Genesis 1

Did God create the universe in 6 days? Or is a “day” a metaphor for a much longer time period. I don’t doubt that God did, indeed, create the universe. But I’m not totally convinced that He did it in literally six 24-hour days. Not that I doubt He has the power to. It’s just that science (which is the analysis of God-created nature) suggests that the Earth’s age is millions of years old, and that there were much larger time-frames between when certain things existed on the Earth. So, if the analysis of God’s creation shows that the Earth’s origin happened over long periods of time, why not believe that was so? No one’s saying God is any less powerful. Just that He chose to create the Earth in that manner. But He still created it.

I don’t believe science and God are mutually exclusive. If God created the universe, then he also created the laws of nature, and therefore the laws of science. There is a way Creationism and carbon dating can be explained without contradiction. So, with our limited knowledge of science, why not assume that the language of the Bible is metaphoric, when talking about creation? Does it hurt to allow science to educate our interpretation of the Scriptures?

To me, the time in which creation took place is much less important than the fact that God was in fact the Creator.

On another note, God clearly gives man the authority to have dominion over all the animals, plants, and living things on the Earth. This chapter makes no mention of abusing this authority — just that man does have authority. Animals do not have the same “rights” as humans.