By Nathan

In the Christian religion, vegetative life on earth started when God declared “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” This quote from the Bible is what God spoke and what happened, if you interpret it from a literal point of view. This is in extreme contrast with the scientific views. However, can it not be said that both are partially correct? The Bible declaims that “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Perhaps a cloud can sometimes be metaphoric for a spirit, and according to Dr David Whitehouse, vast molecular clouds in our galaxy can be “chemical factories” that protect molecules from the radiation and heat of stars in the galaxy before they are carried in meteorites to a random planet, in this case, the earth.

Another large factor in how the origins of life were created is that it started about 4 billion years ago, around half a billion years after the planet was created. The Bible records that the timescale for God to have created everything was 7 days, including one day of rest. This seems an odd number, especially if you think that Methuselah supposedly lived for 969 years, so in my opinion, I believe some number became lost in copying, translation or have been misinterpreted, as some cultures exaggerate certain figures, like calling a king “the eternal king” knowing he isn’t really eternal.

Science is based on fact, and theories, and a lot of research. Most religion is based on tradition, stories that have been handed down, and what has happened in the past. From my point of view, science need not contradict religion as long as it is not too literalistic.