Genesis and Science Agree
Modern scientific discoveries have confirmed that the creation account of the Bible is correct. The creation is covered in 31 verses in the first chapter of the Bible. With only a hundred or so sentences describing we’re clearly not looking at a detailed account of how to create a universe. It is instead a quick outline of the events of creation.
The author of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, gives an astoundingly accurate account of how our world began. Without access to the huge telescopes or worldwide research that scientists have today he was able to write about events that scientists are just now beginning to understand. In fact the first event he describes was not understood by today’s astronomers until the last fifty years.
What about that first event, the separation of light from darkness? This turns out to be a superb description of the photon decoupling event. What is that you might ask. It seems, according to current astronomical theory, that at the very beginning the universe was an opaque, murky stew of unformed atoms. Light would begin to form creating blinding flashes of light and then immediately be destroyed. As the universe cooled, light was able to form and to stream. Other atoms necessary as the building blocks of worlds also were able to form. Light was at last separated from darkness. The stage was set for the next steps of creation.
Now we have light and darkness, and the materials to make worlds, stars and more. Moses simple statement of the separation of light from darkness is an awesome layman’s description of the photon decoupling event.
After this major event, then the earth is created. It is watery mass from which dry land eventually appears. The first life is plant life. Grasses come before shrubs (or herbs) ending with trees. Heavenly bodies are apparent as the atmosphere thins. Animal life also comes in this order – fish, birds, land animals. Last to arrive is man.
As scientists study the creation of the universe and life on earth, they have found that it happened in exactly that order. David Attenborough’s book “Life on Earth” gives a good description of the order of the creation of life on earth. His listing of the order of appearance of various types of life and the sequence given in Genesis agree. While Moses does not mention every item, those he does mention are in the correct order.
The next segment is found in Genesis 1:17. That says “God set them [the moon and the sun] in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth”. The moon is especially interesting.
What about our earthly moon makes it unique among moons. Primarily it’s size and composition. It is so large that sometimes it is given the classification planet rather than moon. Compared to our moon, the moons around other planets are tiny.
The moon is such a puzzle that scientists still have not figured out exactly how it was formed or ended up in such a serendipitous orbit around the earth. If it were just a bit further away it would not circle the earth but have it’s own orbit. Any closer and it would hit the earth causing incredible destruction. Our unique moon is precisely placed to accomplish it’s purposes.
The Bible and science are in agreement as to the step-by-step process of creation that ended with the appearance of humans on earth.
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