{"id":4272,"date":"2017-08-16T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T00:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4272"},"modified":"2021-10-20T10:49:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T02:49:39","slug":"182-creation-is-it-true-or-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4272","title":{"rendered":"182. Creation: Is It True or False?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>1<\/sup> In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,\u00a0<sup>2 <\/sup>the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters<\/span>. <span style=\"color: #000000;\">[<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Genesis 1:1-2<\/span>, <em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Genesis.-Formlessness-and-void.3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4273\" title=\"Genesis. Formlessness and void.3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Genesis.-Formlessness-and-void.3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"868\" height=\"650\" \/><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Prelude to Genesis \u2013 chaos, darkness, formlessness, void.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cIn the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Benedict\u2019s first and constant impression of these opening words of the Book of Genesis is that they s<em>tir the heart<\/em> like the solemn tolling of a great old bell with its beauty and dignity. Giving humanity a glimpse of the mystery of eternity, they also create a feeling of immeasurability of creation and its Creator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yet, Pope Benedict laments, these words would give rise to conflict as well. Beautiful though these words from Scriptures are, people ask whether they are true. In studying creation theology, therefore, the question of truth is recurrent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We had not realised how close to the ground and how persistent this question of truth was, until two Filipino students in our creation theology class at De Lasalle University-Manila pressed the urgency of the case on us.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first, a religion teacher who has a basic degree in theology, asked with a sense of urgency: \u00a0\u201cIs the creation story in Genesis <em>true<\/em> or <em>false<\/em>? I am <em>serious<\/em>. I really <em>need<\/em> to know.\u201d But why? Quite simply, he said, because he was asked the same query all the time and, driving home the urgency of the matter, he added, \u201cI know of people who threaten to leave the Christian faith if the story wasn\u2019t true!\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The second, another religion teacher with multiple college degrees unrelated to theology, reported that a parish priest scandalised many mothers. They threatened to pull their children out of the Sunday school, because he said in a homily that the Genesis story of <strong>creation in six days<\/strong> was not true<em>!<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What could happen in the Philippines could of course happen in Malaysia where we were asked a shocking question in Penang. During lunch break at a weekend seminar, a small group of ladies from the parish catechetical ministry crowded round our table and practically demanded a \u201ccompetent theological opinion\u201d as they put it, insinuating that they had been given something quite incompetent previously. It transpired that their parish priest has \u201cinstructed\u201d them: \u201c<em>Do not read Genesis 1-10<\/em>&#8230;.\u201d but to skip these opening chapters of the Book of Genesis altogether. But why? \u201cBecause,\u201d the priest announced, \u201cthey are very confusing. Children will get confused.\u201d These ladies, though theologically untrained, did not think the priest was right. They wanted to have our comments so they could tell the other religion teachers. So we told them that the truth is, the priest might be confused, but the <em>Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em> is not. Paragraph 289 reads:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place\u2026 The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation &#8211; its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the &#8220;beginning&#8221;: creation, fall, and promise of salvation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Needless to say, we advised those volunteer catechists that it was their duty to read and understand, and then share the Gospel of Creation enshrined in Genesis 1-3.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The problem, actually, is not the Genesis-text at all, but the way we read and understand the text. And this problem is compounded by the very world in which we live, a w<span style=\"color: #000000;\">orld spread through by the invasive nature of science and technology in human lives. This \u201cworld\u201d stands <em>before<\/em> the text; we unconsciously bring this \u201cworld\u201d to the text when we read Scriptures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #000000;\">Now, science appears to have disposed of a concept of creation built up piece by piece over six days. With the \u201cBig Bang Theory\u201d, for example, comes the realization of an expansion of the universe, so that a comfortable claim of the universe being definitively intelligible in terms of space and time is no longer tenable. Rather, is the idea of \u201ccreation\u201d not in fact unreal? Does intellectual honesty not demand that we abandon \u201ccreation\u201d in favour of \u201cmutation and selection\u201d? Are those words in Genesis true or do they reflect the na\u00efvet\u00e9 inherent in the infancy of human history? What answer can we give to the contemporary age?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In confronting these questions, notice that Pope Benedict\u2019s pattern of thought is critical, systematic, and reasoned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What he wants to do is to reclaim the validity of creation doctrine in the consciousness of people and, in so doing, to get them to give due acknowledgement to God as Creator.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He needs to fight the \u201crationalists\u201d who divorce God from creation, thus treating Genesis as mere fable. So he first surveys the effect of scientific advancement in modern times: a growing tendency to render vacuous the claims in Genesis 1; creation narrative detailing God\u2019s creation of universe gets dismissed as myth; the literal words of Biblical creation doctrine get dismissed as juvenile and na\u00efve; from the 16<sup>th<\/sup> century Copernican revolution, the earth was no longer the centre of universe; the evolution theory of the 19<sup>th<\/sup> \u2013 20<sup>th<\/sup> centuries contradicted the biblical <em>revealed<\/em> truth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The problem, Pope Benedict realizes, is that both theologians and the Church hierarchy have taken Genesis creation stories <em>literally<\/em>, unaware of their original intended genre.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He wants to stop a surface <em>literal <\/em>reading of Genesis, to rebut the \u201cliteralists\u201d who treat the Bible as a science textbook.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">His first step is therefore to clarify the <em>hermeneutic issues<\/em> crucial for understanding the language of the Bible and of science. An important\u00a0hermeneutical\u00a0key in this regard is the intellectual disposition to examine reality seeking a \u201cboth\/and&#8221; rather than an &#8220;either\/or.&#8221; This is c<em>rucial<\/em> because <em>only then<\/em>, can we honour the truth contained in the Word of God, while giving due respect to science. Furthermore, it would be an important first step to help modern people, steeped in the culture and language of science, to recover and affirm their Biblical heritage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Notice, therefore, that Pope Benedict begins, as every good theologian does, with an eye on <em>methodology<\/em>, conscious of the need for an adequate <em>lens<\/em> for the work of interpretation. He has an overall framework.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And so, the very first question Benedict attempts to address is the question of <em>hermeneutics<\/em>: <em>How<\/em> do we interpret the Scripture text?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Bible, he points out, is a religious book; it is not a natural science textbook. Creation stories in our religious book are stories, not scientific treatises on the origin of the world and humans\u2019 beginning. These creation stories declare that <strong><em>the existence of all things and their meaning<\/em><\/strong> lie in God\u2019s hands. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The doctrine of creation becomes clearer when we ask: What question is this doctrine supposed to answer? We deal with this by first asking what question this doctrine is <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not<\/span><\/em> supposed to answer. It is the question of <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how<\/span><\/em> everything in the world began in the first place. This is not the concern of either Genesis 1 and 2 or of Christian doctrines formulated on the basis of them.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The question of <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how<\/span> <\/em>everything began is not a religious or spiritual question because it has no bearing on <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how<\/span><\/em> to live a life that is open to God in faith, hope and charity. Scriptures do not aim to give scientific report on particular vegetation and so on, but to speak the ultimate truth that <em>God<\/em> created the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Once we see this truth, we at once realize that the dichotomy of \u201ccreation <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">or<\/span><\/em> evolution\u201d is a false one. Take a look at some interesting quotes on this <strong>false dichotomy<\/strong> from renowned Christian leaders:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Billy Graham:<em> \u201c<\/em>I don\u2019t think that there\u2019s any conflict at all between science today and the Scriptures. I think we have misinterpreted the Scriptures many times and we\u2019ve tried to make the Scriptures say things that they weren\u2019t meant to say, and I think we have made a mistake by thinking the Bible is a scientific book. The Bible is not a book of science. The Bible is a book of Redemption, and of course, I accept the Creation story.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">John Stott: \u201cNot many Christians today find it necessary to defend the concept of a literal six-day creation, for the text does not demand it, and scientific discovery appears to contradict it. The biblical text presents itself not as a scientific treatise but as a highly stylized literary statement.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">John Goldingay: \u201cI am told there are readers of Genesis who argue like\u00a0this. If\u00a0evolution is true, there was no Adam and\u00a0Eve. If\u00a0there was no Adam and Eve, there was no\u00a0fall. If\u00a0there was no fall, we didn\u2019t need Jesus to save\u00a0us. But\u00a0this argument is back to\u00a0front.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The Bible offers religious experience, not information on natural sciences<\/strong>. The correct rule for interpreting the Bible is to appreciate the fact that the way images are painted or things described are all aimed at helping people to grasp profound realities beyond surface appearances. In other words, \u201c<strong>Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine work<\/strong>\u201d (<em>Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em>, 337).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Benedict suggests that the way to go forward is to see in creation narratives a distinction between the <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">form<\/span><\/em> of portrayal and the <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">content<\/span> <\/em>portrayed. The \u201cform\u201d pertains to things and images familiar to people at the time, profound realities which they could grasp, and helping them understand deeper realities. By contrast, the \u201ccontent\u201d relates to the deeper reality that shines through these familiar images. This deeper reality is what the text intends to convey. <strong>The ultimate purpose in all this, is to say one thing, namely, that God <em>created<\/em> this world<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Now, is that the end of discussion? No, hardly! Yet, it serves a huge purpose already, for it firmly establishes, for faith, the <em>absolute starting point<\/em> and, indeed, the <em>foundation<\/em> of all things: <em>that <strong>God created all this<\/strong>!<\/em> It declares and admits that it is <em>not<\/em> a neutral language, but a language of faith. It is <em>not<\/em> a language of science.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Benedict, as a Christian leader, naturally does not leave things there, but attends to a link-up with Christ. On <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how<\/span><\/em> the passages on creation in the Book of Genesis should be interpreted in relation to the whole Bible, the Pope\u2019s answer is that they cannot be read in isolation from the New Testament. He insists on two indispensable interpretive criteria: first, the unity of the Old and the New Testaments; second, the Book of Genesis and the whole of the Old Testament must be read with Christ. Clearly, in thus linking the Old Testament with the New Testament, the Pope points to the three fundamental truths that Christianity puts together: <strong><em>Creation, Fall, and Redemption<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, August 2017. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,\u00a02 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. [Genesis 1:1-2, NRSV] Prelude to Genesis \u2013 chaos, darkness, formlessness, void. \u201cIn the beginning when God created <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4272\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,\u00a02 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. [Genesis 1:1-2, NRSV] Prelude to Genesis \u2013 chaos, darkness, formlessness, void. \u201cIn the beginning when God created&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4272"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6762,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions\/6762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}