I’m not sure if this blog will be as long as the previous two but I hope it is found to be interesting. This blog is about, of course, science and religion. Can science and religion be compatible. Are they mutually exclusive? Let’s look at some of the main arguments.
Let’s start at the beginning: The creation of the earth Bible says seven days, science say millions of years. Well this is easily and quickly fixed if you are one of those people who interpret the Bible as metaphorical. Even if you take it as literal, still seven days is a bit tricky. It clearly can be allegorical for the days of the week and it makes sense to order things in such a way. But what is a day to God? I mean this is predating the earth and the other planets here. Therefore, there was no such thing as a day defined as a 24 hour period in which the earth revolves around the sun. There was no earth, no sun, and no concept of “hour”. I suppose one could argue that after the first day, there were such things as the earth and the sun. However, God is, as defined by Judeo-Christian-Islamic doctrine: omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent which means all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere simultaneously, respectively. God is also described as being the Alpha and the Omega, which means the beginning and the end. Basically predated existence and existing outside of the known universe while still being to a degree transcendental (knowable in the world).
Now, if God is all these things, then what is a day to God? I mean the average life span would be a blink of an eye to a perpetually existing force or being. There is even a joke about it:
Well a man says to God “What’s a million years to you?” God said “A minute.” And the man said to God “What’s a million dollars to you?” God said “A penny” So the man said to God “Well can you give me a penny?” And God said to him “Yes I will…in a minute.”
Point being we do not know the mind of God and it is pretentious and presumptuous to try to work it out or assume that we already do.
What is my point? My point, if we go by the scale of the joke, (which is silly but run with it), then the Earth would be even older than scientists say it is. Point is a day is an arbitrary term to God. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say, mostly any concept is arbitrary and in flux to God.
Big issue: Creationism Vs. Evolution. I believe and accept both concepts as being accurate. How can I do this? Am I not contradicting myself? Well no. Let’s look at Genesis 1 (the one where man and woman are created equal). The account of creation is very similar to the progression of evolution. Evolution roughly states that basically, we were single celled nothings, then creatures of the sea, then lizard things, then mammals, then human beings we are now. What is the order in Gen 1? Let’s see: First the ocean is filled with life, then the sky with birds, then the lizards, bugs, then mammals, and finally? Humans! So what exactly is the problem here? I mean honestly. I accept the foundations of biology, psychology, chemistry, physics, etc, and I also believe in God, an after-life, Jesus, etc. Is that so wrong? I don’t find it hypocritical at all.
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