proportions. God is here clearly stating that we came from the sea. No get outs, no do overs. We even, if you want to be slightly fanciful, have a nod to dinosaurs. After all, they, or at least some of them, eventually became winged fowl.

24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This is the difficult one. One that I have problems with, since evolution and this statement of the Word seem at first glance to be at odds. So I am going to repeat something. Forgive me for stretching slightly to make a point.

We don't breathe water. Yet we came from the sea - that is from both the Word itself and the evidence as we understand it. We see random action. He does not. By definition God gets no surprises, he sees the consequences of everything. As a side note, that must be boring. Never a single surprise unless you deliberately don't look. No wonder he gave us free will! (Sure, I know. Putting human motivations and limitations on the Lord is demeaning. It is also tempting.)

Still, look at the order we are given. Fish, Fowl, every other living thing third. The classic chain of evolution. Plants first and so basic that they are every living thing's meat. Without plants, we simply die. Fish to reptiles/amphibians. Reptiles to birds and mammals. Mammals to primacy under God.

This was fun to write. Difficult, as I am more a biosciences person than a physicist, but fun. If there is sufficient interest I will do the same for Genesis 2.

Once more, I want to repeat. I don't seek converts to my viewpoint. How can one do so, when their viewpoint is "This makes sense but I am guessing the mind of the unknowable here." If you firmly believe that the world was created 6000 years ago as it is, may His peace and blessing be upon you, and I apologise for wasting your time. Part of this is seeking to explain things to myself.

Yet I want to pre-emptively defend myself from some of the more common comments, as I am not a total fool. The universe, and all that is in it, works through fixed and immutable laws, as far as we are aware. Shift the numeric value of any major constant by under 1% and we are a dust of sub atomic particles. The presence of constants themselves are profound indicators of the creator. One of my professors, way back when university was a place to learn and not an indoctrination center, said the mere fact that universal constants exist is one of the strongest arguments for God.

By their works shall you know them. We are told that. By the Lord's works shall you know him. He laid out, in terms a person who has never heard of an electron or the speed of light or Planck's constant can understand, where we came from and how.

You claimed “We have literal physical evidence left here on God’s green earth of a long history.” Or do we simply have a ‘consensus paradigm’ problem from only the last 2 centuries where many have accepted long ages as fact when there are so many natural clocks [101] indicating magnitudes less time has elapsed since creation than the favored 2 [radio-isotopes, & starlight] of modern day geology and evolution

So many ways to respond. First Peter instructs us as to how the Heavenly Father counts time after Peter states there are three different heaven/earth ages. (That is what the word 'world' as Peter describes means.) Peter's WORDS alone says this earth is at least a few thousand years older than 6,000.

IIPeter 3 the whole chapter begins with the assertion that even the holy prophets were aware of the distinction of ages. And Peter repeatedly says be not ignorant... of...

Moses does not elaborate on the so called span of time from Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, but other prophets do by the events that occurred, not by periods of time. But Moses does give a hint about time before this flesh age in Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, AND the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

God said after day 3, day 4 day 5, day 6 what He made was good. And before the Adam was formed we are told there was a symbolic tree of knowledge of good and evil. The flesh man Adam did indeed 'sin' or fall, but he was not the first to fall, the devil rebelled and drew a third of the sons of God to his side and that heaven/earth world/age ended. Which is why Christ told Nicodemus to 'see' the kingdom of God the soul/spirit must be born of woman. The devil has already been judge and is awaiting his death sentence. (Along with a numbered of his chief followers which refused to be born of woman in this flesh age.)

Only Genesis 1:2 indicates the results of a reaction between good and evil. And through each of the days of creation up to the fifth describes the level of destruction that occurred when Lucifer rebelled. Isaiah 14:12- and Ezekiel 28:12- specifically describe the first rebel. Genesis 6 describes the 'fallen' angels taking the daughters of Adam which resulted in Noah's flood.

Moses does not say one word about the creation/formation of the 'soul/spirit', but does say the Adam was not alive until the breath of life which means soul was breathed into the Adam's nostrils.

~ which BTW caused many otherwise ‘orthodox’ believers to begin subscribing to either some mysterious un-defined gap theory in Gen 1:2 and/or theistic long ages combination of evolution / creation. Sorry no sale here, even if you could explain away these young-ages natural clocks: 101 Evidences for a Young Age of the Earth...And the Universe http://creation.com/age-of-the-earth

I have nothing to sell. I am comfortable with the Writings of those elected to lay out God's plan and purpose. Genesis 1:2 says there was a flood, and Peter says there was a flood in that world (age) that was. Neither scripture is addressing Noah's flood. I do not know who came up with the young earth claim but even with the amount of time we can calculate this earth is thousands of years older than 6,000. Day one alone would be according to Peter a thousand years. AND we are told that at the end of 7 days Genesis 2:4 THERE WERE GENERATIONS, and that was before the formation of Adam and then later Eve.

Here’s another very simple question for you since you take most of the Bible at face value. When God referred Job to behemoth in Job 40 or 41 ‘with a tail like a cedar’ was God asking Job about an animal that Job had no knowledge of or was it because at some point after the fall mankind [and Job] shared the Earth with dinosaurs? Afterall the fall is very foundational to the Bible stories since it was only after that first sin that death and destruction entered into God’s perfectly created world [both Earth and Universe ~ both also showing signs of winding down not up ~ devolution not evoolution].

Evolution is pure fantasy, reason, because of all the intervention God Himself did to protect the birth line to Christ. This would not happen if we got here through the random selective process.

As far as Job is concerned, the devil, challenged the Heavenly Father that he could get Job to curse the LORD. Then after 30 + chapters of Job philosophizing with some friends, in chapter 38 God answered Job 2 "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me.

The best I can answer your question about what the LORD asked of Job would be Ecclesiastes 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there any thing whereof it my be said, 'See, this is new?' it hath been already of OLD time, which was before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to dome with those that shall come after.

Were all the souls/spirits created in Genesis 1:1????

I don’t see anything in any of the scriptures you’ve listed where one could infer neither a Genesis 1:2 flood nor long ages. I admit some scriptures are veiled to vex the unbelievers and to cause the believers to meditate on that which may, at first, seem puzzling. I could agree that it is unknown how much time transpired from creation week until biting on the forbidden fruit, but one would think that would be a very short elapsed time indeed.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, we must never ‘add to nor subtract from’ [Rev 22:11] - from the Holy Scriptures that which is simply not there.

2 Peter 3 (King James Version)

“1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying , Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep , all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of , that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store , reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish , but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up . 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved , what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? 13 Nevertheless we , according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest , as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before , beware lest ye also , being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever . Amen. “

Whereby Natural Law was either put aside on hold or had not yet been effected in order to accomplish the supernatural events of the 6 day expansion of everything out of nothing [ex nihilo].

Each day then could give the appearance of long ages ~ say 3.5 to 4 billion years apparent age for day 1 and each subsequent day resulting in half again apparent age to result in roughly 13.7 to 15.7 billion years of elapsed apparent ‘long’ ages.

After all, the various creatures would need to also be in a mature age-state in order to be fruitful and multiply. The chicken or the egg question had to be the chicken b/c ‘eggs’ don’t hatch and raise themselves w/o proper care.

Genesis 1:2 AND the earth *became* ( I am NOT adding *became*, because that is what the verb should literally be.) without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. (deep what?)

AND the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the WATERS.

Genesis 1:2 is describing the condition the earth became. When exactly we are not told how long ago this upheaval took place. Now the English translation that gave us without form means 'waste', and The Heavenly Father had Isaiah definitely address the condition the earth was created. Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD That created the heavens; God Himself That formed the earth and made it; HE hath established it, He created it NOT in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD;

and there is none other.

19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth:

I said unto the seed of Jacob, 'Seek ye Me in vain:' I the LORD speak of righteousness, I declare things that are right....

MOST IMPORTANTLY, we must never ‘add to nor subtract from’ [Rev 22:11] - from the Holy Scriptures that which is simply not there.

Actually it is Revelation 22:18-19 wherein the commandment is given to NOT add and NOT take away from the words of the prophecy. Ignoring what is Written would be subtracting. And Revelation 22:18-19 is not the first place this commandment was given. Moses penned it first in Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word with I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. and Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

2 Peter 3 (King James Version) “1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying , Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep , all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of , that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store , reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish , but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up . 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved , what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? 13 Nevertheless we , according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest , as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before , beware lest ye also , being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever . Amen. “

Verse 5 of IIPeter means now what it meant when Peter was inspired to write it down... For this they willingly are ignorant of,

that by the word of God the heavens were of OLD, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (Genesis 1:2 deep .... what? WATER!!!)

6 Whereby the world that then WAS, being overflowed with water, perished:

This is NOT talking about Noah's flood because every time Noah's flood is discussed, described or mentioned there is the notation of 8 souls saved.

Jeremiah 4: beginning in verse 22 gets to the 'heart' of level of understanding what took place in Genesis 1:2

22 For My people is foolish, they have not known ME: they are sottish children, (sottish means stupid)and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Knowledge about what? verse 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was *without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

25 I beheld, and, lo, there was NO man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger.

27For thus hath the LORD said, "The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

For me the best swag [scientific wild-a— guess] for ‘long ages’ as they appear with sunlight and radio isotopes are simply apparent ages that are leftover fingerprints of the singularity event of the creation week: Whereby Natural Law was either put aside on hold or had not yet been effected in order to accomplish the supernatural events of the 6 day expansion of everything out of nothing [ex nihilo]. Each day then could give the appearance of long ages ~ say 3.5 to 4 billion years apparent age for day 1 and each subsequent day resulting in half again apparent age to result in roughly 13.7 to 15.7 billion years of elapsed apparent ‘long’ ages. After all, the various creatures would need to also be in a mature age-state in order to be fruitful and multiply. The chicken or the egg question had to be the chicken b/c ‘eggs’ don’t hatch and raise themselves w/o proper care.

Well don't forget the 'creation' was told to *replenish* Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and *replenish* the earth, and subdue it:..... this word 'replenish' gets the same disregard and treatment by the majority as that word Paul uses .... predestination/predestinated. Sure would not want to add to or take away.

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