8 - Genesis 1 and Science Reconciled - Part 2

Date: 10/4/2024

Thread: 1 - Ancient Civilizations

Sub-thread: 1 - Old Testament

Sub-sub-thread: 7 - Genesis

In the last episode we deconstructed the first two verses of Genesis 1 which left us with a picture of what was probably a group of humans several thousand years ago in western Mesopotamia after a major, but local, environmental catastrophe that left the region desolate and barren and this group was observing an object hovering above a body of water. We now continue with verse 3.

Verse 3: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Historically, when biblical writers have written, and when priests, ministers, and pastors have preached about this verse and several other verses in this chapter with the same structure, they have always converted them into a sentence beginning with “And God created...”. I cannot fathom why they would do this, because these verses, along with others that are similarly structured in Genesis 1, simply do not state, “And God created...”. The structure of these verses is far more complex so we need to deconstruct this verse to clearly understand what it conveys.

First off, once again, the Hebrew word for “God” is Elohim, not some omniscient, omnipotent deity. The Elohim are men, like us, but far more advanced than the people of several thousand years ago.

The first phrase is “And God (the Elohim) said,” so we are immediately informed of who is speaking. The Elohim, from the ruach hovering above the waters, are speaking to the humans on the ground!

There are, in fact, three “agencies” distinct from, and above humans depicted in this verse, with the Elohim being the first. The Elohim, who are speaking from the ruach hovering above the waters to the people in this desolate and mostly uninhabited land, begin to provide the people with important information about the universe in which they exist.

The next phrase “Let there be light” is quite astonishing in the contrast between the simplicity of the statement and the breadth of its underlying meaning. The word “Let” implies and requires two agencies: one who does the letting and another who is tasked with carrying out the action.

The word “let” has several common meanings, of which three are relevant to this context. They are: to allow or permit, as in “Let him enter the room”; to allow time or space, as in “Let the paint dry before touching it”; and to make possible, as in “Let the games begin.” These are all imperative statements requiring two agencies. These are, in effect, commands to do something.

So, who or what are these two agencies? The text does not specify this, which is very interesting because it implies that the Elohim either do not know or are unwilling or unable to convey the meaning of these agencies to the humans receiving the information. When we compare this with our scientific understanding, we find that astrophysicists also do not know who or what was acting behind and prior to the initial singularity of the “Big Bang.” In this respect, both the Abrahamic religions and scientific perspectives are in total agreement.

Our best scientific understanding of the propagation of light, according to astrophysicists, is that the initial photon production and the formation of what is known as the “quark-gluon plasma”—an opaque cloud—occurred very early in the first second of the Big Bang. This was followed, approximately 380,000 years later, after the cloud had cooled somewhat, by the formation of hydrogen atoms, which caused the cloud to become transparent and allowed light, as we experience it, to exist. Trying to explain this to humans several thousand years ago would not have gone well; therefore, it was conveyed to them using simple concepts.

Verse 4: God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

God, the Elohim, said to the people that they saw the light as a good thing and contrasted it with darkness to emphasize that being in the light is preferable to being in the dark or without light, and that we should appreciate having light.

Verse 5: God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

That the Elohim (God) had to name the light “day” and the darkness “night” indicates that this information was conveyed to people at a very early period in human development. The humans apparently had a rudimentary language that allowed the Elohim to communicate with them; however, there were still no words for such simple concepts as day and night. This implies that the events recorded in Genesis 1 occurred long before the first ancient culture of Sumer, when humans were hunter-gatherers.

The verse ends in Hebrew with two words translated as: “day” and “one” (or “first”). Biblical scholars have always interpreted this to mean that the light of the universe was somehow created on the first day of planet Earth. Scientifically speaking, this interpretation has no meaning whatsoever and represents a set of events that cannot occur concurrently.

A rational understanding of this verse is that, on the first day, the Elohim spoke to the people about some agency commanding light to come into existence. This scenario resembles the relationship between a professor and his students where the students (ancient humans in this case) have confused the professor (the Elohim) with what the professor is professing or teaching. In the context of Genesis 1, the Elohim are teachers.

Verses 6-8: And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.

So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.

God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

The key word in these verses is “vault,” which is “raqia” in Hebrew. In verses 6 and 7, a distinction is made between the waters above and below the vault. “Raqia” has several other possible translations, including firmament, expanse, sky, visible heavens, canopy, and dome. In verse 8 the Elohim call the vault "sky"

What concept could the Elohim be trying to convey to ancient humans? The simplest one might be that there is water in the sky, or in the atmosphere by our understanding today, and that this water is “separated” from the water found on the surface in ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

The challenge in conveying this concept is that one cannot actually see the water in the sky or heavens. While ancient humans may have grasped the idea of water turning into ice and vice versa, and understood that rain fell from the sky, the concept of evaporation was probably difficult to express. Thus, ancient humans experienced rain falling from the sky but could not comprehend how the water got up there in the first place. Consequently, the idea has been passed down through the generations that there is a separation of water above from water below, and this concept is, in essence, correct and does not violate any scientific understanding.

At the end of verse 8, we are informed that the teaching session for the second day has concluded.

Verses 9-13: And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good."

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

In these verses, we have two occasions where the Elohim reference a higher creative power that formed the seas and oceans, leaving dry ground followed by the land producing vegetation of all sorts. Science has cataloged this knowledge under the disciplines of geology and biology, and the agency that commands this occurrence is still the original source behind the singularity from which everything has sprung. Therefore, science and religion are reconciled. The third day of instruction concluded.

Verses 14-19: And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,

and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,

to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

In verse 14, we encounter the same grammatical structure, “And God said, ‘Let ...’,” as in the previous verses. This verse relates to the stars, which give light during the night and are to be used to mark sacred times, days, and years.

Two great lights—the sun and the moon—are observed during the day and at night. The use of the movement of the stars, the sun, and the moon to predict changes in the seasons was a common practice in ancient times. This tradition has continued into modern times. There are no issues between religion and science regarding the use of the stars, the sun, and the moon for these purposes.

In verses 16 and 17, the grammatical structure of “And God said, ‘Let...’" eroded over the many generations of verbal and written tradition. In short, these verses were simplified and state that the Elohim were the ones who made the sun and the moon. We know that humanoids with capabilities a notch or two above the humans of today do not make suns and moons. The instruction for the fourth day concluded.

Verses 20-25: And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”

And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

The “Let” grammatical structure reappears in verse 20 and pertains to the development of biological forms beyond plants. Creatures of the air and sea are mentioned, but not those of the land. From the way these verses are written, the Elohim are drawing attention to fauna that may not have been as obvious to ancient humans as land creatures would have been. Alternatively, it could be that the narrative about land animals was omitted over time to simplify the account, as land animals were evident to everyone.

Once again, the “Let” structure was omitted in the two verses following verse 20, likely for the same reasons as those provided for the previous set of verses. The instruction for the fifth day concluded.

Apparently, on the sixth day, the Elohim continued to give instruction about the land producing not just wild animals but also livestock. As humans have yet to come into the picture in this narrative, it appears that the oral or written tradition has mixed up some events in the timeline.

Verses 26-31: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Verse 26 is introduced with the word “Then” rather than “And,” which adds emphasis to this particular verse. The Elohim now include themselves taking action for the first time with the statement, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over” the various kinds of wild and domesticated creatures.

The Hebrew term “na’aseh” can be translated as either “Let us make” or “We will make.” Doctrinal translators no doubt preferred to continue using the “let” version rather than the “we,” as it contributes to the recasting of the Elohim as a singular God. Translating it as “We will make” would reveal that the Elohim, by their own volition and through their own means, will make “the Adam,” which is translated as mankind but could also refer to a singular human being.

It is also very significant that the Elohim refer to this process as "making" rather than "creating" and, as Biglino has related to us in Gods of the Bible, this making was a genetic hybridization between themselves and already existing hominids.

We know from Mauro Biglino’s work that the Elohim look and act very much like us, except that they live much longer, are more intelligent than we were thousands of years ago, and possessed technology that, in many ways, would still be superior to ours today. They obviously had a superior knowledge of genetics, which was used to make us—an inferior version of themselves, as other verses in the Old Testament attest. We have now reached the point in our own genetic capabilities where we can successfully clone animals and could also probably clone humans.

Since the remainder of the verses speaks of ruling over wild and domesticated creatures, this interpretation would place humankind in a post-Edenic state; however, throughout the generations, there could easily have been a combination of Edenic and post-Edenic activities. The instruction for the sixth day concluded.

This set of verses also makes it clear that the Elohim consider themselves responsible for giving us “every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.” This responsibility extends to animals as well. Taking the Elohim at their word, this implies that they were involved in seeding the planet with various species of plants and animals that would be useful to us humans. Therefore, they were engaged in genetic bioengineering of the flora and fauna.

The Elohim reference the earth and even the “whole earth” in this set of verses. The Old Testament provides clear indications that the Elohim were active in the Mesopotamian region but not beyond it. Therefore, the phrase “whole earth” is best understood to mean the entire region where they were active, which corresponded to the “whole earth” as experienced by the humans they had made.

By analyzing the words and grammatical structures used in Genesis 1, we can conclude that it does not refer to the creation of the universe in a period of six Earth days. Instead, the six days represent a period of instruction by the Elohim. Whether it was six days or some other number is not particularly relevant.

The Elohim spoke directly to what was probably a group of very early humans with limited linguistic abilities after they were “made” by the Elohim. Their intent was to give these early humans an understanding of how the universe came into being, producing stars, our sun and moon, and the Earth with its massive amount of water—which is probably very rare among planets according to the findings of astrophysicists—and all of the living creatures, including ourselves.

The first chapter of the first book of the Bible need not generate such heated debate, controversy, and conflict among us. My hope is that the application of critical thinking to Genesis 1 in this and the previous episodes has, at least for the most part, reconciled it with scientific understanding.

In episode 9 we will examine mythology.

Each episode of SIOM builds on the previous ones. Therefore, it is in your best interest to start with episode one and proceed through all the episodes in order by episode number.

Episode 1 - First Principles for Solving the Worldview Puzzle

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