07 May '13 14:03>4 edits
Originally posted by RJHindsTwo points I would like to make this morning on the subject of the creation.
The stretching theory is the best solution, because that is what is written in the Holy Bible.
The Instructor
The Bible says that it is by faith that we Christians understand that God has framed the creation. None of us was there. Whatever science says today or tomorrow or in some distant tomorrow, it is still by faith that we Christians understand that the word of God framed the universe:
"By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not come into being out of the things which appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
This is not an ANTI science statement. This is a statement that science is limited in giving us assurance of understanding. Theories will come and will go. Revisions on understandings of the cosmos will change. Probably neither Moses or Paul knew of the size of the universe or the scope of time by human standards of its existence.
Today I am happy that science seems to confirm my belief.
Tomorrow when another discovery is made maybe I'll feel challenged.
Basically it is by faith that I understand God created the universe (Heb. 11:3).
No one was there to witness it except God Himself and probably some ancient angels (Job 38:4-7) .
I am excited and happy that men of science explore more and more to uncover the mysteries of the existence of the material universe. Sometimes my faith will feel confirmed. Other times my faith may feel challenged.
The second thing I would say is about BIG Time and BIG Space.
Without the aid of revelation and just using our natural mind, it is likely that we will feel dwarfed by the immensity of either time or space.
You constantly object to "billions of years" as if the thought of "billions of years" makes no sense to you in existence of man. "Why would there be billions of years where man did not exist? How could there be all this TIME and man only occupy this little moment in the whole scheme of it? "
The very same thing could be said about space. "How could there be billions of light years distance and man only occupes this little corner of the total space ?"
This matter of the immensity of either time in the past or space beyond our earth does not bother me as it bothers some YECs. The Psalmist said -
"When I see Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is mortal man that You remember him, and the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:3)
The Psalmist at that time didn't know even the half of it. If he felt dwarfed by man's relative smallness in the creation then, how much more would he feel so today. That our galaxy is an "island universe" has only been discovered in the 20th century. And further that it is only one of many millions of galaxy "island universes" boggles the human mind today -
"What is man that You remember him ...?"
In our natural comprehension the relative size of man immediatly dwarfs us into insignificance in the Psalmist's day as well as today.
We should not hope to shrink down time to make us feel more comfortable. Neither should we argue that there simply cannot be so huge an amount of space in order to make us feel more signigicant. It is by faith that we understand God cares for man in the vastness of the cosmos' time and space.
What God ordains as the pinnacle of creation is what counts and not how long the universe has been around or how large it is. We are not insignificant because God created us in His image and more so that God became a man.
"And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ... God created man in His own image ..."
"And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us ..."
I would encourage you not to be dismayed at possible millions or billions of years any more than be disappointed by the "microscopic" earth in such a vast amount of space as to be almost incomprehensible.
I don't think you should object any more about "billions of years" before God created man as to the concept that such simply could not be.
At the appointed time and the appointed place in the universe God became a man that He might bring man into God and God into them.
He does not need a smaller space to do this - say reaching out only to the Ptolemy solar system of say five planets. Nor does He need only several thousand years of bishop Ussher. The time and the space of the receptacle is secondary. That He carries out His ecomomy with man is primary.
He remembers us and and He visits us. And that we know by faith from His word.