The Genesis Creation Account

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The Genesis Creation Account
Part 1 Creation Days One to FourA Haven for
Life

• by
• David C. Bossard
• 19thPsalm.org

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Pope Pius XII 1951 Address to the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences
Identified Genesis 13 Fiat Lux "Let there be
light" With the Big Bang.
"It seems indeed that science today, rising
suddenly after millions of centuries, has
succeeded in being a witness to that
primordial Fiat lux, when along with matter,
there burst forth from nothing a sea of light
and radiation, and the elements split and
churned and formed into millions of galaxies."
"To the Members of the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences", 22 novembre 1951 - Pio XII, Discorsi
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Key Bible Passages to be considered today
Genesis 11-23 Proverbs 822-31
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A Basic Problem hundreds of ways that the
Creation passages have been understood. - My
claim to consideration is that I believe that
the interpretation here is consistent (to the
best of my understanding) with the Creation
Narrative as given by Modern Science beginning
with the Science of Cosmology (the subject of my
19thpsalm.org website).
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Synopsis
The Six Divine Workdays and Tasks
Day One Create the universe Day Two Carve
out a haven for the Earth and Life Day Three
Form dry land on Earth fill with plants for
food  Day Four Organize the heavenly
bodies Fill the Earth with Animals - Day
Five Ocean and Air - Day Six (a) Land Day
Six (b) Create Man (male and female)
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the Matter of Terms
How does Time figure in Creation? What is
"Water"? What is the "Abyss" or "Deep"?
--- PARTICULARLY IN THE FIRST TWO VERSES 1 In
the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty,
and darkness was over the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face
of the waters.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

 TIME IS CREATED it is part of the created
universe.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

 TIME IS CREATED it is part of the created
universe.
gt Before the Planck Time (BB 5 x 10-44 s)
nobody can describe what things looked like. IN
PARTICULAR, the appearance of things
is indescribable! BEFORE the Planck Time
and before the Big Bang occurred.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

 GOD IS TIMELESS. So
How do you write a Work Order?
How describe his creative activity? gt
Sequence of Activities??? gt Duration of
Activities??? BEFORE the BB? AFTER the BB?
St. Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Meaning of
Genesis ad lit. ca. 415 AD.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

 GOD IS TIMELESS. So
St. Augustine's Solution (Ad. Lit. V.5.13)
Instantaneous Creation of Everything "in
Potential" -- God "Created potentially, for time
would bring them into view in the ages to come."
- i.e. created "formless and empty", Later,
"fleshed out" but that was not the creation.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theol. Ques. 66, Art.
1) "Whether formlessness of created matter
preceded in time its formation?" Today's
Suggestion God DID create in time (but not "by
the clock"), for a very good reason
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

  God DID create in time for another reason To
preserve the integrity of his Silent Voice.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms

• How does Time figure in Creation?

•  The Silent Voice
• Einstein's "Incomprehensible thing"
• "The most incomprehensible thing about the world
• is that it is at all comprehensible."
• The Time component in Creation displays how
• God Used Natural Processes when they would do
• the job.
• -- Creation of the universe 13.73 By ago
• -- Creation of the elements in stars over 9 By
• -- Formation of the Solar System and Earth (4
  By)
• -- Preparation of the Earth Atmosphere (3 By)
• -- Preparation of Land with Plant Food (400 My)
• -- etc.

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Concepts
DESCRIBING THE INDESCRIBABLE
Preface - Genesis 11-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and
empty, and darkness was over the face of the
deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over
the face of the waters.
22 The Lord possessed me Wisdom - dcb at the
beginning of his work, the first of his acts of
old. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first,
before the beginning of the earth. 26 before
he had made the earth with its fields, 27 When
he established the heavens, I was there when he
drew a circle on the face of the deep,
Proverbs 822-31
? What is "water" and what is the "deep"?
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Concepts
The Matter of Terms
How does Time figure in Creation? What is
"Water"?
St. Augustine, Ad. Lit. I.5.10
"We might say that by the term 'water' the
sacred writer wished to designate the whole of
material creation. In this way he would show
whence all things that we can recognize in their
proper kinds had been made and formed, calling
them water."
Water ? Appears as Fluid or liquid "stuff"
(Whatever appearance means in an indescribable
context!)
Hebrew words Related? "water" (Mayim
??????) "heavens" (Shamayim -- ?????????)
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Concepts
The Matter of Terms
What is "Water"? A more traditional (wrong?)
view
image source http//www.geocreationism.com/
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Concepts
The Matter of Time the matter of Terms
What is the Abyss or Deep? ? Symbolizes a
vast, wild, dangerous, fickle, lawless
place with no place of safety, no safe haven.
Preface - Genesis 11-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and
empty, and darkness was over the face of the
deep abyss, And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters.
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Creation Day One
First Workday Day One Task Create the
universe
The Big Bang and Cosmic Inflation
Day One - Genesis 13-5
3 And God said, "Let there be light" and there
was light. 4 And God saw that the light was
good. And God separated the light from
darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And there was evening
and morning, the first day.
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Creation Day One
First Workday Day One Task Create the
universe
The Big Bang and Cosmic Inflation
Day One - Genesis 13-5
3 And God said, "Let there be light" and there
was light. 4 And God saw that the light was
good. And God separated the light from
darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And there was evening
and morning, the first day.
Separating Light from Darkness The Cosmic
Inflation? The End of Ionization?
Sistine Chapel
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Creation Day Two
Second Workday Day Two Task Carve out a
Haven for Earth and Life
Day Two - Genesis 16-8
6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the
midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters. 7 And God made the
expanse and separated the waters that were under
the expanse from the waters that were above the
expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the
expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there
was morning, the second day.
--- Compare with Proverbs 827 "when he
drew a circle on the face of the deep,"
Hebrew Raqia ( ???????) Translations
"firmament", "Dome", "Vault" "carry baggage
that tends to predispose how we English readers
Interpret these verses, hindering our ability
to derive their meaning."
Rick Lanser, Genesis 1 and the Raqia (2009).
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The Shields protecting Life on Earth

• Ozone Shield
• Earth's Magnetic Shield
• Gravitational Deflection of Comets, Asteroids,
  etc.

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Creation Day Two
The False (retrojected) "Hebrew Cosmology"
Flammarian Woodcut (1888)
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Creation Day Two
Second Workday Day Two Task Carve out a
Haven for Earth and Life
So What is the true cosmology intended in
Genesis Day Two? ?A haven that shields Earth.
It exists at several nested havens Milky Way
Galaxy Solar System Habitable Zone around the
Sun Shields around the Earth Earth's
Atmosphere
From the viewpoint of a person on Earth,
the Atmosphere is the most immediate reference.
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The Anthropic Principle
Comment on Anthropic Principles 1903 Alfred
Russel Wallace Man's Place in the Universe. 1913
Lawrence J. Henderson The Fitness of the
Environment 1988 Barrow Tipler, Anthropic
Cosmological Principle
Brandon Carter (1973) "Although our situation is
not necessarily central, it is inevitably
privileged to some extent."
Figure from http//knol.google.com/k/the-anthropic
-principle
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Creation Day Three
Third Workday Day Three Task Create Dry
Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 19-13
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place, and let the
dry land appear. And it was so. 11 And God
said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants
yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in
which is their seed, each according to its kind,
on the earth. And it was so.
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Creation Day Three
Third Workday Day Three Task Create Dry
Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 19-13
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place, and let the
dry land appear. And it was so.
Continent Formation --Subduction
Early Earth
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Creation Day Three
Third Workday Day Three Task Create Dry
Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 19-13
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place, and let the
dry land appear. And it was so. 11 And God
said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants
yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in
which is their seed, each according to its kind,
on the earth. And it was so.
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Creation Day Four
Fourth Workday Day Four Task Organize the
Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 114-19
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the
expanse of the heavens to separate the day from
the night. And let them be for signs and for
seasons, and for days and years, 16 And God
made the two great lightsthe greater light to
rule the day and the lesser light to rule the
nightand the stars. 17 And God set them in the
expanse of the heavens.
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Creation Day Four
Fourth Workday Day Four Task Organize the
Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 114-19
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the
expanse of the heavens to separate the day from
the night. And let them be for signs and for
seasons, and for days and years
-- Clear out Cosmic debris -- Create stable
planetary Orbits
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Creation Day Four
Fourth Workday Day Four Task Organize the
Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 114-19
Newton's Puzzlement Why is the Earth's Orbit
stable? Conclusion God had to intervene
occasionally.
The most egregious mis-statement of the
Scientific Age Napoleon Does your mathematics
include the hand of God? LaPlace "I have no
need for that hypothesis."
Re. a copy of Celestial Mechanics, presented to
Napoleon in 1799.
Fact The Earth's Orbit is Chaotic. (LaPlace was
in error).
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Creation Day Four
Fourth Workday Day Four Task Organize the
Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 114-19
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the
expanse of the heavens to separate the day from
the night. And let them be for signs and for
seasons, and for days and years
gt The first systematic Science Astronomy.