How Long A Creation Day?

Justin Taylor in an excellent article Biblical Reasons to Doubt the Creation Days Were 24-Hour Periods notes.

Contrary to what is often implied or claimed by young-earth creationists, the Bible nowhere directly teaches the age of the earth.

Rather, it is a deduction from a combination of beliefs, such as (1) Genesis 1:1 is not the actual act of creation but rather a summary of or title over Genesis 1:2-2:3; (2) the creation week of Genesis 1:2-2:3 is referring to the act of creation itself; (3) each “day” (Heb. yom) of the creation week is referring to an 24-hour period of time (reinforced by the statement in Exodus 20:11); (4) an old-earth geology would necessarily entail microevolution, hominids, and animal death before the Fall—each of which contradicts what Scripture tells us; and (5) the approximate age of the earth can be reconstructed backward from the genealogical time-markers in Genesis.

His main argument is that the creation days may be liken to God's workday and there is no hint in the bible on how long each of these days are.He also named a few heavy weight theologians who did not believe that the said day is a 24-hour period. Named theologians are Augustine, J. Gresham Machen, Edward J. Young, and Gleason Archer.

I have written from a similar perspective in A Critical Evaluation of Genesis One. Recently I have been listening to an audio book The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert while walking on my treadmill (yes to you skeptics, I do get get some exercise). What strike me is the long history of events on earth that dates back billions of years involving the previous five extinctions of numerous species. Many of these extinctions are associated with global catastrophes, for example a meteor smashing into earth. I find it hard to grasp if all these happened in a 24-hour day period or God will deliberately fool us by embedding all this history into the rocks as suggested in Young Earth creationism.

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Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe

World-renowned astronomer and prize-winning professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, Alex Filippenko, explores some of the mysteries of the universe at a special lecture at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Filippenko discusses observations of very distant exploding starts called super-novae that provide intriguing evidence that the expansion of the universe is now speeding up. Over the largest scales of space, the universe seems to be dominated by a repulsive "dark energy" of unknown origin, stretching the very fabric of space itself faster and faster with time.

Creationism or Evolution or both?

Adamant on Adam

Resignation of prominent scholar Bruce Waltke underscores tension over evolution.

Charles Honey | posted 5/25/2010 10:30AM Christianity online

Bruce Waltke built a national reputation teaching the Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) for more than 20 years. But in March, when he seemed to challenge evangelicals in a video interview to consider the possibility of evolution or risk being seen as a "cult," Waltke's scholarly life exploded.

Seminary administrators asked Waltke to have the video removed from the website of BioLogos, a nonprofit promoting the integration of Christianity and science. Waltke promptly did so, but the video already had kicked up controversy. In early April, the renowned scholar resigned from RTS's Orlando campus.

Waltke's video addressed the barriers evangelicals face in considering the possibility of evolution, a process he believes is guided and sustained by God. Waltke said that "if the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution, to deny that reality will make us a cult … some odd group that is not really interacting with the world."

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It seems the time has come for Christians to take a serious objective look at creationism and evolution. I respect Bruce Waltkle and his scholarship is impeccable.

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BioLogos in the Creation/Evolution Debate

The BioLogos Foundation was founded by Francis Collins as a result of the runaway success of his 2006 book The Language of God. Francis Collins, currently Chairman of the National Institutes of Health in the United States is a committed Christian who believes that it is possible to harmonies science and Christian theology. He led the International Genome Project in 2003. Collins coins the word "BioLogos" which is similar to theistic evolution.

Theistic Evolution, therefore, is the belief that evolution is how God created life. Because the term evolution is sometimes associated with atheism, a better term for the belief in a God who chose to create the world by way of evolution is BioLogos. BioLogos comes from the Greek words bios (life) and logos (word), referring to the gospel of John:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The difference between theistic evolution, intelligent design (ID) and creationism may be found here. The main work of The BioLogos Foundation is in its website which was launched almost a year ago on 28 April, 2009. The work of the Foundation to "reconcile God with science" was highlighted in the May 2, 2009 TIME magazine. I have found its resources useful in helping me to understand the relation between science and Christianity.

Some notable articles from the website on BioLogos are

• "Biblical Creation and Storytelling: Cosmogony, Combat and Covenant"
  by Brian Godawa
  Download full PDF
  
  
• "Science as an Instrument of Worship: Can recent scientific discovery inform and inspire our worship and service?"
  by Jennifer Wiseman
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• "Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution"
  by Denis O. Lamoureux
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• "Scientific Fundamentalism and its Cultural Impact"
  by Karl Giberson
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• "Evangelicals, Creation, and Scripture: An Overview"
  by Mark Noll
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• "Barriers to Accepting the Possibility of Creation by Means of an Evolutionary Process: I. Concerns of the Typical Evangelical Theologian"
  by Bruce Waltke
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• "Barriers to Accepting the Possibility of Creation by Means of an Evolutionary Process: II. Concerns of the Typical Parishoner" or "Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople"
  by Tim Keller
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• "Barriers to Accepting the Possibility of Creation by Means of an Evolutionary Process: III. Concerns of the Typical Agnostic Scientist"
  by Darrel Falk
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• "Adventist Origins of Young Earth Creationism" by Karl Giberson
  Download full PDF

Paleontologists visit Creation Museum

from New York Times online

Paleontology and Creationism Meet but Don’t Mesh

Mark Lyons for The New York Times

A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT Peter Dodson, left, of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Foote of the University of Chicago and Jon Todd of the Museum of Natural History in London watching a video at the Creation Museum.

By KENNETH CHANG
Published: June 29, 2009

PETERSBURG, Ky. — Tamaki Sato was confused by the dinosaur exhibit. The placards described the various dinosaurs as originating from different geological periods — the stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic, the heterodontosaurus from the Lower Jurassic, the velociraptor from the Upper Cretaceous — yet in each case, the date of demise was the same: around 2348 B.C.

“I was just curious why,” said Dr. Sato, a professor of geology from Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan.

For paleontologists like Dr. Sato, layers of bedrock represent an accumulation over hundreds of millions of years, and the Lower Jurassic is much older than the Upper Cretaceous.

But here in the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, Earth and the universe are just over 6,000 years old, created in six days by God. The museum preaches, “Same facts, different conclusions” and is unequivocal in viewing paleontological and geological data in light of a literal reading of the Bible.

In the creationist interpretation, the layers were laid down in one event — the worldwide flood when God wiped the land clean except for the creatures on Noah’s ark — and these dinosaurs died in 2348 B.C., the year of the flood.

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This is an interesting approach by the Creation Museum in Kentucky in explaining the existence and extinction of dinosaurs biblically. I am sure many of the paleontologists are mystified and it has nothing to do with mysticism.

More about the Creation Museum here

Lenten Meditation on Ecology

The latest from Thinking Faith...


Merging Worlds – Slime Moulds, the Environment and Human Dignity
Thinking Faith’s previous Lenten reflection highlighted the importance of the relationship between care for the environment and a concern for humanity, and our series on austerity continues as Mary Colwell develops this idea. She describes how ecological concerns can lead us closer to God, by helping us to lead a life of simplicity rather than consumption.

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Faiths in Creation (6)

Aspects of Environmental Ethics:An Islamic Perspective
Mohammad Shomali

In the final part of the Faiths in Creation series, Mohammad Shomali presents the Islamic texts that teach of the value of the natural world and the importance of our respect for it. He gives an Islamic perspective on how we should interact with the environment that surrounds us, and looks at the vices that we are most likely to succumb to.

One of the most important problems in today’s world is the environmental crisis. It seems that this problem started when modern man stopped understanding himself as the vicegerent and trustee of the All-Merciful God who must channel divine mercy to everything at his disposal or within his reach, and stopped understanding nature as a sacred sign and valuable trust from God. For the same reason, it seems that the best way to protect the environment from destruction and, indeed, to improve its condition is to revive these forgotten understandings by referring back to the teachings and instructions of divine religions and reviewing and readjusting our policies regarding the application of modern technology and in using natural resources appropriately. In this paper, I will try to briefly present some aspects of the Islamic perspective on environmental ethics in the light of Qur’anic verses and Islamic narrations (hadiths). The paper consists of four parts: nature; governing rules in Islamic environmental ethics; virtues related to human treatment of the environment; and vices related to human treatment of the environment.

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Faiths in Creation (5)

Coping With Insecurity, Uncertainty and Risk
Helen Freeman

Why do we sometimes find it difficult to display humility and responsibility in our relationship with the rest of the natural world? Helen Freeman traces the history of Jewish thought on this issue, and advocates that a deeper understanding of consumerism and the need for rootedness and security will help us to see our relationship to the created world in a new light.

For Jews, our understanding of engagement with the created world goes right back to the creation story in Genesis chapter one. Once the beautiful world and its life forms have been created, God says, in verse 26:
’vayomer Elohim, na’aseh adam b’tzalmaynoo kidmootaynoo u-rdu vidgut hayam, oov’of hashamayim, oovab’haymah oov’khol ha-aretz oov’khol harems haromays al ha-aretz-And God said, let us make Adam in our image and likeness, and he will rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and the cattle and all the earth and all creeping things that creep upon the earth.

The word for human being, adam, is related closely to the word for earth, adamah, and conveys the earthiness and closeness of the relationship between human beings and the soil of the ground.

The later rabbinical commentators understood the human right to rule over the other creatures to be an ethical imperative; if they did not do so justly, then terrible things would happen. Using a play on the word ’u-rdu – and rule – the fifth-century midrash in Genesis Rabbah 8:12 says this:
‘And have dominion (u-rdu) over the fish of the sea etc.’ Rabbi Chanina said: If humanity merits it, u-rdu (it will have dominion); and if humanity doesn’t merit it yirdu (it will descend/fall). Rabbi Ya’akov of Kfar Hanan: That which is ‘in our image, according to our likeness’, u-rdu (it will have dominion), and that which is not in our image according to our likeness yirdu (it will descend).

The challenge to humanity is then how we conceptualise our place of dominion over the created world.

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Faiths in Creation (4)

A Faith Perspective on the Economy
Makbul Rahim

Today marks the anniversary of Black Tuesday, a crucial date on the timeline of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, and in similar times of financial uncertainty our attitudes towards the economy are under the spotlight. Makbul Rahim describes how religious ethics can inform economic pursuits, asking particularly how a religious perspective might view the economy as a tool for tackling climate change.

In the modern economy and the business world, faith and religious ethics generally are often regarded as being of only marginal relevance. For those considering business transactions and activities, the primary factors and drivers are profit maximisation, market efficiency, maximization of shareholder value and the capital asset pricing model. Economic activities are seen as essential bread-and-butter matters – sources of one’s livelihood – with faith and religious ethics as leisure or part time activities for society and its members. In other words faith is not seen as an integral part of economics or business life. The emergence of investor protection and transparency and good corporate governance in the business world has not come about voluntarily out of faith considerations. Rather it has had to be imposed upon it by law and other means and is more related to sustainability of the confidence which drives and maintains the economy. Religious ethics, on the other hand, emphasise factors such as human flourishing, the good of society and human happiness, the nature of the human person, the demands of community and solidarity. These are not considered as critical drivers or important determinants by market players in the economy.

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Faiths in Creation (3)

The Place of Humanity in Creation
Martin Poulsom

The way in which we think about ecological issues depends to a large extent on whether we consider humanity to be entirely different from, or fundamentally the same as the rest of the natural world, argues Martin Poulsom. How can we navigate a path between these two positions to gain a better understanding of our place in creation, with respect to God and to other creatures?

In order to investigate the role that Christianity might play in current debates about environmental and ecological concerns, it is vital first to substantiate the claim that Christianity has something useful to say. After all, in the minds and stated opinions of some interlocutors, it is Christianity that is the problem. Its way of thinking has led humanity inevitably to the disaster on whose brink the globe is now teetering. At the outset of this paper, what is often called the Dominion thesis will be briefly examined and compared with the position taken by Deep Ecologists. It will be seen that, despite first appearances, these two dia­metrically opposed positions are actually somewhat similar to each other. The possibility of finding a path between these extremes will be raised, a possibility which will be shown to fit remarkably well with one mainstream way of articulat­ing theologically what it means to be a created human being. On the basis of this understanding of creation, humanity will be able to be placed in creation, both with respect to God and with respect to other creatures, in a way that can both respect the unique value of humankind and, at the same time, avoid denigrating the value of everything else. On the basis of this account, some possible contri­butions to current debates will be mooted as a way of opening up an exciting possibility – that Christianity might well have something of value to say.

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Faiths in Creation (2)

Judaic Models of Social Transformation
Jonathan Gorsky

In the first of a series, Faiths in Creation, Jonathan Gorsky argues that responsibility for our environment falls on us all, at both a personal and social level. How can the models of social transformation advocated in Jewish tradition help us to change our approach and become reliable stewards of the environment?

In the case of Judaism, the Hebrew Bible records the many vicissitudes of an attempt to construct a new form of political community that was to be an inspiration and a blessing for all the world. The concept of a model community that would serve as a light for the nations is one that might touch all of our faiths: it is not only a matter of persuading individuals among us to pay at­tention to their carbon footprints, rather it is imperative that our respective communities seek to nurture cultures in which people do not feel that they need to keep up with every high street fashion in order to be accepted by their friends and neighbours.

Consumerism is often inspired by a need for such acceptance in an envi­ronment where the bonds of community have become so attenuated that our superficial social connections demand rigorous material conformity as the sole guarantor of status and acceptability. If we become poor or lose our em­ployment then social life rapidly disintegrates: consumerist culture carries un­spoken assumptions that are unexpectedly demanding and highly disciplinary. Parents’ frantic endeavours to get their children into the right schools speak volumes about the social pressures that accompany relative prosperity. Pope John Paul II’s vision of a civilisation of love that would transcend individual­ism can be seen as an ultimate response to current perils – a new form of deep environmentalism that is beyond the reach of purely political endeavour.

The Hebrew Bible yields two other prominent models of social transforma­tion; one is dependent on law as the instrument of its efficacy and the second is the prophetic tradition which draws on the language of inspiration and creativity.

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Faiths in Creation (1)

Faiths in Creation: An Introduction
Catherine Cowley RA

Dr Catherine Cowley introduces Faiths in Creation, a collection of papers from the Heythrop Institute for Religion, Ethics and Public Life – the fruit of a bold experiment in inter-faith conversation – which will be serialised on Thinking Faith...

These papers, though different in style and emphases, demonstrate ways in which the three traditions speak both to each other and to the secular debate. The questions they raise about the nature of the human person and our place within the world are ones which every society needs to address. They also dem­onstrate that rather than adopting a purely secular agenda, it is by living out our deepest religious insights that we have most to contribute.

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