1. Gods first command in Genesis is Let there be light. Nor is this the only introduction of light in the Genesis creation account, but it is the first, it represents the beginning of the formation of our solar system.
2. The Sumarians believed that the earth lay at the center of the universe, and the ancient Israelites saw the stars as a heavenly sphere that enclosed everything.
3. The idea that th earth is round emerged some time after the Old Testament was written, when in the late sixth century BCE Pythagoras declared that the earth, along with the other planets, was spherical.
a. In 287 BCE, Strato of Lampsacus school advanced the theory that the sun was at rest at the center of the sphere of fixed stars, and that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.
Greek Astronomy
4. Then, in the 20th century, Einstein advanced his theory of general relativity, the implication of which was that the universe was not static- it must be expanding or contracting.
a. An understanding of the red shift pretty much established an expanding universe. With this came the realization that there must have been a beginning.
5. And that was The Big Bang some 13,700 million years ago. Quite an event it lasted just 10 to the minus 35th seconds, beginning the universe, generating time and space, as well as all the matter and energy that the universe would ever, ever, contain!
6. The basic forces of nature emerged- first gravity, then the strong force that holds the nuclei of atoms together (no atoms existed at this time), followed by weaker, then electromagnetic forces. By the end of the firs second, there were quarks and electrons, nutrinos, some other stuff .and, later, some of them smashed together to form protons and neutrons.
7. So, there we have the idea of the universe suddenly appearing at a beginning, and all of that from a huge amount of energy. Of course, that doesnt begin to ask the obvious: what existed before the Big Bang, and where did all that energy come from?
8. And, of course, the ancient Israelites behind the account of creation in Genesis, chapter 1, would have been oblivious to all the detailed described above. No idea about any Big Bang.
9. Probably anyone writing a creation account should have begun with the idea of the formation of the sun and the planets .shouldnt they? Without the sun how could Genesis refer to the days of creation? So Let there be light doesnt really entail much .does it? It makes intuitive sense: light needs the sun....doesn't it?
a. Even the pagan world figured this out: most tended to worship the sun as the source of all life.
But Genesis doesnt speak of the sun ..only of light, until verses 14-19.
10. Big Bang explosion .energy .light. But no atoms to form the sun for some time. Light but no sun? So says science. And so says Genesis.
Parker, The Genesis Enigma, chapter two.
a. For reference, Genesis 1, verses 1-4: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Interesting? Modern scientific narrative and biblical narrative seem to agree here.
LIght....energy....but no sun...
But theres more in the Genesis authors narrative. There follows an order of events of the creation.
A pretty specific order of events.
And its surprisingly accurate.
2. The Sumarians believed that the earth lay at the center of the universe, and the ancient Israelites saw the stars as a heavenly sphere that enclosed everything.
3. The idea that th earth is round emerged some time after the Old Testament was written, when in the late sixth century BCE Pythagoras declared that the earth, along with the other planets, was spherical.
a. In 287 BCE, Strato of Lampsacus school advanced the theory that the sun was at rest at the center of the sphere of fixed stars, and that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.
Greek Astronomy
4. Then, in the 20th century, Einstein advanced his theory of general relativity, the implication of which was that the universe was not static- it must be expanding or contracting.
a. An understanding of the red shift pretty much established an expanding universe. With this came the realization that there must have been a beginning.
5. And that was The Big Bang some 13,700 million years ago. Quite an event it lasted just 10 to the minus 35th seconds, beginning the universe, generating time and space, as well as all the matter and energy that the universe would ever, ever, contain!
6. The basic forces of nature emerged- first gravity, then the strong force that holds the nuclei of atoms together (no atoms existed at this time), followed by weaker, then electromagnetic forces. By the end of the firs second, there were quarks and electrons, nutrinos, some other stuff .and, later, some of them smashed together to form protons and neutrons.
7. So, there we have the idea of the universe suddenly appearing at a beginning, and all of that from a huge amount of energy. Of course, that doesnt begin to ask the obvious: what existed before the Big Bang, and where did all that energy come from?
8. And, of course, the ancient Israelites behind the account of creation in Genesis, chapter 1, would have been oblivious to all the detailed described above. No idea about any Big Bang.
9. Probably anyone writing a creation account should have begun with the idea of the formation of the sun and the planets .shouldnt they? Without the sun how could Genesis refer to the days of creation? So Let there be light doesnt really entail much .does it? It makes intuitive sense: light needs the sun....doesn't it?
a. Even the pagan world figured this out: most tended to worship the sun as the source of all life.
But Genesis doesnt speak of the sun ..only of light, until verses 14-19.
10. Big Bang explosion .energy .light. But no atoms to form the sun for some time. Light but no sun? So says science. And so says Genesis.
Parker, The Genesis Enigma, chapter two.
a. For reference, Genesis 1, verses 1-4: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Interesting? Modern scientific narrative and biblical narrative seem to agree here.
LIght....energy....but no sun...
But theres more in the Genesis authors narrative. There follows an order of events of the creation.
A pretty specific order of events.
And its surprisingly accurate.
