Many critics argue that the Bible story of creation is "geo" centric (centered around the earth). This is because of the wrong understanding of the creation story that God created the earth and built the sun, moon and stars around it. It gives an impression that everything revolved around the planet earth. The Biblical story of creation is actually "Theo" (God) centric. It is also not 'Geometric', but it is 'Theometric'. Everything seen and unseen begins and ends with God. Hebrews 1:10-12 says: "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end."
The question of whether the seven days of creation are literal days, or symbolic of stages of development is actually irrelevant to the undeniable reality that creation happened. The universe that is seen and unseen, the earth beneath our feet, and all of us do exist. Bible is not a science book, but whatever observation it makes about the world of nature is true. Skeptics argue that the Bible is full of scientific errors. At times, the theories of science may disagree with the teachings of the Bible, but usually science just needs some time to catch up. For instance, Job 26 says," He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight". Another example is seen in Isaiah 40:22 that says, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth." These were written thousands of years before the discovery that the earth is a a globe that is suspended on nothing but gravitational force. As the great preacher D. L. Moody said, "The Scriptures were not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives." God gave us His word to make us aware of our need for God and the need for redemption. Moses is believed to be the author who wrote the creation story.
On the 'First day' of creation, God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. These are the first words of God recorded. Light is a key factor of Einstein’s energy equation, which is the basis of all modern physics. (E=MC² equation). C is the speed of light which is equal to 186,000 miles per second, is a factor in the Energy Equation. If an object is to travel at the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite. This is the most fundamental law of physics that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. But the European Organisation for Nuclear Research claimed it recorded subatomic particles (neutrinos) travelling faster than the speed of light (2011). These tiny entities called Neutrinos barely weigh anything at all, don't have electric charge and can travel through solid matter because they hardly ever interact with anything. In fact, billions of neutrinos, mainly produced in the sun, are at this moment streaming through your body without being noticed. If you travel in a very fast spaceship you could actually observe these neutrinos leaving after they have arrived in the place where we have seen them. "In other words time could be travelling in reverse. It is a very mind boggling thing. In any case, the speed of light still remains a factor in the energy equation. It is not surprising that light was introduced as the first creation.
Some may ask, "if the sun was created on the fourth day, how can there be light on the first day?" There are many types of light that are not visible to the human eye. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others. Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, etc. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun. God had at His fingertips many options to accomplish His purposes. Light does not automatically require the sun.
Bible tells us that "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). The 'Sun of righteousness' was already shining brightly, but God made the earth's thick new atmosphere allow diffuse light to penetrate to the surface. And so it was when that light separated from darkness. When John says in 1: 5 that "the light shines in the darkness," verse 9 it says, "The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not." So it's plain that Jesus is the one spoken of. He is the light in verse 5. He is the one who shines in the darkness. "Without him was not anything made that was made." John 1:4 "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." This means that the light that shines in the darkness is the light of LIFE (John 8:12). In John 8:12 Jesus says, "I am the light of the world."
The darkness will never comprehend light, but even a small ray of light can take over darkness. In other words, no created thing is more powerful than its creator. Someone might say, "Isn't the atom bomb more powerful than the men who created it? Can't the atom bomb destroy its maker?" Yes, it can because you are making a bomb out of materials that exist already that you did not create from nothing. The bomb that is created with those material are controlled by laws man did not write. But God created everything out of nothing including matter and the laws that control them. If you can make something out of nothing, you can always turn that something into nothing. That's the reason why John says, "darkness cannot comprehend it." The creation cannot make the creator. God is God and we are not.
On the second day, God said, "Let there be a firmament, and separation - separation of waters from the waters, and the waters from the land." The Bible clearly distinguishes between the creation and the creator. The Bible shows a Creator who is not part of the creation, but controls and sustains His creation. The Hindu Sanatana Dharma theology, on a different note, points the divine revelations in the Vedas that God (Brahma/Parabrahma) is the one unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all things in this Universe. If one adds two whole parts the result is one whole and if one whole is subtracted from another whole the result is another whole - it means there is one whole universe and it is all pervaded by "Him".Since the universe has come forth from the Divine, all things and beings are divine and must be treated so in human thought and action. The Divine sleeps in minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals and thinks in humans. "That is an aggregate; this is an aggregate. The aggregate come out of the aggregate. Removing the aggregate from the aggregate, the aggregate still remains". Just as all rivers lead to the one ocean, Hindus believe that all religious pathways lead to the same eternal truth. Even within Hinduism, there are different approaches to reaching the Divine based on an individual’s own characteristics. All Mahavakyas (Great Sayings) of the Upanishads, in one way or another, seem to indicate the unity of the world with the Brahman. It further says, "This whole universe is Brahman, from Brahman to a clod of earth." Christianity teaches a Creator who is not under the natural laws of nature which He created.
On the 3rd day, God said, "Let the earth put forth plant life." On the 4th day, God created the Sun, Moon and the Stars. On the fifth day all living organisms in the sea an the sky were created. Living organisms avoid decay by a miraculous process. Scientists argue that 'life' prvents decay by "by eating, drinking, breathing and (in the case of plants) and assimilating." If life is wholly dependent on nutrients we intake, we would never decay and never die. The reality is that all plants and animals die and decay. There is something internal that is setting order and thus escaping the decay, which we call 'life'. Nutrition is necessary but not sufficient to account for growth. Creation of life is unique in that mere physical laws are not enough to explain the concept of live. Living things grow, they reproduce and they don’t decay. There is another metaphycial element in living things that goes beyond the physical laws.
On the sixth day, God created man in His own image. The creation of man was not complete until God breathed His life into him making it the crown of all creations that caries the image and the life of God in it. Paul says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power of God" (2 Corinthians 4:7). "From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:26-28).
God's work of creation continues. The Word used in Hebrew, BARA for Creation means bring into existence something that never existed before, meaning making something out of nothing. (Barshit Bara Elohim - In the beginning God created). He creates new things, new lives, new plants and new flowers and new beauty on a regualr basis. He not only creates, but also sustains His creation. He also redeems that are broken and fallen. He creates order out of chaos, beauty out of ruins and purpose out of void. There is such order and beauty that only a fool can say there is no God. (David says psalm 53:1 and Psalm 14:11, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”). Instead of asking, “if there is so much evil, is there a God?”, we need to ask, “If there is so much beauty, how can you say there is no God?”
God is the creator of not only laws of nature, but also social, moral and spiritual laws. Just like He did at the outset of creation, God uses the moral and spiritual laws to take the formless voids of our lives and gives them shape and brigtness by His light. God will bring order to that which is chaotic and without direction. There are lives among us and around us that are broken and shapeless by addictions and depressions, hatred and violence, disappointments and failures, disasters and calamities. God is in the business of transformation. He mends the broken relationships and reconciles them and heals the wounded spirits with fullness of life. Apart from God, life has no purpose and no direction and meaning. God is continuing His creation work today in you and me.
Let there be light in those who are in darkness. Let there be peace for those who are restless and worried. Let there be joy in the midst of suffering and pain. Let there be comfort for those who grieve and mourn. Let there be new creation in those who repent.
