UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE:  Science

Genesis 1-2:3 - Onions, Oaths and Trappist-1

On February 22, 2017, NASA, in the scientific journal Nature, and through print media, radio and TV, revealed evidence from its Spitzer space telescope that confirmed earlier Earth telescope findings that the red dwarf star Trappist-1 has 7 spherical orbiting planets of which 3 – located in the so-called sweet zone -- could contain water, an atmosphere and possibly support life as on Earth[1]

Trappist-1 is 39 light years away or 370,000,000,000,000 km.[2]

It is one of well over 100,000,000,000  suns (long called stars) in our galaxy, the Milky Way.[3]

And evidence from the Hubble space telescope indicates that there are at least one trillion galaxies visible from Earth.[4]

Oaths

When one takes the witness stand in Canada or the USA, one is required to take an oath with one hand up -- palm showing, and the other on a Bible or other Holy Scripture.  The oath, in British tradition around the world, goes well beyond the Commandment of “ Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” , as one is required to swear before God that “evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”[5]

That is, to give only information that is true and all information that one knows.

However, there are two limitations that apply.

Only information relevant to the case is to be given. Whether a witness to a car theft had oatmeal for breakfast or has 3 grandchildren or has blue eyes are all tangential and unnecessary.

Secondly, if the witness is giving expert testimony, he or she must use plain, everyday language so the judge and jury -- ordinary people -- can understand.

No technical jargon speak using words such as 'hermeneutics'.

Onions

There is an old saying that learning is like peeling a (round) onion: there are many layers of knowledge and to get to the very core takes persistence and time.

In the Western world, when we teach young children, we start with the very rudimentary basics: reading, writing, arithmetic and simple cultural values.

As they mature, they are introduced to more complex knowledge and by the end of high school have probably learned algebra, geometry and possibly calculus, chemistry, biology and physics, additional languages, world history, etc.

At college and university, even higher levels of knowledge and specialization ensue with the ladder of learning progressing from B.A./B.Sc to M.A. to Ph.D. or other ‘specialist’ training such a neurosurgery.

Today, the onion in this analogy is far larger and far more layered than any in the past, as human progress and knowledge have exploded in the last few centuries. Our onion and range of knowledge is vastly greater than anything previously: the Medieval period, the Roman Empire, the Greek World and back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Rashi is a case in point.                                                                                                                                                                

In his commentary to Genesis 1:1 he argues that the very first verse of the Bible is not just the Masoretic tradition of 7 words, but that it is 25 words         (2 1/2 verses)  long[6] and that the wording of Creation is not chronological whatsoever.

He argues this on detailed grammatical grounds and, tersely, as a second reason, because the text is contrary to the laws of science. To paraphrase Rashi, the SHAMAYIM, after all, is made from Fire and Water, so it cannot come at the very start.

The idea that all matter was made from the four fundamental elements of earth, air, fire and water is of ancient origin and was accepted even by Aristotle and was still 'common knowledge' in Rashi's time, the 11th           century C E.

But today we know better.  

Children in elementary grades know water is  H₂O (2 atoms of hydrogen bonded to one atom of oxygen), and by the end of high school everyone who has taken  chemistry or looked at the huge poster on the science lab wall, sees the real key and road map of all matter --- the Periodic Table[7].

Put simply, when trying to understand the words and description of physical Creation in Genesis ch 1-2:3, we all --  consciously and unconsciously -- do so against the backdrop of 'accepted scientific knowledge'.

Conclusion

So what does all of this have to do with Genesis ch 1-2:3 and the Bible’s account of physical Creation?

Firstly, we must realize that the details given by the text is limited and designed to answer basic human curiosity regarding the who, what, when, how and why of human existence on Earth  -- within the knowledge and understanding of humans living some 3 ½ millennia ago.

Yes, Egypt was a great and a highly developed civilization with fantastic engineering feats such as the pyramids, and Mesopotamia was equally a world leader with its sky high ziggurat temples and invention of bricks and beer. 

But it took Copernicus and Galileo with his new telescope in the mid-16^th – early 17^th centuries C.E[8]. to reveal the truth about our sun-centred solar system, and thereafter Newton on gravity, and 20^th century Rutherford and the atom, Einstein, and all the technological breakthroughs since the 1960s with computers, atom smashing accelerators for sub-atomic particles, sophisticated optical and other telescopes, satellites and probes and rovers to the planets of our solar system all the way to Pluto and beyond, the Hubble space telescope, and men walking in space and on the Moon.

All our current knowledge and understanding of the Universe was not available to humans in the past who, to use an Einsteinian phrase, were ‘observers’ anchored to the Earth and, therefore, restricted in their understanding by their geocentric point of view.

The Bible in Genesis Ch 1-2:3 is therefore best seen as supplying ‘snippets’ of scientific truth within the limits of what humans could – 3 ½ millennia ago -- comprehend.

And the oddities and anomalies of the text which have perplexed and baffled our rabbis and scholars for centuries, can, in fact, be better understood and better resolved using the scientific knowledge of today.

Put simply, modern scientific knowledge sheds new light on Genesis ch 1-2:3 and Divine Creation.

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[1] http://www.vox.com/2017/2/22/14698030/nasa-seven-exoplanet-discovery-trappist- https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around  and https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/22/thrilling-discovery-of-seven-earth-sized-planets-discovered-orbiting-trappist-1-star  and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/02/22/nasa-announcement-live/

[2] http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/length/lightyear.html?u=lightyear&v=39

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

[4] http://gizmodo.com/we-were-very-wrong-about-the-number-of-galaxies-in-the-1787750693

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sworn_testimony

[6] See Rashi to Genesis 1:1.  Rashi ends the first sentence with “וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר ג” .                                                His verse #2 is “וַיְהִי-אוֹר.  ” .

[7] Electronic version is at https://www.bing.com/search?q=periodic%20table&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=periodic%20table&sc=9-14&sk=&cvid=560A4554442B41189C985EC7A1A43CB5

[8]           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus   and   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei