Great Lessons - The Beginning
And God said ...
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.
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.And God called the firmament Heaven.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven 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 was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the 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 the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Through my studies, I found that there are more than two theories of creation. In simple terms, we have a continuum, which on one side, offers Intelligent Design (which includes all creation stories), and on the other side, offers Random Order from Chaos.
The bottom line, from what I've heard creationists debate, is the belief that evolution assumes death and change before the fall of man. If you are a creationist, this situation just can't happen philosophically. If one is to accept that God offers us grace from death and sin, scientific debates about what came first, etc. are non sequitur. Consequently, one has a difficult time finding critical scientific debates about evolution because the spiritual one precedes the scientific concerns, as far as most Christians are concerned.
I enjoy reading all sides of the debate (there are more than two points of view, even in the Christian world), in order to gain more critical knowledge of how man was created and how the earth was created by God. Of course, if we know that time is an illusion, then we know everything is still being created as we go along ... although being is not the right word to use, since everything just IS ... especially to God, who is omnipotent.
I taught my two older children, who are in college, that humans will think of a million "theories" for everything, but the Word of God is inerrant, even the parts we don't understand. And if we don't understand it, we can't pretend to know exactly what happened at the beginning of time. It is a mystery.
So the whole evolution/creation cycle is a great way to teach about theories versus fact as they get older, and helps them learn to think critically. There are many other theories out there, and many different beliefs. It is important for the students, as young scientists, to know that people believe differently than them, and as they grow older, they must learn to defend what they believe, from a logical and intelligent standpoint, no matter what side of the evolution/creation debate they are on.
My youngest son, still being homeschooled, wants to be a scientist, so I feel like I need to equip him so that he is able to communicate with others. While I teach him from a Christian perspective, I teach him all viewpoints, using original materials, including other spiritual creations of the world.
In addition, as a science teacher, I want to teach my students about these other theories so that they are equipped to answer questions and defend their position, particularly if they are going into scientific fields. That is not easy to do if they don't know what others believe, or why.
We are not focusing on the details of these theories in class, merely discussing the fact that many people disagree on how the heavens and the earth were formed, even Christians, and the fact there are many theories of creation, and many myths of creation throughout the cultures of the world (an interesting anthropological study). In fact, in my astronomy class, we discuss the constellations and the many stories that go along with those constellations, including Biblical ones.
I am providing this information to you parents, so that you may continue the dialogue at home, where I think this discussion should ultimately take place, particularly as your children grow older. The following descriptions are mainly derived from those at Wikipedia and the Religious Tolerance site:
Young Earth creationism is the belief that the Earth was created by God within the last 10,000 years, literally as described in Genesis, within the approximate timeframe of biblical genealogies (detailed for example in the Ussher chronology). Young Earth creationists often believe that the Universe has a similar age as the Earth. Creationist cosmologies are attempts by some creationist thinkers to give the universe an age consistent with the Ussher chronology and other Young-Earth timeframes. This belief generally has a basis in a literal and inerrant interpretation of the Bible.
Dr. Walt Brown
at the Center for Scientific Creation takes a scientific look. I have heard Dr. Ron Carlson at Christian Ministries International offer some very scientific criticisms
that are interesting. Additionally, Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis provides insight into creationism that is, at times, very humorous.
Old Earth creationism holds that the physical universe was created by God, but that the creation event of Genesis is not to be taken strictly literally. This group generally believes that the age of the Universe and the age of the Earth are as described by astronomers and geologists, but that details of the evolutionary theory are questionable. Old Earth creationists interpret the creation accounts of Genesis in a number of ways, that each differ from the six consecutive 24-hour day creation of the literalist Young Earth Creationist view.
Neo-Creationism currently exists in the form of the intelligent design movement. People in this group intentionally distance themselves from other forms of creationism, preferring to be known as wholly separate from creationism as a philosophy. Their goal is to restate creationism in terms more likely to be well received by the public, education policy makers and the scientific community. Their goal is to reorient the debate over the origins of life in non-religious terms and without appeals to scripture, in order to bring this issue before the public. Neo-creationists may be either Young Earth or Old Earth Creationists, and hold a range of underlying theological viewpoints.
Theistic evolution, also known as evolutionary creationism, is the general view that, instead of faith being in opposition to biological evolution, some or all classical religious teachings about God and creation are compatible with some or all of modern scientific theory, including specifically evolution. It generally views evolution as a tool used by God, who is both the first cause and immanent sustainer/upholder of the universe. This view is therefore well accepted by people of strong theistic convictions.
Theistic evolution can synthesize with the day-age interpretation of the Genesis creation account. Most adherents, however, believe the first chapters of Genesis should not be interpreted as a literal description, but rather as a literary framework or allegory. Theistic evolutionists have frequently been prominent in opposing creationism (including intelligent design). Theistic evolutionists have also been active in Citizens Alliances for Science, opposing the introduction of creationism into public school science classes.
Naturalistic evolution is the position of acceptance of biological evolution and of metaphysical naturalism (and thus rejection of theism and theistic evolution). This is the stand that most public school science programs take today. It is not that they reject the possibility of intelligent design, but that they ignore it because of the notion of separation between church and state.
Here are a few links providing more information on the various theories:
Dr. Dino
Creation-Evolution Controversy
Creationism vs Evolutionism
10 Dangers of Theistic Evolution
Old/New Earth Comparison
Origins - Theistic Evolution
Ancient Date
You can see some of the books I use in the carousel to the right. Take a peek!
