What if the Genesis Creation Story is true?

There are two parts to this challenge. First, could the First Genesis Creation Story be true. Secondly, if it is true – what would that mean to humanity? Below is my attempt to explain this amazing prospect. I have purposely written the thesis in a simple manner with no scientific footnotes. Anyone familiar with the science of creation will recognize the details as agreeing with current scientific creation knowledge. If footnotes or additional scientific backup is needed I will be happy to supply it.

Can Science Now Prove The First Genesis Creation Story?

Given the current and past battles fought over "creation mythology" vs. "scientific evolution theory" it is deeply ironic that the first “story” of the creation of the earth in the book of Genesis, turns out to be quite accurate – startling accurate. As with all disagreements, wars, etc., it is our perspectives that prevent us from seeing new possibilities, new truths. When opponents are willing to change their perspectives (or beliefs) truth can emerge. In the case of the Genesis creation story, I would propose that it takes only a slight change in where we literally view the action to realize that science and Genesis are in complete agreement.

To see this revelation in the Genesis creation story just imagine being present at creation as described in Genesis, but, not only present -- but on the planet during creation. How would you describe what was happening? For most of us without extensive scientific training we would probably describe it much as it is described in the first chapter of Genesis. The “author” of Genesis is simply describing what was occurring in the sky and on the land as though the author were on the planet and not from an ethereal perspective.

Comparing today’s Big Bang theory of creation and how science not only understands our earth’s beginnings but also the evolution of life on the planet, there is - surprisingly - no difference between the order of events in the Genesis story and current scientific understanding.

Following is the first Genesis Creation Story verse by verse along with our current scientific understanding of those events:

Genesis, Chapter One:

"In the beginning .....the earth was formless and empty..." (verse 1) Indeed, according to the "big bang" theory, in the beginning, after the initial big bang, the entire universe was a whirling ball of gas - formless and empty. As each planet began to form in their respective solar systems, they were likewise a whirling ball of gas and likewise formless and empty. Do better words exist to describe our earth in its formative stage?

"..darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.." (verse 2) Over millions of years science now tells us, the gases around our swirling ball of gas began to condense and a solid core formed. Around this core, thick clouds of condensation enveloped the planet. And then it began to rain and rain and rain for thousands and thousands of years. Gradually, the earth became entirely covered with an immense ocean. However, no light reached the planet due to the still thick cloud cover of vapor. There was only darkness.

"And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ and there was light. God saw the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and darkness he called ‘night’ " (verse 3-5) Gradually the earth‘s cover of clouds began to diminish slightly and a pale light from the sun began to reach the planet. As you viewed this from the planet and looked up you could begin to notice a difference between day and night.

"And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. God called the expanse ‘sky’ ." (verse 6-8) It must have looked as if the sky, the rain and oceans were one for many millions of years. Over time however, the condensation in the sky became less heavy. If you looked out over the waters you could gradually begin to differentiate between water on the planet’s surface i.e. the oceans and the clouds of condensation in the atmosphere. There was a separation between the waters.

"And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear... and it was so. God called the dry ground "land" and the gathered waters he called "seas’." (verse 9,10) Science confirms that after the earth began to cool, a crust formed and then began to shift, forming mountains that arose out of the vast expanse of water. Volcanoes erupted and also formed land above the waters. The waters gathered into oceans and seas.

"Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so." (verse 11) According to scientific theory today, the first, more highly organized life forms were plants. These plants began to proliferate on the new land.

"And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark the seasons and days and years and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light to the Earth. ." (verse 14,15) It was most likely thousands of years after plants evolved that a truly clear day occurred on the planet. A person standing on the planet’s surface could actually begin to see clearly the stars, a moon and the sun for the first time. It was not that God had just created these heavenly forms but it would have been the first time a person could have seen them clearly. Man later learned that indeed the stars, the angle of the sun and moon could mark the seasons and the days and the years.

"Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." (verse 20) Modern science declares that animal life began in the oceans. Then life migrated to the land and the time of the great reptiles occurred. Interestingly, it has just been in the last few years that scientists discovered dinosaur fossils covered with feathers and postulate these gradually developed into the first of our modern creatures -- birds. So the fact that birds are the first living creatures mentioned as living on the land is significant in that they represent the age of the dinosaurs. It would have been impossible for this ancient writer to describe the age of dinosaurs to the last four thousand years of human readers. Instead, knowing that at sometime in the future mankind would discover the link between dinosaurs and birds, he used the bird to describe this period of time.

"Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." (verse 24) From our fossil records we know that our modern, warm blooded land animals evolved next. And, each does produce according to its kind.

"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground....’. (verse 26) Lastly, again according to present day science, modern man arrived approximately 50,0000 years ago on the planet and indeed is considered the master of the planet and all that is on it.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (verse 28) Man has indeed multiplied and has "subdued the planet and rules" over it. The only part of this story that science has not yet proved conclusively for many of us, is that we are created in the image of God – that is, that we are spiritual beings living in bodies that evolved over time to survive life on this planet.

It appears from the above analysis of the First Genesis Creation story that science may now be able to prove the validity of this ancient story -- a "story" written thousands of years ago.

So, how could these ancient peoples have acquired such an accurate description of creation’s events that has only been discovered by our science in the last 100 years? How could they describe events that require complex instruments, advanced computers, and even space travel to understand?

What is just as interesting is the fact that this story survived – obviously intact – over an immense period of time having been passed on perhaps verbally for hundreds of years and then written and rewritten for several thousand more years. The story itself must have made little sense to the author of Genesis much less to the people of that time. How could this ancient author have conceived of an earth that was formless and void? And, given the variety of creation stories that arose from early civilizations, it would be immensely tempting to change it to something that would make more sense to a primitive culture. Several early creation stories use animals as the creators. Many have a different order of events. However the Genesis story does not “simplify” or bring other creatures into the story to make it more understandable. The language is in fact rather formal and matter of fact. And, more significantly, given the above theory, not a single “ creation event” is out of place.

Instead of the story being viewed as an anomaly, one cultures "creation story" and in fact often scoffed at by our more advanced civilization, it presents us with an even more amazing enigma… how did these early people get this information? Conjectures could include that an advanced race was at one time on the earth and gave this story to early man. This idea is actually supported by the Bible. Check out Chapter 6, verse 4 of Genesis, “ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward- when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

There is also a significant body of writings from major theological schools which theorize that the Genesis creation story is a composite from other, earlier civilization’s creation stories. There is certainly evidence to show this could be true. There are many comparable events in Babylonian creation stories and even in early North American Indian stories. This serves to only strengthen the wonderment of how many individual creation events are found in early man’s stories from all over the world. Whether the author of Genesis “received” this version from God or compiled it from other earlier stories is somewhat irrelevant in that somehow early man was able to accurately describe significant events as wondrous, as complex as the creation of the earth.

What does it mean to science and our religious beliefs when a part of the Bible turns out to be correct – particularly a story that has caused such wide-spread disagreement? Does it mean everything in the Bible is provable by science? Or that science must take as truth everything in the Bible? What is important about the Genesis creation story is the willingness to look at the story from a different perspective - for both sides of the disagreement to back off of tightly held beliefs and to look at the story from a totally different perspective – one that unites both views.

I believe we are at the threshold of a new age for mankind - one in which our commonality of creation can be understood and believed by all of Mankind. This theory, when shown to the world, could indeed blow the world of theology for all religions and modern day science into a whole new perspective regarding our beginnings.

A side note: What about the second Genesis Creation Story – you know, the one about Adam and Eve and the Garden? That’s a whole other subject – about the introduction of Spirit into the human animal and the purpose of existence….

Actually there is no contradiction between science adn the Bible. In Genesis 1:1 It says that God created the heavens and the earth. It never says when God created them. It could have been billions of years ago. In Genesis 1:2 It says that the creation was without form and void but should read became, as it is translated elsewhere, in chaos and confusion, the two words that are translated without form and void are tohu and bohu, they mean in chaos and confusion. and darkness was on the face of the deep.There is no time given for this process to occur. In verse three God separated the dark from light. Goodness is light and evil is darkness, God separated the darkness. Then God proceeds to regenerate the earth. There are other truthes in the Bible. There is no discrepancy between the Bible and science.

I think the gist of the article is more along the lines of taking the whole "Earth, and all life on it, was created in 6 days" literally.