PART TEN: THE ASSUMPTIONS OF SCIENTISM The word science is from the Latin _scientia,_ which means knowledge; the Greek equivalent is _episteme,_ hence epistemology, the study of the ways of knowing, of the criteria of truth. I have already made it clear in this text that I have only profound respect... [ Continue Reading ]
PART FIVE: THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNINGS Genesis 1:1 _In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth_. 1. What is the relation of this verse to the Creation Narrative as a whole? (1) It could refer to the creation of first matter, the first form or forms of what we call physical energy ... [ Continue Reading ]
Day One: Energy-Matter, Motion, Light (Genesis 1:2-5) _And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters_. 1. The writer singles out the earth for special emphasis. This is consistent, of course, in that it points u... [ Continue Reading ]
PART SIX: THE FIRST FOUR DAYS OF THE COSMIC WEEK OF BEGINNINGS Genesis 1:2-19 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The verb _bara,_ translated create, writes Skinner (ICC, 15) is used exclusively in Scripture of Divine activity, a restriction to which perhaps no parallel can be f... [ Continue Reading ]
Day Two: The Atmosphere (Genesis 1:6-8) _And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.... [ Continue Reading ]
Day Three; Lands and Seas, Plant Life (Genesis 1:9-13) _And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and. it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Day Four: Chronology (Genesis 1:14-19) _And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was s... [ Continue Reading ]
Day Five: the Water and Air Species (Genesis 1:20-23) _And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed,... [ Continue Reading ]
PART SEVEN: THE LAST THREE DAYS OF THE COSMIC WEEK OF BEGINNINGS Genesis 1:20-31 The heart of the Genesis Cosmogony is that all things have been brought into existence by the Supreme Creative Will, acting either directly (primary causation) or through the agency of forces and materials of His own c... [ Continue Reading ]
Day Six: Land Animals, Man, Naming of the Animal Tribes, Woman (Genesis 1:24-31) _And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, a... [ Continue Reading ]