Genesis 1 - Who Needs Science?

GENESIS 1

 

The first portion of Genesis describes the creation of the earth and other celestial bodies, as well as man, plants and animals.  The description of the created earth stands in direct opposition to the evidence we have gathered through science about how things actually happened.  This means that a complete analysis of Genesis from a scientific perspective would require your dear author to have a vast background in scientific literature.  Unfortunately, I have no such background.  I know what I know through my education and basic knowledge of biology, chemistry and physics.

I will not even attempt to present a fully scientific rebuttal to Genesis, as it would require hours and hours of source citation and personal learning - any anlysis I could give would likely pale in comparison to that which could be delivered by the experts; I will leave that to them.  That being said, some of the concepts I will discuss below are basic, and I submit would not require me to reference sources - i.e. that the sky is not made of water; that the earth could not have formed without the sun etc.  I believe these statements to be nearly equivalent to self-evident.  If that is folly on my part, then so be it.

Day 1

"1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

We have to assume here that "heavens" in this first sentence is the extra-terrestrial bodies of the universe as there is really no definition or further detail provided.  Apparently, god forgot to create the earth's sun and moon along with all of the potentially infinite celestial bodies.  Stars form planets - their gravitational field is required.  Science would already take issue with Genesis's first sentence, as we know that the earth formed AFTER the sun, not before.  Another issue that science would take with this first sentence is that a star is required to create the types of matter we find on the earth - it would actually require a star to have gone supernova (http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/stars.html).  Again, a star in proximity to the earth was not present at this point in the story.  The earth could not be formed at the same time the other celestial bodies are formed - it must be formed after.

"³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

This passage describes the creation of day and night cycle without a sun.  The sun not yet being created until day 4.

Day 2

"⁶ And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. ⁸ And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day."

This seems like a very strange description of the water on the land as opposed to the sky (made of water?).  It's rather hard to decipher the actual meaning here.  Possibly this is referring to the creation of an atmosphere. If it is referring to the atmosphere, through science we know that the atmosphere would not be fully developed without plant life being present, changing CO2 to O2.  I guess it was a good thing god didn't create Adam on this day, as he would have died.  However, again, the presence of an atmosphere containing anything but hydrogen and helium without a star having gone supernova is not possible.  This necessarily implies that water could not be present.

We see reference to the word "Heaven" again in this passage as we did in sentence 1.  However, clearly the two references cannot be referring to the same thing (note also, that one is capitalized and one isn't, which would tend to make the reference the name of a place proper).  I think we can deduce from the two different references that one refers to space and celestial bodies, and the other refers to the sky/atmosphere (the latter use being reference to the sky).  Again, we see another day passing without a sun in existence.

Day 3

^"9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good."

Fine. Sure.

^"11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day."

There are so many things wrong with this passage I barely know where to begin.  First, multi-cellular life (i.e. plants) did not form before single-celled organism.  Secondly, there would be no heat on earth whatsoever without the sun.  Third, the plants could not grow without a source for photosynthetic energy (i.e. the sun). Fourth . . . . oh forget it. 

Day 4

"¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷ And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day."

YAY the sun! Finally.  Now we are making progress.  Apparently god wasn't aware that the moon is not a light source and that its glow is merely a reflection of the sun's light (source: consult grade 2 science textbook).

Day 5

"²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” ²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day."

So we went from no animal life, to complex animal life in a snap.  Who knew that we didn't need to start with the basics.  At least at this point, there is heat on the earth.  Should we assume that the earth has gathered all of the necessary elements for water, and a proper atmosphere at this point?  Sure, let's give the story that much.  This is one juncture where this nice story and science could agree, if in such a small way - life as we know it requires water, and it is likely that is where life began (as opposed to land).  Oh but wait, now we have birds too.  But I thought dinosaurs came first?  When did god create the pterodactyl and T-Rex?

Day 6

 "²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. ²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."

This description completely lacks with respect to what we know of species development and timeline of our planet.  In order for this passage to hold truth, we must agree that dinosaurs and the saber-tooth cat and wolves and humans all were created and roamed the earth at the same time.  We know this to be absolutely false due to fossil history and carbon dating.

"²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them."

This is a gem. "Let US make man, in OUR image, after OUR likeness.".  And here I thought the basis for Christianity was a single god.  I presented this one to my mother and she told me this is clearly referring to the holy trinity.  The problem with this is that the old testament is Jewish in origin, a tradition which doesn't acknowledge 'Jesus Christ' as part of god, and therefore, no trinity, so why would they make reference to it?  I consulted the knowledge of the internet, and it appears that many people share my mother's view. The best explanation I can find for this is that it is a relic from the word Elohim, which is a Hebrew term referring to many gods, not just one. This is an artifact from a time of polytheism - the religions of Mesopotamia from which this story was borrowed (http://www.religioustolerance.org/com_geba.htm).

It's strange, then, that in the very next paragraph, we see god going back to referring only to himself.  Was god part of a larger council of gods?  Was he the one in charge of doing the dirty work while the others observed and made group decisions?  Does this just not make any sense at all and that's all there is to it?

Edit: One of my readers points out that while the christian tradition believes Adam came first and Eve second, this passage clearly indicates both were made at the same time - " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.".  It would also go against the common belief that god takes on the male form, for here it states that both the male and female form are 'in the image of god'.

"²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”"

Whoah!  Hold the phone here.  The Christian tradition tells us that god created one dude, Adam.  And yet we see god blessing "them" and saying to "them" that they can rape and pillage the earth at their pleasure.  This doesn't add up.

"²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

We're very glad god was satisfied.  He certainly earned his coffee break on the seventh day.

Conclusion

There are certain requirements to believing Genesis 1 is an actual account of the creation of the universe, matter and living beings:

1.  You are required to not believe in biology;

2.  You are required to not believe in chemistry;

3.  You are required to not believe in physics.

p.s. I realize that most Christians have abandoned the idea of Genesis 1 being an ACTUAL account of creation.  To me, that is the beginning point to start questioning the rest of what the bible has to offer.  However, there are still some that would tell you with a straight face that everything contained in this Genesis account is absolute fact.  See for example http://creationmuseum.org/

 

In the next episode . . . 

Day 7

  

We all know that god rested on this day.  A supreme being without need for food, water, shelter, time, existence, entertainment or auto insurance decided that he was tired and needed some time off for a while.