A long time ago, the Bible had been interpreted in such a way to mean that the earth was a stationary object fixed in place. There had even been many attempts to model the universe after this interpretation.
However, when Galileo came along he had revealed that the Earth was revolving around the Sun. Sure, this wasn’t exactly a popular view, and the early church’s response was not exactly the best, but it did reveal that there was a problem with our old interpretations.
Science didn’t change our interpretation it just revealed a problem with an old interpretation. It only resulted in people going back to the Bible and reevaluated how they had been interpreting it. Figuring out what they missed, or added by mistake.
If it had only just been discovered in the last 50 years, chances are Young Earth Creationist (YEC) would probably be making many of the same arguments they are with Evolution and the Earth being old today. From arguing it’s an atheist scientific conspiracy to arguing same evidence different interpretation.
Anybody who has accepted the heliocentric model and is a Christian would probably even be accused of trying to make the Bible fit what science says. As they claim they do with other scientific fields of study they reject today, such as evolution.
The fact is today’s Christians who accept evolution and that the Earth is millions of years old are no different from the early Christians who had been forced to realize there was a problem that was revealed with their interpretation of the Bible due what Galileo presented. Something most Christians today are willing to accept despite how the interpretation changed from the outside (scientific) evidence.
So the criticism is quite hypocritical of the YEC who accepts the heliocentric model (yeah there are a few YEC who reject it). Because Christians re-evaluated how they were interpreting scripture.
Now keep that in mind as I continue if you just simply reject what I say because you don’t like it, or because you’re thinking, I’m trying to make the Bible fit science. I am only recognizing that there is a theological problem with the YEC interpretation that is revealed by science. And because of this, I am simply going back to the Bible to find out what it really says with an open mind. How anyone can find that to be a bad thing, I do not know.
Now many who profess themselves to be YEC often claim they are interpreting the Genesis account found in the Bible literally. I, however, highly disagree with such a claim. When we look at their claim, I don’t see them taking it literally. I often even see them making the Bible say more than it does in order to back up the YEC idea of creation. Which is one reason why I accept the ‘Days of Proclamation’ (DOP) reading of the Bible.
Simply put DOP is just a plain reading of what the Bible says, paying close attention to the grammar of what the Bible says. While, unlike YEC it doesn’t add a bunch of additional variables, which also tend to cause problems, while it solves problems that YEC does not solve, even solving some of the problems that the younger creationist model creates in its explanations.
For example when the Bible says,
“And God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.”
One thing you will notice from reading this is the complete absence of it saying it was done instantly. Or anytime time frame was given at all. The YEC position rests upon this idea of it happening instantly. Sure, nothing says God could not have created instantaneously. However, reading it plainly, it is clear what it does not say. And what it does not say is it was done instantly.
Furthermore, YEC will read into this and, say God is taking the action, as in, he is doing the creating. However, when we look at it, we find what God said to be very clear here. He says, “Let the earth bring forth…” The Bible does not say God brought forth the grass and herb, it is saying very clearly, “let the earth.” A YEC may reject this saying God made the grass, but that is not what the Bible clearly says here. To ignore this and claim differently is to reject the literal reading of what scripture says.
With the Earth being the only thing that brought forth something here one must ask, how does the earth bring forth something if not by the scientific explanations of how it’s done?
Additionally, as we continue, looking at the very next thing that was said we find out the result of God’s command.
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself”
Notice god is not to be seen in this sentence? What we do see is that it was the Earth, at God’s command is that which has brought forth he grass and Herb yielding seed.
This is what sets DOP and YEC apart. DOP is accepting a plain literal reading of Genesis, while YEC interpretation requires one to think, scripture says it happens instantly. As well, that God did something God told the Earth to do. Where the word Created (the verb) is not being applied to God. Instead, the subject is the earth.
Again, this is just a plain literal reading of what the Bible says. To reject it is to reject what the Bible is clearly saying here. Yet a little reading is how DOP approaches it, it coming from a literal perspective of what the Bible says. Where it is taking a theological approach of accepting what the Bible is actually saying. Not adding to what it says or assuming it says something it does not.
DOP takes into account many things as well, like how Genesis 1 is being written from the narrator’s perspective. Where the narrator tells us that God said something then the narrator tells us in the following sentence, hay look it happened.
Not to mention when we read the Bible we find God tends to work by first saying he will do something then it is fulfilled later. With the Bible full of many different prophecies being fulfilled.
Understanding this and how it does not say, “and God said “Let there be light instantaneously.” We can see God starts off the Bible much the same way we find him doing things all over in the bible. God is making a proclamation and the narrator is effectively saying, Hey, look around it happened. This makes Genesis the pre-planning stage. Where nothing was created yet and the narrator just confirming what happened long after Adam and Eve.
Think about it, when God gave his prophecy about Christ was it something that happened instantaneous?
With this said, let’s look at what the Bible says and break it down into what God said and what the narrator said.
God said: “Let there be light”:
Narrator said: ” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Narrator said: “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:”
Narrator said, “and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:”
Narrator said, “and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth:”
Narrator said “and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
Narrator said, “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
[Note that the narrator talks of God in the 3rd person ]
God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:”
Narrator said, “and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Narrator said, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you, it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:”
Narrator said, “and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth days.
By reading it this way, we not only no longer have many of the objections atheist make about the Bible like two conflicting creation stories as Genesis 1 vs 2 is as now Genesis 2 is the story about the creation of man a long time after Genesis 1. Or how YEC creates problems with the order in which things are created such as how do you have photosynthesis before the Suns ever created if we accept the YEC interpretation.
Simply put, the plain reading of the Bible is in no way in conflict with what science has discovered such as the Earth be millions of years old and the Universe even older. Even evolution it’s not in conflict with what the Bible says. Again how does the Earth bring forth?
Sure creationist are under a false impression that the Bible says something like, “Animals reproduce after their kind” but nowhere where you ever find the Bible saying such a thing. You won’t even find the word reproduce and animal next to each other.
Instead we find that the Bible tells us that the earth brought forth animals of various kinds, with nothing saying they are limited by some kind of invisible barrier that would prevent evolution.
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