User Tools

Site Tools


jn_en_2013_08_12

2013_08_12_t1.jpg

2013_08_12_t2.jpg

2013_08_12_t3.jpg

Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection v

Creation - Day Five ...

Monday, Aug 12, 2013. We are reading the creation story, as it is recorded in the first biblical book “Genesis” (1st book of Moses). After the creation of 1) light and darkness /day and night, 2) heaven and earth, 3) ocean and land, plant and trees, and 4) lights seen from the earth surface, we now come to the “fifth” creation day. We read:

2013_08_12.jpg

The fifth day …

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds [flying things] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. (Gen 1, 20-23)

God created living creatures - this is described here. He started in the water. And then the birds are described, which fly in the sky. Every creature is created “according to its kind”.

2013_08_12_2.jpg

I have just been re-reading about what my fellow scientists have written about the creation of the animals in the oceans and about the evolution of birds. Among scientists it seems consense currently, that life started in the oceans - which would be perfectly in line with the above text.

A first evolutionary account? …

With the creation of the birds this is more difficult, in particular we are lacking a coherent scientific theory. Some theories see the development of birds coming from fast moving animals, as a next evolution step. Others see them coming from animals which lived on trees, as a tool to get down quickly when raptors chase them. Modern techniques have the potential to tell us much more about the development lines …

Today, we investigate the evolution of life with tools from evolution biology and from genetics. The basic idea is that we search for structural dependencies of animals. Similarities in simple basic structures point to joint ancestors, where modern species have evolved from these by adding more complex structures. Genetics studies the joint genetical structures in cells of various type.

The biblical creation story has some elements or our modern way to think. It presents the creation from simple basic structures to more complex ones - starting with the physics of our universe, to the earth, land and ocean, to plants and trees, fish and animals and - as we will see soon - humans. Often, it is said that the first evolutionary thinking comes from the early Greek philosophers. But looking into the biblical stories, they have been telling long before how God evolved life - though without reasoning about the exact mechanisms.

But of course, the biblical story is much more than just a description of the evolution of life. It also relates life to the Lord, to the creator. It relates our environment and every individual to the God which is behind and around and in everything, with creation being an expression of his creativity and activity. Here, I would like to express my astonishment which I feel again and again, how modern these texts are, which are coming from a time more than 2000 years ago (recall that Moses lived 1300BC and King David lived 1000BC)! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts

jn_en_2013_08_12.txt · Last modified: 2017/06/18 16:48 by 127.0.0.1