I may sound anti-science. I'm not. God gave us inquiring minds and an interest in our origins, but he wants us to keep him foremost in our thoughts. It is fascinating to read the theories of how the planets formed, how the sun developed and so forth. I don't believe in removing science from God's universe, but believe the error is when one removes God from scientific inquiry.
I don't know of anything in the sciences that truly clashes with the Biblical record. There may be some things pointed to by some, such as in Leviticus 11:13-19. In verse 13 it says "these are the birds you are to detest and not eat...". It then goes on to list various birds, but in verse 19 the bat is included. Well, a bat is not a bird. Oooh nooo! Throw out the Bible. But the word translated birds can just as easily be translated "flying things" and probably should have been.
The Bible isn't a textbook on science. It is God's Word of how we should live as he intended. It wasn't dictated to someone word for word, but inspired by the Holy Spirit to various people in various times and they wrote in the common words of their time and culture. Their use of expressions of their day in no way devalues the underlying truth of the message or of God's Will for our lives. There have been people closer to our own time, for instance, that referred to bat's as flying mice. But bats aren't even rodents, they are mammals.
Did God create the universe in six twenty-four hour days or over a much longer time? Only God knows. The Bible says "a day is as a thousand years" to God. Does that mean creation took only six thousand years? (I'm not counting the seventh day when God rested.) But the expression that "a day is as a thousand years" was an expression that time didn't matter to God, not something stated as precise fact. I have no argument with those who say these were literal 24-hour days anymore than I do with those who claim creation took billions of years. I don't know. God does.
It says there was dark, there was light, a day. But these may not have been the days we know. The sun wasn't created until the fourth day, so our measure of the revolution of the earth in relationship to the sun hardly applies. What measurement was God using? I don't know.
There are many creation stories in different religions. The Judeo-Christian-Islam creation is unique among them, even though many others have similarities. There is an order and logic to the Biblical creation that is not dissimilar to scientific stories of the evolution of the planet. A hardy let there be light and a chaotic formless mass is created. A planet is solidified, an atmosphere conducive to life is made, seas and lands are separated. Plants are created to supply food for what is to come. Then the sea creatures and birds, and then the land animals until finally man and woman have life breathed into them.
Do I believe in evolution? Not in Darwinism, no. Not in some accent from an amoeba to a monkey to a man, no. I believe God formed the originals. I believe in adaptation. I don't think these things clash with science at all. What science claims is still as much a matter of faith as what the Bible says. There are scientists who believe the Bible and there are people who resolve the difference, just as there are people on both sides who dispute and try to prove one side or the other correct.
But I will continue to believe in God and in his Word over that of men, no matter how learned. What is the age of the universe? Nobody knows. Some say this, some say that, and the estimate keeps changing. What is a species? There is disagreement on that among biologists. Is their race? There are arguments against their being such a thing race. Was the universe caused by a Big Bang? That is the most widely known theory right now, but there are at least four other theories prevalent and the view of how we came about changes all the time. Are dinosaurs reptilian or aviary? Science never stays consistent the Word of God does.
How could the sun have been stopped from rising without the earth flying off its axis into oblivion? Wouldn't the earth have had to stop revolving for this to happen? Why so? This is an account of an event using the expressions of the time and the writer. Just as we say the sun rose and the sun set is not scientifically correct, saying the sun never rose and the day was in darkness may be as well. God could darken an area like night if he willed. Still, I don't think God too small to stop the whole universe in its tracks if he willed; after all he created it.
What is the dark force beyond the universe? Science says its there, but can't explain it. Are there parallel worlds? String theory says so. There is so much mystery mixed with knowledge, we really know little. I know I'll trust that God knows the truth.
Sunset photo by Ronald Tipton
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