I
loved Physics and Mathematics as a High School student and went on to
university to study Physics. As a result of some significant distractions I did
not go on to pursue a career as a Physicist, but I did end up with both a
Bachelor and a research Masters degrees in Physics.
So
when being born-again (or better, ‘born from above’[1]) in
Tasmania in 1986, and being presented by the ‘church’ with the notion that the
Bible informed us that the universe was only 6-10 thousand years old I was
greatly challenged. Such an understanding of the age of the universe meant that
I needed to reject almost all of the scientific methods of dating that I have
learned and many other well-established scientific methodologies.
However,
as a new believer I readily accepted the inerrancy of Scripture so found myself
in a place of considerable intellectual conflict. I was reading Young Earth
Creationist magazines and reading arguments such as Barry Setterfield’s that
the speed of light had significantly decreased over time since the beginning of
the creation. This hypothesis disturbed me as the extrapolation of data methods
being applied seemed inappropriate and in error.
In
researching for this book I have revisited Setterfield’s argument and found
that he was not totally alone as there has been a Physics research paper
published[2] in 1991
that to some degree suggested some support for his hypothesis[3]. Since this
time though it appears few recognized Physicists have found sufficient merit in
this proposal to follow up with further research, although there have been some
experiments investigating related issues that may suggest further research in
warranted.
At
this time though, I still find the research and arguments unconvincing. For
example, I find the resultant flow on affect on other well known laws of
Physics to be most questionable[4].
There
is another reason for being suspicious of this approach though.
It
would appear that God has stated that His laws of the universe are fixed. Look
at Jeremiah 33:25 “This is what the LORD says: 'If I
have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws
of heaven and earth,…” (NIV). While a number of versions use something like ‘appointed
the ordinances’ instead of ‘fixed laws’ the NIV, NASB, ESV, and Holmans
Christian Bible to name a few use ‘fixed laws’. The Hebrew word (Strong’s 7760)
translated here as ‘fixed’ can be translated as set or made or appointed, but
fixed is also a possible and valid translation[5]. If God is
stating here that the physical laws of the universe are fixed (and it seems
there is overwhelming evidence from science that this is the case), then a change in the speed of light
would not be consistent with God’s word and therefore in error.
Returning
to my intellectual conflict of 1986, it was at this time that I was invited to
the National Conference of the Australian Institute of Physics (I was on the Tasmanian
council for the AIP) in Adelaide. During the week I was in Adelaide I spent a
bit of time in the Christian book-shops looking for answers. Incredibly,[6] I stumbled
upon a book ‘Creation and Evolution – The Facts and Fallacies’ by physicist
Alan Hayward.
I
was immediately impressed by Alan’s approach as he was putting forward an
argument for an ancient creation that was still very much in accord with
Scripture. Even better, he introduced his approach by encouraging readers to
reject it if they believed it was in conflict with clear scriptural truth. He
also used geological successionism as the starting point for contrasting the
various positions on creation such as Darwinian evolution; Young Earth
Creationism and Old Earth Creationism.
He
also presented the ‘Fiat Theory’, proposed publicly in 1902, which is still to
my mind the most satisfactory understanding of the creation accounts in Genesis
and the apparent conflicts between them.
Before
explaining what the Fiat Theory is, I wish to take a moment to explain why I
believe that the ‘young earth’ position has gained seemingly majority support
amongst most denominations of Christendom (excluding the liberal church who are
generally ‘theistic evolutionists’).
I
believe a great many of the church have accepted the ‘young earth’ argument
thanks to the efforts of a Bishop James Ussher back in the 1600’s. When Ussher
first started speaking publicly on how he had calculated the age of the
universe based on the biblical genealogies he was also publicly refuted by the
great poet and theologian John Milton, though Ussher clearly carried the day
amongst the mainstream mob. His estimate in fact found such favour with the
publishers of the King James Bible (published 1611), that they placed his dates
in the margins of the appropriate pages of Genesis, where they remained for
centuries.
Ussher
failed to appreciate the Hebraic mindset and approach when recording
genealogies are as a result made a significant number of mistakes. For example
he assumed when reading a genealogy of the form A begat B begat C that A was
therefore the father of B who was the father of C. In many places in the Bible
such a genealogy can have a great number of missing generations between each
‘begat’.
Very
briefly some of the more obvious mistakes by Bishop Ussher are:
·
Matthew 1:8 lists King Joram as the father of King Uzziah, but the
TaNaK (OT) tells as that Joram was the great-great-grandfather of Uzziah.
·
Ezra 7:1-5 traces Ezra’s line back about a thousand years to Aaron
but only lists 16 generations.
·
Luke 3:35-36 tells us that Arphaxad was the grandfather of Shelah
but in Genesis 11 Arphaxad is listed as the father of Shelah.
·
The genealogy of Moses: (Exodus 6:16-20, Numbers 26:57-59; 1 Chronicles 6:1-3; 1 Chronicles 23:6, 12-13)[7]
In
these passages, his genealogy is given as Levi (the patriarch) to Kohath to
Amram (and his wife Jochebed) to Moses. As straightforward as this seems, we
can use other Bible passages to demonstrate that at least six names were likely
skipped between Amram and Moses. And yet Exodus 2 does not mention the names of
Moses parents: Now
a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.
Ex 2:1 (ESV)
Also, Kohath was born before the Israelites
entered Egypt (Gen. 46:5-27; Exod. 1:1-4) and the exodus out of Egypt took
place 430 years later (Exod. 12:40-41; Acts 7:6). Since Moses was 80 years old
at the time of the exodus, that means that from Kohath to Amram to Moses
spanned at least 350 years.
Jochebed, Amram's wife, is described as a
daughter of Levi (Num. 26:59) and as Amram's father's sister (Exod. 6:20). This
means that she would have been born along with Kohath some 350 years before
Moses!
The
descendents of Kohath at the time of Moses numbered 8,600 men (Num. 3:27-28) of
which 2,750 were between the ages of 30 and 50 (Num. 4:30). Note that Moses is
not listed among the descendents of Amram (1 Chron. 24:20).
There were
12 generations connecting the patriarch Ephraim to Joshua, son of Nun. Joshua,
son of Nun, was also a part of the exodus and has his own genealogy (Numbers
13:8, 16; 1 Chronicles 7:20-27).
Both sets of
genealogies span the same 430-year period (Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6) from the
sojourn to Egypt till the exodus from Egypt, yet one lists 4 generations and
the other has 12.
In 1 Chronicles 26:24 we read in a list of
appointments made by King David (see 1 Chron. 24:3; 25:1; 26:26), that Shebuel
the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler of the treasures; and again in
1 Chronicles 23:15, 16, we find it written, "The sons of Moses were
Gershom and Eliezer. Of the sons of Gershom Shebuel was the chief."
Now it is surely
absurd to suppose that the author of Chronicles was so grossly ignorant as to
suppose that the grandson of Moses could be living in the reign of David
(approx. a 500 year gap), and appointed by him to a responsible office.
Again, in the same connection (1 Chron.
26:31), we read that "among the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief; "and
this Jerijah, or Jeriah (for the names are identical), was, according to 1 Chron 23:19, the first of the sons of
Hebron, and Hebron was (v. 12) the son of Kohath, the son of Levi (v. 6). So
that if no contraction in the genealogical lists is allowed, we have the
great-grandson of Levi holding a prominent office in the reign of David . Here
we have 3 generations spanning over 900 years!
These are just some of the major problems
facing the approach used by Bishop Ussher.
WH Green in 1890 wrote a brilliant critique
of Ussher’s calculations[8]. Green and
others have shown that the biblical genealogies really only give us a
‘ballpark’ estimate of the number of years back to the creation of Adam and
Eve. In fact, the gaps in the genealogies are so great that anything from
10,000 to 50,000 years may not be unreasonable.
The main point of all this is that a close
examination of Scripture informs us that Scripture does not tell us how old
man, the earth or the universe is. For whatever His reasons, the Creator has
chosen not to reveal this detail to us. He has though given us the revelation
of nature coupled with the skills and intellect to develop a great many
scientific tests which give very strong evidence for a very old universe and
for a significantly longer period of time back to Adam that a mere 6000 years.
There is still a problem though in any
simplistic, Hellenistic reading of the creation account in Genesis. For
example, look at how much happened on the 6th day: after a long procession of
animals, there was no helper found for Adam, and Adam was lonely, despite the
significant distraction and effort needed to appropriately name all the
animals. He was then put to sleep and Eve created.
In Gen 2:23 we read … at last … (meaning now, at length, that is Adam had been waiting a
long time). If the six days were literal 24 hour consecutive days as we might
surmise, then how do we explain all that happened to Adam on the sixth day for
example. This is just one of a great number of problems that are evident in a
Hellenistic and simplistic reading.
Perhaps you have read the first two chapters
of Genesis and not seen any major issues. To help clarify just a couple of
these issues that are very easy to grasp, if you note where the word ‘day’ is
used In your English translation and you will find it referring to 3-4 separate
lengths of time. ‘Day’ is used to refer to a 12 hour period; a 24 hour period
and the whole period of creation, and as a term to designate the time. From
this point alone we should see that there is a need to go a little deeper into
how the context determined the meaning and intent of this term.
Let us look at each use of ‘day’ to see if we
can understand it better.
The first use of the Hebrew term ‘yom’ (day)
is the 12 hour period from sunrise to sunset. Note the Genesis 1:5 states that
there was evening and morning the first day and appears to include the night
(darkness) in this statement. Therefore using ‘day’ to refer to a 12 hour
period does not appear the main use of this term.
What about a 24 hour period. Look at Gen
1:12-13:
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds,
and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And
God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the
third day.
Note that it is the ‘earth’ that brings forth
vegetation, that the plants yield seed and that the trees bear fruit. The full
natural process of the earth bringing this all about take years. Therefore the
use of ‘day’ here does not appear to refer to a 24 hour period, at least for
this instance, if read within a literal framework.
There have been many theories put forward to
explain the many apparent conflicts and issues in the creation accounts. As I
studied them all those years ago, I found all bar one or two most unsatisfying.
The intriguing solution that Alan Hayward introduced me to is known as the Fiat
or ‘Divine Fiat’ theory. This interpretation has continued to withstand the
scrutiny of my many years of research and study. This approach is also called
‘Days of Proclamation’ by some.
Simply
put this proposition argues that the 6 days of creation in Genesis 1 are days
when God issued his creative commands or fiats. That is, when God speaks
(i.e. gives His word), what He speaks comes to pass at some time in the future.
In
Psalm 33:6,9 we read: “By the word
of YHWH were the heavens made, and by the breath of His mouth all their
hosts… For He spoke and it was
done, He commanded and it stood firm”.
Psalm
148:5 reads: “Let them praise the name of the
LORD, for he commanded and they were created.”
Also
in Hebrews 11:3 we read: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God,
so that what is seen was not made out of things which were visible.” and in 2 Peter 3.5 “…by God's word the heavens
existed and the earth was formed out of water”.
God
speaks and it must happen.
It
appears that from God's point of view, which is very different from ours,
creation was virtually completed as soon as he had spoken His word, or uttered
his infallible fiats.
The
importance of this profound fact cannot be overemphasized.
In
accordance with this principle, Paul was able to say that God 'chose us in him before the foundation
of the world’ (Eph 1.4), even though, in literal fact, we did not then exist.
In
similar vein, Revelation 13.8 speaks of our names being '(written in the book
of life) from the foundation of the world' and of the Lamb of God being slain
from the foundation of the world[9]. Not only
did God have the crucifixion in mind before or when He created this universe;
he also had each of us in His Plan!
Again,
God told the prophet Jeremiah, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and
before you were born I consecrated you.' (Jeremiah 1.5)
It
is vital to appreciate that when God declares something it will come to pass;
it may takes days or years or thousands, millions or even billions of years but
it is as good as done the moment God gives the word.
It
is also important to distinguish these ‘word(s) of God’, these fiats or
proclamations from fiats or ‘pronunciations of intent‘ uttered by a human being
or ruler. We may state or promise something and not always fulfil or live up to
our promises but God’s declarations are absolutely certain.
Thus
God and His inspired Scripture can speak about future events (at the time of
writing) as if they are past because to God they are already a reality. There
is therefore a sense in which everything thing has ‘pre-existed’ in the mind of
God because all creation has appeared as a direct result of God’s thought and
proclamation of it.
Parenthesis
in Scripture:
Another
fact that impinges on our understanding of Genesis I is this: the writers of
the Bible were much given to the use of parentheses. That is to say, they would
often insert a secondary thought into the middle of their primary message. Here
is an example from the Messianic Writings (New Testament):
In
those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all
about a hundred and twenty), and said, 'Brethren …' (Acts 1.15)
Observe
how the main sentence makes perfect sense if we read it on its own, ignoring
the bit in brackets. Afterwards we can usefully go back and read the words in the
brackets, as a separate but related thought.
As
Bullinger said of the first edition of the KJV: “The Edition of 1611 abounded in parentheses. In the subsequent
editions there has been an increasing tendency to discard them; and to supply
their place by commas; or to ignore them altogether.”
In
the original texts of the Bible there were apparently a great many parentheses.
Some are marked as such in many modern translations, but many others are not. These
parentheses go right back to the creation narrative.
The
earliest one marked in the RSV is in Genesis , where a pair of dashes encloses
a lengthy parenthesis:
In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up -for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground -then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2.4-7)
In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up -for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground -then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2.4-7)
The
NIV also has a parenthesis in Genesis 2:
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and from there it divided; it had four headstreams. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. (Genesis 2.10-13.)
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and from there it divided; it had four headstreams. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. (Genesis 2.10-13.)
Genesis
1 Repunctuated:
Using
this approach it is possible to re-punctuate Genesis 1 and perhaps gain a new
perspective:
In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis
1.1.)
The
next verse tells us to imagine the curtain rising on an already created planet,
but a shapeless and empty one. God’s spirit is about to start fashioning it and
then populating it:
The
earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis
1.2)
So
here is a repunctuated version of the whole passage up to Genesis 2.3, with the
parentheses printed in brackets:
And God said, 'Let there be light.'
(And
there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the
light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night.)
And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
And God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.'
(And God made the firmament and separated 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 God made the firmament and separated 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 there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
And God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered
together into one place, and let the dry land appear.'
(And
it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered
together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. )
And God said, 'Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants
yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each
according to its kind, upon the earth.'
(And
it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according
to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.)
And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for
seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the
heavens to give light upon the earth.'
(And
it was so. And God made the 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 heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule
over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.
And God saw that it was good.)
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth swarms of living
creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the
heavens.'
(So
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with
which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird
according to its 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
birds multiply on the earth.”)
So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature
according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each
according to its kind”;
(and
it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle
according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its
kind. And God saw that it was good.)
Then 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
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps upon the earth,'
(So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them, And God blessed them, and God said to them, ' Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing
that moves upon the earth.' And God said, ' Behold, I have given you every
plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree
with seed in its fruit,' you shall have them for food. And to every beast of
the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the
earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant
for food,' And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good.)
An there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on
the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day
and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done
in creation.
(Genesis 1.3 -2.3.)
Another
way of presenting this re-punctuation is as below:
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 every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day[10].
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 every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day[10].
Hopefully,
a careful read and reflection on these verses with this approach should see
that there is a proclamation or fiat announced by God, followed by a commentary
on its impact and fulfilment. With this approach the fulfilment need not be
instant and certainly need not be on the same ‘day’ as the announcement.
If
this approach and understanding is valid then who were the Fiats uttered to?
Most likely the Host of Heaven, that is the angels. Many passages such as
Genesis 1:26 where the Creator speaks to those assembled before Him, ‘let us
make man in our image’[11].
It
would certainly appear from Job 38: 4-7 that it was the angels[12] (called
‘morning stars’ and ‘sons of God’) were present at the creation of the
universe.
“Where
were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell
Me, if you have understanding.
Who
determined its measurements?
Surely
you know!
Or
who stretched the line upon it?
To
what were its foundations fastened?
Or
who laid its cornerstone,
When
the morning stars sang together,
This
‘fiat’ or ‘proclamation’ approach then is consistent with both the Hebraic
principles of foreordaining and parenthesis. With this approach the ‘days’ of
creation can be viewed as consecutive
literal days (where their length is actually unimportant but could
conceivably be 24 hour days).
This
approach also then pre-shadows and even foreordains the ‘divine’ week of 7 days
with every 7th day (Shabbat/Sabbath) being a day of ‘rest’ or
‘ceasing’.
The
Hebrew Bible is also very poetic and intended to be sung or at least spoken out
loud in a rhythmic manner (i.e. chanted). Again, this is also consistent with
God speaking his proclamations out loud and using some form of melody in the
process. The table below may help visualise the poetic structure contained in Genesis
1:
Day
1 Light appears
Day
2 Waters
are divided
Day
3 Land
appears, with vegetation
Day
4
Lights appear
Day
5 Waters
bring forth living creatures,
Day
6 Land
is populated
This structure also makes use of Hebraic parallelism, that is, repetition
at measured intervals. For example, consider Psalm 38:22 Don’t forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don’t be
far from me. (WEB). This repetition or parallelism is extremely
common and is evident in many ways such as in the Shema (Deut 6:4. 11:13-21)
where we are called to love God with all (1) our heart, (2) our soul and (3)
our might. This is Hebrew parallelism as the Hebrew understand man to be a
single entity and therefore the words heart, soul and might here are just a way
to emphasis the call to love call with all of your being.
This
approach is explained in greater detail in Hill Roberts article ‘Fiat Days’ (at
http://lordibelieve.org/Days.doc ). Like all theories that attempt to
reconcile the Biblical creation accounts with our modern understanding it does
still leave some questions unanswered but overall seems to satisfactory answer
the greatest number and to fit so well with the Hebraic mindset, approach and
understanding of God’s ‘modus operandi’.
Given this
repetition then, coupled with the prospect that this ‘days’ were all prior to
the actual creation itself, we can view the creation of the sun on Day 4 as a
reiteration but with more detail of the creation of light on Day 1. This
repetition with further detail is used for all three days.
Let us look
again at some of the more obvious problems with the traditional, literal
readings.
Given that
God speaks before the creation unfolds, the order and timing of events need not
be identical to the order in which they were first pronounced. Thus for example
the fossil record while similar to the order in Genesis 1 is not and need not
be the same. Assuming that all of
the creative processes were started in the same order as the
proclamations, but acknowledging
that different processes may take differing lengths of time we would then
expect some overlap in the various periods of active creation.
Many critics
accuse Genesis 2:4-25 as being a second and contradictory creation account.
They argue for example, that in Genesis 1 God created the vegetation on the 3rd
day and Adam on the 6th, yet in Genesis 2 Adam is created before the
Garden of Eden and then placed in it. We also read in Genesis 1 that God
created animals on the 5th day and Adam and Eve on the 6th,
yet in Genesis 2 we read that after God had created Adam he created the animals
to see if one would be a suitable partner for Adam and only then did he create
Eve.
When we view
Genesis 1 as divine proclamations we no longer see any conflict here as having
declared what was to take place the timing and order is left unstated. It seems
obvious (especially with the great cosmological understanding of the universe’s
evolution that we now have), that the stars and planets need to be formed; and
the vegetation on the earth established before many animals were created and
all this long before the earth was ready for the arrival of man.
While this
approach appeals it does not mean it is the only reasonable answer. The
‘day-age’ or ‘progressive creation’ approach made popular by the Reasons to
Believe organisation[14] also finds support within rabbinic
sources including Maimonides and
Nachimanides from the middle ages[15].
The renowned
physicist and Orthodox Jew, Dr Gerald Schroeder[16] offers another intriguing approach that is
based on a relativistic frame of reference such that the creation of the
universe is only around 5000 - 6000 years old when viewed from the beginning of
time but almost 16 Billion years when viewed from our frame of reference. Dr
Schroeder tries to reconcile
the young-earth interpretation of the Genesis 1 creation days with scientific
measurements of the universe and Earth showing that they are billions of years
old. I believe his use of a different ‘frame
of reference’ while plausible seems awkward and unsatisfying and I see nowhere
in the Genesis account that calls for a different frame of reference to that of
the human author and/or ‘narrator’ of the account. Dr Schroeder’s approach
though is certainly worthy of further study[17].
Update: Check out this great article from Dr Schroeder: https://www.aish.com/ci/sam/The-Age-of-the-Universe-One-Reality-Viewed-from-Two-Different-Perspectives.html
Update: Check out this great article from Dr Schroeder: https://www.aish.com/ci/sam/The-Age-of-the-Universe-One-Reality-Viewed-from-Two-Different-Perspectives.html
Is there any
other approach within Judaism that seems consistent with the ‘fiat theory’? The
Talmud (Chagiga, Ch. 2) argues that Genesis 1 to the beginning of Genesis 2 is given
in parable form, but particularly as a poem with a text and a subtext. This
seems very much in agreement with the fiat theory.
It appears
that some early Jewish sources (eg. Nachmanides - 13th century Spain) believed
that the Bible’s calendar is in two-parts. They argued that in the closing
speech that Moses makes to the people, where he states "consider the days
of old, the years of the many generations" (Deut. 32:7), Moses was
indicating that the ‘days of old' are the Six Days of Genesis and that 'the
years of the many generations' is all the time from Adam forward. Again, this
understanding finds some harmony with the Fiat Theory in that a distinction is
made where the Six Days are measured differently.
So what are
the broader implications of the Fiat Theory if it is correct? Firstly, its
internal consistency is very strong as it fits so well with the principle that
the ‘word of God’, or the breath or plan of God, once expressed will be
fulfilled.
Many
passages attest to this understanding from those in the TaNaK such as Psalm
33:6 and Psalm 148:5 to a number in the Messianic Writings such as John 1:1,
Heb 11:3 and 2 Peter 3:5 as already highlighted.
Further
though, it means that science (specifically astronomy and cosmology) and
biblical creation are not in serious conflict. We can therefore accept that the
scientific understanding that the universe is some 13-15 billion years old may
prove to be correct and that man may well have lived on the earth thousands of
years earlier than 4000 BCE. It also means we don’t need to reject the great
many legitimate scientific tools and methods for measuring time and ages or to
stress out as we try to contort the implications of a significantly different
speed of light into our understanding of the physical world.
It certainly
seems to me that the Fiat Theory carries the lightest burden of proof and
offers the greatest degree of freedom as well as very good agreement with much
of established science.
It also fits
beautifully with the rising paradigm that is Intelligent Design, the new
appreciation of the glory of God, which I now wish to introduce and elucidate a
little.
[1] This understanding is
explained further on in this book
[2] William G. Tifft,
“Properties of the Redshift. III. Temporal Variation,” The Astrophysical
Journal, Vol. 382, 1 December 1991, pp. 396–415.
[3] A well known christian
author and apologist Chuck Missler is also supportive. See http://www.khouse.org/articles/2002/423/
[4] See ‘A Matter of Days’ by Dr
Hugh Ross, 2004, pages 163-166
[5] Brown, Driver, Briggs
Hebrew/English Lexicon p 962
[6]
I say incredibly
because in hindsight it is very unusual to find a mainstream Christian bookshop
stocking a book by a Christadelphian, a sect that mainstream Christianity
classes as a cult because of their rejection of the deity of Christ. At the
time I was ignorant of such so-called heresies and divisions within the body of
Messiah.
[7] Ex 6:16-20 (ESV): These are the names of the sons of Levi according
to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of
Levi being 137 years. The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their
clans. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of
the life of Kohath being 133 years. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These
are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. Amram took as his
wife Jochebed his father's sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years
of the life of Amram being 137 years.
Num
26:57-59 (ESV): This was the list of the Levites according to their clans:
of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites;
of Merari, the clan of the Merarites. These are the clans of Levi: the clan of
the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of
the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram.
The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to
Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister
1 Chron 6:1-3 (ESV): The sons of Levi:
Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and
Uzziel. 3 The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.
[8] WH Green’s article in
available from my website www.circumcisedheart.info
[9] And all who
dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone
whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb that has
been slain
from the foundation of the world. (Rev
13:8)
[11] The best commentary of the
‘us’ texts such as in Gen 1:26 that I have ever heard is a talk given by Sean
Finnegan. The Podcast is available from Christianmonothesism.com and a pdf
version at
http://www.christianmonotheism.com/media/text/Let%20Us%20make%20man.pdf
[12] FF Bruce, New International
Bible Commentary p546.
[13] When God or man lays the
cornerstone to a ‘building’ of God there is always great rejoicing. For example
see Ezra 3:10-11
[15]
See Nathan
Aviezer’s, In the Beginning: Biblical Creation and Science (Hoboken, NJ:
KTAV Publishing House, 1990).
[16] See his 1990 book ‘Genesis and
the Big Bang: The Discovery Of Harmony Between Modern Science And The Bible’
[17]
I wrote this
article/chapter over 2 years ago. Since then I have read a couple of Dr
Schroeder’s books and I am very impressed. While I still find the Fiat Theory a
better fit to the evidence as I see it, I now feel that Schroder’s approach
also has great merit.
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