Tyler Johnson, MDiv
Tyler is a pastor and a former NASA engineer. He loves to explore truth through God’s word and God’s works. He lives in Iowa with his wife and four children and spends what little free-time he has pondering the mysteries of light.
Introduction
When I was in seminary I was studying Genesis 1 for a project I was working on and I came across the following quotation from famous Old Testament scholar Gerhard von Rad: “Theology found in the science of that time an instrument it could use unhesitatingly to unfold the content of faith.” Over the years, as I have read and studied Genesis 1 and the world it was written in, I have found von Rad’s statement to be remarkably accurate. Genesis 1 is an ancient document, written in an ancient language, written in and to an ancient culture. It is filled with ways that the ancient people understood the heavens and the earth. Whatever science looked like when Genesis 1 was written, and certainly it looked quite different than it does today, that ancient scientific understanding of the world forms part of the foundation that Genesis 1 is built upon.
Since I read that quote I have often pondered what it might look like to do like the ancient Israelites did and use the science of our time as an instrument for unhesitatingly unfolding the contents of faith. The following story is my latest attempt at doing just this. It takes what I understand to be the main theological messages of Genesis 1 and puts them into a modern scientific framework in order to “unfold the content of faith.” Call it “Genesis 1 Retold” if you like.
Creation Retold
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God created everything. We don’t know much about what was happening before the beginning, but we know that God was there and that he set the whole thing in motion because he wanted to share his love with someone else.
God thought about his project and pondered where to start. He looked over the vast nothingness that he hadn’t created yet and realized that there was nothing to look at. Whatever he made first would have to be something special. It would be the first thing to exist that wasn’t him. It would have to be something that was like him in some ways, but different than him too. He thought that whatever he created first, should be something that helped people find truth. After all, he rejoices in truth. He should create a world where people could know the truth too, so they could rejoice in it. What could help people see truth…? Ah, yes, light. So God said, “Let there be light.” And suddenly an explosion of light filled the nothingness. Light was everywhere, which isn’t really saying much since nothing else existed yet. God liked the light; he thought it was a good start to his project.
God pondered some more. Creatures would need more than just light to live in. They would need some way of being in relationship with one another and with God. So
God reached into the light with both hands and spread them apart. He created a space where he could continue his project. He called it, “space.” He looked at the space and thought it was a little boring so he took a deep breath and blew into the space as hard as he could. The space started to expand. Slow and steady, it got bigger and bigger like a balloon. He liked how space was changing and called that change, “time.” He sat back and watched as the light began to work its way into the space a little bit here, and a little bit there. Soon the space was a mix of light and darkness. And God liked what he saw.
God pondered some more. He was not in a hurry. Love is patient, after all. He looked at his beautiful creation of time and space, light and darkness and decided that creatures would need something else if they were going to be able to love one another. They would need places within all that space where they could meet other people. So, God reached out into his creation and filled his hands with light. He trapped the light in between his fists and started to squeeze. The light slowed down. It became heavy. Soon God had turned the light in his hands into matter. Atoms were formed. Then in a quick, joyful movement God opened his hands and immediately clapped them together again sending atoms flying throughout space. Once again he breathed into space and gravity started to pull the matter together in clumps. Those clumps became bigger and bigger and as they grew they sucked in more matter. Suddenly one of the clumps ignited and started burning. Then another. Then another. Before long, stars filled the space adding to the light that was already there. God liked these stars, but he knew that creatures would need a different kind of place to live.
One by one, God squeezed each star until the centers were so squished that the atoms had no place to go. They kept bumping into each other and soon they were combining together. New atoms were formed. New heavier kinds of matter were created as God squeezed the stars. God liked this new kind of matter. So, one by one, he visited each star again. This time he lightly touched the star and it exploded. God touched each star until they had all exploded. Now the space was filled with all kinds of atoms and matter. God watched as gravity again brought atoms together into clumps that grew and grew. This time there was more variety in the clumps. Some of them ignited again and started burning and new stars were born. Some of them came together but never burned. They just grew and as they grew they became more and more solid and soon planets were formed. God liked these planets. They could be good places for creatures to live and meet and love one another. They could be places where creatures could learn to know and love him too. They were good.
God looked at all the planets until he found one that seemed ready for life. It was the perfect distance from a medium sized star. It would be warm, but not too hot. It was perfect. He looked at the ball of dirt; it was dull and boring. It needed some color, so God sneezed and all around the ball of dirt an atmosphere formed. Gases swirled around the planet and as the gases cooled it started to rain. Soon water filled all the cracks and crevices and all the low places of the planet. The ball had some color now but was still dead. It needed some movement. So God picked up that ball of dirt and water, threw it up in the air and spun it on his finger like a basketball. Now things on the little planet started moving. The water surged from place to place and even the land moved slowly into new configurations. The land separated the water and God liked it. He moved his finger away and the planet continued to spin. Then he flicked it lightly and the planet started moving around the star. And God liked it.
God watched as the spinning orb circled the star. He watched different parts of the planet warm up and cool down. He saw rain fall and fill lakes and rivers with water, and he watched as the rivers brought that water to the sea. He watched the sea warm up and the water evaporate and form clouds. And he watched those clouds rain on the earth again. God liked what he saw. Then God picked up some dirt and breathed on it. And he opened his hand and scattered it over all the land. Everywhere the breathed-on dirt touched the earth something green began to grow: trees, grasses, ferns, and flowers. Soon the planet was covered in shades of dirt-brown, ocean-blue and vibrant green. It was a beautiful thing to look at, and God liked it.
Now for the fun part. God stuck his finger into one of the oceans on the planet and swirled it around a bit. Then he sat back and watched. Slowly, he saw movement in the ocean. It was tiny at first, too small for any of us to see, but God could see it. After a while there were tiny bits of movement throughout the waters. God watched as the tiny moving forms of life began to grow and change. They took on different forms. Lots of different forms. Some grew big, some stayed small. Some lived near the surface of the water and some near the bottom. Some grew fins and others grew claws. God watched as the waters produced all kinds of living creatures. Eventually, the oceans were filled with all kinds of life. God looked at each creature, some big, some small. Some of them looked rather ridiculous, but God liked everything he saw.
The oceans were teeming with life. But the land was quiet and still. So, God slapped his hand onto the sea and splashed water all over the land. Soon life started to fill the land too. Little creatures creeped and crawled up out of the dirt. Some stayed in the dirt and some climbed onto the plants and high into the trees. God watched as creatures grew and changed. Some wandered into cold areas and found ways to survive there. Others stayed where it was hot and learned to live in the heat. Some lived underground, some lived on the surface. Some lived in the mountains and others lived in the valleys. Over time God watched as the land produced creatures that filled every little space with life. And God liked what he saw.
Then God found the highest mountains on the planet. They were covered in snow and always cold. God gathered some of the snow up in his hands and made a snowball. And he threw that snowball high into the air, so high that it exploded. And as the pieces of snow fell through the air God blew on them and they started to whirl around and move through the sky. God watched as the snowflakes formed into birds and butterflies and bugs that flew through the sky. They soared and floated through the air until they filled the atmosphere. As he watched, they grew and changed and took on different forms depending on where they lived. Before long the sky was filled with flying creatures. And God liked what he saw.
God looked at the new world he had created. It was almost perfect. It was beautiful. It was filled with life. But it wasn’t quite done. It was still missing something. God pondered what else his project needed. Then he remembered why he chose to create this world in the first place: He wanted something to share his love with. He had that now in the birds and the beasts and the fish, and even the rocks and the dirt. But none of them could love like he could. The problem wasn’t that God needed the love of another creature; he was already complete and didn’t lack anything. But since his goal was to share his love with something, it would be best if the creatures could learn to love like him. So, to complete his creation, God would make a creature that was more like him than any of the beasts, or the birds, or the fish. He would make a creature that could learn to love like he did. Then these creatures would truly share in God’s love.
God looked around at all the living creatures he had made. They were amazing and weird and beautiful and unique, and God loved them all. But none of them were quite right. So, he waited. God is patient. Remember? He watched the creatures grow and change. He saw them develop new abilities and learn new skills. Over time they became more complex and more interesting. They were getting closer to the kind of creature that could learn to love like he did. But they weren’t there yet. So, God waited. He watched. As time went on the creatures continued to change and grow and to develop new abilities and learn new skills. He watched and he watched. The creatures were amazing. It seemed that there was no end to what they could learn and how they could adapt. God delighted in the kind of life that was filling the little planet he had made. But none of them developed into the kind of creatures that could learn to love like God. Finally, God decided to help the process out.
God looked at all the amazing creatures that filled the earth and found some that seemed close to what he was looking for. He took those creatures and set them aside. Then he breathed on them. A little bit of that breath entered each of the creatures. And slowly it began to change them. The breath gave them a new kind of life. Their minds woke up and they could understand the world in new ways. They could remember the past and think about the future. The breath settled deep within each one of them and became their soul. With that breath God created human beings. And he created them to be like him in some small ways. They were no longer simply animals. Now they had spirits too. They were amphibious, half natural and half divine. Finally, these were creatures who could learn to love like him. And the more they loved like him, the more they would be like him. God looked at all that he made, the heavens and the earth. He saw all the life that filled the earth and he focused his loving gaze on the human beings made in his image. And God loved it all.
This world could become everything that God had created it to be. It was full of potential. The human beings could truly learn to love like him and to love each other like he loves them. They could learn to share in the love that he had within the Trinity. Full of love, God the Father looked over at the Son and said, “One day, you will become one of them.” And the Son looked at the Father and said, “I’d like that”.
Sources
The following are the main sources for the theology I drew upon for this story. The scientific framework is common enough that sources are plentiful.
Colin Gunton, The Triune Creator (Edinburgh, 1998)
John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One (IVP, 2009)
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching (Popular Patristics Series #17)
Robert Grosseteste, On the Cessation of the Laws (Fathers of the Church Medieval Continuations Book 13)