In the Beginning ... pt. 1

I. The Creation Story according to today’s science

In the beginning, we’re really not sure but we think the universe began with a Big Bang. All matter and energy was contained in a single point. Then in the blink of an eye, we think there was a period of exponential expansion driven by a mysterious propulsive energy. This energy caused something arbitrarily small to become arbitrarily big. Result was the creation of the universe. Over the course of billions of years, the universe began to cool. We think microscopic particles began to form and collide into one another. These particles formed a solar dust cloud that circled a star, the Sun. Over the next 30 million years, as the dust particles continued to slam into one another they became bigger and bigger eventually becoming planets including earth. Therefore, we think that the earth was formed by millions of pieces of rocks randomly stuck together. As the earth cooled, the earth’s crust (land) began to form. Over the course of billions of years, meteorites rained down upon the earth. These meteorites contained water. We think that meteorites brought water to earth drop by drop and after billions if years created oceans that covered the earth. We don’t know the number of meteorites it took to create all the water that is on the earth, but we think that is how water came to be. We also think meteorites brought the basic chemical building blocks for life, namely amino acids. They were the starting point for all life, plant and animal. Problem: there was no oxygen necessary to support such complex life forms. The atmosphere was extremely toxic with methane, carbon dioxide, and sulfuric acid. However, we think there were microorganisms that thrived in this environment. They breathed in the toxic gases and breathed out oxygen. We think that over the course of millions of years, billions of these microorganisms produced tons of oxygen that created our present atmosphere setting the stage for complex forms of life, plant and animal. Another factor, and perhaps the most important, is that the earth formed not too close or too far from the sun. In layman’s terms, the earth is a “Goldilock’s planet.” We are a fortunate/lucky to be in the perfect spot of the solar system that is not too hot or too cold to develop and sustain complex life.

One of the world’s leading scientist, Stephen Hawking, wrote in his latest book the Grand Design - Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to explain the creation of the universe. Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.

What is your reaction/response to Hawking’s statement?

II. The Creation Story according to the Bible.

Genesis chapter 1:1-2

1. Ponder over the words of Genesis 1:1. What does it say to you? Prior to the beginning, there was something, or I should say someone, God. The universe (heavens and earth) had a definite beginning. God did not. He’s always existed (Revelation 4:8.) The Hebrew word for “create” is Bara’ – to create, shape, form. I picture God as an artist/sculptor. The canvas is blank. The stone is uncut. In their mind’s eye, the artist/sculptor knows what the final product will look like. To get to that point, you have to have a plan. It has to be thought through. The artist/sculptor proceeds to form/shape what is in their mind. It takes time. There is a purpose to what is being created. Artist/sculptor does not create without a reason. Their creation serves a purpose. The final product says a lot about its creator.

The universe was not created on a whim. God created the universe with much forethought. God gave form/gave shape to the universe. He planned every minute detail of Creation starting from the atom (proton, neutron, electron) to the largest galaxy. It’s so easy to read “Let there be light, let there be plants, let there be animals, let there be sun, moon, stars” and think otherwise. Everything God created was done so by design and with purpose. When God created light, He set the speed of light in a vacuum at 186,000 miles per second. When God created water, He established the molecular code for water – H2O. When God created life, He established the configuration of cells (chromosomes, mitochondria, nucleus, etc.) that make life possible and gives each person their own individual identity. There was a reason why God created the moon. God did not create the moon just to light up the night sky. Without the moon, life on earth would not exist or, at least, be very different than it is presently. Moreover, God placed the moon in the right orbit around the earth in order to sustain life. Any closer or any further life would not be possible or at least different. God created the size of earth and set the rotational speed of earth to create a gravitational pull that would sustain life. If the earth was bigger or smaller or rotated faster or slower, life would be unsustainable or at the least different.

The above is what is meant by “God created” in Genesis 1:1. We’ll come back to the above point repeatedly as we examine Creation.

2) vs. 2. What was the earth like immediately after it was created? Formless – no shape to it. Void – empty of all life. Dark – Pitch black. Deep – covered in deep water.

3) What was God doing? Of all the places in the universe God could be, He was on earth hovering over the waters. Looking it over.

Genesis 1:3-31

There is much discussion concerning the length of time it took for God to create the earth. Six days? Six billion years? The Hebrew word for “day” used in Genesis has a dozen different definitions – 12 hour day, 24 hour day, year, age, etc. What all the definitions have in common is that they refer to the passage of time. Beginning of something to the end of something. Read II Peter 3:8. What is a day to someone who is eternal? As we look at Creation, our focus will be on who created, what was created, and how it was created and not on how long it took to create. For me the who, the what, and the how are for more important than when. God could have created the earth and everything on it in six seconds if He wanted to. God did not create the earth in one moment of time. He did so across six separate periods of time. Why? To set an example for us to follow. Exodus 20:8-11. We are to follow the example of our Creator. God has given us six days to do our work. We are not to accomplish every task in one day. Talk more on this topic when we get to the seventh day of Creation.