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What we wanted to do is is um just kind of tackle some of the questions you might get asked about about Genesis chapter one. Is that okay? So that gives you a bit of the kind of the depth of the context in which it was written, some of the other stories that go on at the time, how we understand this genre of writing alongside the genres here. But uh I suppose for me that the kind of um the question I think that you you asked was um how do you how do you understand Genesis and science? Because we live in a technological world where uh some people even say that science has disproved God uh and that technology has has so changed our world that we can almost worship technology and science as as God. How do you um understand the Genesis story in the light of science? So I mean just a few little thoughts for me. Um some of you know that I uh I did a physics degree um here in Bristol. I taught secondary school physics up 20 level for a number of years. Um I love the the physical world. I love the order, I love the laws, I love the Planck's constant, I kind of I just I love the mystery of of how kind of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. I think, I mean, I just I just love the world in which God has created us. So, but I think some Christians can feel threatened by scientists or by science. Kind of, does science is I'm I love Jesus, I've I've found him, I've I I I'm trusting God, but this this little kind of dark thought, but I wonder if science can disprove, I kind of feel it's real, I've experienced it, but but can is science a threat to my faith? And obviously, obviously some scientists feel that kind of threatened by Christians who have these experiences that can't be kind of put into a test tube and uh experimented on. Um but for but for me I I think that there's um science and and and faith are trying to do two different things. Um the cause and effect. Um uh it looks at kind of um the the the laws of of of of of motion, electricity, magnetism, light, kind of uh it's trying to look at the cause and effect of the physical world. Actually, the Bible isn't predominantly trying to do that. So Genesis chapter one isn't predominantly trying to have a cause and effect story. It's not trying to say, and by the way, if you wanted to do your kind of science of origins, kind of um forget the Big Bang, forget kind of Darwin and uh origin of species and uh evolution, actually, guys, this is how the world was created. Bomb, some science. Actually, the Bible is predominantly not trying to apply to our scientific world. Dan's explained, it's true, it's trying to speak into a different kind of culture, a different kind of world. But as it speaks to a different kind of culture, a different kind of world, actually the eternal truth is still there. Actually, the eternal truth is to do with purpose, it's not to do with cause and effect, it's to do with purpose. And in some ways, the um science and faith can never disprove one another because they're trying to do two different things. Kind of um so so you can't disprove faith with science, you can't kind of disprove science with faith. Actually, that they're trying to do two different things. Um I I I like kind of when I think about Genesis, um I love the the thought of um of a kettle boiling. If you were to come into our kitchen and you were to see a kettle boiling and you were to ask me, Tim, why is that kettle boiling? I would say, I'm so pleased you've asked that question. It's to do with electricity! Electricity is going through this flex into the kettle, and because of the resistance, actually it's heating up, the heat's transferred to the water, the water reaches 100 degrees, and that's why the kettle is boiling. I'm glad you asked the question. Now, if you were to ask my wife the question and say, Bev, why is the kettle boiling? She would say, I felt thirsty, I wanted a cup of tea. No, I would say, wife, don't be so silly. It's to be with electricity, it's to be with animal kind of transfer of energy. I thought, no, no, genuinely, I wanted a cup of tea. Now, who's right? Actually, both are right, aren't they? Actually, science and faith, actually, faith can't, faith is it's purpose. Science looks at the cause and effect. And because electricity can't disprove the fact that somebody's thirsty and wants a cup of tea, there's purpose to it. In fact, the kettles were made to make cups of tea. Actually, the physical world in which we live, with its cause and effect, with its scientific rules, actually it can't disprove God, but actually it was made so that we could find God. Like the kettle was made to fulfill a purpose, to quench thirst. Actually, the world was made with a purpose, and that purpose was to inspire people to encounter a God that's invisible. What was made that is visible and tangible, creation, Genesis 1, is there to inspire us to find the invisible. Actually, Paul puts it like this in Romans chapter 1. He says, since uh what has been known about God is plain to them because he made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, Genesis chapter 1, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, understood through what's been made, so that men without excuse. Actually, he would say that this is the case, is that actually the physical world that science looks at was created so that people could understand the purpose. There's a God there who's got power, eternal power. There's a God there whose eternal nature is creative, is loving, is nurturing, is giving identity and purpose, significance and meaning. So when I look at Genesis chapter 1, I mean there's different ways in which people can interpret Genesis chapter 1. Kind of, was it supposed to be scientific? And again, personally I don't think it was, but some Christians do believe that it's in a six-day creation. They do believe that God created light on the first day, created sea and sky on the second day, created land and plants on the third day, and actually in three lots of 24 hours that God did it. Now, I I would struggle with that because I think that there's scientific evidence and scientific theories that kind of are there, but actually they would say, but God could have created the world with age, God could have created the rocks with fossils in them. He could have actually when God created Adam on day six, and you were to, if you were to bump into Adam and you were to say, How old is Adam? Well, he's been created for ten minutes. But actually, if you would look at him, you might say, Oh, he's kind of 24, 25, because he would appear to have age. If Adam cut down a tree to make a canoe, and cut down a tree that had only been made three days beforehand, if it was a perfect tree and cut it down, what would you see in the stump? You'd see rings, because it's a perfect tree. Well, if it's got rings, actually you can count the rings, then you could say how old the tree was. Actually, it's not three days old, Adam. This tree is 70 years old. And actually, kind of 20 rings in, it's a bit darker than the ring. Actually, I can tell you that actually the climate in this very spot was super dry or super wet. And actually, you can make up a history by looking at those rings. For a tree that's only been made three days old, but God's made it with with age. So, in some ways, people do philosophically say it could be that God did it in three days, in six days, but God did it with age, created inbuilt age. And again, in some ways you can't argue with that because nobody was there when it happened. Um but I I I I think that um when Dan said about this these words formless and empty, in some ways, I think the purpose of the story isn't supposed to be about scientific explanations to origins, actually, it is about um formlessness and emptiness. And that actually, when we look at the physical world now, actually, rather than the world being formless, on day one, God gives light. On day two, he gives sea and sky. On day three, there's land on his plants. Actually, he creates some form, some infrastructure. And then on day four, instead of just light, there's now some moon stars. On day five, rather than just the sea and sky, he populates the sea and sky with fish and birds. And rather than day three, land and plants, now there's animals and human beings that are on the um the land. Um, and there's a form and there's a fullness. Actually, what he's trying to say is a bit like in Romans. Actually, there's something about God's eternal power. That the way that the world's been structured, with all the amazing kind of laws and thermodynamics and and all the way, actually, God created this world and somehow displays his power. From those protons being held together in the nucleus of an atom to the cosmic black holes and galaxies, actually, God's power is seen through creation. But also the emptiness is filled, and actually it's filled with with content, with biodiversity, with I mean, God could have just done a bird, an animal, a human being. Actually, there's birds, there's insects, there's reptiles, actually, there's thousands upon thousands upon thousands of different species. Why did God do that? Because God loves diversity, he's fascinated, he's intrigued. Actually, that's why no human fingerprint is exactly the same. Because it displays something of God's divine nature. Actually, he made you uniquely you. And I think what he's trying to say here is there's in Genesis chapter 1, it's not a scientific explanation, it's not trying to say how, but actually, there's something here about purpose, about who God is. Uh, looking at his world, we find his eternal power and his divine nature. So uh, for me, when we think about uh biblical creation, now you might believe in evolution, and again, there's plenty of Christians who do believe in evolution. Um, some people believe in just total random evolution is just a kind of a sequence of um uh of random events that have ended up in us being us. Actually, some people believe in guided evolution, that it's not just totally random, that at certain points God intervened and and God did things with his creative power. But but however he he did that, actually, for me there's four things that I'd probably be maybe take-home points. I would say that creation is a result of God's creative action. It's not accidental just by chance. In the beginning, God made the heavens, that's the spiritual realm, and the earth the physical realm. Later he does the the sky and the and the and the land, kind of uh uh in the beginning, God makes the heavens, the physical, the spiritual world, including angels and demons and the devil, they're all created by God, and he creates the earth, the physical world. So, so it's by God's creative action. Actually, God creation shows God's attributes, his law, order, love, beauty. Again, in contrast to the other creation stories going around in the time. As Moses is taking the people into the promised land, as they're coming out from an Egyptian culture where they've been born and brought up and have been slaves. Actually, you need to understand we're not following the sun god, we're not following these other kinds of mystical beings, actually, we're following a God who is loving, who's ordered, who loves beauty, diversity? Actually, there's there's a purpose behind creation. Actually, creation was created to be a place where we encountered God, which I think comes back to your question about when um humanity steps away from God and that relationship is broken, does something fracture in the physical world as well? The physical world was made was made to be this perfect environment where humanity encountered God. Pictured in Adam and Eve walking in the garden of God. Actually, when they broke away from God, actually the perfect world somehow broke. And now there's gonna be, rather than just doing a bit of gardening, there's gonna be weeds there, it's gonna be hard work. Work that was God intended is now hard work. Actually, Paul says in Romans chapter 8, now all creation groans, and it's groaning, it's waiting for the sons of God to be revealed, for things to be put right again. In salvation, Jesus comes to put right the break between relation between us and God. When Jesus returns, he'll put creation back into order. The creation that was broken will be put back, and there'll be a new heaven and a new earth. Um so um uh there's a purpose, and actually, we're to be good stewards of the earth. Um again, um some people think, well, the earth's gonna be destroyed, we might as well just do the heck we like with it. Let's burn all the coal, get all the oil, just use the this planet. And and actually, if you read Genesis, actually, we've got to be good stewards of the earth. Actually, God has given it to us as a place to love and to treasure. Genesis chapter 1 says, rule over it. Not rule over it as domineer it, but rule it as if God was ruling. Again, how would Jesus rule? He doesn't come as a tyrant, he comes as a servant. He comes to use his abilities and his power not to be served but to serve. That's how we're to use the world. Not to to rule it to serve ourselves, but to rule it to care for it. And so we're to be good stewards uh of the earth. Um so here are the four questions that um uh we'll circle back on. Who was it written to? Again, for for me, like Dan says, the kind of scriptures were um gathered together during the Babylonian time. Uh personally, I think, that um the first five books were written by Moses. Uh, and however they were recorded, they were gathered together. But I think he was the the author. I think those 40 days when it was with God face to face. I mean, how bizarre is that? I'm sure one of the questions he asked was, God, how did this all start? Kind of um and and maybe it was, no one was there. Kind of um uh maybe he did ask those kind of questions. So it was written, why was it written to establish the nature of God as they were called out of Egypt into the promised land? You need to understand who you are, your place within this world, how God intended this to function, how God gave you dignity of being made in his image, significance to um to take this crazy world and bring it under submission uh to the love of God. Uh we've done about how it's recorded, um, and and and what's it communicating? Um again, uh compared to other religions at the time, there's only one God. The universe is ordered, the universe is good, uh, the universe is is God created and and and controlled. Uh all men and women are made in the image of God, and we are stewards uh for this world. Um we've got ten minutes. Um uh but and again, ten minutes for for for any questions. Well, I mean there's loads more in Genesis chapter one, and obviously Genesis chapter two. Uh you might think, well, why why have two creation stories? If it was a science textbook, there's only one answer. It's tell us the truth. Okay, there's one answer. Actually, if it's a purpose book, which is why when Dan said about this is the account of, this is the account of, this is the account of, actually, there's an inbuilt structure that's like here's chapter one, here's chapter two, there's twelve chapters in in the book of Genesis. Now, because of the monks at medieval times, we have 50 chapters, but originally they're just 12 chapters. Chapter one was the creation of the heaven and the earth. Actually, chapter two was about how humanity fits within that. Chapter two deals with his uh kind of Adam's created first, Adam's created as a as a social being, created to connect with God, to know God's love, but actually created to love other creatures as well, and and and there's no animal in the animal kingdom that's suitable to be kind of a companion to Adam. And so again, picture, poetry, here's a rib that's taken out of Adam's side. Um, again, some commenters say it wasn't taken from Adam's head that the woman would rule a man, it wasn't taken from his foot so that men could tread over women, taken from his side uh equal, taken from his side near the heart to be loved and and cherished, and and there's something about the imagery, and and that's why the punchline of the second creation story is to do about how do we socially kind of express love to one another? How how does the the story and the purpose of God and his people, even in the most closest of human connection, the marriage relationship, how does that work out? And it's a space for connection, for commitment, uh, for love, because that's how God loves his people, that's how Jesus loves his church. Uh that's why we have two stories. One's about all men, all women subduing the earth ruling, creating the image of God. If you happen to be married, how does the marriage relationship work? And here's an image that represents the Godhead, and the physical thing that we can see represents something that we can't see, the enduring love of Jesus for his church and God for his people. Um any questions? Uh anything that we haven't covered that you hope we've covered? Obviously, we're gonna do uh the fall next week, and we're gonna do the