By Mark Ellis
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Genesis 1:1-2
For years, theologians, scientists, and students of the Bible have pondered the meaning of this extraordinary description of creation, written by Moses about 1,400 years before the birth of Christ.
In his documentary “The Story of Everything,” Stephen Hawking reveals how the earth took shape from a formless cloud of dust and debris, in a manner that one observer believes is familiar.
“His video follows the same description that Moses wrote about 3,500 years ago,” says Paul Hutchins, author of “Hubble Reveals Creation.” “The Earth formed from leftover dust and debris from the sun,” he says. “The Earth forms in darkness, in a cloud of dust.”
Discoveries by Nasa’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as the ability to determine the rate of expansion of the universe. “The Hubble telescope has really been photographing creation,” Hutchins maintains. “Nobody knew what ‘formless and void’ meant until the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes revealed the way planets form.”
Out of this formless void, light from the sun emerged gradually, Hutchins believes, to create the conditions that would lead to intelligent human life.
“The statement at Genesis 1:3, “Let there be light,” on day one, corresponds to when our sun
came to life as it transitioned from a protostar to a main sequence star as demonstrated in Hawking’s video,” he notes. “Only in the later stages of planet formation when earth’s atmosphere cleared would direct light from the already existing sun, moon, and stars be visible from the earth.”
Hutchins believes these recent scientific discoveries will remove much confusion about the Genesis account of Earth’s creation. “I believe the Bible will always prove to be accurate with science,” he notes.
“It’s mind-boggling how complex the universe is. It looks like it has its own DNA.”
Stephen Hawking’s video “Solar System Formation”
The earth was not created from the dust left over from the formation of the sun. God says the sun came to be on day 4 were as the earth is on day 2.
God Bless
Mr Hutchins has adopted a compromise position on creation – Theistic Evolutionism. He is out of step with what God has revealed to us in Genesis chapter one and other places in the Bible (e.g. Exodus 20:11). I do not think this book should be recommended, as theistic evolution raises more doubts than it gives answers. In fact many who have left the church in the past decade have done so because of so-called Christians preaching an evolutionary view of the universe and of life. By so doing they replace the authority of scripture with their own authority which is little different from that of atheists. God’s word teaches us that the universe is thousands, not millions of years old as this report suggests Mr Hutchins believes. Light did not ’emerge gradually’ creating conditions for intelligent life on earth. As with the resurrection of Jesus, God did what he says he did in a short space of time. He is, after all, the Almighty!
In my conversation with Paul, he said he did not believe in evolution, that there is no evidence for one species evolving into another. But he did agree to the fact that there is variety within species.
It’s good to know that Mr Hutchins doesn’t believe in biological evolution. I presume he believes that God created certain distinct ‘kinds’ which have in the past few thousand years diversified to become different species and sub-species. This is in line with the testimony of the Bible and what we can observe around us.
My concern is that, according to this report, he appears to believe in cosmic evolution. Quote: ‘“The Earth formed from leftover dust and debris from the sun,” he says.’ This is in stark contrast to the Biblical account that the earth was formed, with land and sea and atmosphere and biosphere before the sun and moon were made and the stars put in place. (Genesis 1:16)
The Nebular Hypothesis of the formation of the solar system is, I understand, not supported by the evidence – such as the rotation and axis of different planets. It is only promoted by scientists because there isn’t a better explanation other than its creation by God.
Having just viewed the home-page of this book I see that one of the videos that accompanies it tells us three times that the days of Genesis One are not literal days. This is in conflict with the understanding of reputable Hebrew scholars – the context does not allow them to be read any other way than 24 hour periods. Also, Exodus 20:11 only makes sense if God is telling us he made the universe in 6 working days and rested on the 7th day – the pattern we are to follow each week.
We must be careful not to try to fit the Bible around the observations and models of secular science – but, sadly, it seems that Mr Hutchins is doing just that in his book, fascinating though it be. Scientific investigation must be brought to the bar of scripture not vice versa. Furthermore, empirical science can never tell us who this great Designer is, even when they appear to admit to a vast Intelligence behind Creation. Without the Bible we can never know that this Great Being is an eternal trinity of love who created us for a purpose – to know and love us. That is why God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came into his universe to reclaim what had been lost through rebellion and sin. This is the message of the gospel – science can never discover or reveal this to us.
Mr Wilkinson states that he belives that the universe was created in six literal 24 hour days. My question to him is if the days in Genesis are literal then how does he explain Genesis 2:4 where it states “in the day God created heaven and earth?”
He does not take into account the Hebrew word for day (yom) can mean a literaL day or a generation or, an unspecified amount of time, depending on the context.
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