by F.J. Foster

Created on: December 02, 2010   Last Updated: December 27, 2010

As hotly contested current religious disputes go, this one tops most.  Some of the questions raised reveal just how interesting it can become. Here, then, in no particular order, are answers to a few questions drawn from differing viewpoints.

Are creation science and intelligent design (ID) the same thing?

No.  Although ID argues for a designer of the universe, it offers no names. Creation science, on the other hand, specifies the God of the Bible as the Creator. Hence, the two are separate.

Is Genesis predominately theology or science?

Neither, although there is some of both. Genesis is history. It tells, in a straightforward fashion, the story of origins and the establishment of God's people.  And straightforwardly is how it should be read.

What about symbolism?

There is some symbolism, but it must be kept in context. The book as a whole is in no way symbolic.

 Well, couldn't the days of the creation week, for example, each be millions of years?

Anything is possible, but it's highly unlikely. It could be long ages, except God bracketed the six days of actual creation with the statement, “the evening and the morning were ...”. The narrative context  limits those days to the 24 hours of Earth's rotation. In addition, nowhere else does God use the Hebrew word for “day” in the same manner (historical narrative) as reference to long ages. Only men do that.

Then the creation stories aren't metaphorical?

No. They are history, plain and simple.

Well, weren't the books of the Bible written by mere men?

They were, indeed - some 40 writers over a period of about 1600 years.

And couldn't they make mistakes?

Ordinarily, yes. In fact, some of the copies that survive today from antiquity have errors, called variants, in them. But they aren't the originals. The originals (autographs) were inspired by God, which means those men wrote, in their own styles, what God wanted recorded. If we assume mistakes were made, then we must also assume God to be incapable of preventing that. Such an assumption about an all-powerful God is absurd. The books, in their autographs, contained exactly what God wanted.

But, doesn't forensic evidence prove the earth is billions of years old? What about the fossil record?

Most people have an inaccurate view of science, and what it can do. Science is not omniscient, a quality only God has. If science were omniscient, it would be out of a job, as there would be nothing

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