Biblical creation story in reference to science - Essay Example

s Biblical Creation Story In Reference To Science Many people find it hard to relate science and religion. More specifically, when it comes to the issue of creation, there are a lot of misunderstandings. To some people, there is no way these two extremes may be reconciled. On the other hand, there are those who think that there is a relation between the two extremes, and one can be used to explain the other. To explain this, there are four different theories on creation. The first is the young earth view which states that the days mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis represent the normal days with 24 hours.

The second is the day age view that states that the days in the book of Genesis are indefinite periods and not the normal twenty four- days. The restoration theorists come up with a different view that the days in genesis are indeed the normal days, but a lot time elapsed between the first and second verses of the book of Genesis when God was recreating the earth. The fourth view that is the literary framework view states that the author of the book of Genesis did not intend to indicate the order of creation nor the number of days and it is therefore not in order to go into this line.

Science and the biblical story of creation can only be linked if the Genesis days are viewed as indefinite periods. Theologians use other verses in the Bible to explain the other verses. It is this explanation that shows that the days in Genesis could only be explained in the form of periods that are indefinite.When looking at the Hebrew Bible, the word yom is used to explain the days in the creation story. In Hebrew, the word yom represents the normal days with twenty-four hours. This can be misleading, but when we look at other scriptures, the word yom represents periods of time.

For example, in the book of Hosea 6:2 where Hosea tells the people that after two days God would revive them and on the third day, raise them up.( New King James Version) Taken in this context, it cannot mean the ordinary twenty-four hours of the day.One would argue that the days in Genesis chapter one are normal days because God commanded man to work for six days and rest on the seventh day. The aspect being brought in here is that man should dedicate some of his time to worship his creator: it is the idea of rest being brought in.

In Exodus 23: 10-11, the Sabbath rest is a yearlong and also in Leviticus 5: 8-17, the Israelites were commanded to take a rest of jubilee after fifty years.The author of Genesis chapter one states that vegetation was created before the sun. This statement would not hold in science if taken literally. The sun is necessary for the growth of vegetation, and so this shows that the word day in Genesis chapter one cannot be taken literary.An analysis of the fossils in the world indicates that the world is billions of years old.

If we took the view of the day age proponents, then this would mean that the world is only tens of thousands of years old. This could only create an even greater disconnect between the biblical story of creation and the evolution theory. We can link these two extremes by looking at the creation days as indefinite periods where God made the universe in an indefinite period that shows that the world is billions of years old. Works CitedBoyd, Gregory. A., & Paul, R. Eddy. Across the spectrum: understanding issues in evangelical theology.

Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2002. Print.Diepstra, George R., and Gregory J. Laughery. "Interpreting Science and Scripture: Genesis 1-3." European Journal of Theology 18.1 (2009): 5-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2014."Evolution, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design." (2010): Credo Reference Collections. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.