Making the universe

 

EVOLUTION: THE SCIENTIFICALLY ELEGANT SOLUTION

 

In Gen c1:

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

      I reckon God intended the Bible account of Creation to be:

            partly true:
                       It did not take six days  Gen c1
                       but billions of years.
                       Yet he Bible lists each item’s occurrence
                       in nearly the correct historical order:
                             1.   light    the sun
                             2.   a spinning planet    day & night
                             3.   sea    due to the great rain, 3.8 billion years ago, after the
                                             ground temperature had dropped below 100 degrees C,

                             4.   land    what the great rain did not cover,
                             5.   land vegetation
                             6.   seasons    made apparent by the land vegetation
                             7.   fish    *these should be before land vegetation
                             8.   birds
                             9.   land animals    *these should be before birds.

 

            yet also partly fictional:
                       The Bible says that:
                                   on the first day 
                                   God made day & night, i.e. light,   Gen c1 v1-5 
                       yet also that:
                                   it’s not until the fourth day
                                   that God made the Sun   Gen c1 v14-19.,   

 

In fact, a big bang is the only way God could have brought
such a set of Indivisible Factors into existence.

So, the universe started as a big bang
then took billions of years to take shape.

 

Immediately after the big bang, & onwards,
God could have intervened.

But, letting the stars & planets form on their own
was the scientifically elegant thing to do.

It also gave the impression
that the universe was accidental,
thus helping faith to exist.

 

Perhaps see later section:
WHAT’S WRONG WITH A VISIBLE SOLUTION? , , .

.

 

Perhaps also see item 1)
of earlier section: MY ATTITUDE TO THE BIBLE, , .

 

.

 

 

EVOLUTION OF PLANTS & ANIMALS

 

God designed the material of the universe
so that everything evolves:
            not only stars & planets
            but also plants & animals.

 

Again, this was the scientifically elegant thing to do:

            design the material of the universe
                       so that parts of it
                       live and die
                                   but reproduce
                                   which prevents extinction
                                   and, incidentally, increases numbers
                                              automatically improving their own design
                                              with time.

 

.

 

Note to atheists:

            It is not scientific to think that
            nature designed animals
                       so that their hunger is painful
                       and their mating is pleasant
                                   to make them continue to exist.

            It is scientific to think that only animals
            that happened to find that
                       their hunger is painful
                       and their mating is pleasant
                                   would continue to exist.

Conversely, for believers:

            It is scientific to think that
            God designed matter
            therefore God designed animals
                       so that their hunger is painful
                       and their mating is pleasant
                                   to make them continue to exist.

 

.

 

 

MIRACULOUS TWEAKS
TO THE UNIVERSE?

 

Perhaps God planted life here:
            Perhaps RNA & DNA would never have occurred naturally
            and so were miraculous tweaks.

Or perhaps RNA & DNA did occur naturally
but God subsequently helped life evolve:

            Perhaps by occasionally miraculously tweaking
            (the components of) various life forms.

            The asteroid, 65 million years ago,
            that wiped out all the dinosaurs
            was handy for us.
            Perhaps that was a miraculous tweak.

 

But, even if there have never been any miraculous tweaks,
even if everything that happened here
happened for only natural reasons,
then God still gets all the credit
for designing matter the way he did:

            Evolution does not disprove God.
            Evolution merely proves how clever he is.

 

.

 

 

NO WAITING

 

God can travel in time in Heaven.

,                  Perhaps see later webpages:
,                  There is time in Heaven
,                  and:
,                  Time travel occurs in Heaven.


Hence God did not have to wait for his creation to mature.
To him – it all happened instantly.

 

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THE MIRACULOUS TWEAK
TO PRODUCE HUMAN LIFE

 

To make humans:
            God tweaked a specie of ape (or a few members of it)
            to be eternal.
            Even though they remained made of
            temporary materials.

 

            Genesis c1 phrases this tweak as:
                       Gen c1 v27:
                       So God created man in his own image,
                       in the image of God created he him … ctd   KJV

            Whereas Gen c2 – c3 goes into more detail:
                       E.G. Gen c2 v7:
                        And the LORD God formed man
                        of the dust of the ground,
                        and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
                        and man became a living soul.   KJV

 

.

 

 

TREAT THE BIBLICAL ADAM & EVE
AS REAL

 

I wrote, at the beginning of this webpage,
that the whole of the biblical Creation account
is partly true, partly fictional.

 

Likewise, the part of the Creation account
where God makes humans
is also partly true, partly fictional.

      Partly true:

            o    Eternality cannot evolve into existence:
                 you’re either eternal or you’re not.
                 So there must have been the first human(s)
                 however we were made.

            o    Regarding the tree of knowledge of good & evil:
                 humans actually do have a knowledge of good & evil
                 that animals simply do not have.

            o    Regarding the tree of life:
                 humans actually are temporary, flesh, like animals,
                 yet also eternal.

      Partly fictional:

            o    The Bible makes much of Adam’s & Eve’s origins.
                 But nothing of the origins of
                 the people their children marry,
                 nor of the many other people, already living,
                 for which there is archaeological proof.
                 See also:  Gen c4 – c5.

,                            Perhaps again see item 1)
,                            of earlier section: MY ATTITUDE TO THE BIBLE, , .

 

I reckon that:

      When, 3,300 years ago, God spoke to Moses about our origins,
      God could not tell him the true account.

      It would have been too technical, too scientific:
            would have required a lot of background material
            that didn’t exist then.
      God had to tell him a simpler version.
      Hence the first chapters of Genesis.   Gen c1–c3 

      As soon as this simple version was written
      it was used as a reference for all other such material.
,        
,         I reckon that Jesus, being God’s Son, knew about the above simplification.
,         Perhaps that’s why Jesus did not refer to Adam & Eve by name
,         but merely referred to them as male & female. 
,         Matt c19 v4-6    and    Mark c10 v6-9  

,         Luke referred to Adam, in Luke c3 v38. 
,         But he wasn’t quoting Jesus.

 

I reckon the real Adam(s) & Eve(s)
were a specie of ape
that, seven million years ago,
God made, along with any descendants, to be eternal.
Perhaps see later section: THIS INCLUDES ALL DESCENDANTS.


            Our eternal quality then caused
            an exponential increase
            in our applied-intelligence:

                       I.E. Caused changes in behaviour
                       and, simultaneously,
                       a corresponding rearranging & enlarging of the brain.

                       Our enlarging brain and changing behaviour
                       then gradually changed the rest of our anatomy.

                       I explain how, in detail, in the next two webpages.

 

Thus, many of the commonly accepted
cause-&-effect lines of human evolution
are the wrong way round:

            The causes of:
                       walking upright
                       walking further
                       grasping better
                       comprehending better
                       grunts becoming words
                       experimenting with fire & tools
                       experimenting with foods
                       increase in brain size
                       bodily changes associated with all the above
            were, in fact:
                       internal,
                       not external.

 

                       It wasn’t some elusive, unique,
                       combination of the external
                       changing the internal.

                       It was the internal
                       changing the external.

 

                       Hence it took seven million years
                       for the gradual, but exponential, humanisation
                       of our species.

 

However:

            What do the real Adam(s) & Eve(s), seven million years ago,
            tell us about ourselves?
                       Little.
                       Nothing of importance.

            What do the Adam & Eve of the Bible
            tell us about ourselves?
                       Much.
                       All of great importance.

            So, treat the Bible account as true.

 

.

 

,         ,         I think that Christians who insist that:
,         ,         ,         ,         God made the universe in six days
,         ,         ,         ,         or even that the entire Bible is true,
,         ,         are mistaken.

          ,         But, I notice that God responds to them
          ,         exactly as if the entire Bible were indeed true.

          ,         Blue text copied from item 1)
          ,         of earlier section: MY ATTITUDE TO THE BIBLE, , .

 

.

 

 

CREATING MATTER,
BUT MAKING HUMANS

 

 

Moses (& others) saw that:

            Soil is food for plants.

            Plants are food for animals & humans
            and animals are food for humans.

            Plants, animals, & humans all eventually turn to soil.

Hence it’s apparent that we are made of
the same materials as our surroundings.

Hence it was intuitive for (God, through) Moses, 
to state our origin as:
            made of the dust of the ground
            with God then breathing life into it.

            Gen c2 v7:
            And the LORD God formed man
            of the dust of the ground,
            and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
            and man became a living soul.   KJV

 

 

But, how was Moses supposed to state where the dust came from?

The answer should be to simply write that the dust was created.

      Hence, in the KJV, in  Gen c1 – c2:

                 the verbs:
                             created  and  said 
                 should both mean:
                             created – out of nothing

                 and the verbs:
                             made  and  make  and  formed
                 should mean:
                             made – out of already created material.

                             Perhaps print a copy of Gen c1 – c2  
                             highlighting the verbs with different colours.


However, the verbs were used sloppily, interchangeably:

            o    In Gen c1 v26-27 
                 and Gen c2 v7-8,
                             compare the word make in verse 26
                             and the 2 words formed in verses 7 & 8
                             with
                             the 3 words created in verse 27.

            o    in Gen c1 v27,
                             compare the 3rd word created
                 with, in Gen c2 v22,
                             the word made.

            o    in Gen c2 v4,
                             compare the words created and made.

            o    In Gen c1 v1,
                             compare the word created
                 with, in Gen c2 v4,
                             the word made.

So the verbs themselves are not generally reliable.

            So, looking, instead:
                       at the pointed  Gen c1 v26   
                       & the detailed  Gen c2 v7, 
            we see that, conceptually, the Bible says that God:
                       created material
            then he:
                       made things, out of that material.

 

 

.

 

If you’ve never heard of Andrew Wommack
then perhaps skip these last three cells of this section.


Hence I disagree with Andrew Wommack
(perhaps see earlier section: INTRODUCTION)

when he combines
the two concepts at the beginning of the previous cell,
and so ends up saying
“God spoke man into existence”.
,        
,         See:
,         ,         Atlanta, Gospel Truth Seminar, 2009,
,         ,         Friday – March 06, 2009
,         ,         The Believer’s Authority-   Evening
,         ,         Part 3
,         ,         at  1,  9,  &  14,  minutes.
,         and:
,         ,         Audio teachings
,         ,         LESSONS FROM THE CHRISTMAS STORY FOR EVERY SEASON
,         ,         September 20, 2010
,         ,         HOW TO CONCEIVE A MIRACLE
,         ,         at  27  minutes. . . .

 

 

I reckon there are three reasons
why Andrew mistakenly said:
“God spoke man into existence”:

      1)        True, the material we are made of
                 was spoken into existence.
                 But that’s not the same as
                 us being spoken into existence.

      2)        True, we have some things in common with Jesus:
                       o    He is eternal, we are eternal.
                       o    Jesus was begotten, Luke c1 v35, like us,
                             even though he was also
                             spoken into existence   John c1 v14.
                 But Andrew wrongly concluded, from these two,
                 that we, like Jesus, were spoken into existence.

      3)        True, for us believers to cause a miracle
                 we have only to:
                       speak, with faith, in Jesus’ name.  Acts c3 v16 
                 But Andrew wrongly concluded, from this, that:
                       God had only to speak
                       to bring us into existence.

The truth is:
            Gen c2 v7:
            And the LORD God formed man
            of the dust of the ground,
            and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
            and man became a living soul.   KJV

 

 

Perhaps see later sections: THE VIRGIN BIRTH
and immediately after it:
THE WORDS THAT THE FATHER CONTRIBUTED
FOR THE CONCEPTION OF JESUS,,,,,,
for another, similar, disagreement
that I have with Andrew

Though, as I wrote, in earlier section: INTRODUCTION:
So strongly do I approve of the rest of Andrew’s teaching
that I have zero passion for disagreeing with him.

 

 

.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE GARDEN OF EDEN

 

 

From now on I’ll write as if
Adam & Eve, and the garden of Eden, were real.

 

 

God made an imperfect universe
except for part of the universe
which he miraculously tweaked
to be a perfect garden.
The word ‘garden’ implies a cordoned off area:
a perfect part of the environment, with no large or dangerous animals.


      The garden contained:

                 The tree of knowledge of good & evil
                       which we humans, Adam & Eve,
                       were not allowed to eat from
                       but did eat from.

                 And the tree of life:
                       which we humans, Adam & Eve,
                       were allowed to eat from
                       but never got around to eating from.

                       We were already eternal.
                       But the fruit of the tree of life would have made us
                       eternal and substantial
                       (i.e. not like a ghost: Gen c3 v22).

 

 

      Satan, who visited the garden, like God did,
      encouraged us humans, Adam & Eve,
      to eat from the tree of knowledge of good & evil.

      We, Adam & Eve, succumbed, ate from it,
      and so we changed:
                 From being innocent & unworldly.
                 To being guilty & worldly
                 with the potential for more & for greater evil.

 

 

      So God had no choice
      but to get us away from the tree of life.

                 God did this by ejecting Adam & Eve
                 from the Garden of Eden
                 into the outside, not-miraculously-tweaked,
                 second-class, environment.    Gen c3 v23-24, , , ,

 

 

.

 

SO, WHERE IS THE GARDEN OF EDEN NOW?

 

 

(I’ll continue to write as if Adam & Eve
and the garden of Eden were real.)

You may ask:
            “So, where is the garden of Eden now?”

I say:
            “We are Adam’s ancestors.
            So we are the ones the garden of Eden is defended against.
            So it’s not surprising we can’t see it.

            Gen c3 v24:
            So he [God] drove out the man;
            and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
                  Cherubims [powerful angels],
                  and a flaming sword which turned every way,
            to keep the way of the tree of life.   KJV

 

 

            Rather than leave Cherubims and a flaming sword
            God must have found a less visible solution.”

 

 

.

 

WHAT’S WRONG WITH A
VISIBLE SOLUTION?

 

 

In these New Testament times God the Father hides:
            He wants us to need faith
            that he exists.

            Faith and hiding are two sides of the same coin.
            You can’t have one without the other.

 

 

There are basically two reasons why God the Father
currently hides from us.

      1)  Because the Father
            (with his angels & his Spirit doing his bidding)
            is:
                 absolutely constructive
                 absolutely powerful
                 absolutely knowledgeable
                 absolutely intelligent
                 highly emotional
                 & fast.

                 If someone gets near him
                 the Father has no reason, in himself, without the Son,
                 to stop himself
                 from immediately:
                       empowering them to change themselves to perfection
                       or rejecting them if they don’t want to change.
,
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see second cell
,         ,         ,         ,         of later section: SON & SPIRIT and the link within it.
,         ,         ,         ,         (This link does not open a new tab.)

 

 

.

 

 

            As well as the Father currently hiding,
            the Spirit also currently hides (by being invisible).

            The Son also currently hides
            (he was here, but he’s not here now).

            Satan and his underling demons currently hide
            because:
                 o    They can be more destructive,
                       express themselves more, ‘live’ more,
                       if they are not just invisible
                       but undetectable.
                 o    They have no bodies anyway.
,
,         ,         ,         Perhaps see later section: SATAN LIKES IT HERE, , , ,

 

 

            You may ask:
                 “In these New Testament times,
                 this Church Age we’re in,
                 why does the triune God make all of himself
                 invisible to us, tie his hands behind his back,
                 give himself the same limitations as the other players?”

            I say:
                 “So that the war would be
                 a war of words and not of swords
                 (well, on God’s part anyway).

                 For the gospel (the almost too good to be true news
                 of Jesus being willingly Punished in our place)
                 is made of words.

                 Without those words there can be no
                 belief in those words.   Rom c10 v13-15,

                 Indeed, so that it’s a war of words & not of swords
                 for only humans
                 and not for God or angels.”

                       Acts c10:
                       An angel told Cornelius to visit Peter
                       so that Peter could tell the gospel to Cornelius.
                       But the angel himself
                       did not tell the gospel to Cornelius.   my abbn

                 (God also made it a war down here
                 instead of in Heaven.)
,         ,         ,         Perhaps see later webpage: The two dimensions. ,,,,,

 

 

.

 

 

      2)  The second reason the Father currently hides from us
            is that you cannot un-hear something:

                       Let’s say that the Father:
                                   through the Spirit
                                   (&/or through Jesus’ words in the gospels),
                       told you to do something
                       but you decided you ‘weren’t ready for it yet’
                       so you silently refused.

                       Later, the thought that:
                             the Loving Almighty had spoken to you
                             but you had refused,
                       would have a bad effect on you.

                       It would set you back.
                       It’s no way to start or run such a relationship.

 

 

                       Hence, if the Father asked you to do something,
                       and you actually argued with him,
                       he may well immediately cave in.

                             He’d either ask his second choice to do plan A
                             or he’d go to plan B.

                             Or he’d simply be waiting:
                                   because he can foresee that you will
                                   see why he asked you
                                   & so change your mind.

 

 

.

 

The above are the two reasons
why God hides himself.

How God hides himself
is that he made the universe
so that it appears to be an accident,
appears to have a random, non-deliberate, design.

 

 

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