Totally off the subject... I'm not sure if you guys are aware of Ben Stein's movie coming out this weekend titled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The premise of this film is how many scientists in America have been denied tenure, or much worse, because they have simply questioned the ideas of the neodarwinian theory of origins and evolution. As a devout believer in the literal translation of the Genesis account of creation, anything that will begin to expose the hypocrisy, idiocy, and utter disingenuous nature of the neodarwinian religious followers, I am quite excited about and in favor of supporting. This will only be in theaters for about a week in most places, so this weekend will be the time to go. Check out the website liked in the title. It's pretty fun.
John
In the beginning God created...
Thursday, April 17, 2008
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9 comments:
Lately I've started to see the fact that its possible Genesis 1 is a poetic chapter of creation and not a literal translation. In other words God created but not necessarily in 6 literal days or in that order.
What's made me consider this more is Genesis 2:4-8 where it seems to contradict the order given in Genesis 1. In Genesis 2 it says God created man before there was any vegetation. At the very least I think one conclusion is that creation didn't happen instantaneously, but over time.
What say you?
wow, this blog suddenly went from totally dead to having a pulse. And from various forms of potty humor to philosophy and biblical interpretation.
Bravo. I have to finish a lecture on why the South lost the Civil War and then I'm coming back.
I cannot tell if you are serious or just yanking my chain. I sincerely hope your kidding! But if not, then Exodus 20 is my initial response. God's finger wrote that into the side of Mount Sinai.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
God is drawing a direct parallel of His act of Creation and our week.
I don't believe that the creation happened instantly, no. I believe that it happened in the course of six days and all very good.
As a professing Christian, I think it's dangerous to start to question the literal interpretation of the first book of God's Word.
This is a book of history. Moses may have used poetic language, but any Hebrew scholar will tell you that Moses' intent was to convey to the reader that Creation took place in six literal days.
How long did God take to create? He could have done it instantaneously. Did He take the whole day to create, or did He set His alarm for 6:30, create in a fraction of a second at dawn that day, and chill? Who knows? He certainly could have!
This is not a new idea. It has surfaced with many times in history. Now, because "scientific" evidence has arisen that the earth is very old, people feel like we need to rectify this issue between science and the Bible. However, people would never dream of standing firmly on the inerrant, infallible, very Word of God, but instead place modern, atheistic, naturalistic "science" in higher regard then God's Holy Word.
What say you? God's Word or man's?
I always thought that Genesis 2 refers to plants of the field not vegetation in general. It would seem that that could mean agriculture/literally field plants not necessarily all vegetation.
I honestly am undecided specifically on where I stand on this. Not because of my belief in science but because of my ignorance of the nuances of scriptural interpretation. The true question for a Christian person is always "what is the true meaning of this passage." If people are asking THAT question and are arriving at a belief that Genesis is not 100% literal I don't have such a problem. If they are seeking reality in science and then subjecting scripture to the procrustean bed of peer reviewed evidence based research, I have a big problem.
Its not something I've studied before bc I never really realized that there is what appears to be an inconsistancy. I first realized this after listening to a sermon by Tim Keller (and later read in his new book) that he is an old earth creationist (not evolutionist).
I guess the questions are, is Genesis 2 referring to farm vegetation, even though one translation I've checked states all plants, is the word for day, tom, a reference to a 24 hourish period or can it be translated as a longer period, and textually can you conclude that Genesis, which is largely historical, even contain a genre change like that.
These questions are serious, but more just to spark some real discussion than to question the validity of a young earth interpretation.
Thanks for your responses.
Bob, I figured you'd have realized by now that the South is still fighting the War!?!
I realized it when I had to duck and run for cover from the Georgia boys when I told them they lost...
If Bigbie was here, he would say something like, "Ape love is still man love"
thanks for reminding us what the old blog was like, Joe.
yeah, because God uses the word day to mean a thousand years all the time. I think it's ridiculous to believe in anything other than the seven day creation. Genesis is a literal book and there is nothing in Genesis that should lead us to assume a non-literal translation.
Plus, I don't see how you can take "plant of the field" and "herb of the ground" "before anything was tilled" to mean ANYTHING other than farm plants. Read the right translation please. I know that some translations say something different but the true translation is dealing with farm plants not trees and other vegetation.
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