Is It Possible?: ISSUE 1: WHEN WAS THE UNIVERSE CREATED?

Is it possible that the Old Testament and science can agree on how long ago the universe was created and how long the process lasted? For many people, both religious and non-religious, the timing of the creation is not a controversial issue. But for others at both ends of the spectrum, it is intensely debated. This issue is being addressed first because it provides an example where an interpretation of the scriptures accepted by many may be consistent with current scientific evidence related to this issue.

Recently a California 8 year old came home and reported to his parents that the earth was 6,000 years old. This is what he learned in Sunday School that day. When the father asked his pastor about this, the pastor agreed that there were disagreements among Christians about how to interpret the word “day” in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, but since the issue did not influence fundamental Christian beliefs, he was willing to accept that there may be differences in interpretation within his congregation.

It is interesting that an issue such as this can be so easily resolved by some, but becomes so strongly contested by others. There are some Christians who say that the earth was created in six calendar days a few thousand years ago and any scientific evidence to the contrary simply invalidates the science[i]. Others with a different perspective say that the Bible’s six-day creation story is just one of the many creation myths generated by various cultures throughout prehistory and provides its own proof of its unreliability simply by its similarity to some of these other myths.[ii]

I learned very quickly as I spoke to people about this issue that some very devout Christians consider the six-day Creation occurring six thousand years ago as a fundamental tenet in their faith and they fight against any other interpretation. And, of course, other people laugh at this belief and use it to completely dismiss the entire Bible and anyone who believes in it as silly and stupid.

Many well-respected Christians believe that the Old Testament does not limit the creation time period to six calendar days. Back in 1940, one Bible Commentary addressed the issue as follows.

“The Genesis account of creation is primarily a religious document. It cannot be considered a scientific statement, and yet it must not be regarded as contradictory to science. It is rather, a supreme illustration of the manner in which revealed truth indirectly sheds light upon scientific fields. The Hebrew word yom which is translated ‘day’ occurs no less than 1,480 times in the Old Testament, and is translated by something over fifty different words, including such terms as time, life, today, age, forever, continually and perpetually. With such a flexible use of the original term, it is impossible to either dogmatize or to demand unswerving restriction to one only of those meanings. It is frequently assumed that originally orthodox belief held to a solar day of twenty-four hours, and that the church altered her exegesis under the pressure of modern geological discoveries. This as Dr. Shedd points out is one of the ‘errors of ignorance.’ The best Hebrew exegesis has never regarded the days of Genesis as solar days, but as day-periods of indefinite duration…..Nor is this a metaphorical meaning of the word, but the original, which signifies ‘to put period to’ or ‘to denote a self-completed time’.”[iii]

This perspective existed much earlier than the 20^th Century. I read recently an English translation of a book written by St. Augustine written around 400 AD titled "The Literal Translation of Genesis." It is a difficult read, where St. Augustine identifies more possible physical and allegorical interpretations of the first chapter of Genesis than I ever imagined could be possible. But here is an interesting quote:

" In matters that are obscure and far beyond our vision, even in such as we may find treated in Holy Scripture, different Interpretations are sometimes possible without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such a case, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture."^{^[iv]}

It would appear that as early as 400 AD St. Augustine felt our understanding of the Creation story in Genesis could and should change as Christians and mankind in general learn more about our Earth and the universe. St. Augustine admitted that he did not know how to interpret the passage and further, he suggested that we all should look to science for help in understanding the account. This quite modern perspective was eloquently expressed many centuries ago. Recognizing the passion with which some Christians of his time espoused the short creation interpretation, St. Augustine addressed even stronger words toward those who refused to accept the possibility that scientific knowledge might help us to understand the Genesis creation story. Those comments can be found here.^{^[v]}

There are five possibilities that can explain the difference between a belief that the entire universe was created six thousand years ago over six 24-hour days and current Cosmological theories, which tell us the universe was created roughly 14 billion years ago, the Earth has been inexistence for several billion years, and life on Earth has existed for millions of years. These possibilities are;

Option 1 – The earth was really created billions of years ago, and there is no credibility at all in the Biblical account (or in other words, the Biblical account of Creation is pure myth);
Option 2 – The earth was really created six thousand years ago, and any scientific theory or evidence to the contrary is invalid;
Option 3 – The earth was really created six thousand years ago, but God intentionally left contrary evidence so mankind would be confused about the Creation of the universe;
Option 4 – The Creation story in Genesis is allegorical and should not be seen as providing any insights into when or how the physical Earth was created; or
Option 5 - The Genesis account of Creation was written in poetic style using simple words that accurately describe the physical creation, and the understanding of these words can evolve as one’s knowledge of the universe and the Earth grows.

In this blog I wish to explore the possibility of Option 5 - that the Creation story in Genesis is fact, not fiction, but written poetically allowing for its meaning to evolve as scientific knowledge grows. After all, astrophysics came up with the big bang theory which fits perfectly within the step-wise description of the creation periods, but can't explain the cause of the big bang in the first place.

In my research on cosmology I learned that modern science has generally embraced the Big Bang theory and has spent many years estimating the beginning of the universe to have occurred about 14 billion years ago. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics currently has on its website – “According to the standard cosmological model, the Universe started with a Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.”[vi] This conclusion seems to be quite consistent with the first few verses of Genesis, if interpreted with an open mind.

Of course there will always be people who disagree on issues such as this. Unfortunately, though, extreme positions held by some religious believers are used by some non-believers to reject the credibility of anyone who professes religious belief of any kind. Some non-believers tend to view anything reported in the Old Testament as myth, and therefore see no need to even consider the Old Testament as anything other than fiction (e.g. “The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity”[vii]). Others interpret the scriptures in such a way that they can then invalidate them as being silly. (e.g. “This website demonstrates that Christian faith is a blind faith. It is inconceivable to me that anyone can believe any of this stuff.”[viii])

But there is evidence that many people who believe in the truth of the Old Testament see the days of creation as figurative and not definitive. Rather than stating that each day of creation lasted 24 hours, the Old Testament could with equal validity indicate that the world was created in six time periods of undefined duration. With this interpretation, there is no need for believers and scientists to disagree on the period of time for creation. Believers can use science to help interpret the scriptures. Scientists can view scriptures with open minds and seek find interpretations of both scientific evidence and scripture that are consistent and supportive.

There are other questions that surface once the issue of the timing of creation is agreed. For example, what is the length of each creation day? Is there any inconsistency between the order of events in Genesis chapter 1 and current scientific theories? These questions will be raised later as separate issues in this blog.

Next Issue 1 Part - The Six Days of Creation