Why Christians are Wrong about Creation

My name is Steve and I am a Christian.  Join me in my recovery as I share why Christians are wrong and how they could be right.

Today’s topic: Creation.

It was calculated by Archbishop James Ussher that the world was created on October 23, 4004 Before Christ.  This seems excessively particular, and Ussher was more specific as he determined the world was created at 6pm.  James Lightfoot did his own specific calculations and determined that Ussher was wrong—it was actually 3929BC.  Sir Isaac Newton, yes the scientist that helped build our modern world, calculated that creation occurred in the very even year of 4000BC. Many conservative Christians, although debating the precise date, agree that the earth is young and goes to the Bible to prove this.

This calculation is determined through careful reading of the genealogies of Genesis 5, which gives the length of ancestor’s lives and the time of the birth of each later ancestor.  One can follow closely the Bible timeline and come with an early date of the Genesis 1 creation.  In fact, some, like the Bible students at Answers in Genesis, insist upon it. 

When I was in Bible school, I had a professor who said, “I don’t have enough knowledge to object to Creationists’ science, but I wish they were better Bible scholars.”  I have to agree.

First of all, we have to look carefully at Genesis 1 to see the chronology there.  We all know that creation happens in six days in that chapter.  So when does the six days start?  Let’s read the first few verses:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  (Some think of this as a summary of all that comes after, and some say that heavens and earth happened before.)

 2 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.  (This is clearly a description of the world before God started creating, for all was chaos, and God’s spirit or breath is just hanging out)

 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

Now the beginning of God’s creation.  Before this, all was darkness, and God made light happen.

 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

So we have “Day One”.  What did God make on “Day One”?  He made light and divided light from darkness.  That’s it.  He didn’t make the sun, because that happens on day three.  Well, still, that’s a good day’s work.

Coulda gone sailing before the first day.  But no sunset.

But what DIDN’T God create on the first day?  He didn’t create the earth or the water.  They were already there, according to verse 2.  Before He started his six day creation there was already earth and already water.    We know that God created the earth, because it says so in verse 1.  But the word “creation” can mean either a initial creation, or a remodel.  Erasing the blackboard and starting over.  Since we already have an earth and water here, actually God isn’t creating the earth in these six days from scratch.  Rather, the place is a mess and he is remodeling the place. 

So when was the earth created?  We don’t know.  The Bible just doesn’t say.  The earth could be hundreds or thousands or millions or billions of years older than the six day creation according to a literal reading of the text, because it simply doesn’t say.  And there might have already been animals and plants and all kinds of things on the earth before it was covered with water and darkness.  We don’t know, because we have few clues as to what happened before Genesis 1.  One thing we do know: if anyone says that the Bible says that everything begins at the six day creation needs to go back and read their Bibles.

It is interesting that some great ancient Bible scholars like Augustine didn’t think that Genesis one was meant to be taken literally, but metaphorically.  In fact, if John Calvin and John Wesley could have a discussion, they might argue about many things, but they would agree that Genesis 1 is allegorical.  And they have good reason to think this. 

The book of Genesis is a collection of many different ancient documents or oral sources, put together into a single book.  The separation between texts are usually divided by a phrase, “This is the generations of”, which we can see in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 10 and so on. 

The same phrase is used in Genesis 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth” which separates one text from another in the book, offering two separate but related creation accounts.  Genesis 1 has the organized six day account, while after 2:4, there is more of a narrative account.  We could put many details together, if we want, but there are a couple details that simply don’t match.  For instance, in Genesis 1, plants are created before humanity (day three and day six, respectively), while in Genesis 2, the human being was created before the plants. 

Many Christians and Jews believe that Moses edited the book of Genesis.  So Moses, out of all the creation stories he could have chosen, and he could have re-written, he chose two that differed in one particular matter—the chronology.  It seems that if there was one thing that didn’t matter about the creation story is WHEN things happened. 

What was the point of the creation stories that Moses chose?  He chose a couple that were based on ancient myths of the time, that showed God’s power and authority over all the other gods of his time.  That’s the main point of the stories of creation, not precisely when or how things happened.  The six day creation is poetic and supposed to be understood as mythic.  Not untrue, just fitting a literary standard of the time.

What’s the point?  If you believe in a young earth, then you are not reading the Bible literally, but putting your guesswork into a text that you didn’t really understand.

If you want to read more about Genesis 1 and creation, I highly recommend the JPS Torah Commentary on Genesis.