why not one day?

[kittynh]

I'm reading about how yet another religion has decided to stick with the 7 day creation story, and I'm thinking, "why not one day?"

I'm a Xian, and being one I do have a belief in an all powerful God that just doesn't use it very often...to me, one day seems possible. Or at least one day he dropped a test tube and set everything in motion. To me this was one day WAY WAY WAY WAY long ago.... not 7,000 years.

I said to my one fundie friend, "why 7 days, why did He have to rest?" I think it was written like that just to make God seem more "human", or to put things in a logical order.

she really didn't have an answer. My conclusion was that I believe in a far more powerful God than she does.

[MLynn]

Sometimes I wonder about that too - a nanosecond to create everything - why 6 days and a day of rest. A day of rest?

I'm not well versed in science at all, but find it very interesting, and Hubby who is brilliant tells me things I can't even fathom (he's very patient :) ).

[pupdog]

"why 7 days, why did He have to rest?"

Because being God, like being President, is so haaard.

[kittynh]

I grew up in a church that pointed out the 7 day schedule made sense. Just NOT 7 DAYS. You know, heaven and earth, sort of a whole Darwinian schedule (monkeys first, humans next....). I mean, monkeys and humans didn't come at the same exact moment. And that was the point of the 7 days thing, sort of a 7 steps (more like a billion billion steps....)

I was like, "yeah, Darwin for people that lacked much science..."

[T'ai Chi]

What I never understood is why does creation have to be a one-time event? Isn't creation still taking place? If I believed in a god I think I'd believe that god is still creating.

[c4ts]

God created you and every one of your memories five seconds ago! Your sense of pattern recognition proves it!

[kittynh]

Yeah.... I remember a theory that the universe is contantly imploding and exploding...it's just a circle of destruction and creation....cool!!!!

I also remember a biology prof telling me that we were all going to lose our little toes as part of evolution. (well, humans eventually....)

[pupdog]

Isn't creation still taking place?
But this wouldn't sit well with the Biblical literalists; after all, the whole basis for their notion of the origin of species is what the Bible says. Any other notions are heresy.

But to address the quote: what is the evidence for ongoing creation?

[c4ts]

Originally posted by kittynh

I also remember a biology prof telling me that we were all going to lose our little toes as part of evolution. (well, humans eventually....)

Why, does missing our little toes increase our chances of survival? Are four toes on each foot attractive to the opposite sex?

[lifegazer]

If you want answers do some research on biblical numerology and biblical symbolism as a whole.

[evildave]

Obviously a day is too long for something as important as life to come to being, but a week is just right.

It's a little hazy to me how a 'day' is measured by that biblical reckoning, anyway.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was [1] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

Sounds sort of like the bible's saying day and night are just big seperated bright/dark things. Anyway, there's no accounting for how long it took to make the heavens and earth before he sorted out what water and air would do. You'd think he'd have worked that out with gravity and whatnot before these day/night cycles.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day.
9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

[Eleatic Stranger]

Why, does missing our little toes increase our chances of survival? Are four toes on each foot attractive to the opposite sex?

I'll hazard a guess and say it's because we don't really use toes for much any more and that as purely vestigial organs they're a waste of biomass that might go to something more useful if we didn't have them. However, I'm not entirely sure there's any pressure being put on efficient use of biomass for people at the moment, or at least the current obesity epidemic seems to indicate otherwise.

Were we in a situation, generally considered, in which food was really scarce that might make sense, though.

[Kilted_Canuck]

'Natural' evolution has pretty much stopped as far as organs go. Sure you might get the odd person with a genetic mutation dropping one toe off, but will that person be then named "Sexiest Man/Woman Alive" and then go off and procreate with many, many partners, enough to cause a big enough population that will go out and spread the mutation throughout human society?

I doubt it.

So no, we're pretty much at the end of the line for our evolution in the short term at least.

[epepke]

Originally posted by kittynh
I'm reading about how yet another religion has decided to stick with the 7 day creation story, and I'm thinking, "why not one day?"

The Union would never allow it.

(I'm not entirely joking. The first creation story in Genesis bears a striking resemblance to a portion of an older Mesopotamian creation story and appears to have been added about the same time that Ezekiel was added. Of course, it omits the part of the Mesopotamian legend where all the other gods go up to Yah and say, "You did what? Are you nuts or something?" This part was, however, noticed by many Gnostics.)

As for using Genesis 1 as a metaphor for the development of the universe, it's not too bad, though it's a bit like prophesy and can be made to fit just about anything. It doesn't work too well in particulars, such as when it has plants being created before stars, the Sun, and the Moon (so much for photosynthesis). Also, ferns and dinosaurs appeared before any flowering plant, including tree bearing fruit, grass, and herb yielding seed. This just didn't happen before near the end of the dinosaurs.

The second creation story in Genesis is even better for interpreting. Breathing life into clay=evolution from pre-existing species. Knowledge of good and evil=neocortical function. Not death, but the awareness of personal death is generall thought of as a neocortical function, as is the ability to feel shame at being naked. Casting out from the Garden of Eden=cultural change in going from hunter-gatherer to agriculture. Pain in childbirth is mostly due to the size of the human cranium. Snakes did evolve from legged reptiles. Of course, the dates are all wrong.

But this is a bit of a parlor game, isn't it? Postmodernism, if nothing else, has shown that it's generally possible to read any interpretation into any text, and people have been doing it for a long time.

[Zep]

Originally posted by lifegazer
If you want answers do some research on biblical numerology and biblical symbolism as a whole. My Bible has 325 pages. That is symbolic of...what, pray tell??

[Eleatic Stranger]

It clearly demonstrates that the world will end in 1325 AD.

[KingMerv00]

Originally posted by Eleatic Stranger
It clearly demonstrates that the world will end in 1325 AD.

Don't say that. Someone will come in here with "evidence" that the calender is wrong and today's date is December 5, 1324.

[Zep]

That doesn't add up...