Evolution, the Bible, and Intelligent Design

I have heard much talk over my lifetime about "Intelligent Design" or Creationism, as it was formerly known. I, personally, think that evolution is, in fact true. However, since the 1970's I have realized that, in fact, the Bible does not weigh in on this issue. That is, the Bible does not say that the World was created in six days.

Therefore, I would have to say that, in fact, my religious view of the Bible actually tells me that evolution is more likely than creationism (ID).

(That fact that people would complain about evolution being taught is somewhat funny. That is, they, it seems, believe that evolution should not be taught because they say it is not true. Accept, for a minute, that this is true. This should, therefore, be applied to other scientific disciplines as well. Specifically, physics. In most high schools, Newtonian Physics is taught. Yet most scientist, if asked, would have to acknowledge that this theory is not true. Einstein proved that. Newtonian physics is still taught, however, because the equations are much, much simpler than Einstein's equations.)

Since this is about the first chapter of Genesis, I will quote it here: (New American Bible)

Genesis 1:

1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,

2 the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

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

4 God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed--the first day.

6 Then God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." And so it happened:

7 God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.

8 God called the dome "the sky." Evening came, and morning followed--the second day.

9 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.

10 God called the dry land "the earth," and the basin of the water he called "the sea." God saw how good it was.

11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened:

12 the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was.

13 Evening came, and morning followed--the third day.

14 Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,

15 and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth." And so it happened:

16 God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.

17 God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth,

18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.

19 Evening came, and morning followed--the fourth day.

20 Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened:

21 God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was,

22 and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth."

23 Evening came, and morning followed--the fifth day.

24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened:

25 God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was.

26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."

27 God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

29 God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;

30 and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.

31 God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

Commentary

To me, the only important scripture in this chapter is the first verse: "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth." That is, to study the creation of the Earth is to study God. This is an observation I will make, and is, in fact, irrelevant to science. That is, any scientist who tries to prove this false will fail for obvious reasons. If something happens, then it could be an act of God, or it could be random, there is no way of telling the difference. This is where faith comes in.

I will say this does not justify creationism, that is the creation of the Earth in six's days. This text does, in fact, talk about six days. It also talks about creation. However, it doesn't make any connection between the two.

For example, if one accepts that the world was created in six days, what was created on the second day? Creationist would say, "Then God said, 'Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.' And so it happened: God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. God called the dome 'the sky.'" Yet the text doesn't say this was created the second day. It says one day ended, and the next day began.

There is another explanation. No one would doubt that there was no human present to record the creation of the universe. That is, I doubt that either the creationist or the evolutionist would claim that there was any human being present to record the creation of the world, regardless of how long it took. Therefore, there must have been a time when this information (whether true or not) became available to people.

This is a body of work (even if it's short), therefore, it must have been written over a period of time. Perhaps that period of time is six days. That is, "the first day" refers, not to a day of creation, but the first day of this recording.

I've seen the explanation that this may have been given as a vision, probably to Moses. Therefore, the first day is the first day of a vision used to present this information. There is not even any guarantee that the information is presented sequentially. Therefore, the creation of the sun is covered on the third day. No problem, the creation of the sun became important to "Moses" on the third day. Peoples interest change, even on a day to day basis.

Also, the story creates the idea of a "dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." This dome has been called a "Firmament," and I doubt many people really think there is a firmament out there. Especially when satellites are launched, or people stand on the moon. Currently man made objects have exited the solar system (and sent back signals), and none of them have hit any firmament, or any water at all.

I would propose that the people who claim this is the recording of a vision are correct. Therefore, the firmament was needed because the people at the time this was originally written thought there was a firmament to hold the stars, etc. A person recording this, if they saw the stars created, that is, there were no stars followed by a time when there were stars, then that person would record this as the creation of the firmament, even though we know there is not firmament now.

In the next chapter, the Bible says that man was created - all men, yet later is says that man was not on the Earth yet because there was no one to till the Earth. Yet, people are not required to till the Earth. (I once had a city dweller ask who fed the deers that live a few blocks from my house, so I will say here that people are not needed to feed wild animals.) In some areas, there are no people, and life continues to exist.

The point being that it is possible to "believe" the first chapter of Genesis, and still not believe in Creationism.