A scientific and theological discussion of GenesisIntroductionSince the early days the Catholic, and later the Protestant church has combated scienceclaiming "imagined Biblical turf". In this turf they claim the Bible says that the Sun orbits the Earth, thatthe Earth is central to the Universe, and that the big bang is poised against Genesis, also and sometimesmost importantly they claim the Bible conflicts Darwin. From this has grown the theory that the Bible isin a contradictory stance to science, and the Bible is only moral poetry. Here in this essay I will showthe amazing compatibility of the Bible and cosmology, as well as with Darwinian theories, as well asoutline the anthropic coincidences, which has destroyed the relative confidence of atheists in theirunbeliefs.Section One. The UniverseChapter one- The "fine tuning" of the UniverseFor a while scientists have been pondering the relationship between electromagnetism, gravityand radiation. Out of the depths of these enquiries was born the Anthropic Coincidences. Which thetried to answer in my opinion laughably with the Anthropic Principle, which states "we are here becausewe are here, so there!" in other words if the universe turned at a little bit different and life never startedthen we couldn't say any thing about it. This statement doesn't even begin to answer the AnthropicCoincidences. Consider this analogy, in which Gerald Schroeder used in his book, the Science ofGod. The odds of life starting in the universe by chance are something like winning a lottery in which abillion or more people entered. Perhaps some of you are saying that this is no big deal things like thatcan happen. True events like this can happen and probability never rules anything out completely. Theinteresting thing is, the universe didn't just win one of these lotteries, but we on the strength of theelectromagnetic force that causes atoms to join together in molecules. We won again at the strength ofstrong nuclear force which holds nuclei together, if the strong nuclear force were a bit stronger thediproton and not hydrogen would be the major component of the universe, meaning no stars, water,acids or many compounds that require hydrogen. We also won the lottery of the weak nuclear forceand that of the strength of gravity, which causes matter to clump together to form galaxies, planets oreven stars. The mass and temperature of the big bang, and the rate of expansion of the universe, andmuch more. Winners for all of these lotteries. Was it by chance? Not if our observations of the lawsof nature and of probability are even near correct. Carter the astrophysicist that introduced theAnthropic Principle to the conference held on Copernicus's 500 birthday stated "if humans are notcentral to the universe, than we are heavily favored". Therefore the conclusion that humans are notcentral to the universe should be reconsidered in light of new empirical evidence. Since if anything hadbeen out of balance just a tiny bit, life would not exist. It was indeed like "the universe must have

known what it was doing to direct the advancement of human life".Chapter two- The universe eternal?Since the time of Aristotle many scientists held the theory that the universe was eternal. Einsteinhimself believed this theory for a while even after empirical evidence had been brought forth disprovingit. Why did Einstein and many others like him hold to this theory of an eternal universe even whileempirical evidence proves otherwise? It has been thought by some philosophers/scientists that if theuniverse had a beginning than the fact that any creator exists would be a logical conclusion, but they sayif the universe had no beginning than were would be the room for this creator. The empirical evidencethat fell this theory is that the universe is expanding. Logically if the universe is expanding then it at onepoint the universe was smaller than it is today, and grows smaller exponentially as time proceeds inreverse. This is one of the major cornerstones for the modern cosmological proof of the big bang.Also cosmic background radiation has been discovered, which is in affect the "echo of the big bang".Much more empirical evidence supports the big bang, but I will not list it here. So the theory that theuniverse is eternal, and that there is no room for a creator, isn't even considered by most mainstreamscientists any longer.Section two- GenesisChapter 1- Can 15 billion years equal 6 days?In 1915 Einstein introduced the general theory of relativity. This theory simply stated that timeis not a constant, and both gravity and speed effect the passage of time. Therefore this opens awindow to which our discussion can continue. If time is not always the same, then could 15 billionyears as measured by time passed on Earth equal a passage of 6 days somewhere else? According totheory of relativity this is a possibility in which we should not overlook, let us now discuss thispossibility.The big bang and cosmic background radiation (CBR)In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. (Genesis 1:1) This we canestablish as our first fact, that God created the heavens and the Earth. But how did God create theheavens and the Earth? The Bible leaves us blank in this enquiry so let us search cosmology for theanswer, remember that any finding will not contradict the Bible since the Bible does not explain theroute in which God created the universe. Modern cosmological research reveals the big bang theory,which we shall see later is fully compatible with the Biblical account of creation. The theory issupported by several pieces of empirical evidence, the simple fact that the universe is expanding, andCBR (keep in mind there is more evidence that supports the big bang). Through the fact that theuniverse is expanded one can deduce logically two things; one, that the universe possess a beginning,shattering the Aristotelian theory that the universe was eternal, and two, that the universe must havebeen progressively smaller as time progresses inversely. Since we have discussed the empirical

evidence behind the big bang, let us develop the theological evidence; as well try to explain theapparent incompatibility of 15 billion years with 6 days. (Remember the big bang and Schroeder'stheory, are only theories, even though they support the Bible, and are supported by empiricalevidence.)CBR and Schroeder's theory.As we have discussed earlier Einstein's general theory of relativity states that time progresses atdifferent rates, at different speeds or at places with a different gravitational force. Therefore, now it isproper in physics that if a time is given it should be regarded as irrelevant to anything unless the place isgiven to which this time corresponds. So now in Genesis what time is 6 days measured in, Earth timeor cosmic time?When viewing a timetable for Genesis we must not pick a particular place in the universe fromthis time would be viewed, since if this were done we would have thousands of ways to measure time.So we should pick a "universal time" from the origin (as we now think it is) of space, the big bang. Theonly direct way in which we can measure time from the big bang is through the waves of the CBR.Although today since the universe is expanding the CBR is "stretched" in fact this clock today is amillion million times slower today than it was at the beginning. So say if on the cosmic clock of the bigbang one hour passed here the Earth clock would have recorded a million million hours. Thereforefrom this perspective the 15 billion years of the universe if divided by a million million can be reducedto, 6 days! Now that we have established the fact that 15 billion years can also mean 6 days the rest ofthis essay shall fall into place.Chapter 2- Day 1 of creationAnd God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light wasgood, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and thedarkness He called "night". And there was evening and there was morning - the first day."(Genesis 1:1-5) Using Schroeder's theory, which we have previously discussed, we can assume that thefirst day began 15.75 billion years ago and ended 7.75 billion years ago as recorded by time passed onEarth. The scientific description of this period begins with the big bang marking the beginning of theuniverse; also electrons start to bond with atomic nuclei causing light to "break free" (see the Genesisaccount)Chapter 3- Day 2 of creationOn day two of the creation the bible says that the heavenly firmament is formed (Genesis 1:6-8). Again using Schroeder's theory we can say that this period began 7.75 billion years ago and ended3.75 billion years ago, as recorded by Earth time. Let us now examine the second day. The bibledescribes the heavenly firmament being formed. Science describes at this period of time the MilkyWay Galaxy is formed along with others like it, and the sun a main sequence star is formed along withothers like it. Therefore during this period of time the heavens are formed. Again the surprising

compatibility of the Bible with science also the "days of Genesis" in cosmic time corresponds perfectlywith scientific estimates.Chapter 4- Day 3 of creationOn day 3 of creation the Bible says "let the land produce vegetation" (Genesis 1:11) In thiskey sentence I underlined the word land which of course is not underlined in the Bible, but thisstatement is momentous. It says let the land produce vegetation, therefore the capabilities of life beingproduced is already present on the Earth. And notice the word produce, when something is producedit takes a determined period of time and is not instant. Just for a second, substitute the word producewith evolve. Now perhaps this makes more sense, now of course put the word produce back in.Science says that this period in which we can say occurred 3.75 billion years ago and ended 1.75billion years ago according to Schroeder's theory as timed by the Earth clock, photosynthetic algaealong with bacteria formed. From this basic life, produced or you might say evolved all the vegetationwe now possess on the Earth (questions should be asked when reading the Biblical verse writtenabove, produce out of what? If something is produced and not created than that something is taken outof lesser forms to produce a more complex mass, hence Darwin's theory.) Let us note that the Bibledoes not conflict with evolution, just like the Bible doesn't conflict with the big bang or with the Earthrevolving around the sun. It seems though that the Catholic or later even the protestant church thoughtthat these "revelations" of science downplayed the importance of man or even God, but it doesn't, itonly shows all the more that we live in a dumbfoundingly complex universe that God created.Chapter 5- Day 4 of creationOf this day the Bible speaks of the Sun and the stars being visible to "govern the seasons".(Genesis 1:14-19) Science describes this event in which the atmosphere of the earth becomestransparent, because of photosynthesis producing an atmosphere rich in oxygen, ridding the thickermethane and other chemicals similar to it. We can once again employ Schroeder's theory and say thatthis event occurred 1.75 billion years ago and ended 750 million years ago by earth time, surprisinglyperfectly comparable to scientific estimates.Chapter 6- Day 5 of creationThe Bible says on day 5 the water teemed with living creatures and that winged animals wereformed. (Note-in the English bible the word bird appears instead of winged animal, but the Hebrewword is often mistranslated in fact a totally different word for bird is used in Hebrew than that of theword used to describe winded animals in Genesis) (1:20-23) The scientific description of this period isthat the first multi-cellular organisms appear, the "Cambrian explosion" occurs during this period inwhich paleontologists find an abundant fossil record of marine life. Also winged insects appear. Onceagain from Schroeder's theory we can say that this happened 750 million years ago and ended 250

million years ago.Chapter 7- Day 6 of creationOn this last day of creation the Bible says "Let the land produce living creatures accordingto their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, eachaccording to its kind." Once again the Bible says that the land produced living creatures thereforeimplying to me the means of Darwinian evolution, in which the land would produce (rememberproduction takes time and is not instant) living creatures according to their kinds. Later still on day 6God says "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of thesea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures thatmove along the ground." God made humans, but again the question arises, how? Schroeder'stheory states that day 6 occurred 250 million years ago and ended 6 thousand years ago. Science saysof this period that 90 percent of creatures living on Earth go extinct and that the land is repopulated byhominids and then by humans as well as the continued Darwinian evolution of the living creatures weknow today.Section Three- Human BeingsChapter 1- Human BeingsSigmund Freud, one of many atheist psychologists and psychiatrists, giving birth to many of thetheories of psychology. Of his many ridiculous theories (many of which prove to be dreadfully wrong,or opposite than what he thought them to be) religion, he considered to be a neurosis. But again afterstudies were conducted they found that in Christian followers, they were many time less likely to bedrunkards, depressed, drug abusers, divorced and are found to recover from surgery much quickerthan do atheists. Also Christians live longer happier, more meaningful lives. Neurosis? We would allbe lucky if diagnosed with this "neurosis".Like a computer with the Internet, humans are seemingly "hot-wired" for God. Without theInternet computers are useless almost and lacking. Without God humans can never be complete andalways lacking in some degree.ConclusionSo overlooking the once thought outdated Genesis, we see the remarkable compatibility of theBiblical account of creation written in Genesis and with modern cosmology and even with Darwin. Thisaccount of creation even the years in which we have derived from the Genesis days correspondperfectly with what the scientific community holds them to be. Each "day" describes in perfect orderthe creation of the universe and the origin of life (first photosynthetic algae and bacteria, then singlecelled marine life, then living creatures of land, and finally man). All the events described in the Biblicalaccount of Genesis coincide perfectly with science, the popular assumption that there is conflict withscience and the Bible is misguided by "either a lack of knowledge of the Bible or of science". Thisbook written almost 2000 years ago, which at that time I think it needless to say they had noknowledge of cosmology or the idea of Darwinian evolution, predates the scientific discovery of allthese things of which we have just concluded discussing. Perhaps many should rethink the popularview of the Bible as a not divinely inspired book of antiquity, and start viewing it as a divinely inspiredbook with amazing scope.Joshua ReeseBibliography-The Bible (NIV Study Bible published by Zondervan)Relativity- Albert EinsteinThe Science of God- Gerald L. SchroederGod: The Evidence- by Patrick GlynnDarwin's Black Box- Michael J. BeheOrigin of Species- Charles Darwin

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