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| {{dambigbox|text=For the British rock band, see [[Genesis (band)]]. For the Sega video game console, see [[Mega Drive]].}} | | {{dambigbox|text=For the British rock band, see [[Genesis (band)]]. For the Sega video game console, see [[Mega Drive]].}} |
| '''Genesis''' is the first book of the Hebrew Bible (the first book of the Torah) and of the [[Old Testament]] in the Christian Bible. It tells the story of the Creation of the universe and man by God, the Fall of mankind and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of [[Noah]], [[Cain]] and [[Abel]], the testing of [[Abraham]]'s faith by God, and the founding of [[Israel]]. It is followed by [[Exodus]]. | | '''Genesis''' is the first book of the Hebrew Bible ([[Torah|The Torah]]) and of the [[Old Testament]] in the Christian Bible. It tells the story of the Creation of the universe and man by God, the Fall of mankind and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of [[Noah]], [[Cain]] and [[Abel]], the testing of [[Abraham]]'s faith by God, and the founding of [[Israel]]. It is followed by [[Exodus]]. |
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| The authorship of the book has traditionally been ascribed to Moses, though during the twentieth century many Biblical scholars have proposed that portions of the book existed in writing before Moses collated the book. | | The authorship of the book has traditionally been ascribed to Moses, though during the twentieth century a number of Biblical scholars proposed that portions of the book existed in writing before Moses collated the book.<ref>Grigg, R. [http://creation.com/did-moses-really-write-genesis Did Moses really write Genesis?]. Creation Ministries International.<ref>ChristianAnswers.net. [http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/genesis.html Genesis].</ref> |
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| ==Contents and interpretive difficulties== | | ==Content== |
| The first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis present a view of the Creation and the first generations of man on this earth. With the advance of science and the adoption of [[Charles Darwin|Darwinistic]] [[Evolution|Evolutionary Theory]] as the primary theory of the origin and development of life in the twentieth century, many scientists, as well as theologians, felt unable to accept the Genesis account of the origins of the world and of man, given the short amount of time they were said to occur in, as well as the order involved.<ref name=icr>Niessen, R. [http://www.icr.org/article/theistic-evolution-day-age-theory/ Theistic Evolution and the Day-Age Theory]. The Institute for Creation Research.</ref> | | The first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis present a view of the Creation and the first generations of man on this earth. |
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| For [[Creationism|Creationist]] believers from both [[Judaism|Judaic]] and the Christian backgrounds, the apparent contradiction between Genesis and modern science has produced a dilemma, revolving around the central question: Is the Bible really the infallible Word of God? Many now hold to a theory called [[Day Age]] which implies 2 Peter 3:8, "But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," allows for interpreting the days mentioned in Genesis as much longer periods of time. | | ==Interpretive Difficulties== |
| | With the advance of science and the adoption of [[Charles Darwin|Darwinistic]] [[Evolution|Evolutionary Theory]] as the primary theory of the origin and development of life in the twentieth century, many scientists felt unable to accept the Genesis account of the origins of the world and of man. For [[Creationist]] believers from both [[Judaism|Judaic]] and Christian backgrounds, the apparent contradiction between Genesis and modern science has produced a dilemma, revolving around the central question: Is the Bible really the infallible Word of God? |
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| When polled by [[Gallup]], 40% of Americans believe that the statement, "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so" is more accurate than "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process" (38%) or "Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process" (16%). These numbers have held relatively constant over Gallup's 10 polls from 1982-2010.<ref>Gallup. [http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/evolution-creationism-intelligent-design.aspx Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design].</ref>
| | Many Jews and Christians have adopted a compromise position, believing that much of the first 11 chapters should not be taken literally but is largely metaphoric or mythological, a position that allows them to accept the moral teachings of the Bible without rejecting modern science. Orthodox groups within both faith traditions continue to hold that since the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God, science cannot dictate exegesis of the Bible. They consider chapters 1-11 as literally true and reject some of the specific claims of Evolutionary Theory. |
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| Therefore, there is still a slightly greater percentage of Americans that believe God created mankind within the last 10,000 years (Creationism) than believe God created us over millions of years from less advance forms of life (Evolution). Atheistic evolutionists who believe God played no role in the process have grown from a low of 9% in 1999 to their present 16%.
| | A subgroup of orthodox believers also hold to the literal meaning of the first chapter of Genesis, believing that Creation took place in the span of six ordinary days of twenty-four hours. Other groups, even among the orthodox, are willing to accept a looser interpretation of the concept of "day" as used in Genesis 1. |
| ===Day Age===
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| [[Day Age]] theory is the attempt by [[Theistic Evolution|Theistic Evolutionists]] to reconcile modern Evolutionary belief with the seemingly conflicting Biblical account of Genesis. The argument centers around 2 Peter 3:8, that such a verse provides precedent for interpreting the days in Genesis 1 as much longer time periods. As cited at the website for Reasons to Believe, the Presbyterian Church conducted a 2-year study concluding there were four views possible for the word 'day' used in Genesis chapters 1-3. The study cited the use of the word day in Isaiah 11:10-11 and denied that the Day Age theory was merely a response to Darwinism, but had existed "from ancient times".<ref>{{cite web
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| | title = Four Views of the Biblical Creation Account
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| | publisher = Reasons To Believe
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| | date = 2000-08-08
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| | url = http://www.reasons.org/interpreting-genesis/adam-and-eve/four-views-biblical-creation-account
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| | accessdate = 2011-03-10}}</ref>
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| The American Scientific Affiliation has referenced the views of Augustine from the 4th century as precedent for Day Age theory, who said he had:
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| <blockquote>"worked out and presented the statements of the book of Genesis in a variety of ways according to my ability; and, in interpreting words that have been written obscurely for the purpose of stimulating our thought, I have not rashly taken my stand on one side against a rival interpretation which might possibly be better. I have thought that each one, in keeping with his powers of understanding, should choose the interpretation that he can grasp. Where he cannot understand Holy Scripture, let him glorify and fear for himself... (pp. 43-44)
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| It is a laborious and difficult task for the powers of our human understanding to see clearly the meaning of the sacred writer in the matter of these six days". (p. 103)<ref>{{cite web
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| | last = Young
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| | first = Davis
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| | title = The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine's View of Creation
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| | publisher = American Scientific Affiliation
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| | work = Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith
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| | date = 1988
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| | url = http://www.apologeticspress.com/article/391
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| | accessdate = 2011-03-10}}{{cite book
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| | last = Aurelius
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| | first = Augustine
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| | title = On the Literal Meaning of Genesis
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| | date = 415}}</ref>
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| </blockquote>
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| ===Young Earth===
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| The websites for Creation Ministries International<ref>Sarfati, J. [http://www.apologeticspress.org/article/2191 2 Peter 3:8—‘one day is like a thousand years’]. Creation Ministries International.</ref>, Apologetics Press<ref name=press>Lyons, E. (2007). [http://www.apologeticspress.org/article/2191 “With God One Day is a Thousand Years”?] Apologetics Press.</ref>, and the Institute for Creation Research<ref name=icr /> have denied the interpretation of a day being equivalent to a thousand years, stating that the use of the words "like" or "as" in saying "a day is as a thousand years" indicate a simile, and share a likeness rather than being directly equivalent. As Apologetics Press and ICR, also note, even if the 6 days mentioned in Genesis were each exactly 1 thousand years, it would not be nearly sufficient for the millions of years required by Evolutionary theory.<ref name=press /><ref name=icr /> ChristianAnswers.net notes that there is no indication the Hebrew word 'yom' is intended as anything other than a literal, 24 hour day from Genesis chapter 1,<ref>Bebber, M.V. and Taylor, P.S. (1995). [http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c002.html Is the bible clear about the age of the earth and universe?] ChristianAnswers.net/Eden Communications.</ref> and ICR that the word is overwhelmingly used in all cases in the Old Testament as reference to a 24-hour day.<ref name=icr />
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| Guy N. Woods once pointed out, as also mentioned by ICR<ref name=icr />, that the plants were created on the 3rd day before the sun according to Genesis, and could not have survived a 'day' of millions of years:
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| <blockquote>"''Botany, the field of plant-life, came into existence on the third day. Those who allege that the days of Genesis 1 may have been long geological ages, must accept the absurd hypothesis that pla≈≈nt-life survived in periods of total darkness through half of each geologic age, running into millions of years.''"<ref>{{cite web
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| | last = Thompson
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| | first = Bert
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| | title = Popular Compromises of Creation—The Day-Age Theory
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| | publisher = Apologetics Press
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| | date = 1994
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| | url = http://www.apologeticspress.com/article/391
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| | accessdate = 2011-03-10}}{{cite book
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| | last = Woods
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| | first = Guy
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| | title = Questions and Answers: Open Forum
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| | publisher = Freed-Hardeman University
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| | date = 1976
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| | location = Henderson, TN}}
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| </ref></blockquote>
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| == References ==
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| <references />
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Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible (The Torah) and of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible. It tells the story of the Creation of the universe and man by God, the Fall of mankind and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of Noah, Cain and Abel, the testing of Abraham's faith by God, and the founding of Israel. It is followed by Exodus.
Name
The name Genesis is the Greek name for this book used in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. In Hebrew, the book is called Berēšît. The name denotes the opening word of the book and means 'beginning' or 'origin' in English.
Author
The authorship of the book has traditionally been ascribed to Moses, though during the twentieth century a number of Biblical scholars proposed that portions of the book existed in writing before Moses collated the book.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Content
The first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis present a view of the Creation and the first generations of man on this earth.
Interpretive Difficulties
With the advance of science and the adoption of Darwinistic Evolutionary Theory as the primary theory of the origin and development of life in the twentieth century, many scientists felt unable to accept the Genesis account of the origins of the world and of man. For Creationist believers from both Judaic and Christian backgrounds, the apparent contradiction between Genesis and modern science has produced a dilemma, revolving around the central question: Is the Bible really the infallible Word of God?
Many Jews and Christians have adopted a compromise position, believing that much of the first 11 chapters should not be taken literally but is largely metaphoric or mythological, a position that allows them to accept the moral teachings of the Bible without rejecting modern science. Orthodox groups within both faith traditions continue to hold that since the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God, science cannot dictate exegesis of the Bible. They consider chapters 1-11 as literally true and reject some of the specific claims of Evolutionary Theory.
A subgroup of orthodox believers also hold to the literal meaning of the first chapter of Genesis, believing that Creation took place in the span of six ordinary days of twenty-four hours. Other groups, even among the orthodox, are willing to accept a looser interpretation of the concept of "day" as used in Genesis 1.
