Many hearty and sincere souls harbor a belief that the Bible holds a precise and inerrant account of how we got here – the earth was created in SIX DAYS some 4,000 years ago.
Other hearty souls believe the Bible is the INSPIRED “Word of God”, to be taken in Spirit but not necessarily literally in all aspects.
Visitors to the ARK ENCOUNTER in Williamstown, KY will confront an exhaustive litany of “Apologetics” with a “precise and inerrant” perspective on how the 40-day flood was responsible for carving out the entire archeologic record that scientists claim happened over a period of 4.2 billion years following a “Big Bang”.
21st Century science has added to the latter perspective, suggesting that the earth is but a miniscule part of the entire “Big Bang” proceeding! And everything that ultimately came to be EVOLVED from that very early beginning.
BIG BANG
Understand, if you will, that whoever wrote the earliest beginnings of the Bible we now revere was not personally privy to the actual beginnings, but is presumed to have received and recorded “The Word” directly from Divine intervention in retrospect – perhaps something like Moses received the Ten Commandments?
Still, interpretation makes all the difference! [See “Atheism and Apologetics” and “Apologetics Addenda”]
Also note, our concept of TIME past and passing is clouded by our personal reference points – our own lifetimes. Those 4,000 years tabulated by adding up the generations following Adam and Eve do not account for everything that happened before … even though the Bible says SIX DAYS. 2 Peter 3:8: “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”. Psalm 90:4 also reflects this idea, stating, “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past”.
If we consider each one of the “DAYS” in 4,000 years as actually being 1,000 years, we come to 4 million years, just another factor of 1,000 short of 4 billion!
Here’s another complicating factor: If there IS a Supreme Being, and if “God is Good”, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world – even among HIS OWN PEOPLE?
Perhaps it’s to test one’s Faith … to keep one honest … or simply convey the message that “that’s just the way things are”? Perhaps LIFE, as we have come to know it and COUNT ON IT, isn’t all we have entitled ourselves to enjoy but we need to quit WASTING so much of it!
Which brings us back to considering how things have materialized since the “Big Bang”:
The chaotic aftermath from the “Big Bang” put the universe into massive pandemonium which I’ve labeled “Churning” (see “Churning” blog). My first/best illustration of this phenomenon was that of a mountain stream cascading down the path of least resistance toward its own equilibrium with its surroundings – usually a pond or lake or ocean – driven by gravity – and taking everything in its path with it. (The cascading events following the “Big Bang”, of course, were driven by – what else? – the “Big Bang”!)
NOTE: One inclined to accept BOTH science and a Spiritual grounding might say that the use of a DNA foundational tool for development of the entire litany of life forms to populate the earth was pure genius: Using only FOUR chemical constructs aligned in infinite possible arrays to direct the formation of catalytic and structural proteins, and letting what looks like “Natural Selection” / “Survival of the Fittest” drive evolution of increasingly complex organisms.
Young Genius Takes a Shot at Stephen Hawking’s God Theory with a Bold New Hypothesis | Watch
SURVIVING THE CHURNING
In the mountain stream analogy, everything is topsy-turvy, upside down, inside out, turmoil unless one is strongly anchored in some way. “Anchorings” are pivotal for more than mere/sheer survival – certainly for THRIVING, as much as for survival, itself.
Finding a ROCK to anchor oneself – whether that is an aspiration, a philosophy, a spiritual grounding, a profession or a cultural immersion – is a key element in surviving the “Churning”. More than one “Anchoring” is helpful and certainly encouraged!
For those inclined to look toward a Higher Power running the universe, Biblical references to God as the anchoring ROCK abound.
Here is a link to a compendium of Biblical references … … https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God,-The-Rock
IMPORTANTLY: This particular ROCK is not inert or impenetrable but RADIATES (!) and INVITES / WELCOMES connection.
HOW DOES ONE TAP INTO THIS LIMITLESS, ANCHORING RADIANT POWER or PRESENCE?
It came to me about 45 days into my recent 70 day stay in the hospital for severe and refractory colitis: God has a plan. Our job is to decipher OUR part of that plan and play it out to the very best of our ability. Look for an ASPIRATION to guide you. If God doesn’t want you there, he’ll send you in a different direction. I wanted to be a physician but He made me a biochemist!
Certainly, DIRECT PETITION – PRAYER – is not only allowed but encouraged.
MINDFULNESS is a key element in Divine connectiveness … constantly seeking / looking for and observing the RADIATION in action. This is often most visible in retrospect. [See “Rainbows”].
