The Genesis observer theory

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The theory of Genesis's observer (observer on earth's surface) is one of the pro-evolution [1][2] of contemporary Christian creationism theories. Analyzes the first book of the Bible -The Genesis -, in Chapters 1 and 2, verses 1 to 4 under the premise that the story of the biblical text is performed by a human being located on the surface of the planet.

This perspective would be key to the interpretation described in the text, in the light of scientific and astronomical correlative.

The theory in question attempts to analyze the six creative days under the assumption that: first, the observer is a man and not God; second, it does so from the surface of the earth[3]; third, the observer sees a vision that God gives because it is impossible that a man has witnessed the evolution of the planet from the primordial nebula preplanetary - solar nebula - until the appearance of homo sapiens.

This observer would, for the duration of the vision, the center of the action. Everything revolves around the continents toward or away from it, the planets and stars revolve around his position. It would be as if someone had been able to set a fixed camera stuck in there for four billion years and then reproduce the film in a few minutes.

Is also vitally important to appreciate that this person-observer lacked the scientific and astronomical knowledge to understand exactly what it was what he was seeing so expressed in their words and in their own time parameters.

Traditionally it has been argued that Moses is the author of Genesis, internal inferences in the text of the Bible favors this conclusion so that the observer might well have been Moses [4].

This theory would be valid for the interpretation of the text in question to scientific and astronomical level, then they should analyze the transcendental religious aspect effects would be more important.

Genesis

First Day

«In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light “day”, and darkness he called “night”. Evening came and morning came: the first day. » Genesis 1:1-5 (ASV)
File:Http://creationwiki.org/pool/images/a/a7/View-of-the-primordial-nebula.jpg
Possible seen from the surface of the Earth towards the Sun, which would be hidden behind the residual dust from the original nebula. (Artist's conception)

In this first paragraph -from the premise that the observer is located at the position where the Earth will exist in a few hundred million years later, when it has established itself as a planet, it makes the comparison with the current scientific explanation, which ensures that the solar nebula that gives rise to solar system was a chaotic mass of dust and gas, which contracted by [[gravitational waves] ] who they came to the area from any supernova nearby. This contraction caused most of the matter of the nebula accumulate in the center resulting in the generation of Sun, the central star.

The theory involves analyzing these events from the perspective of the Earth's surface [5], so it follows:

If a human being had been able to be in that position (in this case the observer), in that location, which would have seen it is: first, the chaos of dust floating in the space abyss. After the birth of light from somewhere that illuminate from behind the remnant of the original nebula dust which have not yet fallen to the Sun or even have formed part of the planets - since it is presumed the Sun He went on before all the dust of the nebula is deposited or was swept by the solar wind.

The logic of the thinking basis of the theory is to think that the observer rotates with the planet that is consolidating, -since Earth from its earliest moments must have been in rotations-, so the viewer he´d be standing, situated, on the swirling- would turn with him, and therefore, a moment he would be facing the light, and the next, he would have his back to it.

Second day

File:Http://creationwiki.org/pool/images/8/8b/Hebrew-cosmogony.gif
Early Hebrews conceived of the universe as a whole, an Earth-shaped disk center of the cosmos. The sky was a dome supported on pillars heavenly.(The religious ideas of the Old Testament) (Londres: Duckworth 1913)
«God said,
«”Let there be a vault through the middle of the waters to divide the waters in two”. And so it was: God made the vault, and it divided the waters under the vault from the waters above the vault.
God called the vault “heaven”. Evening came and morning came: the second day.» Genesis 1:6-8 (ASV)

On the basis of the theory of a fixed observer, it is conjectured that at that time the person would be telling the early stages of the consolidation of the world in which the emerging atmosphere would be saturated with water vapor, and volcanic ash products the time of cooling and generation of the primordial atmosphere.

At that time the planet's water atmosphere did not come to accumulate on the surface because the soil temperature, so it is likely that the humidity was hundred percent. The rain turned rushing to evaporate before hitting the ground. Then, to continue cooling the planet, so the water would remain liquid for longer and create the oceans, exposing the dry continents. Also the dust in the atmosphere, volcanic ash dust impacts of planetoid s and meteorite s that were falling should have been settled since the impacts will be gone spacing. As a result of all the air it should have been made diaphanous allowing visibility at long distances.

The text of Genesis would be saying that the observer would be this separation of water from the air. The air leading to the atmosphere and water as seas.

He believes that the rain falls from the waters which have been up, according to their cultural conception [6]. Since he can see the air in the middle and the seas down, but does not understand the origin of rain.

Third Day

«God said,
«“Let the waters under heaven come together into a single mass, and let dry land appear”. And so it was. God called the dry land “earth” and the mass of waters “seas”, and God saw that it was good.
«God said,
«“Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and fruit trees on earth, bearing fruit with their seed inside, each corresponding to its own species”. And so it was. The earth produced vegetation: the various kinds of seed-bearing plants and the fruit trees with seed inside, each corresponding to its own species. God saw that it was good. Evening came and morning came: the third day.» Genesis 1:9-13 (ASV)

The vision of the observer moves forward, and with it, the evolution of the planet progresses. The first plants are perceived, the first plant, possibly the primeval algae sea.

Science assures that the development of vegetation came with aquatic plants then ferns and conifer forests with lichens and fungi.

This person now sees the emergence of life forms that he recognizes, life forms that he associates with what exists at the time.

Fourth Day

«God said,
«“Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. Let them be lights in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth”. And so it was. God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light to govern the night, and the stars. God set them in the vault of heaven to shine on the earth, to govern the day and the night and to divide light from darkness. God saw that it was good. Evening came and morning came: the fourth day.» Genesis 1:14-19 (ASV)

This is a crucial point, as it is an irrefutable scientific fact that the stars were from the consolidation of the planets, possibly consolidation that occurred alongside the planet Earth, so it is impossible to have been at that time they have appeared for the first time,but as the observation according to the theory arises from a permanent location on the Earth's surface, then, one should think how that person which lived at least a thousand years BC, interprets see appear in a cloudless sky cosmic dust interplanetary and clouds of steam (within the atmosphere), the stars [7].

He believes it is at that time when they are created as they had not seen before, and he writes it that way.

He had seen a chaos of dust, he had seen vapor and fog, clouds, torrential rain, but until that time he had not seen the clear sky and starry space with the Sun and the Moon. Now at last he sees -within their vision at last in its time-line, and he believes it is at the time they are created by God.

Fifth day

«God said,
«“Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let birds wing their way above the earth across the vault of heaven”. And so it was. God created great sea-monsters and all the creatures that glide and teem in the waters in their own species, and winged birds in their own species. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply on land”. Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.» Genesis 1:20-23 (ASV)
File:Http://creationwiki.org/pool/images/3/3f/Sea-monsters.jpg
Sea monsters. Possibly the ancestors of today's whales. (Artist's conception)[8].
File:Http://creationwiki.org/pool/images/thumb/a/ad/Pangea-and-the-genesis.jpg/500px-Pangea-and-the-genesis.jpg
Sequence of continental drift. The arrow indicate the location of the observer.

The observer theory suggests that this "observer" had a location on the earth's surface. This person was part of the Hebrew people -possibly Moses, so its location is limited to Mesopotamia, somewhere between Egypt and the Euphrates River.

This particular location -the block of Arabia, current science says that during continental drift (see Pangea) may have been a beach. A beach that would be submerged and emerged several times through the movement of continents and glaciations until impact with India and becomes dry land.

Now we would be facing a situation where "the observer" would witness the dinosaurs in the sea ("sea monsters"), snakes and fish, and seabirds, which at that time should have been Pterosaurs or similar, flying dinosaurs to the distance he interprets as something known: birds.

By staying within the parameters set by the location (theoretical) we must remember that there is a semi-submerged beach [9] so they have not been observed-still land animals.

Sixth day

«God said,
«“Let the earth produce every kind of living creature in its own species: cattle, creeping things and wild animals of all kinds”. And so it was. God made wild animals in their own species, and cattle in theirs, and every creature that crawls along the earth in its own species. God saw that it was good.
«God said,
«“Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground”. God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying to them, «“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth”.
«God also said,
«“Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food. And to all the wild animals, all the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that creep along the ground, I give all the foliage of the plants as their food”. And so it was. God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.» Genesis 1:24-31 (ASV)

According to science, for the moment the block of Arabia hits with India elapsed sixty million years after the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

For the story of the beholder [10], just then he can see land animals, and of course, believes it is at that time that are created by God.

Then he sees the emergence of the human species and the intention of the bottom of what God reserves for her.

Seventh Day

«Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array. On the seventh day God had completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested after all his work of creating.
«Such was the story of heaven and earth as they were created.
«At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven» Genesis 2:1-4 (ASV)

In this -the seventh day-, the story of Creation is closed with the fundamental key to decrypt the account opening sentence: "Heaven and earth", this sentence would reflect the fact that only one man would talk like that "heaven and earth"; heavens above him, and land at his feet.

Formalisms of the theory of the observer

  • Genesis would have left "saved" in the text itself the key to understanding it. Key this would be the mention of the phrase "heaven and earth" at the beginning and end of the verses of The Creation, hinting that the perspective of the narrator is absolutely human and terrestrial, because regardless of the exact location of this "observer" on the planet's surface the story is not consistent with the scientific correlation.
  • The location of the observer is -for him, the center of the universe.
  • The seven days may have been the days when that person got this vision of creation in something like seven chapters, one per day, and thus the embodied in the story.

History

Creationist theories (see Creationism) have tried to continue the biblical account with the scientific counterpart for centuries. The various authors and exegetes had analyzed the events described in the

Bible verses on par with discoveries or knowledge of each era. Every scientific discovery led the scholars in the field again unto their assumptions and analyze seek a new explanation, motivating the various creationist currents.

It is important to understand how it happened-in the history of humanity, of a flat earth and being the center of the universe, to the compression of celestial mechanics, the evolution of species and to measure the stellar and universal evolution in billions of years.

Among the main streams of Christian creationism we can name:

  • Classic Creationism: in which assumes that God would have made the creation of all that exists in seven days twenty-four hours so that the earth would have about ten thousand years old.
  • Creationism anti-evolution: this movement tries to use the evidence and scientific discoveries to deny the evolution of species.
  • Intelligent design: considers that the nature and the universe as a whole has its origin and evolution in the direct intervention of God.
  • Creationism pro-evolution branch considers true scientific discovery and does not believe that there are mechanisms for both evolutions of living beings and the universe in general, that goes against God's existence.

The theory of terrestrial observer has hit it off nearest way science and religion, making creationism posed -in the recent past a land of 10,000 years old, evaluate figures on the order of billions of years. This current pro-evolution is also enlisted in the Creationism because it assumes that behind Darwinian evolution there is a purpose and a creator.

Christian creationist movements are mostly Protestant, with those most active and known in the USA.

Creationism in education

Creationism is not part of the compulsory curriculum in traditional education in any country of the world because it is not based on verifiable scientific evidence.

Exceptional cases are the United States, where Protestant majority exists, and which sought to include in 2005 in textbooks -in replacement of evolution, and it was banned by a court ruling. Another case is Islamic creationism in countries where this religion is professed.

The Catholic Church against creationism

The Catholic Church you do not agree with the literal interpretation of the text of the creative days of Genesis.

Science is not part of the magisterium of the church therefore not opposed to evolutionism. The Catholic believer should consider as a fundamental part of his doctrine that man has been created in the image and likeness of God, his soul is a creation of God's will and accept the divine causality.

For the foregoing, some authors argue that Catholic doctrine would not contradict with the Big Bang, or with the Darwinian theory of evolution of species and therefore could be listed in the column in the pro-evolution creationism.

Notes

This form of interpretation of the biblical text of Genesis, which is premised on the vision of a terrestrial observer, is part of the creationist theories of what is called the Old Earth. Also within the current progressive creation, which assesses that God's creation is not necessarily instantaneous and that it could well be progressive (hence comes its name). So I would agree with evolutionary theories of biology.

For the same reason also I would agree with the figures of millions of years that handles astronomy regarding the age of the universe, the stars and the solar system in particular.

The quotations from the Bible belong to the Jerusalem Bible Illustrated, Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 1973, under the direction of the Biblical School of Jerusalem.

External links

In english

In spanish

References

  1. Finding Darwin's God Wikipedia
  2. Luis A. Portillo (2013). Historia de la Fe Cristiana, de la Biblia y la Iglesia. EE. UU.: NazarethBooks, ISBN 978-1-62407-380-9
  3. Jonathan Sarfati: Exposé of The Genesis Question. Serious biblical and scientific errors deceive evangelicals.
  4. Ernesto H. Trenchard (1998). El Libro de Génesis. ISBN ISBN 0-8254-1738-4. «[...] podemos reconocer a Moisés como el autor substancial del Génesis [...]»
  5. Science Rebuttals - Light During the First Three Days of Creation: "(...) Genesis Chapter 1 is. It is an account of the creation, from the point of view of an observer, standing on the surface of the planet" oldearth.org by Greg Neyman
  6. Aune, David E. (2003): Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. Westminster John Knox Press
  7. Antonio Cruz. Los días de la Creación. Protestantedigital.com «The story introduces us to the creational fourth day, pulling back the curtain atmospheric dark, so we can see the sun, moon and countless stars [...]»
  8. Arqueocetos Wikipedia
  9. Eoceno - Wadi Al-Hitan "(...) during the Eocene, which today is the Sahara desert at that time was a shallow sea of the Tethys ocean (...)" Wikipedia
  10. Alberto Canen (2012). The observer of Genesis. The science behind the story of creation. Editorial Creative. "The story of an observer. Someone who observes someone who narrates and a place from which he observes. The location [...]