Creation

The Bible only allows for one theory. I the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

answ2. The above is a very good tradition for a pre-literate peoples who had no science tools, nor investigatory traditions. And should not be sneered at.

The Science Story has he Solar system accumulating from dusts, water ice, and gases - mainly gases, about 4.5x10^9 years ago. We know that some of the material had been created in super-nova explosions.

The Sun, Earth and the other planets aggregated by gravity, and their present masses and positions are a product of their individual histories.

In Earth's case, a nearby planet about the size of Mars bumped gently into Earth and both the Earth and the Moon re-accumulated from the debris. This is known from the types of rock brought back from the Moon. Check for Theia (or Giant Impact hypothesis) in a modern on-line encyclopedia.

On Earth various primitive life forms developed, and there were also several catastrophes that wiped out large portions of all life at various times. The most recent of these was about 65 million years ago when a giant meteor landed in Mexico, and created a huge dust cloud that caused the loss of much life forms on Earth.

We must hope that our present activities do not become another life destroying event.

One view:

Genesis 1 v 28 as He began His greatest work of creation. Since God is three persons in one the 'us' is a reference to His triune nature - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(note)-

the nature of the trinity is of catholic roots, from which it adopted a lot of its founding

beliefs from the Babylonian mystery religion. because these people had a trinity consisting of molec, Baal, and ashtaroth. by the way, the pagan religion of Rome also adopted from the Babylonian mystery religion and worshiped false gods like Isis

which is just another name for ashtaroth as she is known by many. so in the creation of this new universal church to be known as the holy roman church, now the catholic church, somewhere around the ninth or 12th century(no one seems to have an exact)

created the apostles creed (please research this) therefore establishing that god is a trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit ,which by the way is never described as a person but comes as fire, a dove, a warm breeze etc,etc.

Genesis 126And God said, let us make man in ourimage.

please read john 1:1-3 the word is doing the speaking along with everything else, his father is pleased and in much agreement, please do not let your religion interpret the word of god for you,the word of god interprets itself!

Genesis 322And the Lord God said, Behold, then man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.Genesis 117Let us go down, and there confound their language.

God was in a sense discussing things with Himself, between the three persons of the Godhead, who were also involved in the act of creation. Over the years there has been much speculation about the meaning of man being in God's image. As man is intelligent and also 'relational', in that he is able to relate to others, this has been seen by some as being relevant here as God is considering the creation of man who is in a sense like Himself, but obviously with limited powers and knowledge.

Judaism was a polytheistic religion, meaning they believed in more than one deity, or more than one god. In the Torah, "Elohim" is used many times, and "Elohim" is plural for "El," Hebrew for "God." For instance, "In the beginning, Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth."

The Trinity doctrine, as the answer above have suggested that Yahweh was speaking to Jesus, wasn't established until 325 AD.

"Elohim" becoming "God" is a mistranslation made on purpose to create a monotheistic religion. If you read Genesis in it's original Hebrew, you will find "Elohim" in many places, even after Genesis.

My opinion as to why the mistranslation: The translators found it confusing that there would be a plural, "Elohim," and then the 1st Commandment of "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me," even though Yahweh is the God of Israel and Chemosh the "God of the Moabites."

In the Bible, the god Yahweh is also referred to by the name Elohim. Elohim is the plural form of Eloh. The "we" in the Bible does not denote more than one creator god, nor does it hint to the triple nature of Yahweh in Christianity, it is simply a way of showing respect to the god being written about.

It's called the "majestic plural" and it is used commonly in scriptures (In the Koran, as well) and even in secular writing (i.e. Albert Einstein). It signifies the subject being talked about and/or the speaker has great importance.

The 3 that make up God are all easily found in the bible but people like to complicate it and like to puff themselves up like theologians who in my opinion don't know squat. God is obviously found throughout the bible as well as Jesus however Jesus and or the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Genesis 1:26 when God says let us make man in our own image. The best example that the Holy Spirit is a man is in Matthew 28:19 where it says Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So on that note I will say that the answers to all these questions is in the word of God and I wont rob you of trying to find them for yourself.

Answer

Although the Bible does not specifically say when Adam and Eve and everything else were created by God, various men have calculated backwards from known dates, and have calculated it to be 4004BC [Ussher] to 5760BC [Setterfield], that is, from 6000 to 8000 years ago. There's a big difference between that, compared with roughly a quarter of a million years according to evolutionary theory if you leave God out: and that varies according to different science books! People must decide which side of the fence they are going to jump to.

It must be understood that the Biblical times of thousands of years and evolutionary times of millions of years are not mutually-exclusive, but is simply Time dated using two different methods or measuring sticks.

Biblical -using ASTRONOMICAL time (time for earth to complete an orbit around the Sun.. (Sometimes called ORBITAL time)

Evolutionary -using ATOMIC time (time to complete so many oscillations of a particular atom.

For example, 1 second is for 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a a cesium-133 atom. )

Both measure the same thing using different measuring-sticks, so although the results appear completely different they are actually the same.

For example, 4004 years BC ASTRONOMICALLY equates to 14 Billion Years ATOMICALLY

In the first creation story in Genesis (verses 1:1-2:4a), God created man (both male and female) after creating all other living things, simply by speaking them into existence (Genesis 1:26-27).

In the second creation story in Genesis (verses 2:4b-20), God created man (Adam) out of moist earth, before he created any other living thing; He created Eve out of Adam's rib (or his side, on a truer translation of the Hebrew text), after all other living things.

In neither story does God actually create the world itself. Many experts in Hebrew have carefully examined the texts and confirm that this is not what they say. The biblical creations were not ex nihilo (out of nothing), and the world itself already existed. Scholars say the concept of creation being ex nihilo began around the second century CE.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Science teaches how the universe is believed to have originated, how the stars were formed and the planets, including our own planet earth, came to be. It teaches what living things existed long ago and how some became extinct due to changes in their environment, and others evolved to adapt to those changes in their environment. It does not teach precisely how the first life form came into existence, although it does provide several hypotheses that could explain the ultimate origin of life.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

No. The Bible chronology/genealogy indicates that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago, but that does not mean that the earth is only 6000 years old.

The first verse in the Bible offers some clues:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:2 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. So in Verse 1 the earth had been around for a while and at some point (Verse 2) God turned his attention to it and began the "creative days" which culminated with the creation of man on the 6th day.

Most Creationists have no problem with the speed of light. Only the "young Earth" or "young universe" branch have to deal with the issues of light sources "billions of light-years" away. Some have rather interesting ideas about how to reconcile the two ideas, ranging from "God started the universe with everything already in place, including forces that act at light-speed" to invoking space-time dialation due to the excessive mass postulated at the start of the universe.

Some do and some don't. Almost all do. And not surprisingly. Creationists are, in general, those who believe God created life on earth and also created the heavens and all we see in the universe. There isn't one shred of physical evidence to hold up that says He didn't. God is not disproved by anything man has learned, has discovered, about life on earth of about the universe as a whole. Nothing anyone can hold up disproves God. Creationists believe science and (most of) the facts about creation that have been illuminated by Man's understanding. There is no conflict between science and belief for most Christians. But there are a few who do not believe. They are the followers after Young Earth Creation (YEC). Let's look at them.

Young Earth Creationists believe that earth and life on it have only been around a few thousand years. They believe the universe as a whole has only been about for a little longer than that. Can anything more absurd be considered? If galaxies exist (which they do) and they are billions of light years away (which they are), how could the light have gotten to earth in a few thousand or a few tens of thousands of years? The answer is simple: it couldn't have. These few followers of YEC represent a small minority of Christians, and their illogical attachment to the ideas YEC presents. Man's mind could, in a way, be considered to be a reflection of God's. Are we not, after all, created in His image? If so, then why would anyone dishonor (defile?) His creation by not using it? It is unconscionable to do so, to set aside this fine(st) gift from Him and, instead, assert flawed (man-made) ideology for the clear evidence presented by what science has discovered. The truth is that He has given them eyes, but they cannot see.

Old Earth and Genesis

According to Progressive Creationists who espouse this view Genesis Chapter 1 may be read as: "In the beginning," (before "day" 1) God created the universe--the stars, planets and other heavenly bodies over billions of years. In verse 2, perspective shifts to the earth's surface. On the first "day," the earth started out dark, covered by clouds, and then God created sunlight to penetrate the darkness. (v. 3-5). On the fourth "day," v. 16, God caused the Sun, Moon and stars to become visible on earth, having made them earlier. Also at this point God commanded these heavenly bodies to mark off time. In this view, each "day" of creation week may represent billions of years.

Another point PCs make indicate that the phrase "And it was so" e.g. verse 11 might be better understood as "and it came to pass," which may have happened over an unspecified amount of time.

However, this view cannot reconciled with Exodus 20:11: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,..."

Young Earth and Distance to the Stars

Some Christians who adhere to the Genesis account of creation propose that the distance to the stars may not actually be as great as scientists believe. But that is not a theory accepted by Creationists. The measurement of distances appears to be quite sound. So the conclusion must be that the universe really is very, very big.

Mature Creation

Other Christians suggest that God may have created starlight in transit, something like the creation of Adam as a mature man. Yet it seems uncharacteristic of the Christian God to create such illusion. After all, we see stars changing, sometimes even exploding. If this theory were correct, starlight would be more like a painting than a visual record. So Creationists generally reject this view, as well.

Lightspeed Variability

Of course, any theory relies on some assumptions, and Creationists are determined to carefully examine them. The usual assumption is that the speed of light is constant regardless of the inertial reference frame of the observer. By current measurements it is calculated that light in a vacuum travels about 6 trillion miles in a year. But can we assume that it has always traveled at the same rate? Such an assumption could be right or wrong. So some Creationists propose that the rate of speed of light was much faster in the past. However, the impact of a changing lightspeed on the universe is not known.

Speed of Time

Albert Einstein discovered that the rate at which time passes is not a universal constant, but is dependent on motion and gravity. For example, a clock traveling at near the speed of light relative to us would tick very slowly if we could observe the clock. Astronauts observing the clock directly would observe the clock ticking perfectly normally. This is called time dilation. A clock at sea-level, nearer to the source of gravity, ticks more slowly than a clock on a mountain top. Atomic clocks have measured the effects of time dilation.

Some Creationists say, if we assume that the universe is finite, and that our solar system is near the center (which is scientifically plausible) the earth would be in what is called a gravitational well. While the effect appears to be small today, if the universe is expanding as astronomers believe, the effect would have been greater in the past. Thus time on earth would have passed more slowly than elsewhere in the universe as measured by observers elsewhere in the universe, due to the effect of gravity. Thus the stars may be billions of years old, while the earth is young. This possibility is intriguing.

Relativity and Synchronization

Just as 12 Noon in one part of the earth happens at a different relative time in another part of the earth, time may measure differently in different parts of the universe. You can in fact travel West to another time zone on earth, and arrive at the same time, or earlier, than when you left the first time zone! This is illustrative; it is clear that time zone differences are not relativistic affects.

While today astronomers use what is called Cosmic Universal Time, long ago Cosmic Local Time was used. If the description of cosmic events in Genesis was in Cosmic Local Time, which is entirely plausible, then starlight would have been created on day 4 in its own locality and arrived on day 4 locally on earth. Since the passage of time reduces to zero at the speed of light according to Einstein, the light itself would arrive instantaneously from its own perspective, that is, if the photons themselves could experience the trip. Observers from earth would still measure the light as traveling at c. This is another intriguing, if perplexing, possibility.

Natural Law versus The Supernatural

When studying astronomy, a frequently unnoticed assumption is that of naturalism, the assumption that nature is all that there is, and that everything must occur in accordance with the laws of nature. This is certainly in direct conflict with the Bible, which consistently asserts that God is not bound by natural laws. While He usually allows things to progress according to natural law, he does not always. The times when He does not are called miracles. All of creation week would fit that definition. The apparent lack of a natural mechanism to deliver starlight cannot be used to discredit what would in any case be a supernatural creation.

To claim that distant starlight is impossible to reconcile with a young earth, and that therefore, the literal biblical timetable (as understood by young earth creationists) is impossible is really circular reasoning. That argument begins with the assumption that nature is all there is, and concludes that therefore what we can observe by natural means is all there is.

Answer:

The Mathematical Tabulation concerning the Year of "Adam's Creation" according to the Account of "Moses" (contained in the First Five Books of the Old Testament) is Absolute: 4004 BC

---Old Testament Study Manual Vol. 1 Latter Day Saint Edition

This Calculation coincides with Bishop James Ussher (1581 - 1656).

His Result: 4004 BC

Note that this Conclusion Occurred During the Renaissance Era & thus, itself, was amidst MANY Forward Thinking Queries.

The First Latter Day Saint Leader, Joseph Smith, also agreed with the Chronology of Moses & went further a step to Calculate the Age of the Universe according to his Understand.

And the Following Document agrees, from a "Christian" Perspective, by adding: "Today there are many Christians who accept the Reliability of Geologic Dating, but do not compromise the spiritual and historical inerrancy of God's word."

To this, I would like to add: If God's Word were Truly "Inerrant"-- Moses, as a repeater of "God's Words" would have therefore been "Inerrant", and Bishop Ussher's Chronology of Creation, based on his Calculations on the "Word of God through Moses", would have been Held as Admissible Fact in a Court Decision.

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The Scopes Court Case Arrives at the Dismissal of Bishop Ussher's Chronology of Creation as Sustainable Truth:

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In Short, the Stories of ANY Religion are based in Myths cultivated by 200,000 years of Human History, which is Concluded upon in a More Accurate Manner in the following Scientific Article:

Answer:

The Bible doesn't say that the earth is 6000 years old. The Genesis creation account reveals a "RE-CREATION" [a refurbishing] of the earth, because something destroyed it and made it "without form and void."

Before that destruction, when God first made the universe and the earth... the Bible doesn't mention how long the earth had existed.

The chronology of the Genesis creation account doesn't say how old the earth is. It tells us that God remade the destroyed earth to "support man" and gives us an indication of how long man has been on it [approximately 5000 to 6000 years].

No, because God isn't physical. Being in God's image refers to our soul, our conscience, our self-awareness. See also:

Can you show that God exists?

Day by day, God created the universe and its contents (Genesis ch.1).God created the universe out of nothing (Exodus 20:11, Isaiah 40:28; Rashi commentary to Genesis 1:14; Maimonides' "Guide," 2:30).Note that the Torah, in describing the Creation, deliberately employs brevity and ellipsis, just as it does in many other topics. See the Talmud, Hagigah 11b.

• On day 1: God created the universe in general, light, and this Earth. The light was not the same as that of the sun. Rather, it was light that God created before the sun, and which emanated from a point in space without any physical source; like what we might term a "white hole."
  
• On day 2: God created the separation between the Earth and the upper atmosphere.
  
• On day 3: God separated the continents from the oceans, and created plants.
  
• On day 4: God created the sun, moon, and stars.
  
• On day 5: God created birds and fish.
  
• On day 6: God created animals and people.
  
• On day 7: God ceased creating, thereby creating the concept of rest.
  

See also:

Is there evidence against Evolution?

Can you show that God exists?

Seeing God's wisdom