Creation of Earth in the Bible vs Creation in the Eyes of Science

 

 The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he 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—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

 

The above  account of creation of Earth given in the Book of Genesis of the Bible though said to be a religious narrative by many religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to my understanding does not contradict what scientists believe.

In the Bible it describes a theological understanding of the origins of the Earth and life, emphasizing the role of God as the Creator.

Scientific theories, on the other hand, are developed through empirical evidence, observation, and the scientific method. The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the origins of the Earth and life is the theory of evolution and the understanding of the universe's development through processes like the Big Bang.

 

Let us have a look how the verses in Genesis fit in exactly as astronomers and scientists believe. Let us look what Science tell us vs quotes from the Bible. 

 

Billions of years ago, Earth, along with the rest of our solar system, was entirely unrecognizable, existing only as an enormous cloud of dust and gas. Eventually, a mysterious occurrence—one that even the world’s foremost scientists have yet been unable to determine—created a disturbance in that dust cloud, setting forth a string of events that would lead to the formation of life as we know it. One common belief among scientists is that a distant star collapsed, creating a supernova explosion, which disrupted the dust cloud and caused it to pull together. This formed a spinning disc of gas and dust, known as a solar nebula. The faster the cloud spun, the more the dust and gas became concentrated at the centre, further fuelling the speed of the nebula. Over time, the gravity at the centre of the cloud became so intense that hydrogen atoms began to move more rapidly and violently. The hydrogen protons began fusing, forming helium and releasing massive amounts of energy. This led to the formation of the star that is the centre point of our solar system—the sun—roughly 4.6 billion years ago.

 

In Earth's Beginning

At its beginning, Earth was unrecognizable from its modern form. It was 4.543 billion years ago which was Day 1 in creation by God (Genesis 1:1)

On Day 1 the earth was extremely hot, to the point it was almost entirely of molten magma without any specific shape or structure.

  Over the course of a few hundred million years, the planet began to cool, and oceans of liquid water formed. But earth was still very hot and ocean waters were mainly an envelope of steam enveloping the entire Earth without separation of the waters below and the atmosphere above. In other words, there was no clear-cut filament to separate the sky above and the waters below. Everywhere on earth was misty with extremely hot steam enveloping the entire earth. The Earth was still dark as hydrogen in the Sun has not accreted yet to beginning nuclear fusion to give it light and heat. The Sun was formed about the same time as earth. Earth was empty of all life and was very dark with the Sun yet to form.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2)

Earth’s early atmosphere was most likely composed of hydrogen and helium. As the planet changed, and the crust began to form, volcanic eruptions occurred frequently. These volcanoes pumped water vapor, ammonia, and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere around Earth. As earth slowly cooled, the waters as hot steam above began to condense into water and fell as continuous rains and oceans began to take shape, “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

In the course of a few million years, hydrogen in the Sun began to fuse together by its immense gravity and nuclear fusion began to give light and heat.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  (Genesis 1:3)

4.5 billion years ago the earth was  rotating in darkness probably in only 7 hours a day instead of a 24-hour day. The current slowing down of earth's rotation is due to loss of rotational energy caused by tides - tidal frictions across the earth's surface due to  the gravitational pull of the Moon.  

Earth began to face the Sun in brightness, for the first time, and thus there was a separation from light (day) from darkness (night)

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day (Genesis 1: 4-5)

As earth cooled further, there was now a distinction between the skies above that still had a lot of water and heavy clouds. In other words, there was now a filament (horizon) that separated the waters above and the oceans of condensed water below.  That was just the second day of creation for God.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”  So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.  God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

(Genesis 1:6 – 8)

As earth cooled further, heavy elements began sinking past the oceans and magma toward the centre of the planet. As this occurred, Earth became differentiated into layers, with the outermost layer being a solid covering of relatively lighter material while the denser, molten material sank to the centre. Then land below the oceans began to rise by geological upheaval to form solid land above the oceans to separate the oceans from the land above

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:9).

The earth was still barren of life, devoid of oxygen, but it has a lot of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Thus, simple cyanobacteria capable of filling the atmosphere with oxygen and later more plants and vegetarian must come first to provide oxygen using photosynthesis. 

This was around 2.5 billion years ago, cyanobacteria evolved, leading to the process of photosynthesis. This event significantly increased atmospheric oxygen levels.

Then around 1.5 to 2 billion years ago, more complex eukaryotic cells emerged. These cells are the building blocks of more complex multicellular organisms. The first multicellular organisms appeared around 1 billion years ago, followed by the first land plants that evolved around 500 million years ago. These were likely simple, non-vascular plants, but they provided they much needed oxygen for even simple animals to live.

1. After the plants and vegetation only came the first animals that evolved around 600-700 million years ago. These early animals were likely simple, multicellular organisms.
2. Then almost suddenly came the Explosion of Life (Cambrian Explosion) around 541 million years ago. There was a rapid diversification of life known as the Cambrian Explosion or Cambrian Radiation. This period saw the emergence of a wide variety of complex multicellular organisms, including many animal phyla.

This was clearly stated in the order of creation here:

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. (Genesis 1:11 -13)

It was only when oxygen through plants, vegetarian and photosynthesis became available in abundance, that animal life could exist to populate earth, starting with fishes in the oceans, then reptiles and dinosaurs, then birds in the air as “gloried reptiles” and the rest of other mammals that followed in the course of natural evolution which took tens of millions of years in the eyes of humans, but was just one day in creation for God.  

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So, God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

(Genesis 1: 20 – 25)

Consider this analogy of a scientist conducting some experiments on rats over a certain period. Naturally as a creator, the scientist would use his time to measure the period and length of his experiment according to his clock. He would never use the short lifespan of the rats to measure time. Likewise, God as a Creator uses His clock and time to describe the length for each stage of His creation. There is no reason why He should use the short lifespan of humans to describe the length of His creation. His ‘one day’ - a watch in the night,  is probably hundreds of  millions of years to us. There is no comparison. This is important to consider not use a day in Genesis as our 24 hour-day. In fact 4,500 – 4,400 million years ago after the accretion of Earth, this planet could be rotating in darkness in just 6 or 7 hour each day instead of the current a 24-hour day. The slowing down of Earth's rotation is due to loss of rotational energy caused by friction from tides that sweeps across the surface  of Earth including over solid land from the pull of Moon's gravity.  Atomic clocks show that the modern day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds than a century ago,

It was long after all the plants and other animals have already populated earth that God decided to create humans in His image.  

 And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moved upon the earth.

(Genesis 1: 26 – 28)

Aren’t all these stages of life evolution tallied so neatly with the verses line-by-lines as given in Genesis of the Bible that I could see it.

This was 250,000 – 160,000 years ago when Homo sapiens (modern human species) arose. But before that, human-like creatures called Hominids arose – a group consisting of all modern and extinct Great Apes (that is, modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, plus all their immediate ancestors).

Please understand the Bible is not a science book where it needs to write the entire creation in scientific details. It is a book about how God needed to deal with man and ultimately and more importantly for his salvation which is much more crucial for man than revealing all the technical details about creation of earth and the evolution of life.

But if others are interested in scientific details on evolution and its timeline see my explanation below:

“A Summary on The Creation of the Universe and Evolution of Life on Earth”

“A Summary on The Creation of the Universe and Evolution of Life on Earth”

Unfortunately, other scientists and the church cannot agree with each other. 

The disagreement between Science and the Church is mainly because the Bible account of the entire Creation took place in 6 days, whereas in the eyes of astronomers, geologists, palaeontologist and other scientists the creation of the Sun, Earth, other planets and life on Earth took place 4.568 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud. This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably birthed several stars.

Unfortunately, humans use their short lifespans at 120 years maximum as a yardstick to compare time that is eternal for God.  

“For a thousand years in thy (God) sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night”. (Psalm 90:4).

“You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

 Given the distinct nature of religious and scientific explanations, there are often differences between the two accounts. The Genesis narrative is not a scientific explanation in the eyes of a scientist (but not to me)   

Genesis in the Bible scientists claim is a religious and cultural text that provides a theological framework for understanding the origins of the Earth and life.

Many religious individuals and groups reconcile their faith with scientific theories, viewing them as complementary rather than conflicting. This perspective is often referred to as "theistic evolution" or "evolutionary creationism," where individuals believe that God guided the evolutionary processes to bring about the diversity of life.

Many people cannot differentiate the different purposes and methodologies of religious and scientific accounts and understand that they serve different aspects of human understanding and inquiry. 

Fortunately, some people like me with God help can agree on creation given in the Bible verse-by-verse, and the stage-by-stage given by scientists. They tallied so neatly in my eyes. 

In short, I can integrate their religious beliefs with my personal scientific training on astronomy and evolution, while others maintain a clear separation between the two domains.

 

Creation in my eyes:

 Astronomical Big Bang 13.8 billion years (4.3549488 x 10 ^ 17 seconds) ago

Age of Earth 4.543 billion years = 1.43366 x 10 ^ 17 seconds ago

1 day = 86,400 seconds

1 year = 365.25 days = 31,557,600 seconds   

100 year = 3,155,760,000 seconds

 If the Creation of the Universe through the Big Bang was 13.8 billion years

ago, and if our human life span at maximum last for 100 years, then our lifespan last only 7.3 x 10^-9   (0.0,000,000,073) of this, and only

2.2 x 10^-8 (0.000,000,022) of a fraction compared the creation of

Earth 4.543 billion years ago.

 Another way of putting this is, if the age of the Universe at 13.8 billion years was just one day of Creation, then 100 years of our lives lasts for just 0.23 second.  

 But if the age of Earth at 4.543 billion years was just one day in Creation,

then 100 years of our lives last just 0.7 second 

 Age of Earth and History of Evolution of Life on Earth:

1. 4,500 – 4,400 million years ago (Mya). Accretion of Earth

2. 4,200 million years ago (Mya) Atmosphere and oceans form

3. 4,000 million years ago (Mya) Prebiotic chemistry became possible

4. 3,800 million years ago RNA world shown by the first chemical fossil

available (viruses)

5. 3,600 million years ago the first DNA protein life came into existence

6. 3,500 million years ago LUCA: Archaea / Bacteria spilt and also

photosynthesis (autotrophy) began.

7. 2,700 – 1,900 million years ago the first eukaryotes / sexual reproduction

became possible.

8. 1,000 Mya?

9. 650 Mya Metazoans

10. 575 Oldest large organisms

11. 555 Mya Oldest sponge fossils

12. 542 – 488 Mya Cambrian Radiation

13. 525 Mya Earliest vertebrates

14. 440 Mya First vascular land plants

15. 425 Mya First jawed vertebrates

16. 420 Mya Earliest terrestrial animals

17. 396 Mya First insects

18. 365 Mya Plants evolves seeds and first tetrapods

19. 354 Mya Insects flight

20. 350 Mya First land-dwelling vertebrates

21. 240 Mya First dinosaurs

22. 210 Mya First mammals

23. 200 Mya Pangea breakup begins

24. 150 Mya Archaeopteryx / birds’ flight

25. 140 Mya Flowering plants

26. 128 – 124 Dinosaurs flight

27. 125 Mya Mammalian gliding flight

28. 105 – 95 Mya Gondwanaland breakup

29. 90- 80 Mya Formation of Galapagos geological hot spot

30. 57 – 53 Mya Whale ancestor

31. 55 Mya Australia breaks away from Antarctica

32. 51 Mya Mammalian powered flights (bats)

33. 50 Mya First fossil Equidae

34. 45.6 Whale ancestor

35. 40 Mya Primate order diverges

36. 35 Mya First grasses evolve

37. 30 Mya Old-world / new-world monkey spilt

38. 25 Mya Old-world monkey / apes split. Also, Drosophila melanogaster / D.

obscura split.

39. 15 Mya Apes migrate to Asia

40. 6 -7 Mya Sahelanthropus

41. 5 - 4 Mya Common ancestors of chimps and humans. Formation of current

Galapagos Islands

History on the Emergence of human-like and humans:

42. 3.6 Mya Panama Isthmus rise / Lucy fossil / Australopithecus afarensis

footprints

43. 2.5 Tool use

44. 1.8 Mya Homo habilis out of Africa

45. 1.6 Mya Homo erectus in Asia

46. 600,000 years ago Human / Neanderthal spilt

47. 500,000 years ago Homo erectus use fire

48. 355,000 Homo heidelbergensis footprints

49. 200,000 years ago Anatomically modern human

50. 250,000 – 160,000 years ago Homo sapiens arose

51. 120,000 Homo language possible

52. 100,000 years ago Wolf / dog split

53. 79,000 – 15,000 years ago Start of Wisconsin glaciations

54. 50,000 years ago. Humans migrate from Asia to Australia

55. 45,000 years ago. Megafauna extinction in Australia

56. 30,000 years ago. Human migration from Asia to North America

57. 14,000 – 10,000 years ago. Domestication of dog and Megafauna extinction

in North America

58. 12,000 years ago. Early agriculture

59. 8,000 years ago Domestication of cattle

60. 6,000 years ago Domestication of horse

61. 3,000 years ago Iron tools

Major extinctions of life took place during:

62. 445 Mya in the Late Ordovician

63. 375 Mya Late Devonian

64. 251 Mya End Permian

65. 200 Mya Late Triassic

66. 65 Mya Cretaceous-Tertiary

Lim ju boo

(3,709 words in 9 pages)