2/8/09
When I was convinced of the position of the scientific mainstream regarding common descent (that is, all organisms have common ancestors, hence evolution), the question of how to interpret Genesis 1-3 arose in my mind.
Throughout church history various explanations have been put forth, as early as Augustine, for instance, so the problem isn’t new. At the same time, in recent years this issue has become more polarized within the church. For instance, R.C. Sproul, who used to hold to the ‘framework’ view, in which the ‘days’ in Genesis are epochs of time during which the universe, earth, and life took shape, recently in a letter to supporters announced that he has dropped this view in favor of the ‘young earth’ view.
I found also, that in the church environment, at least the one where I was, you couldn’t even discuss the ‘old earth’ vs. ‘young earth’ question without risking being accused of heresy.
So increasingly, in the fundamentalist world of which I was a part until recently, orthodoxy is tied to a particular view of creation. If there are those with other views around, they are keeping their heads down. The individual is left therefore with no resources that he might find at church. Fortunately, though, many books and websites are now available; unfortunately, in this case the church proves itself irrelevant to bread and butter questions people deal with every day.
The position I eventually came to is that the Genesis accounts use the mythic stories common in the Ancient Near East at that time, to make the point that Yahweh is the creator. Similar creation stories exist from surrounding cultures (a fact that was not known 100 years ago), and the writers of the biblical creation accounts use those — they are not giving us an inside scoop that includes the Big Bang, relativity, and quantum mechanics.