A Second Look At The Creation Story

Recently the Palladium Item featured an article about the "Creation Museum" which is being built in the Cincinnati area. This museum is dedicated to presenting the facts of geological and biological evolution of the earth in accordance with a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible's Creation story in the book of Genesis. It will suggest that the Earth is only about 7,000 years old. One of its displays will depict human bings living with the dinosaurs, arguing that the dinosaurs were wiped out at the time of Noah's Flood.

My fellow Christians, I want you to know that you do not have to go along with this kind of thinking. It is not scientific. And, it is not theologically sound either.

If you take the Bible passage literally, then you have to explain why the sun, moon, and stars are said to have been created on the fourth day, after the separation of day from night, heaven from earth, land from seas, and the creation of living plants and trees. Where did the light on the first day come from, if there was no sun? How could there have been living plants and trees without the benefit of the sun?

The passage reflects a theological argument that the writer is making in order to clarify the uniqueness of the Hebrew concept of God. One probable explanation for why the sun, moon and stars are said to have been created on the fourth day is that the religious cultures around the Israelites worshiped the sun, moon and stars, believing that they were gods that had power over their lives. This argument is confirmed by the fact that the words "sun" and "moon" are not capitalized like the name of a God and they serve only as markers or "signs" for "seasons, days and years".

The passage states that the Heavens and the Earth are separated by something firm called the "firmament". The waters above the Earth are separated from the waters below the Earth, then they are gathered into one place called the "seas", allowing the dry land to appear. These expressions reflect the world view of the ancient Hebrews. The best way to understand this world view is to take two bowls. Fill the first bowl with water almost to the brim. Then put a large piece of Swiss cheese on the water. The cheese represents the "dry land" or the Earth. Put the second bowl upside down on the first bowl. This is the "firmament" separating the Heaven above, and the Earth below. Then submerge the whole thing in a sink full of water. This is the water above the firmament of the Heavens.

The modern scientific world view is so radically different from that which is reflected in a literal interpretation of the scriptures that most Christian commentaries note that the Creation story is not to be taken literally with regard to when and how the Earth and all her inhabitants came into being. They note that the passage is a poem, a psalm, even a doxology about God and the awesome world God has created. There is absolutely no need to try to pervert scientific facts in order to make them conform to a literal interpretation of how many days it took for the world, as we know it, to evolve.



Dr. Greene is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and a resident of Richmond, IN. He is also the author of Benjamin's Dog Joseph, Feeling Better: The Wisdom of the Doc, You Can Feel Better: How to cope with chronic pain and physical disabilities, and co-author of Walking Free: the Nellie Zimmerman Story.

For further information about his books, please visit www.densmorereid.com

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