How do Christians reconcile the first few chapters of Genesis, and its' time frames with science, and its' ?

Question

I'm Christian, and not doubting God & His Word, but am just curious how others work out the dicotomy between the time frames spelled out in the Bible, vs. those that can be scientifically demonstrated, through archeology, palentology, geology, etc. How does the micro-evolution we can clearly see play into all of this?

Answer 1

In the begining God created the heavens and the earth . Personally I do not care how long it took . I know God did this and that is all I need to know.

Answer 2

Actually, the Old Testament containing Genesis isn't exactly Christianity. Instead, it's Judaism, included in the Bible primarily as historical reference point for the New Testament. There are many things wrong in the Old Testament, such as the notion of sacrificing children, which is exactly why there is a New Testament.

As explained in the New Testament, God did not entirely approve of how his wishes were being interpreted, so sent Jesus to correct the most significant misunderstandings. The New Testament contains the teachings of Jesus Christ, and those based on his teachings. In other words, the New Testament is Christianity.

Some things from the Old Testament have been adopted by Christians, such as those things truly believed to be the Word of God (such as the Ten Commandments). Indeed, most of those have been re-emphasized in the New Testament. However, beyond that, it is entirely reasonable to doubt all else in the Old Testament.

Answer 3

Well the first 2 chapters of Genesis are often said to contradict each other, but this just isn't the case. Chapter 1 tells the entire story in the order it happened, Cenesis 2:4-6 gives a quick summary of the first five days of creation, Genesis 2:7-25 is describing only the events that took place on day six in the Garden of Eden.

Answer 4

I tend to think we cannot comprehend the exact frame of God's time. The Bible does say that a day is as a thousand. We cannot know. It's possible that even that was just an example of how God calculates time. As Christians, we can have faith that every word of the Bible is true but truth is not clearly defined for us. It's sort of like you and I observe the same situation and both later describe that same situation differently... It's not that either of us is exactly correct, but that we both had different perspectives. I'm sorry there is no absolute to this question, but I do believe that we can be sure our calculation or understanding of time is not God's perspective. His would be the correct perspective, of course.

Answer 5

I think that we look at things in the only way we know how - what we consider a day to man - is not a day to God. We live with beginnings and ends - with God there isn't a beginning and an ending - it is eternity. What could have taken thousands of years in our small minds - is but what we could call a mere second for God. When man fell in the Garden of Eden - God immediately had a plan for the salvation of man kind. We say it took thousands of years after the fall for the savior to come - but to God - was it just a mere second? Our lives are a vapor - a blink of the eye - compared to the eternity of God. So if one says when "the world was created over millions of years" - I say well maybe millions of years for us - but only six days for God!

Answer 6

Some Christians do reconcile Genesis with Science. One popular doctrine is "The Gap Theory," namely, that the six days of creation were not consecutive days, and thousands of years may have elapsed in between.

But the Gap Theory presents other problems with the text that it seeks to reconcile.

But more importantly, who says science is correct? Perhaps they should not be reconciled at all since science is based on man's logic and the Bible is based on God's.

Check out Biblical Archeology Review magazine.
Science is proving more and more of the Bible all the time.
(Oh, and carbon dating is based upon an unprovable hypothesis.)

Answer 7

Probably not many Christians of today consider the time frames in Genesis as a chronology to be taken literally. They regard it as a folk history, largely poetic, pieced together from various ancient sources and using concepts reflecting the understanding of the times in which it was written.

Answer 8

Scientifically proved ...how? When? where? By whom? By what methods? I'm sorry, but you've been misled.

The chapers in Genesis have never ever been proven inaccurate by anyone or by any science for that matter.

If you're a Christian, then you can rest assured that what the bible says is the truth. Believe in God and not man and you'll do well.

Answer 9

I am a Christian, but I do not believe that the Bible is the scientifically accurate, infallable word of God. Rather, I believe that the Bible consists of Poems, Wisdom, Parables, History, Law, and many other things. (Spiritual TRUTH is not found in a book, but in one's personal relationship with God through prayer and meditation over a lifetime)

In the case of Genesis, I believe that many of the stories - such as the story of creation and the Garden of Eden - were handed down from generation to generation in verbal form for thousands of years before written language developed. When written language developed the Jewish people became quite the historians and started writing everything down. But - I do believe much was lost in the thousand(s) of years before written language.

Answer 10

There is no factual basis for the time frames in evolution theory.....simply circular logic....the geologic strata tells the ages of the fossils and the fossils tell the age of the strata.

Real dumb huh? Self deception is the hardest thing to unteach.