One of the most basic objections by creationists to evolution seems to be: why would God need to take the time to evolve things over time, when he could have simply created them "already evolved" at the start?
I would respond with a question: Why would God take 6 days to create the universe, if he could have done it all in just 1?
This is not a joke, and is not meant to be disrespectful of Christians. It is an honest question. Why do you see no problem with God taking longer than he needs to to "pop" everything into existence, but then turn around and see a giant problem with God taking longer than he needs to to form life from other life (i.e., to evolve it) gradually? If the 6-days account is not problematic, then why on Earth would the 13-billion-year account be? Surely either length of time is equally unnecessary for an omnipotent Creator.
2007-03-08 08:44:07 · 7 answers · asked by Rob Diamond 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Jonah-nine, a cook takes time to bake a cake because he's not omnipotent. If cooks were omnipotent, they'd just "poof" cakes into being, wouldn't they? So your answer doesn't solve anything.
The issue stands: if God needs or wants to create things over the course of time, rather than instantaneously, then why is the billion-year scientific account any less compatible with God than the 6-day Genesis account? Who are you to tell God that it's OK to spend a week creating, but any longer than that is out of the question? Who are you to tell God that "poofing" creatures out of thin air is OK, but evolving them from each other is not?
2007-03-08 08:53:37 · update #1
Simple answer smoke breaks
2007-03-08 08:48:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
As an agnostic (fence-sitter??) who was raised in a liberal Protestant church, before I became a unbeliever I had no personal problem with the concept that God created via the Big Bang through an evolutionary process. I never did interpret the Bible literally. As to your question, certainly if God/god is omnipotent, he could zap the cosmos into being in a flash; there is no particular reason that he would require six days nor need to rest thereafter. This is the major problem which I have with religious fundamentalism that considers God to be indeed omnipotent, yet puts constraints upon him in regard to what he is able to accomplish and what control he may exert over his creation -- in the guise of "free will" granted to his subjects to decide whether or not to follow his decrees. What sort of deity would create beings of mediocre intelligence (in comparison to himself who possesses the knowledge and ability to incite a universe!), then toy with them, inflicting their lives with misery and disease, yet expect them to worship him and pay obeisance to him? I maintain there is no LOGICAL explanation...
2007-03-09 08:45:18 · answer #2 · answered by Lynci 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What is time to God?
Some say that 1 day = 1,000 years.
However, scientifically, if you're the Alpha & Omega (beginning & end) then you're at the Big Bang to the end of the Universe (sucked into a black hole). Scientists also 'cop' out with 'infinity ‘in matters of size. Things get smaller infinity, and things get bigger infinity. If God's the begging & end, well, he's everywhere.
Einstein has the E=MC (squared); meaning nothing can travel faster than light right? Well, scientists have just measured the point of our solar systems matter (sun, planets, moons, comets) and have determined that our matter traveled from the point of origin (Big Bang) in a matter of seconds ... blowing Einstein’s E=MC(squared) outta the water. This is called the "Period of Inflation" for the Universe.
So, time is a measurement of units. What is God basing his unit off of if he is the Alpha & Omega?
2007-03-08 08:55:43 · answer #3 · answered by Giggly Giraffe 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Good point.
God is certainly powerful enough do have created everything at an instant; and just because He didn't doesn't mean He can't. Just like you have the power to drive your car over 100mph but choose to keep it at 60mph.
The answer is found in the fourth commandment "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.......for in six days the Lord made the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,..." This is a pattern established for us; to work six days and cease working on the seventh.
Good question. Keep thinking and keep asking, that's what God wants us to do.
2007-03-08 08:59:01 · answer #4 · answered by MythBuster 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The key word is "creator". To create something takes a process of time otherwise it's just magic. God took time to create the universe. Maybe He even started over a few times. Have you ever watched an artist create a masterpiece?
2007-03-08 08:51:31 · answer #5 · answered by lawnmoweromomma 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
clearly you are no cook
ever baked a cake?
can your science gods do it in a moment?
god can say be ,can you?
just let it be
how long does it take to sing a song?
how long would you take to think
can you ask all your questions right now?
2007-03-08 08:50:21 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
great question! my answer is that 6 days is symbolic so they could use sunday (perhaps a pagan holiday?) as a day of worship
2007-03-08 08:48:35 · answer #7 · answered by Departed 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋