Only if you want it to. The fact is that the book of Genesis was written 3000 years ago, when the ancients were not concerned with the time factor as much as the order in which the events occurred; so seven days could have been a millennia. After all, time is relative; but surprisingly the order presented in the Bible is pretty close to proven scientific fact. "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss” ----- Bear in mind that “God created the heavens and the earth” is simply stated, leaving the scientific explanations for the beginning of the universe open for research and interpretation. You can accept that before the big bang all the matter in the universe was contained in one small, dark, dense ball; without ruling out that some greater power put that ball there in the first place.
The creation of the universe is a subject that is given great attention in the Quran, and though written in the 7th century, it appears to be in agreement with much of the scientific knowledge of the 20th and 21st century. From this book we are told "…a day relative to your God is equivalent to a thousand years of your count." So if one day for God is 1000 years for man, then one of our years would actually be 365,000 years for God. Definitely getting closer, but still off by a few billion years.
Hinduism and Buddhism do not offer explanations, nor are they concerned with how the universe was created; only their role within it. To the Hindus, the world has no beginning and no end, but is seen as a series of repeated cycles; while Buddhists believe that the universe is made up of a series of illusive heavens; all just stepping stones on their path to Nirvana.
Each star in a galaxy consists of a massive body of gas, hot enough to maintain fusion, and can produce a spectacular release of energy and matter. For most of it’s life the inward gravitational pressure of the gas is balanced by the outward pressure of the energy. However, this fusion reaction consumes hydrogen, and eventually the stars run out of fuel; their innards collapse and a supernova is generated.
The galactic process began about ten billion years ago; then five billion years ago, a shock wave from a supernova energized the enriched gas cloud that would become our swirling solar system and the sun was ignited. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light". Astronomers who study the stars know beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe is much older than once believed. Creationists, or those who follow Genesis to the strictest interpretation, will discount the increasing discoveries and mathematical conclusions of supernovas as exaggerated or incomplete. However, they may be closing the door on teaching their religion to future generations, who will be more aware of the advancements in science; when in fact science and religion can work together to enlighten young minds.
For Islamic people, the Quran embraces scientific learning and for Jews, the Torah only seeks to find "the beginning of wisdom". If there is a God and that God created the world; then he is the source of all wisdom and therefore, instrumental in our acquiring knowledge of the sciences; including astronomy, astrology, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. If we only accept the scientific theories that fit into our own belief system, than perhaps we are refusing to accept God given wisdom.
The third phase in the creation of the universe is known as the Hadean Eon, when the earth and other planets were formed by the space debris in their orbital paths. Mathematical calculations have concluded that this event took place about four and a half billion years ago. It is believed that the Moon was created when the Earth collided with a very large object, or because it was moving so fast, it threw off a large chunk that may have been slowing it down. The jury is still out on that one, but most scientists agree that the moon was created from Earth in some sort of cosmic accident.
“Then God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear’. God called the dry land ‘earth’ and the basin of water he called the sea’. In its' initial stages, the Earth was extremely hot, but during its cooling process, gases were released into the air, creating atmosphere; moisture from the cooling process rose to form clouds, and it began to rain. The Earth solidified and it’s craters filled with water to form the oceans; though initially the entire surface was covered with water. Then a great land mass arose from the depths of this water, and eventually separated forming the continents. Earth now had land, sea and sky.
Does it really matter how long it took for a dense mass to burst, spew it’s contents and create stars, planets and galaxies? Or for our planet Earth to cool, solidify and form the oceans and continents? We need science to continue searching for answers, so that we are better equipped to ensure our continuity; but scientific research does not have to lie outside the realm of religion.
Then God said, “Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.” And so it happened: God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. God called the dome ‘”The sky’”
This brings us to the fourth phase of the creation of the universe, known as the Archean Eon, when the first signs of microbial life (bacterial cells) began to appear on the ocean floor, and the elements required in sustaining life were formed. This began about three and a half billion years ago, when the energy from sunlight broke apart the water molecules opening up an unlimited supply of hydrogen atoms (photosynthesis).
Then about 2.8 billion years ago, rust appeared as the result of too much oxygen being released during photosynthesis and consequently, an Ozone Shield was formed in the upper atmosphere. Meanwhile, the bacterial cells used the abundance of oxygen for respiration; nitrogen molecules were released from the atmosphere and attached themselves to the hydrogen atoms for fertilizer, and the chemical changes in the cells produced all the elements vital for life. Mathematically speaking: (Sunlight + H2O = Hydrogen atoms) + Nitrogen + Bacterial Cells = All elements vital for life.
Earth now had land, sea, sky and the necessary metabolism to support living things.
appeared, including jellyfish and Sponges. The Paleozoic Era includes the following stages:
- The Ordovician, 500-440 million years ago was when Laurentia, the continental core that would eventually become North America, collided with the supercontinent of Gondwanaland and the Appalachian Mountains began to rise. Gondwanaland will eventually break apart to form South America, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia. The earliest corals begin building reefs, clams begin to burrow to escape predators, and the first sea urchins evolved.
- The Silurian, 440-410 million years ago, is when jawed fishes and giant sea scorpions began to appear. Freshwater green alga and aquatic fungus merge into the first land plants and the continents grow green with low-lying mosses.
- The Devonian, 410-360 million years ago; Vascular plants like ferns and club mosses evolve that allow water to be moved upward against gravity. Plants can finally grow above the height of mosses, resulting in the release of reproductive spores into the wind for dispersal.
- The Carboniferous stage, 360-290 million years ago, was the peak of the "sea lily forests" in the oceans. Land plants from the Devonian era retained the cells of previous generations and began to rise to new heights. Trees were abundant having evolved independently as a result of competing for sunlight by overlapping their neighbors. Massive coal fields were created that released an abundance of oxygen into the air and terrestrial arthropods grew to the biggest sizes of all time. Dragonflies from the Carboniferous period had the wing span of a seagull and millipedes grew to about six feet in length. Insects evolved flight and reptiles appeared with the first eggs that can survive out of water.
First to split off from Pangea was Laurasia to the north, which later became the Laurentian Shield of North America and Eurasia. Then about 210-145 million years ago, the Jurassic period began and the Atlantic Ocean was formed, when the supercontinent of Laurasia started to also break apart. At the time Gondwanaland was still intact and was evolving a distinctive flora when wind-dispersed pollen plants could aid in reproduction without depending on water.
Then about 145-65 million years ago, the Cretaceous period began, marking a glorious increase in the complexity of life on land and in the sea. Predators abound while their prey gain evolutionary self preservation. Shells grow thicker, clams burrow deeper and scallops invent a new form of movement, enabling them to make a quick getaway.
A deluge of sulfuric acid rain blanketed the earth, and a huge cloud of dust blocked the light from the Sun for months. The impact also triggered a global firestorm that incinerated a quarter of the inhabitable living space and an enormous amount of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere, greatly increasing the average global temperature for the next million years. This meant curtains for the dinosaurs.
The Palocene is referred to as the Golden Age of Turtles, since they were the only vertebrates to survive the impact of the asteroid, because of their ability to hibernate in the mud and marked the birth of Turtle Island, the original Native name for North America. About 61 million years ago, other mammals began to appear and amazing new forms; that evolved rather quickly; gradually replaced the dinosaurs, though none grew much larger than the average dog.
The Eocene, which occurred between 57 and 34 million years ago, saw horses, camels and dogs emerge in North America and elephants, rhinos and primates appear in the Old World. A global greenhouse effect resulted in an abundance of tropical life across the Arctic, while Montana and the Dakotas were home to tropical rain forest plants like the magnolia, citrus, fig, pawpaw, and cashews. Even in the Canadian Arctic, subtropical plants and alligators thrived.
The first really large mammals evolved during this time, and whale ancestors returned to the sea. The Diatryma, or "terror crane" of North America, grew to eight feet tall, and though flightless, stalked their prey upright like the T. Rex. Then late in the Eocene period many types of large mammals disappeared, and primates, once plentiful in North America, could no longer be found on the continent. Once again, Asteroids are to blame, since two large buried craters were discovered in the 1990s beneath Chesapeake Bay in the eastern United States and in Russia, which have been dated to about 35 million years ago.
The next geological phase is the Oligocene, which took place between 34 and 23 million years ago. Paleontologists refer to this time as "The Big Chill", when global temperatures became much cooler and seasons more intense. In North America, deciduous trees thrive, familiar fruit tree families originate and squirrels are seen for the first time, co-evolving with the nut trees. Ravens arrive from Australia and toads from South America.
The next phase is the Miocene, which occurred between 23 and 5 million years ago. The Rocky Mountains rise again and a diverse mammal population can be found on land. Camels are still seen only in North America but have taken on new forms, such as the pig, gazelle and giraffe. The climate warms but is very dry, and modern grasses, including wheat, barley, rice, maize, oats, millet flourish, while mammals learn to graze.
Only a narrow sea now separates North from South America, and many species begin to make travel plans. Lizards and vultures travel north, while tortoises head south; and the first elephants, or Mastadons, along with the beavers, arrive from the Old World. The pronghorn and cheetahs actually originated in North America. Then about 5 million years, the Miocene ends with a severe drought.
Three million years ago, the Isthmus of Panama forms to join the two continents, and the Gulf Stream is created, which brings warm, moist air up from the tropics along the eastern shore of North America, and across to Europe. This prompts the 'Great American Interchange', as various life forms migrate from north to south and vice versa, meaning the end of some lineages, but the creation of others.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind”: and it was so...
