Christians Should Mind Their Own Business

Is a literal interpretation of Genesis 1:6 supported by science?

Genesis 1:6. And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” (NRSV)

This is a strictly literal translation of Gen. 1:6 that is perfectly harmonious with other parts of Genesis, especially chapters 6-8 in which we read of the flood. Notice especially 7:11,

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (KJV)

7:11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (NRSV)

What were the flood gates of the sky if they were not gates (or windows, KJV) in the dome? This was the literal interpretation by Christian fundamentalists until nearly the middle of the last millennium. Indeed, these Christians dearly held to the ancient Jewish interpretation that the earth was flat and covered with a dome that separated the waters above the dome from the seas and oceans of the earth. This was seen as a biblical truth that Satan and his hosts were seeking to destroy by the liberal teaching that the earth was nearly a perfect sphere rather than a disk covered by a dome. After all, if the earth was spherical, it could not be covered with a dome and the biblical account of the flood could not be true. Today’s Christian fundamentalists argue that the NRSV was translated predominately by liberals—and so it was—but their translation of Genesis 1:6 is a very literal translation that is in perfect harmony with the understanding of the story of the flood by Christian fundamentalists until comparatively recent times.

Therefore, I ask myself, “Is the story of the flood in Gen. 6-8 an accurate account of an historic event, or is it something else? Has God chosen to teach us fundamental truths about Himself and His creation, including man, using a series of epic tales, myths, legends, or sagas? In these latter times, is God making clear details regarding Genesis 1-11 that had not been clear in earlier times? Should not Genesis 1-11—and indeed all of Scripture—be approached in an attitude of prayer and a desire to learn from our heavenly Father through the ministry of the Holy Spirit the truths that He desires for us to know and understand?”

Macroevolution is a term used by fundamentalist Christians and Muslims for the later stages in evolution which occur though the same mechanisms that bring about the early stages in evolution that Christians and Muslims call microevolution —the differences are merely quantitative rather than qualitative. Macroevolution has been observed and documented in both plants and animals.

http://atheism.about.com/od/evolutionexplained/a/ObservedEvolution.htm

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/100201_speciation

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html

In the scientific community, evolutionary biology is universally referred to as a science. Who is better qualified to tell us whether evolutionary biology is a science—one of well over 3,000,000 million scientists living today who have earned at least a Ph.D. in a field of science, or a ….

 

I have not forgotten the historical or the literary context of the flood story in Genesis, and I understand very well the use of the Hebrew word אֲרֻבָּה in the context of the flood story, and it most certainly is not used to express the concept of ‘human eyes’. Moreover, if we are going to pull out of thin air a ridiculously absurd meaning for the Hebrew word אֲרֻבָּה, should we not do the same for the Hebrew words תֵּבָה and מַבּוּל and deny that Genesis 6-8 has anything at all to do with an “ark” and a “flood”, but perhaps is really about a monkey eating bananas?

 

No one in this thread is throwing out or in any way disregarding any part or parts of the Bible. Evolution is not a religion. The Bible is NEVER wrong, but some individuals have interpreted the Bible incorrectly.

 

The theory of evolution has absolutely nothing to do with ardour or faith. Indeed, the same dictionary states,

4a : the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species) : phylogeny
b : a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations; also: the process described by this theory

 

How much faith is needed to believe hundreds of billions of incontrovertible facts about evolutionary biology and the supporting sciences in the fields of geology, paleontology, palynology, mycology, archaeology, chemistry, physics, genetics, ecology, physiology, microbiology, zoology, botany, and scores of other supporting sciences? The honest answer—none, absolutely none!

How much faith is needed to believe in the early Roman Catholic interpretation of Genesis that has crept into most of our so-called fundamentalist churches and has given rise to anti-evolution nonsense? The honest answer—none, absolutely none! Nothing is needed but a lack of education in the biblical languages, the culture of the biblical peoples, ancient Oriental literature and the cultures that it is a product of—and a ridiculous amount of unwarranted presumption!

Therefore, evolution is not a religion. Evolution is a proven process, and denying reality will not make it go away—but it might make the Christian faith appear to be the faith of intellectually challenged baboons suffering from the late stages of dementia, and thus make the Christian faith go away—as it has been, largely due to Christian “fundamentalism” making the Bible appear to be disgracefully unbelievable.

 

No, of course not! Why would anyone come to such an absurd conclusion?

What healthy person would “feel” that science is “the rule”?

 

The Roman Catholic Church used to teach that Genesis 1-11 is an accurate historical account of actual events—the very same belief that our fundamentalist churches have adopted as being “biblical truth.”

The subject of evolution was brought into our fundamentalist Baptist churches by men who believed the Roman Catholic interpretation of Genesis 1-11, saw that the theory of evolution contradicted their Roman Catholic interpretation, and began teaching against evolution.

This statement is a good illustration of what happens when Christians know almost nothing about science and even less about the Bible. Evolution is an observable and predictable process brought about through natural selection in which the characteristics of plants and animals change as they adapt to changes in their environment. Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God; or more broadly, the disbelief in the existence of deity.

What one man in Kansas believes is irrelevant to the truth—and the truth is that tens of millions of evangelical Christians believe in the theory of evolution, and their belief in the theory of evolution does not in any way weaken or lessen their faith in Christ and His redemptive work on the cross; and it does not in any way weaken or lessen their faith in His resurrection from dead.