From his window he could watch the blue orb of planet earth getting smaller and smaller. Looming in front of him in all its detail was a giant moon. Astronaut Frank Borman of Apollo 8 was filled with emotion, as he drew closer and closer to the fulfillment of one of man's greatest dreams of landing on the moon. As the lunar module orbited, the crew could perceive the moon in its pristine state, untouched by human hands, exactly as it left the hands of its Creator. (One could imagine Adam opening his eyes for the first time and viewing a pristine Earth with the same awe.)
Borman wanted to convey this feeling to everyone glued to their TVs and radios, just so they could in some sense share the experience of this milestone in history. What text could express this feeling? What human poet or author could capture in words that awesome feeling of the smallness of man and the vastness of the universe? Only God's Word!
To the ears of billions of earthlings, Borman declared, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth!" The first chapter of Genesis was read on that historical day to all mankind.
(In contrast to the Cosmonauts who orbited the Earth in Sputnik and proclaimed, "We went to Heaven and didn't find God!") This is the beginning of the story of man and his world.
1) "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth" (Genesis 1:1). What a contrast between the vast endless heaven containing countless stars, and one tiny speck in the universe called Planet Earth! Yet the following verse begins, "And the Earth was.........." and the rest of the book focuses on Earth.......... Conclusion: God is interested in Earth!
(2) The six days of creation are described in detail. The trees and grass, the animals, fish, birds, and insects. Then was created one human. What a contrast between the vast expanse of planet Earth, and one individual person! Yet from this point on, the bible focuses exclusively on humans (and NOT on the trees or insects)............ Conclusion: God is interested in humanity!
(3) After expounding upon the first human, the bible lists 10 generations with no events recorded. These generations evidently did not interest the author and are only included for the purpose of chronology. Finally we find the passage, "and Noah was a righteous man" (Genesis 6:9), followed by an entire section concerning Noah. ........Conclusion: God is interested in "righteous people"!
(4) This is followed again by a list of names for chronological purposes. Another 10 generations go by, until we come to Abraham our Father. Abraham is 75 years old at the time the Lord speaks of him. From this point on, the scripture records exclusively the story of Abraham's life and then that of his descendents - right up until the emergence of the Jewish people. The rest of the bible recounts God's relationship with the Jewish people. ...........Conclusion: God is interested in the Jewish people who undertake a unique mission, to be a "light unto the nations," to teach the world about spirituality and our Creator.
Much has been written about the apparent contradiction between the age of the universe, generally accepted by scientists as 15 billion years, and the Jewish tradition of under 6,000 years.
A simple solution which may dispel much confusion: If one accepts the creation of man conceptually, this assumes that the first person was created as an adult, because an infant or child could never survive on his own. It also assumes that trees in full bloom with luscious fruit were available for that first person to eat. Does this contradict the apparent age of the world?
Had a dentist examined Adam's teeth, he would have assumed him to be 30 years old. Had Adam chopped down a tree, he would have counted the rings and proclaimed the tree 100 years old. Had a scientist performed a carbon-14 test, he would have observed a very old universe because God created it in that advanced form.
Conclusion: Conceptually there is no contradiction between scientific calculations and the belief that God created the Universe in full bloom!
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Borman wanted to convey this feeling to everyone glued to their TVs and radios, just so they could in some sense share the experience of this milestone in history. What text could express this feeling? What human poet or author could capture in words that awesome feeling of the smallness of man and the vastness of the universe? Only God's Word!
To the ears of billions of earthlings, Borman declared, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth!" The first chapter of Genesis was read on that historical day to all mankind.
(In contrast to the Cosmonauts who orbited the Earth in Sputnik and proclaimed, "We went to Heaven and didn't find God!") This is the beginning of the story of man and his world.
1) "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth" (Genesis 1:1). What a contrast between the vast endless heaven containing countless stars, and one tiny speck in the universe called Planet Earth! Yet the following verse begins, "And the Earth was.........." and the rest of the book focuses on Earth.......... Conclusion: God is interested in Earth!
(2) The six days of creation are described in detail. The trees and grass, the animals, fish, birds, and insects. Then was created one human. What a contrast between the vast expanse of planet Earth, and one individual person! Yet from this point on, the bible focuses exclusively on humans (and NOT on the trees or insects)............ Conclusion: God is interested in humanity!
(3) After expounding upon the first human, the bible lists 10 generations with no events recorded. These generations evidently did not interest the author and are only included for the purpose of chronology. Finally we find the passage, "and Noah was a righteous man" (Genesis 6:9), followed by an entire section concerning Noah. ........Conclusion: God is interested in "righteous people"!
(4) This is followed again by a list of names for chronological purposes. Another 10 generations go by, until we come to Abraham our Father. Abraham is 75 years old at the time the Lord speaks of him. From this point on, the scripture records exclusively the story of Abraham's life and then that of his descendents - right up until the emergence of the Jewish people. The rest of the bible recounts God's relationship with the Jewish people. ...........Conclusion: God is interested in the Jewish people who undertake a unique mission, to be a "light unto the nations," to teach the world about spirituality and our Creator.
Much has been written about the apparent contradiction between the age of the universe, generally accepted by scientists as 15 billion years, and the Jewish tradition of under 6,000 years.
A simple solution which may dispel much confusion: If one accepts the creation of man conceptually, this assumes that the first person was created as an adult, because an infant or child could never survive on his own. It also assumes that trees in full bloom with luscious fruit were available for that first person to eat. Does this contradict the apparent age of the world?
Had a dentist examined Adam's teeth, he would have assumed him to be 30 years old. Had Adam chopped down a tree, he would have counted the rings and proclaimed the tree 100 years old. Had a scientist performed a carbon-14 test, he would have observed a very old universe because God created it in that advanced form.
Conclusion: Conceptually there is no contradiction between scientific calculations and the belief that God created the Universe in full bloom!
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