S2 E10 TRANSCRIPT
NATURALISM AND BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED—PART 2
INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone and welcome to Spirit-Led Hope. My name is Glenn Erichsen, and in this episode, we are looking at:
NATURALISM AND BIBLICAL CREATION COMPARED—PART 2
Before we get into the meat of this episode, I thought I would mention two recent scientific publications that are relevant to this Season. The first paper came out in early July, and it was research claiming that the probability of finding water on other planets is about 100 times greater than current estimates.
Why is this important? It is important because as the research paper points out, water is essential for life as we know it. One of the authors of the paper stated, “This significantly increases the chances of finding environments where life could, in theory, develop.”
I mention this because it ties back to Episode 3 where we talked about the Big Questions. Humans innately want to understand their origins and significance. This paper is a demonstration of that. Millions of research dollars are spent every year to try and show how life started. And yet, the Bible answers that question on its very first page.
The second paper also came out in early July and is based on results from the James Webb Space Telescope. This report is a bit of a shocker. The authors of the paper propose that the universe is not really 13-14 billion years old as I have stated in earlier episodes, but closer to 26-27 billion years old…that is roughly two times older.
I do not know if this research will hold up under future observations, but this is a great example of how science is supposed to work. Over time, the empirical evidence combined with theory and calculations, should get us closer to the truth.
The Bible, on the other hand, is a fixed text. Yes, we do learn things over time that may influence our understanding of the text, but other than a few sections in dispute, the Biblical text itself has been stable for centuries. I find this dichotomy fascinating. As we continue this season, we will need to make some personal choices in how to deal with this fundamental difference between Scripture and science.
DAY ONE
All right, let us get back to our comparison of the Bible’s Creation account to materialistic science. I am going to admit right up front, that I am finding this part of Season 2 extremely challenging. And it is not because I struggle with the Bible or science. It is because there are so many differing viewpoints in how to interpret the Bible and the scientific data, and I am trying to be fair in how I compare them.
For example, in the last episode we looked at the very beginning. And in this episode, we are going to continue by looking at what the Bible refers to as the “first day.” However, many Christians might argue that the first day should include what I separated as the beginning. In other words, others might say that the first day includes the creation of the Earth, whereas I am presenting that day one begins from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters of the existing Earth. So, in my presentation, some time may have passed, or may not have passed, before the creation of the Earth.
The approach I took makes sense to me based on my understanding of the Bible. And I believe it lends itself very well to the exercise of comparing the Bible and materialistic science…which is one of the things we are doing this Season. However, I do acknowledge there are other interpretations that are considered orthodox in the Christian community.
And here is where it gets very difficult for me, speaking as a Christian. As I just mentioned, there are some Christians who do not believe separating the beginning from the first day is supported by Scripture. But many Christians fully agree and have no difficulties with what I have just said. This is an in-house debate, and I feel that it is important that you know this. I wish this were an area where all Christians agreed…but I doubt there is a resolution coming anytime soon and I suspect we will talk more about this in later episodes.
Well, that was a bit of a sidetrack, so let us get back to day one. Remember, from last episode, we are making a virtual chart with the Biblical account on the left and the materialistic science account on the right. This section is labeled “On Day One.”
Let us quickly review what the Bible says happened on the first day. And remember, in my approach I have already covered the beginning in the last episode. From Genesis we read:
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 the first day.
Genesis 1:3-5
Based on these verses, the left side of our chart, for a Biblical account of day one, will have these two summary statements:
· There was light.
· There was a separation of light and darkness.
When we decide what to put on the right side of our chart for the scientific account, we need to think about something we discussed in Episode 6. There we learned that the early Earth was encased in darkness because the atmosphere was full of debris settling on the Earth. At some point, the settling material allowed light to penetrate. That does not mean that anything outside of the Earth was visible, simply that light could now reach the early Earth. So, on the right side of our chart we will also put two summary statements:
· Light began to reach the earth as the dust and debris in Earth’s atmosphere began to settle.
· The rotation of the Earth meant there were now days and nights.
DAY ONE COMPARISON
How do our two columns compare? We saw in the last episode that our columns for the beginning had an amazing similarity. Here, the columns for day one may seem different because it depends on how you interpret the Genesis account.
Some Christians argue that at this point, only the Earth had been formed and God made some form of light other than the sun. Under these conditions, the rotation of the Earth along with a fixed light source caused the day and night.
Other Christians look at the Hebrew from which we get the expression “let there be light,” and recognize that the Hebrew used here is not the word for “create.” Instead, the word can mean “to become” or “happen.” Christians taking this stance believe the sun and moon already existed but are not yet visible. Up until now, there was total darkness. However, once the light from the sun began to penetrate through the atmosphere, a rotating Earth now had day and night.
If you believe the first approach, then the Bible and Science columns do not fully agree, although there is certainly a similarity. If you believe this second approach, then the Bible and science columns are in high agreement.
THE CHRISTIAN DEBATE
When I started making notes for this episode, I had the idea that we would compare more days of Creation than just the first day. But the more I looked at my notes, the more I wrestled with the understanding that, as we already see with day one, Christians may not agree on how to interpret the Genesis Creation account. And I think this is worth discussing a bit more in this episode because our in-house debate has some important ramifications.
One important ramification is that differing interpretations of the first chapter of Genesis can affect the unity of Christians. All Christians are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ joined through our love for Jesus and our love for each other. But there is something about the Creation account that has a way of bringing out some unloving behavior.
Several years ago, I was at a Christian campground that was designed to show what an amazing job God did when he created the world and life. You could take walks along trails and there were interesting nature facts posted on signs. These facts all pointed to the evidence of an intelligent and loving Creator. I thought that was great and I appreciated the work that had been done.
But I did notice that the presentation of the Genesis account took the stance that there was no possibility of time passing before day one, like I presented in the last episode. When I happened to run into the director of the camp, I mentioned to him that I was curious on how they chose what to say about the Creation account.
What caught me off guard was that he was immediately very defensive, and he asked me if I believed that the Bible was true. Of course, I believe the Bible is true, and that is what I told him. His response to that, was that if I did not agree with his position on Genesis, then there was no way I could believe the Bible was true.
Now, I will admit, this was not my finest hour. Because I became angry.
As we continued talking and I asked him some clarifying questions, we finally got to a critical point. He admitted to me that he did not think I was really a Christian because, in his eyes, I was denying the truth of the Bible.
That was very difficult to hear because I love Jesus, who is the living Word, and I value everything God has given us in the written word. It was also difficult to hear because I do not like being told that I am wrong, I am admitting that. This is something I am working on as part of my own spiritual maturity, but it added to my frustration and made it harder to be grace-filled during the conversation.
Shortly after that, I attended a workshop on Creation that was run by a gentleman with the same beliefs as the camp director. My conversation with that man was almost identical to that with the camp director. Again, in his eyes there was no way I could be a Christian unless I believed just like him.
If you want to find a way to destroy unity in a church, tell the person next to you that there is no way they are Christian unless they believe just like you. They will immediately question either your faith or their own faith.
Because the simple fact is that we are all on a journey and very unlikely to have the exact same Christian beliefs. There is no way that a new believer believes the same as someone who has been a Christian for 60 years. We are all learning and growing in our relationship with God and our understanding of things like what the Bible says.
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is patient with us as we learn. It is the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit that makes us a Christian…not what we believe about the first two verses of Genesis. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit lives within us, even though we are not perfect, and do not fully understand all of Scripture.
Now, does this mean that we do not have to worry about trying to understand the Genesis account? No, it does not. It is pleasing to God when we dig in and study what he has written for us. God gave us the Bible and the Creation account for a reason, and it is up to us to apply our understanding to it.
What is the solution then? As Christians, how do we maintain unity and believe different things about what the Bible says, and in our context, we are talking about the Creation account.
The key is to recognize that there are some things more essential to our Christian faith than others. For example, every Evangelical Christian church believes that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Every Evangelical Christian church believes in the Trinity. These are critical and essential beliefs.
But there are other things that may be important but not essential. For example, in Season 1 we talk a lot about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, as important as I believe these gifts are, I can embrace someone as a fellow Christian even if we have disagreements in this area. In fact, if you have listened to Season 1, you know that I was a childhood convert and did not believe in gifts of the Holy Spirit until I was middle-aged. And yet, I was a Christian as a child, and I am a Christian now because the Holy Spirit has lived within me since my childhood conversion. Believing in spiritual gifts is a non-essential, even though I do think they are extremely important.
This then, is how we need to approach the Creation account. We need to recognize that some of our beliefs about how to interpret Genesis are non-essential. I hope you understand the heart of what I am saying.
There is a quote by a seventeenth century theologian named Rupertus Meldenius, and this is part of the creedal statements in the church I attend. It says:
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
This simply means that we will stick together on the things that matter, have freedom in less important things, and love each other in the process.
One of my friends and I probably have about a 99.5% agreement when it comes to Christian theology. That half a percent disagreement happens to be on the topic of Creation.
One day we got into an argument about the evidence for Creation, and he has some of the same issues I have about not liking it when someone tells him he is wrong. Oh, my goodness. The two of us just pushed each other’s buttons and we were both getting mad. It must have been the Holy Spirit who came to our rescue, because simultaneously, we both stopped and looked at each other. We apologized, and we decided we would never talk on that topic again…because it just became divisive for no reason.
My hope is that in the remainder of this Season, we will all develop an appreciation that Christians can agree to disagree about some aspects of the Creation account.
In saying that, I do believe there are some very incorrect ways to look at Creation that go against what the Bible says. And I will not hesitate to point those things out because beliefs directly contrary to the Bible can lead us astray. But I do want us to enter the following Episodes with a healthy measure of grace.
We should have grace for our fellow Christians because we are all on a journey together to grow closer to God. And we should have grace for non-Christians who are asking legitimate questions about Genesis. God reveals himself to people through nature, and we get the privilege of introducing God to skeptics through their questions.
CLOSING
In our next episode, we are going to continue comparing the Biblical account of Creation to the materialistic account. Hopefully, we will get through more than one day.
As always, if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please email me at glenn@spiritledhope.com, or simply use the Contact Form at spiritledhope.com. That is spiritLEDhope.com.
If you struggle with extending grace to others:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Until next episode, take care.
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