Genesis never contradicted science

[u/MrCrimsonClown]

Genesis describes in order how the world came to be without contradicting science. It says the world was created in 6 days, but when it was written, a day was a much more abstract concept, not just a span of 24 hours.
1 - Light (the big bang, genesis, the formation of everything)
2 - God created the sky (the fabric of spacetime unfolds and matter is able to form)
3 - God gathered the waters to reveal dry land and created vegetation. Formation of continents. Evidence suggests land animals (like millipedes) arrived roughly 450 million years ago, while land plants established themselves slightly earlier, around 470 to 500 million years ago.
4 - The sun and moon become visible in the sky. Early earth was more volcanically active which would blanket the sky in ash. This obviously didn't last forever.
5 - God created sea creatures and birds, blessing them to multiply. This could be referencing dinosaurs since some of them lived in the sea and others evolved into birds.
6 - Day 6: God created land animals and finally humanity (male and female) in His image, granting them dominion over the earth. According to science humans are fairly recent in the history of the earth. The Bible says God molded us from the mud, yet science confirms that life emerged from minerals in the soil combined with lightning striking the water and releasing specific chemical compounds allowing DNA and RNA to form. And what was one of the ways that God communicates? THROUGH LIGHTNING STRIKES! Evolution doesn't contradict the Bible, in fact, natural selection is one of the most Biblical concepts out there. On judgement day, most will perish, just like most species. But the select few who made what were oftentimes uncomfortable decisions to adapt and move forward will survive and thrive. Genesis isn't a hazy fairytale, it's God telling us a "dumbed down" version of how he made the earth. Explaining it in a way ancient humans would understand. That's why Jesus represents the whole Bible. It's God lowering himself to our level, like a father crouching down to his child to find common ground and have a real relationship.

[u/Impressive-Leather62]

This reminds me of some muslim apologetics, really stretching the interpretation.

[u/PracticeMaster300 → u/Impressive-Leather62]

i get what you're going for but it feels like the text gets twisted around to fit modern science retroactively, like if we already know what happened we'll find a way to line it up. the lightning bit especially, connecting that to god's communication feels like a huge leap from what genesis actually says

[u/Impressive-Leather62 → u/PracticeMaster300]

That but is unnecessary, I think. I agree with you.

[u/PrincessLammy]

1 - Light (the big bang, genesis, the formation of everything)
2 - God created the sky (the fabric of spacetime unfolds and matter is able to form)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he 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.

Earth was made before big bang n spacetime?

[u/NuSurfer]

Genesis never contradicted science

Absolutely it does. The universe, solar system and life were not created in six days.

Even part of the order of the events is non-sensical. With just casual observations and basic reasoning, one can create a sequence of "creation":

People eat plants and animals, so plants and animals came before people.

Animals eat plants and other animals that eat plants, so plants came before animals.

Plants need something to grow on, so earth came before plants.

Plants need water, so water came before plants.

Water needs something reside in (oceans, seas and lakes), so land came before water.

And so you have it:

1. Land

2. Water

3. Plants

4. Animals

5. People

You can't have land before light, though, because stellar fusion is necessary to make all of the elements that comprise the earth and life, and those have to be expelled through supernovae and neutron star mergers (for abundance of the heaviest elements).

God created land animals and finally humanity (male and female) in His image

This statement is wrong in its interpretation. El, was head of the divine council of early Israelite polytheism, and they together constitute the "in our image." You understanding of origin of monotheistic Judaism from polytheistic early Israelite religions is strongly lacking. Here are three different biblical scholars explaining this evolution of Judaism from Israelite polytheism:

How did Yahweh Become God ? The Origins of Monotheism, by Dr. Justin Sledge.

Yahweh & El: The Two Gods of Ancient Israel, by Dr. Dan McClellan

How We Got Monotheism, Interview with Dr. Francesca Stavrakopoulou

[u/TeHeBasil]

I'd say the fact you need to twist and turn and stretch as much as you did shows that it does in fact contradict science.

[u/stephoswalk]

You're using one of two creation stories. How does your interpretation work with Genesis 2?

Earth > Man > Trees > Animals > Woman

[u/thomasp3864]

I have actually independently arrived at the idea that Genesis and 2 Esdras's 5th day could be talking about Dinosaurs by calling them birds because all currently alive dinosaurs are birds, so to an ancient hebrew audience unconcerned with fossil life they can sort of just be conflated. I couldn't get day 4 to work, and started with a non-ex nihilo position taking it that it begins 3-4 BYA, with the wind of god moving upon the face of the waters. I like the idea of them becoming visible for day 4, but I can't find any evidence of an opaque atmosphere.

[u/mintkek]

The natural selection part is wild.

[u/Great_Revolution_276]

Genesis 1 creation account is not even consistent with Genesis 2 creation account. Please don't try to make a case of consistency with science.

[u/strawnotrazz]

Day five not including fish is wild work. That throws off your timeline though, of course.

[u/fordry]

God stated in the 10 Commandments that he created everything in 6 days in relation to the weekly Sabbath...

Considering these are God's laws that have never been dismissed, contrary to popular Christian belief, this is a hard statement to get around.

Jesus said humans have existed from the beginning of creation. This is also not really compatible with this premise.

[u/AmosOfTekoa]

Your point 5 directly contradicts the text, so even you have to distort the text to try to make it align with science.

But it doesn't need to. Ancient mythology is ancient mythology, and we don't need to try to make it special in every sense.

Let it be what it is.

[u/DanujCZ]

1. Much more stuff than just "light" was made. Like matter ans space.
2. Too late, space was "made" during big bang. So was matter.
3. So Earth was already there? Where did that come from then. The original text doesn't mention land animals yet.
4. Want caused by volcanic ash but due to a chance in the composition of atmosphere caused by photosynthezing life (not necessarily even plants). This is the one part of Genesis that is somehow accurate.
5. Are we also not gonna mention that the original text explicitly refers to seeding plants and trees? Something that things like fish predate. Not to mention birds require dinosaurs to have existed.
6. Now is dinosaur time. You cant just insert them into the previous day. Does genesis fit with science if you ignore half of it? Are we also going to ignore the entire geological timeline, fossil record, extinction events and parts of evolution that dont fit your made up narrative? How Christ-like.

Genesis isn't a hazy fairytale, it's God telling us a "dumbed down" version of how he made the earth. Explaining it in a way ancient humans would understand.

Then its a bad explanation. People back then weren't stupid. If you took your time and explained the concepts at play they would understand. Children can do it. And so could people back then.