“In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
This, the first verse of the Bible, answers some questions
for me, but leaves others unaddressed.
It states that the universe is not eternal, that it did have a
beginning, and that that beginning occurred when God created it. It implies that God existed before the
universe came into being (how else could he create it?). It also implies that He is not made out of
the same “stuff” that the universe is made of.
God can be said to be transcendent, that is separate from and outside of
this universe, just like my artist daughter-in-law is separate from and outside
of her print art*.
This verse does not tell me, however, how he made the
universe or how He made living things. Let’s
start with living things. As a polymer
chemist I do not feel qualified to speak in depth about the “how He made living
things” question. There is, however,
mounting evidence from the fields of biology and geology that God used a
process that occurred over some period of time.
Evolution used to be a four letter word for me, but why should it
be? Later in Genesis chapter one God
commands the earth to bring forth plant life, and then to bring forth living
creatures. Interesting! He commanded the earth itself to bring forth
life. He spoke life-giving power into
nature. Does it matter how long in days
as I count them – or He counts them - that it took for this to be accomplished? If I were God I would have taken my time at
it, and I would have enjoyed the creating process. Why call forth just a few animal species? Variety is the spice of creation. Why not make some really interesting ones
like the platypus, the hammer head shark, the ant eater, the wood pecker, and
thousands of other beautiful, strange and unique creatures? I think of God as being happy and full of
life – as having really enjoyed the whole process of creating life.
Genesis also does not tell us how or when God created the
universe. The “when” question can be
determined with some certainty.
Astronomers have observed that the universe is expanding, and they have measured
how fast it is expanding. Calculations
based on the speed with which galaxies are moving and the present size of the
universe indicate that there was a big bang over ten billion years ago - when
this expansion started. We have some “atomic
clocks” here on earth that can help us to calculate the age of certain specific
rock formations. This data then helps us
estimate the age of our earth. Uranium
has a half life of about 4.5 billion years.
Deposits of uranium minerals in the earth’s crust decay in a predictable
way, with half of the uranium decaying to form lead and other daughter elements
each 4.5 billion years. So, by measuring
the relative amounts of uranium, lead, and other elements remaining in the
deposits, we can calculate the age of the deposits. Uranium ore deposits in South Africa have
been determined to be 1.7 billion years old.
Atomic clocks don’t lie. They are
not affected by heat or their environment.
Assumptions do have to be made in doing this kind of dating. We assume that what are taken to be decay
elements like lead, have not moved into or out of the deposit, but the
assumptions are reasonable, and the data is compelling.
We have nothing to fear from data – all data that good
science provides. It is what it is. Sound data provides accurate information
about our world. If reliable dating of
uranium deposits indicates that the earth is about five billion years old, then
God made the earth five billion years ago.
I am comfortable with good data.
*See my previous entries, “The Artist” and “More on the Artist”.
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