The 7 Days "Yay!"s of Creation
Phil Miglioratti @ The Reimagine.Network
#ItSeemsToMe… Evangelical conversations, whether for discipleship or in evangelistic settings, have over emphasized the importance of the exact length of each “day" in Genesis 1 rather than extolling the awesome acts and transforming truths of the Creation story.
I understand and concur with the desire to protect the integrity of the text (though sometimes our undiscerned motive is actually protecting our well-intended interpretation of the text). Biblical accuracy is vital to biblical authority.
My consternation is with the focus on one word, that IMHO, diminishes the significance of the complete actions and intentions of the Creator. The importance of whether “day” is used literally (24 earth hours) or has a literary function (a period of time; a step in a process), must not push the glorious truths of this narrative to the sidelines. The "days" of Creation, regardless of length, indicate a process proceeding from a plan; the Creator is an intelligent designer with a life-inspiring-affirming-transforming message. The human author of Genesis 1 (in partnership with the Holy Spirit, if our understanding of the Bible as God's Word is correct) is not teaching science to a post-Darwin audience but writing a sublime ontological account of how life began. And what it means to everyone who reads/hears this astonishing, breathtaking, story!
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”Formless and void" (1:2) presents a mystery to either interpretation , requiring conjecture.
And describing "day" as something other than 24 earth hours is not an automatic acceptance of macroevolution.
Whatever you teach on "days," do not forget to praise the Yay!s of God's glorious creation , amazing grace , and the "good" sky and land God made for us.
The 7 "Yay!" s of Creation
Yay! #1
In the beginning God created the sky and the earth from nothing (Genesis 1:1)
Yay! #2
The Spirit of God hovered over our planet to give it form and prepare it to sustain life (1:2)
Yay! #3
“Then God said…” ~ God designed a world with light, space, water, seasons, vegetation, fish, animals, and human beings. A work that extols the artistic (more than scientific) beauty and wonder (1:3-25)
Yay! #4
“God saw that it was good…” ~ everything God made was magnificent in purpose and function (1:26)
Yay! #5
Human beings were uniquely created in God’s image (1:27)
Yay! #6
God blessed the man and the woman with a wonderful place to live , food to sustain life, and authorized them to steward God’s creation and to multiply . (1:2 8-30 )
Yay! #7
" God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! " (1:-31)
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Lord God, we are so grateful for Your creative power and that You sustain all creation by the power of Your command.
When I feel overwhelmed, I find comfort in the words: God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
You speak, and it happens.
Thank You that Your Spirit still hovers over Your creation.
Thank You that all You have done is very good, that every good gift comes from above, the Father of lights.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the world, amen.
Heb 1:2, 3 NLT And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son He created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command.
Col 1:15-17 BSB The Supremacy of the Son The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
James 1:17 ESV Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." [2 Peter 3:8 ESV]
This also means that, with the Lord one day is as two billion years. So, Evanlogically 7 x 2,000,000,000 years = 14,000,000,000 years.
SCIENTISTS ARE IN FULL AGREEMENT WITH THE BIBLE!
And, what if there is macroevolution. If it does exist, certainly God created it! If God created macroevolution, who are we to tell Him He cannot use it!!!!!!
What does this mean? It means that if we keep teaching the Bible as a myth, the Bible will be taken as a myth!!!!!!!!!!!!