Dear People Whom God Loves,
Now let us look at the challenge that science—from what we know of it—presents to our literal accepting of the creation story of how things happened.
1. We now know that our universe is about 13.7 billion years old. That doesn’t fit with the six days of creation even if we make each day a very long time.
2. Also we now know that the universe is much vaster than the writers of the Genesis story could have known or even imagined.
3. The story has light made on the first day and the sun is made on the fourth day. We may find creative ways of saying what that first day light was, but it should at least give us pause to reflect.
4. The story has the sky being a solid curved dome with water above the dome. It is clear to us now that that is not true.
5. The story has the sun and the moon put into the dome of the sky. Again, something which can move us to search more deeply.
6. The story has the water creatures and the birds made all at once. Next animals and human beings were made on the same day. This has made some people reluctant to accept evolution.
Indeed, it can be very scary to believe that accepting scientific evidence requires losing our religious beliefs that have given meaning and purpose to our lives. On the other hand, it can be very scary to think that keeping our religious beliefs means that we must deny the scientific evidence that our mind tells us is true. Fortunately, we don’t have to do either.
As an aside. There is one place where the creation story and science meet. The story tells us that we humans have been made in the image and likeness of God. We believe that God knows and loves . . . though, of course, way more deeply than our knowledge and love. Science shows us that only we humans have the prefrontal cortex. That is the part of our brain that allows us to know rationally and to love. Only we humans have that.
More next time.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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