Creation in Six Days or Millions of Years
What do you think: was the world made in six days or over millions of years? Do you agree with the Bible or science?
Are you torn between the two ways of seeing things? Is there a middle road somehow?
Most people who struggle with this kind of question wonder about how evolution will effect their religious beliefs. Can someone be a Christian and accept evolution?
8 Replies
I have to say that I agree with both the Biblical and Scientific approach to the creation of the world. I think people get too worried about taking the literal meaning from the Bible example "the world was created in six days" Learning what we know in Science class about evolution and the millions of years it takes for something to change, I find in hard to believe that everything was created in six days, I believe it was longer than that, but ultimately the message of Genesis 1, is to show that God is our creator and that we should respect and love all his creations.
I do find myself very torn between what is stated in the Bible versus in Science, what I do is try to blend the two theories and come up with what I believe to be the best logically answer for myself. I consider myself a Catholic but also hold an open mind to how Creation all started. Especially after reading the book entitled "I Love Jesus and Accept Evolution" By: Denis Lamoureux I can say that one can definetly be a Christian and still accept evolution. His book was very helpful to me in understanding evolution from a Christian point of view, and I no longer think that someone is a bad Christian if they believe in Evolution.
Personally, I agree with the position of evolutionary creationism. It makes sense to see all the evidence there is for evolution and how the world was created in millions of years and accept that, but you should also be able to agree with your own personal faith that God truly cares for his people, and he had a purpose in creating us and the universe we live in.
The stories in the Bible aren't meant to be taken as scientific facts and evidence; they are there to reveal deeper meaning. We need to keep in mind that when authors were writing these stories, they would have relied on ancient science of their time to describe what they saw in the world around them. In Genesis 1, for example, the people saw the world as being created quickly and completely brand new, in a period of 6 days, by God the Creator. However, we know from modern science that the world was actually created through evolution. We should see the Genesis 6 day creation account as a story that reveals humans being made in the Image and likeness of God.
My opinion leans towards the millions of years that it took for the earth and the universe itself to be created but as a catholic who believes in GOD and SCIENCE its quite hard to debate either one is wrong or right. But the reason i lean more towards the millions of years it took is because of the years i've spent in school and the amount of information i've gained over the years opinion towards it because to me learning from a book isnt much proof to me as it would with the years of information given to me through SCIENCE. As a person who believes in both SCIENCE and GOD in this discussion about whether the world or the universe was created in 6 days or a million years i cant telling you or persuade you that its true or not. Its all up to the person and their point of view of this discussion.
I personally believe that the world was not created in 6 days but in millions of years. Im a catholic person but I think that our planet is a very complex planet to be created in six days, but as a catholic person I still believe that God was involved in all this, it might of have take more than 6 days to create it, but God was inolve in it. Some things that I have in mind about all this of evolution and the creation in 6 days is that many biblical arguments are myths and they proved real, and in the other hand most of science arguments had being proved true.
I do find myself as a born and raised Catholic, but at the same time I do also side with many of the views supported by science. Although these two ideas completely contradict each other, there is no reason that a person can't believe in aspects of both. Being a Catholic, I do believe in God and the teachings of the Church. I see these aspects of religion as guidlines on how to live a good life, and not to necessarily be taken literally from the bible. Science also has a role in teaching me. I take these as ideas that explain why the world is the way it is. It is for that reason that I believe that it took millions of years for the world to form, due to the overwhelming evidence from discovery and reasearch. I like to see this view as a way that people can balance science and religion in their lives, although the many contradictions are evident.
Firstly, yes, someone who is Christian can still believe in evolution. Many of us do although where we lie on the spectrum between our believe in science and Christian faith varies. As I have state in another post, my personal belief is that the Biblical story of creation occurring in six days is not factually true, but figuratively. I believe it shows support for evolution, but it was expressed in the way that the Biblical writers understood knowing only the scientific evidence they had at the time of writing. They did not have the modern scientific evidence supporting evolution that we have today. I believe that the six day creation theory reflects evolution in that there was a progression in how the Universe, the Earth, and everything in it was created by God. God did not create everything as it is today all at once. He created the origin point and then set an evolutionary path in motion for the world to progress. This is how I reconcile the conflict between religion and evolution for myself; however I also recognize that there are many who will disagree with my interpretation and I am more than willing to listen to and try to understand and appreciate their viewpoint as well.
I think it is completely respectable to be a Catholic and not believe in the 6 day creation. Being well informed on various positions of creation helps to solidify one's point of view I think. Personally, I found Lamoureux's book was really helpful in separating differences and highlighting similarities within the diverse perspectives on Creation.. I would highly recommend it! 
I think that modern science has shown us that the world took much more than 6 days to create. There are fossil records that would show us otherwise. With this being said we can still have faith in that God created the world as it is but it took more time than the Bible tells us.
It is important to remember that the bible does not always have to be read as an exact historical account. The people alive during the time the Bible was written would have had a very different view of science and this would have affected how they wrote about their experiences and thoughts about how the world works. The most important concepts to be taken from the Bible are not of scientific matters but on morals and values that pertain to living a good Christian life. They also can be used to explain how God transcends our realty and is great enough to create man kind in his image.
If one remembers these ideas they can easily justify believing in evolution while still having faith in Christianity.
Erika
Mar 2, 2012 at 11:20 AM