I read an interesting article from a Old Testament/Hebrew Ph.D. about Genesis 1 literalism. I reposted it to Facebook and engaged in a debate with a Southern Baptist minister about who is right, 6 day creationists or Big Bang/evolution Christians. I was trying to make the point that spending time trying to convince people that God really did create the world in six days is a waste of time when I realized:
I was doing the same thing.
I was engaging in this fruitless and unwinnable debate to prove that my unprovable theory is better than someone else's unprovable theory. My opinion against theirs. All I get in the end is the ability to say I feel I won a rhetorical argument.
What an exercise in egoism.
Now, I'm not saying the debate isn't an important one. It is in a certain sense. I strongly believe in the Big Bang Theory and evolution, because I think God created a reasoned and orderly universe that follows laws of nature. I think Genesis 1 does not express an absolute, scientific truth, but instead has truth and meaning in the idea it's conveying. (More on that in a minute.)
Where this argument gets dangerous, in my view, is when we start teaching people that the creation story as interpreted by literalists is scientific fact. When you tell a person with anything beyond a grade school education that, their first question is,
"What about dinosaurs and fossils?"
Followed closely by,
"Where is the Garden of Eden?"
You start swimming in murky waters, and spinning far-fetched, non-science based theories and end up spending years building Creation Museums.
In the mean time, you've spent no time focusing on the real meaning behind Genesis 1.
And what is that meaning? What is the essential truth and meaning being conveyed here? Simply that God was present and active in our creation. This seems like a simple and obvious point to us modern Christians. Of course God was there. The Bible says so. No matter the details, it says "God created."
But to ancient peoples, this would be revolutionary! Think about the world the ancient Hebrews who read this were acclimated to, the creation stories they had heard from their conquerors.
Egyptians.
Assyrians.
Babylonians.
They all believed the creation of man to be an accident of the gods, an accident that became an annoyance or simple amusement. Or that man's purpose was a slave to the gods, meant only for their divine service and pleasure.
But the Hebrew tradition was radically different. Instead of a multitude of gods whose actions unintentionally lead to the emergence of man, here was one God creating man intentionally, in God's own image.
And God created man to be stewards, and gave them dominion over creation and everything in it.
And God told them to name the animals.
And God taught them.
And God came down and walked among them!
The point here isn't that this all did or didn't actually happen. It's the idea that we aren't some cosmic accident. God made us. God may have used the big bang. God may have let us evolve. But God directed it all. And God wants to be present among us and have a relationship with us.
Can you imagine hearing your whole life that your an accident, and then one day hearing that no, you have a purpose and a meaning?
This is what we lose when we try to turn creation into our favorite scientific theory. I'm not saying it's bad to have a strong belief. I certainly do. I'm saying don't lose the forest for the trees. Don't get lost in the weeds. Read what God is telling you. The rest will take care of itself.
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