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Navigating Genesis: A Scientist's Journey through Genesis 1-11
Is constructive integration of Genesis 1-11 with the current scientific knowledge possible? Everyone knows the Bible teaches scientific nonsense that s the commonly held misconception. When pushed for examples, skeptics point to the early part of Genesis, with stories of creation, the flood, and 900-year life spans as proof. Examining recent scientific discoveries, astronomer and pastor Dr. Hugh Ross explores the opening chapters in Genesis and shows how they hold some of the strongest scientific evidence for the Bible s supernatural accuracy. Navigating Genesis expands upon Ross earlier book The Genesis Question (1998), integrating the message of both the Bible and science without compromise giving skeptics and believers common ground for dialogue.
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
177 people are currently reading
551 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Ross
139 books298 followersHUGH ROSS launched his career at age seven when he went to the library to find out why stars are hot. Physics and astronomy captured his curiosity and never let go. At age seventeen he was the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver's Royal Astronomical Society. With the help of a provincial scholarship and a National Research Council (NRC) of Canada fellowship, he completed his undergraduate degree in physics (University of British Columbia) and graduate degrees in astronomy (University of Toronto). The NRC also sent him to the United States for postdoctoral studies. At Caltech he researched quasi-stellar objects, or "quasars," some of the most distant and ancient objects in the universe.
Hugh's unshakable confidence that God's revelation in Scripture and nature do not, will not, and cannot contradict became his unique message. Communicating that message as broadly and clearly as possible became his mission, wholeheartedly encouraged by family and friends. He and his colleagues at Reasons To Believe keep tabs on the frontiers of research to share with scientists and nonscientists alike the thrilling news of what's being discovered and how it connects with biblical theology. In this realm, he has written many books, including: The Fingerprint of God, The Creator and the Cosmos, Beyond the Cosmos, The Genesis Question, A Matter of Days, Creation As Science, and Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, due to be released October 1, 2008.
Between writing books and articles and hosting Creation Update, a weekly live webcast, Hugh travels the world challenging students and faculty, churches and professional groups to consider what they believe and why. He presents a persuasive case for Christianity without applying pressure. Because he treats people's questions and comments with respect, he is in great demand as a speaker and as a talk-radio and television guest.
Hugh lives in Southern California with his wife, Kathy, and two sons—and two cats.
from reasons.org
Hugh's unshakable confidence that God's revelation in Scripture and nature do not, will not, and cannot contradict became his unique message. Communicating that message as broadly and clearly as possible became his mission, wholeheartedly encouraged by family and friends. He and his colleagues at Reasons To Believe keep tabs on the frontiers of research to share with scientists and nonscientists alike the thrilling news of what's being discovered and how it connects with biblical theology. In this realm, he has written many books, including: The Fingerprint of God, The Creator and the Cosmos, Beyond the Cosmos, The Genesis Question, A Matter of Days, Creation As Science, and Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, due to be released October 1, 2008.
Between writing books and articles and hosting Creation Update, a weekly live webcast, Hugh travels the world challenging students and faculty, churches and professional groups to consider what they believe and why. He presents a persuasive case for Christianity without applying pressure. Because he treats people's questions and comments with respect, he is in great demand as a speaker and as a talk-radio and television guest.
Hugh lives in Southern California with his wife, Kathy, and two sons—and two cats.
from reasons.org
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
September 7, 2017
One of the extremely few Christian authors out there today who gets creation and science right, in my humble opinion. :-)
September 26, 2015
This book is WORTH
Bible is great book "Day-Age Genesis Interpretation"
(Day)
DAY 1
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Most people read the Genesis creation account without using the scientific method and, therefore, make assumptions that are not supported by the text. For example, the first rule of the scientific method is to establish the initial conditions, or the frame of reference. Genesis 1:2 clearly states that the frame of reference is "the surface of the waters" of the earth. Most people have made the mistake of assuming the frame of reference of Genesis 1 is heaven or somewhere above the earth.
What does the text specifically say? The heavens (universe, solar system, sun, earth, etc.) were already created before the first "day" (Genesis 1:1, ~14 x 109 years ago). Science tells us that the entire planet was covered in a global sea soon after its creation (3). In other verses, the Bible says that the earth is controlled by the heavens, refuting geocentrism (4). In Genesis 1:2, God was "hovering or brooding" over the seas of the newly formed earth (4.4-3.8 x 109 years ago, 5). We know from science this is where the first unicellular life forms first appeared (6). The Hebrew word, rachaph, translated as "hovering or brooding" is used only twice in the Old Testament. The second reference is to an eagle caring for its young (7). Therefore, it seems likely that the use of the word rachaph in Genesis 1:2 may be referring to God creating the first life forms in the sea.
DAY 1
1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Both science and the Bible (8) have told us that at the earth's creation, it was covered with a dense layer of clouds and gases which would have made it dark at its surface. Genesis 1:2 says, "darkness was over the surface of the deep." Next, God removed much of the cloud cover, when He stated, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3) This was the light of the Sun (already created) which now "separated light from darkness" (Genesis 1:4). It is very clear from the text that the sun had already been created and the earth was rotating on its axis, since there was light (day) and darkness (night) (Genesis 1:5).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 2
1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
1:7 And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
1:8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
1:10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:6-10 describe the initiation of a stable water cycle (9) and formation of continents (10) through tectonic activity (~2.7 x 109 years ago) (11).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 3
1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Plant life was created on the third day (Genesis 1:11-13, ~1.0 x 109 years ago). These verses are probably the strongest argument for the day-age interpretation. The verse says quite clearly that the earth sprouted (or brought forth) vegetation and fruit trees bearing fruit. The English word translated "vegetation" on the third day comes from the Hebrew word deshe', which refers to small plants, such as grasses and herbs. The other word, ‛eśeb, translated "plants" is even more generic, referring to any kind of green plant. So, the "day" encompasses the time from the formation of the first plants until the formation of the angiosperms. The process described is clearly similar to what we see today. Fruit trees take years to bear fruit, testifying that the third "day" could not possibly be just 24 hours long, as claimed by young earth creationists. Recent scientific evidence shows that plant life began on the land ~1 billion years ago (12)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 4
1:14 Then 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;
1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth ";and it was so.
1:16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
1:17 And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
1:18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Next the translucent cloud layer was removed so that the sun, moon and stars shown through. Notice the unusual construction in Genesis 1:14 which states, "Then 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;'" "Let there be" is an unusual way to describe de novo creation (see also verse 1:3). I believe that at this point God removed the translucent cloud cover from the planet to allow the stars, moon, and Sun to be seen from the surface of the earth (the frame of reference of all Genesis 1). The text then reiterates what God had already done in Genesis 1:1 regarding the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The time frame describes events over days, seasons, and years - obviously more than 24 hours long.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 5
1:20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
1:21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Birds (13) (~70 x 106 years ago), whales (14) (~50 x 106 years ago) and sea mammals ("swarms of living creatures," where "creatures" is the Hebrew word nephesh, referring to soulish animals - those that can form relationships with humans) were created on the "fifth" day (Genesis 1:20-21), which would correspond to the end of the Cretaceous period/beginning of the Tertiary.
The fifth day describes a period of time longer than 24 hours as swarms of living creatures are multiplying in the sea.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1:24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so.
1:25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
On the sixth day God created the "beasts of the earth" (in Genesis 1:25 the Hebrew word is chayyah, which is best translated as "wild animal," usually referring to carnivorous mammals (15) (the extinct families Miacidae and Viverravidae, appeared ~50 x 106 years ago or current families Canidae, Felidae, Mustelidae, and Viverridae appeared ~30 x 106 years ago ) and the cattle (the Hebrew word is behemah, from which we get the word behemoth, the artiodactyls (large grazing mammals) appeared ~15 x 106 years ago) and the rodents (mammals that "creep on the ground"). Therefore, the wild and domesticated mammals and rodents were created on the sixth day.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 6
1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The last creation of God was mankind, who was also created at the end of the sixth day. What about humans and three million year old fossil remains of bipedal primates? I believe in a literal Adam and Eve, although I do not believe they lived millions of years ago. The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve had a relationship with God (Genesis 2-3) and the text says that unique among all the animals, humans are endowed with a spirit (Hebrew, ruach, Greek, pneuma), by which they are able to communicate with and love God. Scientists have found no evidence of religious artifacts before about 25,000 to 50,000 years ago (16), which is the point at which I propose God created Adam and Eve. The Bible states that the covenant and laws of God have been proclaimed to a "thousand generations" (17). A biblical generation, described as being 40 years, would represent at least 40,000 years of human existence. However, since the first dozen or more generations were nearly 1,000 years, this would make humans nearly 50,000 years old, which agrees very well with dates from paleontology and molecular biology (see Descent of Mankind Theory: Disproved by Molecular Biology). Therefore, I believe that bipedal primates that existed before Adam and Eve, were just part of the animal kingdom, and were not endowed with the characteristics that make humans distinct from animals.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Does Science Agree With the Bible?
The Bible’s answer
Yes, for although the Bible is not a science textbook, it is accurate when it mentions matters of science. Consider some examples showing that science and the Bible agree and that the Bible contains scientific facts that differed greatly from the beliefs of many people living at the time it was written.
The universe had a beginning. (Genesis 1:1) In contrast, many ancient myths describe the universe, not as being created, but as being organized from existing chaos. The Babylonians believed that the gods that gave birth to the universe came from two oceans. Other legends say that the universe came from a giant egg.
The universe is governed day-to-day by rational natural laws, not by the whims of deities. (Job 38:33; Jeremiah 33:25) Myths from around the world teach that humans are helpless before the unpredictable and sometimes merciless acts of the gods.
The earth is suspended in empty space. (Job 26:7) Many ancient peoples believed that the world was a flat disk supported by a giant or an animal, such as a buffalo or a turtle.
Rivers and springs are fed by water that has evaporated from the oceans and other sources and then has fallen back to earth as rain, snow, or hail. (Job 36:27, 28; Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10; Amos 9:6) The ancient Greeks thought that rivers were fed by underground ocean water, and this idea persisted into the 18th century.
The mountains rise and fall, and today’s mountains were once under the ocean. (Psalm 104:6, 8) In contrast, several myths say that the mountains were created in their current form by the gods.
Sanitary practices protect health. The Law given to the nation of Israel included regulations for washing after touching a dead body, quarantining those with infectious disease, and disposing of human waste safely. (Leviticus 11:28; 13:1-5; Deuteronomy 23:13) By contrast, one of the Egyptian remedies in use when these commands were given called for applying to an open wound a mixture that included human excrement.
Are there scientific errors in the Bible?
A reasonable examination of the Bible shows the answer to be no. Here are some common misconceptions about the scientific accuracy of the Bible:
Myth: The Bible says that the universe was created in six 24-hour days.
Fact: According to the Bible, God created the universe in the indefinite past. (Genesis 1:1) Also, the days of creation described in chapter 1 of Genesis were epochs whose length is not specified. In fact, the entire period during which earth and heaven were made is also called a “day.”—Genesis 2:4.
Myth: The Bible says that vegetation was created before the sun existed to support photosynthesis.—Genesis 1:11, 16.
Fact: The Bible shows that the sun, one of the stars that make up “the heavens,” was created before vegetation. (Genesis 1:1) Diffused light from the sun reached the earth’s surface during the first “day,” or epoch, of creation. As the atmosphere cleared, by the third “day” of creation, the light was strong enough to support photosynthesis. (Genesis 1:3-5, 12, 13) Only later did the sun become distinctly visible from the surface of the earth.—Genesis 1:16.
Myth: The Bible says that the sun revolves around the earth.
Fact: Ecclesiastes 1:5 says: “The sun rises, and the sun sets; then it hurries back to the place where it rises again.” However, this statement merely describes the apparent motion of the sun as viewed from the earth. Even today, a person can use the words “sunrise” and “sunset,” yet he knows that the earth revolves around the sun.
Myth: The Bible says that the earth is flat.
Fact: The Bible uses the phrase “the ends of the earth” to mean “the most distant part of the earth”; this does not imply that the earth is flat or that it has an edge. (Acts 1:8; footnote) Likewise, the expression “the four corners of the earth” is a figure of speech referring to the entire surface of the earth; today a person might use the four points of the compass as a similar metaphor.—Isaiah 11:12; Luke 13:29.
Myth: The Bible says that the circumference of a circle is exactly three times its diameter, but the correct value is pi (π), or about 3.1416.
Fact: The measurements of “the Sea of cast metal” given at 1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2 indicate that it had a diameter of 10 cubits and that “it took a measuring line 30 cubits long to encircle it.” These dimensions might have been merely the nearest round numbers. It is also possible that the circumference and diameter represented inner and outer measurements of the basin respectively.
http://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/....
Fulfilled Prophecy
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/mag...
Big Bang—The Bible Taught It First!
Dr. Hugh Ross
While it is true that they were the first (1965) to detect the radiation left over from the creation event,1 they were not the first scientists to recognize that the universe expanded from an extremely hot and compact state. In 1946 George Gamow calculated that nothing less than the universe expanding from a near infinitely hot condition could account for the present abundance of elements.2 In 1929 observations made by Edwin Hubble established that the velocities of galaxies result from a general expansion of the universe.3 Beginning in 1925 Abbé Georges Lemaître, who was both an astrophysicist and a Jesuit priest, was the first scientist to promote a big bang creation event.4
The first direct scientific evidence for a big bang universe dates back to 1916. That is when Albert Einstein noted that his field equations of general relativity predicted an expanding universe.5 Unwilling to accept the cosmic beginning implied by such expansion, Einstein altered his theory to conform with the common wisdom of his day, namely an eternally existing universe.6
All these scientists, however, were upstaged by 2500 years and more by Job, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other Bible authors. The Bible’s prophets and apostles stated explicitly and repeatedly the two most fundamental properties of the big bang, a transcendent cosmic beginning a finite time period ago and a universe undergoing a general, continual expansion. In Isaiah 42:5 both properties were declared, “This is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out.”
The Hebrew verb translated “created” in Isaiah 42:5 is bara’ which has as its primary definition “bringing into existence something new, something that did not exist before.”7 The proclamation that God created (bara’) the entirety of the heavens is stated seven times in the Old Testament. (Genesis 1:1; 2:3; 2:4; Psalm 148:5; Isaiah 40:26; 42:5; 45:18). This principle of transcendent creation is made more explicit by passages like Hebrews 11:3 which states that the universe that we humans can measure and detect was made out of that which we cannot measure or detect. Also, Isaiah 45:5-22; John 1:3; and Colossians 1:15-17 stipulate that God alone is the agent for the universe’s existence. Biblical claims that God predated the universe and was actively involved in causing certain effects before the existence of the universe is not only found in Colossians 1 but also in Proverbs 8:22-31; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; and 1 Peter 1:20.
The characteristic of the universe stated more frequently than any other in the Bible is its being “stretched out.” Five different Bible authors pen such a statement in eleven different verses: Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13; Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15; and Zechariah 12:1. Job 37:18 appears to be a twelfth verse. However, the word used for “heavens” or “skies” is shehaqîm which refers to the clouds of fine particles (of water or dust) that are located in Earth’s atmosphere,8 not the shamayim, the heavens of the astronomical universe.9 Three of the eleven verses, Job 9:8; Isaiah 44:24; and 45:12 make the point that God alone was responsible for the cosmic stretching.
What is particularly interesting about the eleven verses is that different Hebrew verb forms are used to describe the cosmic stretching. Seven verses, Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 51:13; and Zechariah 12:1 employ the Qal active participle form of the verb natah. This form literally means “the stretcher out of them” (the heavens) and implies continual or ongoing stretching. Four verses, Isaiah 45:12; 48:13; and Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15 use the Qal perfect form. This form literally means that the stretching of the heavens was completed or finished some time ago.
That the Bible really does claim that the stretching out of the heavens is both “finished” and “ongoing” is made all the more evident in Isaiah 40:22. There we find two different verbs used in two different forms. In the first of the final two parallel poetic lines, “stretches out” is the verb natah in the Qal active participle form. In the second (final) line the verb “spreads them out” (NASB, NIV, NKJV) is mathah (used only this one time in the Old Testament) in the waw consecutive plus Qal imperfect form, so that literally we might translate it “and he has spread them out
Bible is great book "Day-Age Genesis Interpretation"
(Day)
DAY 1
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Most people read the Genesis creation account without using the scientific method and, therefore, make assumptions that are not supported by the text. For example, the first rule of the scientific method is to establish the initial conditions, or the frame of reference. Genesis 1:2 clearly states that the frame of reference is "the surface of the waters" of the earth. Most people have made the mistake of assuming the frame of reference of Genesis 1 is heaven or somewhere above the earth.
What does the text specifically say? The heavens (universe, solar system, sun, earth, etc.) were already created before the first "day" (Genesis 1:1, ~14 x 109 years ago). Science tells us that the entire planet was covered in a global sea soon after its creation (3). In other verses, the Bible says that the earth is controlled by the heavens, refuting geocentrism (4). In Genesis 1:2, God was "hovering or brooding" over the seas of the newly formed earth (4.4-3.8 x 109 years ago, 5). We know from science this is where the first unicellular life forms first appeared (6). The Hebrew word, rachaph, translated as "hovering or brooding" is used only twice in the Old Testament. The second reference is to an eagle caring for its young (7). Therefore, it seems likely that the use of the word rachaph in Genesis 1:2 may be referring to God creating the first life forms in the sea.
DAY 1
1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Both science and the Bible (8) have told us that at the earth's creation, it was covered with a dense layer of clouds and gases which would have made it dark at its surface. Genesis 1:2 says, "darkness was over the surface of the deep." Next, God removed much of the cloud cover, when He stated, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3) This was the light of the Sun (already created) which now "separated light from darkness" (Genesis 1:4). It is very clear from the text that the sun had already been created and the earth was rotating on its axis, since there was light (day) and darkness (night) (Genesis 1:5).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 2
1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
1:7 And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
1:8 And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
1:10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:6-10 describe the initiation of a stable water cycle (9) and formation of continents (10) through tectonic activity (~2.7 x 109 years ago) (11).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 3
1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Plant life was created on the third day (Genesis 1:11-13, ~1.0 x 109 years ago). These verses are probably the strongest argument for the day-age interpretation. The verse says quite clearly that the earth sprouted (or brought forth) vegetation and fruit trees bearing fruit. The English word translated "vegetation" on the third day comes from the Hebrew word deshe', which refers to small plants, such as grasses and herbs. The other word, ‛eśeb, translated "plants" is even more generic, referring to any kind of green plant. So, the "day" encompasses the time from the formation of the first plants until the formation of the angiosperms. The process described is clearly similar to what we see today. Fruit trees take years to bear fruit, testifying that the third "day" could not possibly be just 24 hours long, as claimed by young earth creationists. Recent scientific evidence shows that plant life began on the land ~1 billion years ago (12)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 4
1:14 Then 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;
1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth ";and it was so.
1:16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
1:17 And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
1:18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Next the translucent cloud layer was removed so that the sun, moon and stars shown through. Notice the unusual construction in Genesis 1:14 which states, "Then 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;'" "Let there be" is an unusual way to describe de novo creation (see also verse 1:3). I believe that at this point God removed the translucent cloud cover from the planet to allow the stars, moon, and Sun to be seen from the surface of the earth (the frame of reference of all Genesis 1). The text then reiterates what God had already done in Genesis 1:1 regarding the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The time frame describes events over days, seasons, and years - obviously more than 24 hours long.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 5
1:20 Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."
1:21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
1:22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Birds (13) (~70 x 106 years ago), whales (14) (~50 x 106 years ago) and sea mammals ("swarms of living creatures," where "creatures" is the Hebrew word nephesh, referring to soulish animals - those that can form relationships with humans) were created on the "fifth" day (Genesis 1:20-21), which would correspond to the end of the Cretaceous period/beginning of the Tertiary.
The fifth day describes a period of time longer than 24 hours as swarms of living creatures are multiplying in the sea.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1:24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so.
1:25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
On the sixth day God created the "beasts of the earth" (in Genesis 1:25 the Hebrew word is chayyah, which is best translated as "wild animal," usually referring to carnivorous mammals (15) (the extinct families Miacidae and Viverravidae, appeared ~50 x 106 years ago or current families Canidae, Felidae, Mustelidae, and Viverridae appeared ~30 x 106 years ago ) and the cattle (the Hebrew word is behemah, from which we get the word behemoth, the artiodactyls (large grazing mammals) appeared ~15 x 106 years ago) and the rodents (mammals that "creep on the ground"). Therefore, the wild and domesticated mammals and rodents were created on the sixth day.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DAY 6
1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The last creation of God was mankind, who was also created at the end of the sixth day. What about humans and three million year old fossil remains of bipedal primates? I believe in a literal Adam and Eve, although I do not believe they lived millions of years ago. The Bible indicates that Adam and Eve had a relationship with God (Genesis 2-3) and the text says that unique among all the animals, humans are endowed with a spirit (Hebrew, ruach, Greek, pneuma), by which they are able to communicate with and love God. Scientists have found no evidence of religious artifacts before about 25,000 to 50,000 years ago (16), which is the point at which I propose God created Adam and Eve. The Bible states that the covenant and laws of God have been proclaimed to a "thousand generations" (17). A biblical generation, described as being 40 years, would represent at least 40,000 years of human existence. However, since the first dozen or more generations were nearly 1,000 years, this would make humans nearly 50,000 years old, which agrees very well with dates from paleontology and molecular biology (see Descent of Mankind Theory: Disproved by Molecular Biology). Therefore, I believe that bipedal primates that existed before Adam and Eve, were just part of the animal kingdom, and were not endowed with the characteristics that make humans distinct from animals.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Does Science Agree With the Bible?
The Bible’s answer
Yes, for although the Bible is not a science textbook, it is accurate when it mentions matters of science. Consider some examples showing that science and the Bible agree and that the Bible contains scientific facts that differed greatly from the beliefs of many people living at the time it was written.
The universe had a beginning. (Genesis 1:1) In contrast, many ancient myths describe the universe, not as being created, but as being organized from existing chaos. The Babylonians believed that the gods that gave birth to the universe came from two oceans. Other legends say that the universe came from a giant egg.
The universe is governed day-to-day by rational natural laws, not by the whims of deities. (Job 38:33; Jeremiah 33:25) Myths from around the world teach that humans are helpless before the unpredictable and sometimes merciless acts of the gods.
The earth is suspended in empty space. (Job 26:7) Many ancient peoples believed that the world was a flat disk supported by a giant or an animal, such as a buffalo or a turtle.
Rivers and springs are fed by water that has evaporated from the oceans and other sources and then has fallen back to earth as rain, snow, or hail. (Job 36:27, 28; Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10; Amos 9:6) The ancient Greeks thought that rivers were fed by underground ocean water, and this idea persisted into the 18th century.
The mountains rise and fall, and today’s mountains were once under the ocean. (Psalm 104:6, 8) In contrast, several myths say that the mountains were created in their current form by the gods.
Sanitary practices protect health. The Law given to the nation of Israel included regulations for washing after touching a dead body, quarantining those with infectious disease, and disposing of human waste safely. (Leviticus 11:28; 13:1-5; Deuteronomy 23:13) By contrast, one of the Egyptian remedies in use when these commands were given called for applying to an open wound a mixture that included human excrement.
Are there scientific errors in the Bible?
A reasonable examination of the Bible shows the answer to be no. Here are some common misconceptions about the scientific accuracy of the Bible:
Myth: The Bible says that the universe was created in six 24-hour days.
Fact: According to the Bible, God created the universe in the indefinite past. (Genesis 1:1) Also, the days of creation described in chapter 1 of Genesis were epochs whose length is not specified. In fact, the entire period during which earth and heaven were made is also called a “day.”—Genesis 2:4.
Myth: The Bible says that vegetation was created before the sun existed to support photosynthesis.—Genesis 1:11, 16.
Fact: The Bible shows that the sun, one of the stars that make up “the heavens,” was created before vegetation. (Genesis 1:1) Diffused light from the sun reached the earth’s surface during the first “day,” or epoch, of creation. As the atmosphere cleared, by the third “day” of creation, the light was strong enough to support photosynthesis. (Genesis 1:3-5, 12, 13) Only later did the sun become distinctly visible from the surface of the earth.—Genesis 1:16.
Myth: The Bible says that the sun revolves around the earth.
Fact: Ecclesiastes 1:5 says: “The sun rises, and the sun sets; then it hurries back to the place where it rises again.” However, this statement merely describes the apparent motion of the sun as viewed from the earth. Even today, a person can use the words “sunrise” and “sunset,” yet he knows that the earth revolves around the sun.
Myth: The Bible says that the earth is flat.
Fact: The Bible uses the phrase “the ends of the earth” to mean “the most distant part of the earth”; this does not imply that the earth is flat or that it has an edge. (Acts 1:8; footnote) Likewise, the expression “the four corners of the earth” is a figure of speech referring to the entire surface of the earth; today a person might use the four points of the compass as a similar metaphor.—Isaiah 11:12; Luke 13:29.
Myth: The Bible says that the circumference of a circle is exactly three times its diameter, but the correct value is pi (π), or about 3.1416.
Fact: The measurements of “the Sea of cast metal” given at 1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2 indicate that it had a diameter of 10 cubits and that “it took a measuring line 30 cubits long to encircle it.” These dimensions might have been merely the nearest round numbers. It is also possible that the circumference and diameter represented inner and outer measurements of the basin respectively.
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Fulfilled Prophecy
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Big Bang—The Bible Taught It First!
Dr. Hugh Ross
While it is true that they were the first (1965) to detect the radiation left over from the creation event,1 they were not the first scientists to recognize that the universe expanded from an extremely hot and compact state. In 1946 George Gamow calculated that nothing less than the universe expanding from a near infinitely hot condition could account for the present abundance of elements.2 In 1929 observations made by Edwin Hubble established that the velocities of galaxies result from a general expansion of the universe.3 Beginning in 1925 Abbé Georges Lemaître, who was both an astrophysicist and a Jesuit priest, was the first scientist to promote a big bang creation event.4
The first direct scientific evidence for a big bang universe dates back to 1916. That is when Albert Einstein noted that his field equations of general relativity predicted an expanding universe.5 Unwilling to accept the cosmic beginning implied by such expansion, Einstein altered his theory to conform with the common wisdom of his day, namely an eternally existing universe.6
All these scientists, however, were upstaged by 2500 years and more by Job, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other Bible authors. The Bible’s prophets and apostles stated explicitly and repeatedly the two most fundamental properties of the big bang, a transcendent cosmic beginning a finite time period ago and a universe undergoing a general, continual expansion. In Isaiah 42:5 both properties were declared, “This is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out.”
The Hebrew verb translated “created” in Isaiah 42:5 is bara’ which has as its primary definition “bringing into existence something new, something that did not exist before.”7 The proclamation that God created (bara’) the entirety of the heavens is stated seven times in the Old Testament. (Genesis 1:1; 2:3; 2:4; Psalm 148:5; Isaiah 40:26; 42:5; 45:18). This principle of transcendent creation is made more explicit by passages like Hebrews 11:3 which states that the universe that we humans can measure and detect was made out of that which we cannot measure or detect. Also, Isaiah 45:5-22; John 1:3; and Colossians 1:15-17 stipulate that God alone is the agent for the universe’s existence. Biblical claims that God predated the universe and was actively involved in causing certain effects before the existence of the universe is not only found in Colossians 1 but also in Proverbs 8:22-31; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; and 1 Peter 1:20.
The characteristic of the universe stated more frequently than any other in the Bible is its being “stretched out.” Five different Bible authors pen such a statement in eleven different verses: Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:13; Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15; and Zechariah 12:1. Job 37:18 appears to be a twelfth verse. However, the word used for “heavens” or “skies” is shehaqîm which refers to the clouds of fine particles (of water or dust) that are located in Earth’s atmosphere,8 not the shamayim, the heavens of the astronomical universe.9 Three of the eleven verses, Job 9:8; Isaiah 44:24; and 45:12 make the point that God alone was responsible for the cosmic stretching.
What is particularly interesting about the eleven verses is that different Hebrew verb forms are used to describe the cosmic stretching. Seven verses, Job 9:8; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 51:13; and Zechariah 12:1 employ the Qal active participle form of the verb natah. This form literally means “the stretcher out of them” (the heavens) and implies continual or ongoing stretching. Four verses, Isaiah 45:12; 48:13; and Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15 use the Qal perfect form. This form literally means that the stretching of the heavens was completed or finished some time ago.
That the Bible really does claim that the stretching out of the heavens is both “finished” and “ongoing” is made all the more evident in Isaiah 40:22. There we find two different verbs used in two different forms. In the first of the final two parallel poetic lines, “stretches out” is the verb natah in the Qal active participle form. In the second (final) line the verb “spreads them out” (NASB, NIV, NKJV) is mathah (used only this one time in the Old Testament) in the waw consecutive plus Qal imperfect form, so that literally we might translate it “and he has spread them out
October 21, 2015
COSMOLOGY & ASTRONOMY:
1. The earth in space, affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true.
Job 26:7: He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and Suspending the earth upon nothing.
2. The earth is an orb or sphere. At a time when many thought the earth was flat, the Bible told us that the earth is spherical.
Isaiah 40:22: It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary's definition of CIRCLE. "In popular use, the line that comprehends the figure, the plane or surface comprehended, and the whole body or solid matter of a round substance, are denominated a circle; a ring; an orb; the earth."
3. Scripture assumes a revolving (spherical) earth. Jesus said that at His return some would be asleep at night while others would be working at day time activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring simultaneously.
Luke 17:34-36: I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
4. Black holes and dark matter anticipated. Cosmologists now speculate that over 98% of the known universe is comprised of dark matter, with dark energy and black holes. A black hole's gravitational field is so strong that nothing, not even light, escapes. Beyond the expanding universe there is no measured radiation and therefore only outer darkness exists. These theories paint a seemingly accurate description of what the Bible calls "outer darkness" or "the blackness of darkness forever."
Matthew 25:30: And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jude 13: Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
5. Incalculable number of stars. At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars - a 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate.
Jeremiah 33:22: As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
6. The number of stars, though vast, are finite. Although man is unable to calculate the exact number of stars, we now know their number is finite. Of course God knew this all along.
Isaiah 40:26: Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
7. The Bible compares the number of stars with the number of grains of sand on the seashore. Amazingly, gross estimates of the number of sand grains are comparable to the estimated number of stars in the universe.
Genesis 22:17: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.
8. The universe is expanding. Repeatedly God declares that He stretches out the heavens. During the early 20th century, most scientists (including Einstein) believed the universe was static. Others believed it should have collapsed due to gravity. Then in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that distant galaxies were receding from the earth, and the further away they were, the faster they were moving. This discovery revolutionized the field of astronomy. Eisntein admitted his mistake, and today most astronomers agree with what the Creator told us millennia ago - the universe is expanding!
Isaiah 42:5: Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.
Jeremiah 51:15: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
Zechariah 12:1: The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
9. Each star is unique. Centuries before the advent of the telescope, the Bible declared what only God and the angels knew: each star varies in size and intensity!
1 Corinthians 15:41: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
10. The sun goes in a circuit. Some scientists scoffed at this verse thinking that it taught geocentricity - the theory that the sun revolves around the earth. They insisted the sun was stationary. However, we now know that the sun is traveling through space at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. It is literally moving through space in a huge circuit - just as the Bible stated 3,000 years ago!
Psalm 19:6: [The sun's] going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
PHYSICS:
1. Creation is made of atoms and particles, indiscernible to our eyes. Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.
Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
2. Light can be divided. Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered that white light is made of seven colors, which can be "parted" and then recombined. Science confirmed this four centuries ago - God declared it four millennia ago!
Job 38:24: By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
3. Light travels in a path. Light is said to have a "way" [Hebrew: derek, literally a traveled path or road]. Until the 17th century it was believed that light was transmitted instantaneously. We now know that light is a form of energy that travels at 186,000 miles per second in a straight line. Indeed, there is a "way" of light.
Job 38:19: Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof.
4. The Bible says that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. We now know that radio waves and light waves are two forms of the same thing: electromagnetic waves. Therefore, radio waves are a form of light. Today, using radio transmitters, we can send "lightnings" which indeed speak when they arrive.
Job 38:35: Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
5. The First Law of Thermodynamics established. The First Law states that the total quantity of energy and matter in the universe is a constant. One form of energy or matter may be converted into another, but the total quantity always remains the same. Therefore the creation is finished, exactly as God said way back in Genesis.
Genesis 2:1-2: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy). This law states that everything in the universe is running down, deteriorating, and constantly becoming less and less orderly. Entropy (disorder) entered when mankind rebelled against God - resulting in the curse (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:20-22). Historically most people believed the universe was unchangeable. Yet modern science verifies that the universe is growing "old as doth a garment'' (Hebrews 1:11). Evolution directly contradicts this, the most tested of all scientific laws.
Psalm 102:25-26: Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.
Romans 8:20-22: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
BIOLOGY:
1. Law of Biogenesis explained. Scientists observe that life only comes from existing life. This law has never been violated under observation or experimentation (as evolution requires). Therefore, life, God's life, created all life.
Genesis 1:11, 20, 24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. ... And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ... And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
2. The earth was designed for biological life. Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn't exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.
Isaiah 45:18: For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
3. God has given us just the right amount of water to sustain life. We now recognize that if there was significantly more or less water, the earth would not support life as we know it.
Isaiah 40:12: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
4. Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground. Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and trace elements - all of which are found in the earth.
Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 3:19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
5. Life begins at fertilization. God declares that He knew us before we were born. The Biblical penalty for murdering an unborn child was death (Exodus 21:22-23). Today, it is an irrefutable biological fact that the fertilized egg is truly an entire human being. Nothing will be added to the first cell except nutrition and oxygen.
Psalm 139:15: "My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."
Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6. God fashions and knits us together in the womb. Science was ignorant concerning embryonic development until recently. Yet thousands of years ago, the Bible accurately described God making us an intricate unity' in the womb.
Job 10:8-12: "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit."
7. The seed of a plant contains its life. As stated in the Book of Genesis, we now recognize that inside the humble seed is life itself. Within the seed is a tiny factory of amazing complexity. No scientist can build a synthetic seed and no seed is simple!
Genesis 1:11-12: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
8. A seed must die to produce new life. In John 12:24 is remarkable confirmation of two of the fundamental concepts in biology: 1) Cells arise only from existing cells. 2) A grain must die to produce more grain. The fallen seed is surrounded by supporting cells from the old body. These supporting cells "give their lives" to provide nourishment to the inner kernel. Once planted, this inner kernel germinates resulting in much grain.
John 12:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
1 Corinthians 15:36-38: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body."
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1. The earth in space, affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true.
Job 26:7: He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and Suspending the earth upon nothing.
2. The earth is an orb or sphere. At a time when many thought the earth was flat, the Bible told us that the earth is spherical.
Isaiah 40:22: It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary's definition of CIRCLE. "In popular use, the line that comprehends the figure, the plane or surface comprehended, and the whole body or solid matter of a round substance, are denominated a circle; a ring; an orb; the earth."
3. Scripture assumes a revolving (spherical) earth. Jesus said that at His return some would be asleep at night while others would be working at day time activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring simultaneously.
Luke 17:34-36: I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
4. Black holes and dark matter anticipated. Cosmologists now speculate that over 98% of the known universe is comprised of dark matter, with dark energy and black holes. A black hole's gravitational field is so strong that nothing, not even light, escapes. Beyond the expanding universe there is no measured radiation and therefore only outer darkness exists. These theories paint a seemingly accurate description of what the Bible calls "outer darkness" or "the blackness of darkness forever."
Matthew 25:30: And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jude 13: Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
5. Incalculable number of stars. At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars - a 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate.
Jeremiah 33:22: As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
6. The number of stars, though vast, are finite. Although man is unable to calculate the exact number of stars, we now know their number is finite. Of course God knew this all along.
Isaiah 40:26: Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
7. The Bible compares the number of stars with the number of grains of sand on the seashore. Amazingly, gross estimates of the number of sand grains are comparable to the estimated number of stars in the universe.
Genesis 22:17: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.
8. The universe is expanding. Repeatedly God declares that He stretches out the heavens. During the early 20th century, most scientists (including Einstein) believed the universe was static. Others believed it should have collapsed due to gravity. Then in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that distant galaxies were receding from the earth, and the further away they were, the faster they were moving. This discovery revolutionized the field of astronomy. Eisntein admitted his mistake, and today most astronomers agree with what the Creator told us millennia ago - the universe is expanding!
Isaiah 42:5: Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.
Jeremiah 51:15: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.
Zechariah 12:1: The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
9. Each star is unique. Centuries before the advent of the telescope, the Bible declared what only God and the angels knew: each star varies in size and intensity!
1 Corinthians 15:41: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
10. The sun goes in a circuit. Some scientists scoffed at this verse thinking that it taught geocentricity - the theory that the sun revolves around the earth. They insisted the sun was stationary. However, we now know that the sun is traveling through space at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. It is literally moving through space in a huge circuit - just as the Bible stated 3,000 years ago!
Psalm 19:6: [The sun's] going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
PHYSICS:
1. Creation is made of atoms and particles, indiscernible to our eyes. Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.
Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
2. Light can be divided. Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered that white light is made of seven colors, which can be "parted" and then recombined. Science confirmed this four centuries ago - God declared it four millennia ago!
Job 38:24: By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
3. Light travels in a path. Light is said to have a "way" [Hebrew: derek, literally a traveled path or road]. Until the 17th century it was believed that light was transmitted instantaneously. We now know that light is a form of energy that travels at 186,000 miles per second in a straight line. Indeed, there is a "way" of light.
Job 38:19: Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof.
4. The Bible says that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. We now know that radio waves and light waves are two forms of the same thing: electromagnetic waves. Therefore, radio waves are a form of light. Today, using radio transmitters, we can send "lightnings" which indeed speak when they arrive.
Job 38:35: Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
5. The First Law of Thermodynamics established. The First Law states that the total quantity of energy and matter in the universe is a constant. One form of energy or matter may be converted into another, but the total quantity always remains the same. Therefore the creation is finished, exactly as God said way back in Genesis.
Genesis 2:1-2: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy). This law states that everything in the universe is running down, deteriorating, and constantly becoming less and less orderly. Entropy (disorder) entered when mankind rebelled against God - resulting in the curse (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:20-22). Historically most people believed the universe was unchangeable. Yet modern science verifies that the universe is growing "old as doth a garment'' (Hebrews 1:11). Evolution directly contradicts this, the most tested of all scientific laws.
Psalm 102:25-26: Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.
Romans 8:20-22: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
BIOLOGY:
1. Law of Biogenesis explained. Scientists observe that life only comes from existing life. This law has never been violated under observation or experimentation (as evolution requires). Therefore, life, God's life, created all life.
Genesis 1:11, 20, 24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. ... And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ... And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
2. The earth was designed for biological life. Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn't exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.
Isaiah 45:18: For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
3. God has given us just the right amount of water to sustain life. We now recognize that if there was significantly more or less water, the earth would not support life as we know it.
Isaiah 40:12: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
4. Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground. Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and trace elements - all of which are found in the earth.
Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 3:19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
5. Life begins at fertilization. God declares that He knew us before we were born. The Biblical penalty for murdering an unborn child was death (Exodus 21:22-23). Today, it is an irrefutable biological fact that the fertilized egg is truly an entire human being. Nothing will be added to the first cell except nutrition and oxygen.
Psalm 139:15: "My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."
Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6. God fashions and knits us together in the womb. Science was ignorant concerning embryonic development until recently. Yet thousands of years ago, the Bible accurately described God making us an intricate unity' in the womb.
Job 10:8-12: "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit."
7. The seed of a plant contains its life. As stated in the Book of Genesis, we now recognize that inside the humble seed is life itself. Within the seed is a tiny factory of amazing complexity. No scientist can build a synthetic seed and no seed is simple!
Genesis 1:11-12: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
8. A seed must die to produce new life. In John 12:24 is remarkable confirmation of two of the fundamental concepts in biology: 1) Cells arise only from existing cells. 2) A grain must die to produce more grain. The fallen seed is surrounded by supporting cells from the old body. These supporting cells "give their lives" to provide nourishment to the inner kernel. Once planted, this inner kernel germinates resulting in much grain.
John 12:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
1 Corinthians 15:36-38: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body."
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July 15, 2024After a lackluster year of biology at my daughter's Christian high school, with no attempts made to reconcile the theology they were taught in doctrine class with the materialistic evolution they were taught in science class, I'm embarking on a reading journey to find representative books from different Christians who have come to various conclusions --Young Earth and Old Earth Creation, Intelligent Design, and Theistic Evolution--about God's role in the natural world. My goal is for my teen to do some deep reading this coming year as we discuss our family convictions. I'm not going to give the books I'm previewing starred ratings, as that might imply my level of approval or agreement with the author or that I have enough scientific expertise to judge their arguments from a position of scientific authority. I'm just a homeschool mom with a literature degree who has some very smart STEM friends recommending books to me.
Okay, so this book was recommended to me by friends who attended Yale and CalTech and share my belief in Biblical inerrancy. They would have much more ability to discuss the science than I could, and they largely find his conclusions convincing, so while it's probably not the seminal work on OEC, I appreciate that it's a solid representation of the position. When I read the four viewpoints on creation/evolution book, Hugh Ross was the most meaty and accessible author of the four, and I was still pleasantly surprised at how easily I could stick with this book. I actually read it in one day while sitting in the hospital with my little one, and I think my teens and other interested humanities folks will find it as easy to follow as I did.
Ross does just what the title says--he goes through Genesis 1-11 with scientific explanations for how he sees science as explaining each assertion of the creation narrative, then he addresses common critiques and a few contrary positions. He goes into Hebrew meanings to a level of detail not overwhelming to the layman, and he has almost 50 pages of endnotes for readers who would want to delve deeper into any of his assertions. As someone who was just taught secular evolutionary biology in high school and probably generic YEC in my elementary Christian school and just had general discussions with scientist friends about OEC as this other option for Christians that I never formally studied, I feel like I now have a solid understanding of an OEC perspective and can better discuss it with my children.
One thing I remember frustrating me in some of the other creationist writers I've read thus far was when authors spent more time explaining why evolution was wrong than comprehensively articulating their own positions. Ross does present what he believes to be the best scientific and Biblical synthesis of Genesis 1-11 before moving on. Interestingly, in the latter chapters, Ross seems less concerned with debating theistic evolution/evolutionary creationism than with YEC, spending what seems like a lot of time discussing how the flood couldn't have been global. It's apparent that he sees more danger to the Christian faith (and/or barriers for scientists considering Christianity) to be coming from fundamentalists than from evolutionists, but he manages to speak with moderated tone about all of the viewpoints (though he does seem to have to try harder to not sound exasperated about Ken Ham--judging from their interactions in the four perspectives book and a few comments about people attacking his faith for not believing in a young earth, you can tell that Ham has gotten personal with him over the years). He begins the book with how reading the Bible explained what he had learned in science and ends with conviction that scientific discoveries will continue to give us more reasons to believe in the God of the Bible. He clearly has a high view of scripture.
A representative quote from the penultimate chapter:
"The God who inspired the Bible is the same God who made the universe, Earth, and all Earth's life. This God is the very definition of truth; therefore nature's record will never contradict Scripture and vise versa. When a seeming contradiction confronts us, we can know with certainty we have either misunderstood (one, the other, or both revelations) or perhaps we have yet to dig deeply enough. Whatever the case, we can embrace the opportunity to gain greater knowledge and appreciation for the bible, for nature, and for the God who is responsible for both." (pg. 218)
Okay, so this book was recommended to me by friends who attended Yale and CalTech and share my belief in Biblical inerrancy. They would have much more ability to discuss the science than I could, and they largely find his conclusions convincing, so while it's probably not the seminal work on OEC, I appreciate that it's a solid representation of the position. When I read the four viewpoints on creation/evolution book, Hugh Ross was the most meaty and accessible author of the four, and I was still pleasantly surprised at how easily I could stick with this book. I actually read it in one day while sitting in the hospital with my little one, and I think my teens and other interested humanities folks will find it as easy to follow as I did.
Ross does just what the title says--he goes through Genesis 1-11 with scientific explanations for how he sees science as explaining each assertion of the creation narrative, then he addresses common critiques and a few contrary positions. He goes into Hebrew meanings to a level of detail not overwhelming to the layman, and he has almost 50 pages of endnotes for readers who would want to delve deeper into any of his assertions. As someone who was just taught secular evolutionary biology in high school and probably generic YEC in my elementary Christian school and just had general discussions with scientist friends about OEC as this other option for Christians that I never formally studied, I feel like I now have a solid understanding of an OEC perspective and can better discuss it with my children.
One thing I remember frustrating me in some of the other creationist writers I've read thus far was when authors spent more time explaining why evolution was wrong than comprehensively articulating their own positions. Ross does present what he believes to be the best scientific and Biblical synthesis of Genesis 1-11 before moving on. Interestingly, in the latter chapters, Ross seems less concerned with debating theistic evolution/evolutionary creationism than with YEC, spending what seems like a lot of time discussing how the flood couldn't have been global. It's apparent that he sees more danger to the Christian faith (and/or barriers for scientists considering Christianity) to be coming from fundamentalists than from evolutionists, but he manages to speak with moderated tone about all of the viewpoints (though he does seem to have to try harder to not sound exasperated about Ken Ham--judging from their interactions in the four perspectives book and a few comments about people attacking his faith for not believing in a young earth, you can tell that Ham has gotten personal with him over the years). He begins the book with how reading the Bible explained what he had learned in science and ends with conviction that scientific discoveries will continue to give us more reasons to believe in the God of the Bible. He clearly has a high view of scripture.
A representative quote from the penultimate chapter:
"The God who inspired the Bible is the same God who made the universe, Earth, and all Earth's life. This God is the very definition of truth; therefore nature's record will never contradict Scripture and vise versa. When a seeming contradiction confronts us, we can know with certainty we have either misunderstood (one, the other, or both revelations) or perhaps we have yet to dig deeply enough. Whatever the case, we can embrace the opportunity to gain greater knowledge and appreciation for the bible, for nature, and for the God who is responsible for both." (pg. 218)
April 14, 2020
Interesting take. I read the book for its overall view and did not study a lot of Ross' views in depth; however, a few of his points of view stood out to me and I'll list one example. On pages 44-46 Ross dismissed the entire, expanse, firmament, dome issue. The worde raqia in Hebrew. Ross argues for his expanse view (the troposphere) by simply stating the use of raqia as only a simile based one verse Job 37:18-21, while ignoring countless other scripture specifically referring to raqia as an actual hard surface. There is a lot of easy dismissal of other views, yes some I agree with and others like dome-firmament-raqia I do not.
If you enjoy scriptural apologetics you might love this book or it could drive you crazy. For me a mixed bag.
If you enjoy scriptural apologetics you might love this book or it could drive you crazy. For me a mixed bag.
June 24, 2022
Ooh boy. Here we go. I did a podcast last year on this book, which you can find here. I hope that wasn't too controversial because I don't think I appreciated at the time how much of a touchy subject this could be. Soon after recording that podcast, I went to Worldview academy which is a strong proponent of the Young Earth Creationism view. But I think that in the end, the topic doesn't matter quite that much; it is undoubtedly a fascinating doctrinal dispute, but it shouldn't change the foundational truths of the Faith those discussing it share; whether the world is old or young, God has the power to have made it either way! As curious creatures, it seems to me the mystery of the earth's age is something the Lord lets us puzzle out for ourselves and give us a chance to do some poking around and exploration of His incredible creation! I don't know if I agree with everything this book says; particularly the idea that there was death before the fall seems hard to reconcile, yet the author makes an interesting point that the world we live in doesn't work properly without death, so did God create a good Earth knowing what was to come and setting the stage for salvation? I don't know. Dr. Hugh Ross has lots of interesting ideas, and even if you don't agree with him I believe this book will make you think more deeply about the topic. I've watched lots of interviews and both sides make excellent arguments; I don't think either side is completely correct, but I do enjoy hearing the topic discussed and enjoy thinking about it. So take this book how you will, and I'd love to discuss it! Maybe I'll do a follow-up to that Creation podcast too at some point and try to do a better job at presenting both sides of the argument. Three and a half stars, but I'll round up.
February 10, 2024
Navigating Genesis by Hugh Ross offers a compelling perspective that skillfully aligns scriptural text with an old earth and empirical scientific data. Ross navigates the complexities of Genesis with clarity, presenting a plausible reading that bridges the proposed gap between faith and science. His thorough examination of the text and scientific evidence provides a refreshing and intellectually satisfying exploration of the creation narrative. However, my only critique lies in the book's informality. Given the scholastic nature of the subject matter, I found Ross's informal tone to be somewhat distracting. Nonetheless, the depth of insight and thought-provoking analysis make Navigating Genesis a wonderful resource for those seeking a harmonious integration of faith and scientific understanding.
June 4, 2020
I chose this book to replace one in my daughter's history curriculum that I did not like as much. While at times a little technical (and with a propensity towards advanced vocabulary) for the girls, this book communicated the message that I wanted the girls to get: the Bible, rightly interpreted and the "book of nature," rightly interpreted, will always agree. Hugh Ross holds both of those books in such regard and esteem, never forcing one to bow to presuppositions in the other. He addresses opposing positions with respect and goodwill. In an area where people can become very dogmatic and abrasive, Hugh Ross maintains respect, charity, and decorum, qualities that I would like my girls to emulate.
December 10, 2024
TLDR; A thought-provoking book by Hugh Ross, who uses science and the faith to argue that the Bible aligns with modern scientific discoveries made thousands of years later. (I have a small ammount of experience with Christian and Scientific liturature and no one - in my experience - comes even close to toucing the the degree of schoolarship and Biblical knowledge Hugh Ross investigates this subject with) While some of his views, such as rejecting universal common ancestry and a literal Genesis, conflict with mainstream scientific evidence, these objections do not diminish the impact or the relevance of this book for me.
A great book. The author - Hugh Ross - grew up in an atheist family and was extremely bright. In high school, he developed questions about religion and decided to read the religious texts of all major world religions. He studied the Buddhist holy scriptures, Hindu holy scriptures, the Quran, and the Bible. After his study, he concluded that the Bible not only offered the most detailed creation account but was also the only one aligning with modern science thousands of years before those discoveries were made. For example, the Bible describes the Earth starting off as a watery world, that plants and sea creatures existed before land animals, and that humans came after land animals.
The author believes in adaptation but not full Darwinian evolution. He argues that God created life with adaptation as a unique survival mechanism but created humans individually. He also believes the time periods in Genesis and Luke are literal but misinterpreted to suggest the Earth is only 6,000 years old. He explains that the Hebrew word "begot" doesn’t necessarily mean direct parentage but simply implies someone was a descendant. Based on this, he argues that the time between Adam and Eve and Jesus spans hundreds of thousands of years, with many generations not mentioned in biblical genealogies.
It is worth noting - while I agreed wholeheartely with the book and it greatly streangthened my faith - there are areas where his views conflict with mainstream scientific evidence. For example, his rejection of universal common ancestry (LUCA) doesn’t align with the genetic evidence and fossil record evidence supporting that all life shares a common ancestor. Additionally, his interpretation of Genesis assumes a literal sequence of events, but the idea the Earth formed before the Sun and stars contradicts what astrophysics and cosmology show about the formation of the universe. These realities do not diminish the impact or the relevance of this book for me.
All in all, I really liked this book. It was thought-provoking, and the author has a unique way of blending science and faith that keeps you engaged. I barely ate or slept after I read the first few chapters because I couldn’t get enough! I would recommend it to any Christian—whether you are a young earth creationist, a Ken Ham subscriber, or an old earth creationist.
A great book. The author - Hugh Ross - grew up in an atheist family and was extremely bright. In high school, he developed questions about religion and decided to read the religious texts of all major world religions. He studied the Buddhist holy scriptures, Hindu holy scriptures, the Quran, and the Bible. After his study, he concluded that the Bible not only offered the most detailed creation account but was also the only one aligning with modern science thousands of years before those discoveries were made. For example, the Bible describes the Earth starting off as a watery world, that plants and sea creatures existed before land animals, and that humans came after land animals.
The author believes in adaptation but not full Darwinian evolution. He argues that God created life with adaptation as a unique survival mechanism but created humans individually. He also believes the time periods in Genesis and Luke are literal but misinterpreted to suggest the Earth is only 6,000 years old. He explains that the Hebrew word "begot" doesn’t necessarily mean direct parentage but simply implies someone was a descendant. Based on this, he argues that the time between Adam and Eve and Jesus spans hundreds of thousands of years, with many generations not mentioned in biblical genealogies.
It is worth noting - while I agreed wholeheartely with the book and it greatly streangthened my faith - there are areas where his views conflict with mainstream scientific evidence. For example, his rejection of universal common ancestry (LUCA) doesn’t align with the genetic evidence and fossil record evidence supporting that all life shares a common ancestor. Additionally, his interpretation of Genesis assumes a literal sequence of events, but the idea the Earth formed before the Sun and stars contradicts what astrophysics and cosmology show about the formation of the universe. These realities do not diminish the impact or the relevance of this book for me.
All in all, I really liked this book. It was thought-provoking, and the author has a unique way of blending science and faith that keeps you engaged. I barely ate or slept after I read the first few chapters because I couldn’t get enough! I would recommend it to any Christian—whether you are a young earth creationist, a Ken Ham subscriber, or an old earth creationist.
February 25, 2018
3.5 stars.
I came to this book as an Old Earth Creationist, so I was already sympathetic to Ross's arguments. What I found was a decent layout of OEC (though it was never labeled as such), and plausible scenarios for various events in the first part of Genesis (e.g. the locations of Eden and the landing of Noah's ark). Ross does a decent job of laying out his arguments and showing how they comport with both the Biblical accounts and with scientific thought.
Unfortunately, Ross's writing can be a little scattered. On more than one occasion, he goes into sermonizing when he would be better off explaining how we arrived at his conclusions. I would have also liked it if he spoke more about other possible scenarios than the one he espouses (e.g. other proposed sites for Eden or proposed extents of a regional flood event). I ended each chapter understanding the basics of Ross's arguments, but always wishing there had been a little more there.
The money quote for the book comes on the second to the last page: "The Bible reveals truth, and science reveals truth, and wherever the two meet they agree." This is the crux of Old Earth Creationism, and would have been a great guiding principle to introduce at the beginning of the book, instead of leaving it for the end.
Overall, if you're interested in the 'creation vs. evolution' discussion, you should find this interesting, if not always the best written book.
I came to this book as an Old Earth Creationist, so I was already sympathetic to Ross's arguments. What I found was a decent layout of OEC (though it was never labeled as such), and plausible scenarios for various events in the first part of Genesis (e.g. the locations of Eden and the landing of Noah's ark). Ross does a decent job of laying out his arguments and showing how they comport with both the Biblical accounts and with scientific thought.
Unfortunately, Ross's writing can be a little scattered. On more than one occasion, he goes into sermonizing when he would be better off explaining how we arrived at his conclusions. I would have also liked it if he spoke more about other possible scenarios than the one he espouses (e.g. other proposed sites for Eden or proposed extents of a regional flood event). I ended each chapter understanding the basics of Ross's arguments, but always wishing there had been a little more there.
The money quote for the book comes on the second to the last page: "The Bible reveals truth, and science reveals truth, and wherever the two meet they agree." This is the crux of Old Earth Creationism, and would have been a great guiding principle to introduce at the beginning of the book, instead of leaving it for the end.
Overall, if you're interested in the 'creation vs. evolution' discussion, you should find this interesting, if not always the best written book.
January 10, 2023
Caution with this book and author- the title is misleading and the content is shifty. Do I think the author has good intentions? Yes, I do. He’s also probably a nice guy and believes what he wrote. He is also probably doing a great job leading people to Christ, which is of the utmost importance. I can even relate to the concept of matching up my scientific education with scripture, as I love to do this too. I counted only one instance of the word “theorem” in this book, yet it’s filled with hypotheses, theories, assumptions, ideas, and opinions without being stated as such and without a stated theological basis. The book reads more like the author’s reconciliation of his own interpretation of Genesis to his primary science foundation. While there are many things that make sense, there are equally as many odd scriptural interpretations that are incongruent with most if not all Christian tenets of different denominations. I really wanted to like this book; I’m disappointed and will keep searching for something like this. I’d encourage anyone really interested to just go visit the Noah’s ark experience in Kentucky near Cincinnati for an awesome thought-provoking Genesis and science immersion.
February 7, 2023
I highly recommend this book for anyone with questions about how the opening chapters of Genesis fit in with modern scientific discoveries (and vice versa). There are many approaches from many Christian groups, but this is the only one that suggests that both science and the Bible are true and agree. God wrote both, so they both agree. Some of our current misunderstandings stem from translations from Hebrew to English. My favorite quote from this book is, "truth never contradicts truth. If God's Word in the Bible seems to clash with God's expression of Himself in nature, we must dig deeper to understand each."
One note is that it helps to have a scientific background (i.e., taken biology classes and/or other sciences). He sometimes gets into details that went over my head, but he always brings home the point of what he is saying.
One note is that it helps to have a scientific background (i.e., taken biology classes and/or other sciences). He sometimes gets into details that went over my head, but he always brings home the point of what he is saying.
August 31, 2021
Extremely logical and readable exposition that harmonizes the Biblical account of creation with current scientific understanding. Don’t miss the final few chapters that detail the development of young-earth “Creation Science” and how it gained so much sway over Christian thought today. Ross meticulously footnotes his sources, many of which are very detailed scientific journals and publications. The only minor quibble I had was his propensity to reference his own previously published materials, but I guess this is excusable given the decades of research and thought he has spent on this topic. Well worth the read.
November 8, 2022
An excellent discussion of how the Bible and Nature go hand-in-hand in properly understanding Genesis 1-11. The author takes great care to examine various views on Genesis 1-1 and to explain how an old-earth creationist viewpoint explains what Moses wrote about in Genesis 1-11. The author does an excellent job of delving into the Biblical text and helping you to understand what God is trying to communicate to the reader in Genesis 1-11.
June 23, 2024
I doubt I was the intended audience for this book and I'm not even sure who is. I did learn some things about the language and what it could mean. The author definitely got some of the science wrong, which makes me wonder about his accuracy elsewhere, but I'm not in a position to judge it all. He definitely cherry-picks his evidence in both the Bible and science. To be taken with a lump of salt.
June 24, 2024
There are two books of revelation: the Bible and nature. Ross contends that the two never contradict each other, and Genesis is a valuable tool in understanding God and His creation. "Navigating Genesis" is short for such a huge subject, but it is very helpful. It is a combination commentary on Genesis and polemic for a synthesis of science and religion that is unusual. Even if you disagree with Ross's method and conclusions this book is worth your time.
February 5, 2020
Overall, this was a very helpful, convincing, and well thought out book. My second time diving into Ross and even with a high school education, I was able to comprehend most of it. I still had a few unanswered questions after reading, which I thought were pretty common ones, but I suppose I'll just look elsewhere.
January 28, 2023
Compelling summary of geological history and its relationship to Genesis by a professional astrophysicist. I was particularly struck by his “constructive integration” model for the relationship between theology and science. Nevertheless, I was mildly irritated when he’d make a dramatic claim and then cited one of his other popular level books (ie not peer reviewed literature).
August 26, 2017
Very interesting and well structured
I'm glad that I read this book, gives a great insight into a analytics view of genesis. Beside any preference it shares a well explanation of the words and meanings as possible on those first chapters related to the creation.
I'm glad that I read this book, gives a great insight into a analytics view of genesis. Beside any preference it shares a well explanation of the words and meanings as possible on those first chapters related to the creation.
October 13, 2022
Bill’s thoughts…
I have enjoyed other books by Hugh Ross and this one is no exception. He interconnects science with scripture seamlessly making reading the book not only interesting but inspiring. After reading this book, one will feel confident in their Christian beliefs.
I have enjoyed other books by Hugh Ross and this one is no exception. He interconnects science with scripture seamlessly making reading the book not only interesting but inspiring. After reading this book, one will feel confident in their Christian beliefs.
November 26, 2022
Excellent!!!
Easy for a layman like me to grasp and understand. Dr Ross has done an excellent job of bringing the facts of science and the truth of the Bible together. There is one God and He is the author of both the Bible and the sciences.
Easy for a layman like me to grasp and understand. Dr Ross has done an excellent job of bringing the facts of science and the truth of the Bible together. There is one God and He is the author of both the Bible and the sciences.
August 2, 2024
Ross holds to an “old earth” perspective, but approaching Genesis from a scientific point view is critical to understanding and reconciling the creation account, no matter the view you take on the age of the earth.
September 1, 2024
wonderful; but get ready
Wonderfully corrective of “Southern gospel” misconceptions of genesis. Liberating once the reader gets rid of the old human reductionist chaff floating around. Sorry, not everything is Dr. Seuss simple-even the Bible.
Wonderfully corrective of “Southern gospel” misconceptions of genesis. Liberating once the reader gets rid of the old human reductionist chaff floating around. Sorry, not everything is Dr. Seuss simple-even the Bible.
June 25, 2019
Recommend for understanding the OEC view.
October 29, 2019
Brilliant explanation of the consistency of the Genesis creation account with what we now about the earth, solar system and universe.
May 24, 2020
Outstanding Book
This book answer questions,I have concerned about for60 years. New ideas, and answers on every page. Read with the mind of a seeker! "Seek and you shall find"
This book answer questions,I have concerned about for60 years. New ideas, and answers on every page. Read with the mind of a seeker! "Seek and you shall find"
September 14, 2020
This is the perfect integration of science and Christianity, and it shows in my opinon, how both are exactly the same.
January 17, 2022
One of my favorite scientific apologetics books.
The geochemistry stuff is over my head and I had a bit of trouble working through it. But as a whole, it's really excellent and thorough.
The geochemistry stuff is over my head and I had a bit of trouble working through it. But as a whole, it's really excellent and thorough.
August 27, 2024
Excellent
August 1, 2025
Deep and interesting journey through the beginning of our universe.
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