Tim Pennings: Straight talk about Genesis
How fascinating that an ancient book so influences present-day thoughts and issues. I’m speaking of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
My first teacher of Genesis was my Western Theological Seminary-educated father. He explained that the first eleven chapters are “pre-history” — a different type of literature than that which follows with the story of Abraham and his descendants. These chapters contain the stories of Creation, the Fall, the Tower of Babel, the Flood, and 969-year-old Methuselah. (Biblical Riddle: How is it that the man who lived to be the oldest died before his father?)
These chapters address deep-searching questions one might ponder at night around a campfire: Where did the world come from? Why do people get married? Why do we wear clothes? Why do people hurt each other? Why do people die? Why do other peoples speak different languages? Why do I work so hard pulling weeds?
How are these chapters, in particular the story of creation, to be read and understood? Augustine (not a lightweight, theologically speaking) did not have the benefit of modern astronomical knowledge, but by studying the scripture itself realized that it was not intended to be understood literally or chronologically. He noted, for example, the untenable chronology of light on the first day, but no sun or stars until the fourth day.
In fact, Augustine scolded the believers of his day for reading Genesis literally. He pointed out that everyone knows about the natural world via their own experience and reason. So when Christians made claims about the earth that were clearly wrong, how could they then expect to be taken seriously when bearing witness on spiritual matters?
With modern instruments and telescopes, our knowledge of the earth and heavens has increased dramatically since Augustine’s day. Evidence from myriad sources — radioactive dating, plate tectonics (the slow movement of continents giving rise to mountain ranges), background radiation from the big bang, positions and movements of stars and galaxies — all points to billions of years of existence, not 6,000 years as claimed by those who take Genesis literally. The new Webb telescope is peering back into history a staggering 13.5 billion years to the very beginning of the universe. Boggles the mind!
The ratio between a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth and a 6,000-year-old Earth is the same as walking through a forest of 300-year-old trees at noon and thinking they had been planted at 8:30 a.m. Thus those who believe in a young earth are missing the full grandeur of creation.
Indeed, they are robbing themselves of living in truth that sets us free from living in ignorance. Recently someone explained the apparent age of the earth to me by suggesting that God made the universe with the appearance of age. It looks old — like a pair of stone washed jeans — even though it is young. This worn-out explanation reduces God to a deceiving trickster. What a stark contrast: Scientists giddy with excitement as unexpected discoveries reveal new truth versus those who oversimplify the truths of scripture and reject the truths of nature because of their sincere but misguided aspiration to honor God.
Since, as Augustine noted, the purpose of the first chapter is not to give the chronological details of creation, what then is its essential message? The author makes it clear through the six-fold repetition, “And God saw that it was good” punctuated the seventh time, “And God saw all that he had made, and it was VERY good.”
This deific pat on the back is striking because it contrasts with a loving God’s compassionate admission in the second chapter, “It is NOT GOOD for the human to be alone.”
The wisdom literature confirms this conviction. Ecclesiastes 4: Two are better than one. Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. One may be overpowered. How can one keep warm alone?
God remedied the aloneness with a companion for Adam — a helper for life.
Then came the fall. As with Icarus, humans sought to fly too high, to know more than was intended and instructed, causing a cascade of calamity. Post-fall, what now is God’s plan for human companionship?
We muddle through this fallen world redeeming what we can and waiting for the full redemption. While the biblical case concerning who can marry continues to be studied and debated, God’s compassionate proclamation, “It is not good to be alone” from this ancient book is a beacon of hope.
— Community Columnist Tim Pennings is a resident of Holland and can be contacted at timothy.pennings@gmail.com. Previous columns can be found at timothypennings.blogspot.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Tim Pennings: Straight talk about Genesis
