(Ian 5/22) Dave, I thought you were an inerrantist. Frankly, I'm surprised at
the above post. I'm also somewhat disappointed because I was under the
impression that you had a 'teacher' when you read/studied the Bible and would
have therefore had an answer to this dilemna. Perhaps I can read the Bible
without the help of a teacher afterall. Your statement above makes me think
that you are more of a liberal persuasion. Anyway, let me quote from my book.
"To make a short story even shorter, the scenario for creation as
outlined in this first chapter of Genesis, simply put, states that the entire
universe, including man was created in six days.
"Should this be taken literally as the fundamentalist theologians
would have us do? Should we accept man and the universe as being less than
6,000 years old? Should we accept the fundamentalist view that the Bible is
the literal and infallable word of God?
"Or should we accept the more liberal theologians view that 'a day' in
the Bible really means 'a period of time?' That 'a day' in the Bible is as 'a
thousand years?' That the Bible is inspired by God, not to be taken literally,
but to be interpretted?
"Scientists in all fields agree that the universe is billions of years
old. They say that modern man is between 40,000 years old and 92,000 years
old. And other forms of 'man' go back millions of years. In all fairness,
science has not shown a gradual evolutionary development. Instead it has shown
the progress of man in jumps. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of
difference between 6,000 years and 40,000 years.
"Another alternative is to say that little if any is true, that it is
neither the literal nor the infallible word of God, nor inspired by God, but a
collection of myths and legends written to enslave you and your pocketbook.
"The fundamentalist's views are in direct conflict with science on
whom we depend on for so much. And there is no reasoning with them.
"Of course, if I have to substitute 'a period of time' for 'a day' as
the liberals would have me do, I might just as well substitute 'Bereshith,'
which I hope to convince you is closer to the truth. There are other problems
with this 'Creation' theory.
"(Ge. 1:3-5 &16) How could God creat light, separate it from darkness
on the first day and then create the 'two great lights' on the fourth day for
the same purpose? How stupid can one get?
"How do these fundamentalist refer to God? It is always, "He."
"How does the Bible refer to God? (Ge. 1:26,27) And God said, Let US
make man in OUR image after OUR likeness... So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created HE him, MALE and FEMALE created HE them.
"Is 'our' one or more than one? If God created man in his oun image,
'male and female,' is God male or female? Clearly there must be more than one
God (or belief in one God). There are other problems with this creation story
but they get into some serious discussions and I want to keep this light."
I realize the last three paragraphs have nothing to do with 'a day' but I
thought I might as well finish out the chapter.
(DAVE 5/22) Ian: Thanks Ian - I didn't know you had written a book - I'd
like to get a copy if it is possible. I agree with much of what you stated
above - and I have many questions (don't we all) concerning these things. I
still allow for the possibility of a literal meaning here for the word
"day", but acknowledge, as I said, that it could be figurative (I don't
think that this is being "liberal" as much as it's just being realistic).
I agree with you when you say that science hasn't solidified the evolution
question - in my limited understanding of it, I still feel there is much to
be analyzed and studied before jumping to the absolute conclusion that we
arose from whatever. And, as you say, there may be different "types" of
man, of which we are one - we don't know this so this is merely speculation
(when thinking of this I often think of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and how one
group of apes was communicated to my the monolith and how that separated
them from the others - I often wonder if there is some truth to this idea).
Anyway, my "day" is disappearing fast, so I must go :) (I wish I did have
1000 years for every day)
Regards.
Dave.
"Enough awareness invaded your consciousness that you realized it was best
to get out of bed, into your clothes and get on with the day...In the same
way, enough of the Person of Christ and his purposes and the needs of the
world must invade our consciousness so that we are able to sleep no
longer...we awake to get on with God's redemptive purposes."
- Bryant