Who and how created the Earth and created the structure of the world familiar to us? What does the Holy Scripture tell about and how do contemporaries interpret it?
At all times, people argue and continue to discuss the origin of all living and non-living things on the planet. There are thousands of interpretations and views on the origin of earthly life. One of the most popular among the Orthodox population is the biblical story of the creation of the world.
In this material, you will learn about how and who created our world, why it has such living microorganisms, plants, seas and oceans, earth and sky, sun and clouds. We will deal with the change in the first interpretations of the Holy Scripture in modern times and dispel the myths that the development of microorganisms and microbes became the reason for the appearance of man.
Creation of the world by day
How was the world formed, what appeared first and why? To know true story the work of the Creator on the Universe is possible in the Holy Scriptures created by the monks, martyrs and apostles. The Bible is a kind of encyclopedia of the world for Orthodox Christians. It tells about the life of the laity from the day of creation until the resurrection of Jesus. These stories are attributed to the Old or Old Testament. Everything that happened from the birth of Christ until his death and the atonement of all the sins of the laity became the New Testament.
These scriptures allow modern people to learn about how the creation of the world took place. Researchers argue who, how and when could write this story. They explain their distrust by the fact that it is impossible to describe a phenomenon or process if you do not observe it. Only God could see the creation of the earth, and he did not write the Bible.
Orthodox, priests and monks say that each entry in the holy book is made with the command and blessing of the Lord. He gave visions to his students and followers, teaching them the history of the creation of the world. (cm. )
The Bible is the history of Orthodoxy, teaching a person religion, faith and strength to overcome any life problems. She teaches the laity to know God, themselves and the surrounding reality, to embark on the true path and fight temptation.
Until now, disputes about the reliability of sources about the origin of the world do not subside and will never be resolved. Let's take a look at what appeared first on earth and why.
First day
The scripture says that the Lord first created the heavens and the earth. But they were not in the form we are used to seeing them today. Darkness and emptiness reigned in the world, because there was no sun, forests and life. God's Spirit rules in this world. After that, a light appears that pleases the Creator.
Second day
It was impossible to walk in this world - there was water everywhere, hopeless oceans and reservoirs. Only on the second day does it create a solid surface - it separates one part of the water from the other. He also creates the sky, giving future people morning and evening. After each creation, the Bible says, "And God saw that it was good."
The third day
On this day, the Lord creates the main familiar objects of the planet: oceans, lakes, rivers, continents and islands. After that, greenery and trees appear on the earth - life is born. All plants reproduce on their own with the help of mother earth. God put that kind of power into her.
Such an order of the world is important in the study of history, priests and scientists pay attention to the fact that everything created by God is permanent. This is one of the most mysterious, romantic and mystical holidays for the Eastern Slavs. It remains so throughout the history of Russia.
Fourth day
On the fourth day, he creates heavenly bodies and separates day and night. During the day, the Sun reigned - it warmed and made it possible for all living things to grow and multiply, at night the Moon and stars ruled. Researchers give different interpretations of the goals of the luminaries. They illuminate the earth night and day, separate different times of day and year for the convenience of reckoning, and serve as a sign for mortal people.
Fifth day
The first creatures are the inhabitants of the water - reptiles, who owe their lives to the seas.
Birds flew across the earth and sky. Seeing the first rudiments of living beings, he wished them to multiply: fish - in the water, and birds - on the ground.
A special place in the creation of the world was played by God's light and water contained everywhere. After that, the Almighty gives life to the inhabitants of the water expanses: whales, fish and amphibians.
Living creatures are blessed to be fruitful and multiply.
Sixth day
The creation of cattle was preceded by God's desire to see animals on the earth. The creation of man was the completion of the process of creation. He was to rise above the sea, celestial and terrestrial animals. This is how the first man and woman appeared on earth - Adam and Eve.
The first person appears from earthly dust, the Lord breathes a soul into him and gives him a body. Before his creation, the council of the Holy Trinity met in heaven. Unlike other living beings, man is not produced by the earth, the Lord himself creates him.
After the appearance of Adam, God decides to put him to sleep and, taking the man's thigh, creates a wife. The priests explain the Lord's limitation in creating one couple by the fact that he wanted all people to come from Adam. The soul of man is the same as that of the Lord.
There was no evil in the world, everything was harmonious and perfect.
Seventh day
On the seventh day, he blesses all creation. The Scripture says that he rested from his works, that is, he gave himself up to rest.
That is why we are still on Sunday - on the seventh day of the week - we rest.
The house for people is described in scripture as magnificent. Ideal Conditions for life, food and absence natural disasters. We used to call this place paradise. Nature, created by the Almighty, bestowed on man all its charms and possibilities. The purpose and purpose of Adam and Eve was to live and be blessed.
The reason for the creation of the world lies in this. God sought to share his greatness and enjoyment of life with other beings like himself.
There is no end to the creation of the world in Christian culture.
The problem is that not only the body, but also the soul of a person was free, desires and passions were hidden in it. What did a person do when he got into the world of bliss and permissiveness. He succumbed to temptation and did not cope with the temptations. (cm. )
Interpretations: early and modern
Biblical scholars say that there are several approaches to the typification and history of the creation of the world according to the Bible. Some historians focus on the literary genre of writing.
Some refer to the stories of the Bible as a historical epic, which involves a reliable fixation of facts and events. This position is held by Christian fundamentalists. They are sure that it is strictly forbidden to change the interpretation of reading the Bible. Confirming their view, the researchers rely on the words of the Fathers and apostles, saints and saints: Luther and Calvin.
Other believers continue to search for new interpretations and explanations for the special creation of the universe, taking into account scientific knowledge, technological advances and explanations of scientists.
The Orthodox claim that the sun and stars existed from the first day - they were not visible because of the thick steam from the earth. With the advent of plants and oxygen, it became possible to see the heavenly bodies.
A number of researchers call the Bible an allegorical work that combines the means artistic expressiveness. That is why Scripture has such great success and influence on all the laity.
Proponents of this interpretation say that ordinary people of antiquity became the authors of the scripture. Read the Bible in modern world Literally and literally to understand the meaning of phrases is wrong. The reason is in a completely different worldview of people. In the poetic epic there are no facts and scientific justifications - it is a set of feelings, emotions and impressions.
This is also stated in the scripture itself, this is not a scientific book or an encyclopedia, it teaches people religious truths. One of the fundamental theses of the Bible is the creation of the world out of nothing. In the modern world, relying on scientific views, it is extremely difficult to imagine this. In the process of studying scripture and the history of the universe, people encounter a number of misconceptions.
Popular is the unification of the Creator and the creation into one whole. A separate scientific trend has formed, propagating that God and his creation are one substance.
Adherents of the theory attribute the Creator to a liquid, it overflowed the existing vessel and poured into the world. Then it turns out that in every object and living being there is a particle of the Creator.
The following researchers claimed that matter and the Lord existed independently and separately from each other. God created the world like a sculptor or an artist.
The third view at all times has been atheism, which consists in denying the existence of God.
The difficulties associated with the knowledge of the truths of the creation of the world are explained by the lack of the opportunity to conduct scientific experiments and repeat the process, which means to study it in detail and in detail. Any human activity relies on the initial presence of the source material: the artist uses paper and paint, the cook uses food and household appliances, it is impossible to form a similar picture for the moment the world was created.
But human thinking is built in a special way, we learn any activity based on previous experience and the availability of material for construction. Here there is a break with the Holy Scripture, where it is said that God created the world out of nothing.
An indisputable aspect is the long process of creation of the Universe. We cannot say how many days God created, because the earthly luminaries, night and day, appeared only on the fourth day. Before that, time and space existed according to unusual laws.
Interestingly, the Bible talks about the continuation of the act of creation. God continues to perfect and shape a renewed world.
In the 18th-19th centuries, widespread criticism of religious writings began. Modern researchers explain it by a noticeable leap in science and culture and the desire to deny everything on the basis of the knowledge gained.
The Bible went against the newly acquired knowledge. But Moses, at the time of writing the Bible, could not explain the process of creation to people from the point of view of scientific views accessible and understandable to him and modern man. That is why it is written that way.
One of the most beautiful architectural creations in Russia. It is recommended to visit it for all tourists of the cultural capital of the country - St. Petersburg!Today, researchers explain and read the chapters of the book using the means of artistic expression and images. So the creation of the sky implies an association with the air space above our heads, which is not familiar to us. This is the dwelling place of angels and apostles.
The appearance of the earth means the creation of the matter about which the researchers argue. From a physicist's point of view, the Bible is written very accurately. Complied with all the natural laws of nature, studied over time.
So, first there is light - that is, energy, and then the living and inanimate "filling" of the world. In other words, an energy appears that gives birth to all other elements of the world.
The Lord creates life and teaches us spirituality and humility. Understanding of biblical truths, their acceptance are the basis for comprehending God and searching for oneself.
The eminent scientist (honorary member of the American Physical Society) shows how exactly the latest scientific data in all these areas correspond to the text of the Book of Genesis. Moreover, for many expressions from the Book of Genesis, which until now seemed obscure and vague, he was able to find an exact explanation in the light of modern scientific knowledge.
Professor Aviezer does not pretend to be a complete solution to all problems. But his fresh outlook on things provides food for thought and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the first, most difficult chapter of the Torah.
A look at the creation of the world
When studying the first chapter of Genesis, people are usually not inclined to take what is written in it literally. This approach to the text is not surprising. Having even a small understanding of science, one cannot fail to notice that between the "facts", as science understands them, and the "facts", as they appear to us in literal reading chapter 1 of Genesis, there seems to be quite a bit of contradiction.
In these pages we ask ourselves: can the first chapter of Genesis be regarded as a record of events that really took place in the past?
To answer this question, we conduct a detailed comparison of the biblical text and the data of modern science. This analysis shows that, contrary to popular belief, many passages in the biblical account are strikingly consistent with the latest discoveries in such branches of science as cosmology, astronomy, geology, paleontology, anthropology and archaeology.
As is well known, in all these sciences Lately Significant, sometimes dramatic, progress has been made. However, few realize the profound impact this newfound knowledge can have on our understanding of the first chapter of Genesis. This is the main thesis of this monograph: modern science has given us a unique opportunity to read in a new way, with in-depth understanding, many places in the biblical text that otherwise seem mysterious. Science today not only does not oppose the Book of Genesis, but has become the most important tool for understanding it.
6 days of Creation - 6 epochs of the development of the Universe
From the very beginning, one should agree on the meaning of biblical chronology - the six days of creation. In any attempt to compare the biblical text with scientific data, the term "day" must be understood not as a period of twenty-four hours, but as a phase, a period in the process of the development of the world.
This idea is, of course, not new. Talmudic sages have long drawn attention to the fact that one cannot speak of "day" or "evening and morning" in the usual sense of the word, when there is neither sun nor moon in the sky.
Rabbi Eli Munk, in his exhaustive work on the etymology of the first chapter of Genesis, deals with the issue of biblical chronology in detail, carefully comparing the various points of view of traditional Jewish commentators 1 . He concludes his analysis of biblical chronology following words: "There is no single traditional definition of the word 'Day' in the Seven Days of Genesis." Bearing in mind this divergence of views, Munch in his book always writes the word "day" in italics, so that no one will mistake it for a period of twenty-four hours. The Challenge book, 2nd collection of sayings from traditional commentators on the Bible, also lacks a unified interpretation of biblical chronology.
In this book, we start from the premise that the six days of creation do not mean a span of 144 hours, but six distinct phases in the evolution of the universe from the creation of the world to the appearance of man. The same position is held by many commentators of the Bible, from the time of the ancient Talmudists to the present day 3 .
Analyzing the text, we focus on the events and the statement of facts, as they are recorded in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis [chapter Genesis]. For these events and facts, we try to find sections corresponding to them in the scientific theory of the development of the Universe. We are not going to claim that an explanation has been found for everything. However, we will show that much of the biblical text can be taken literally, based on the data of modern science.
So, we will show that modern science provides answers to each of the questions that arise in connection with the biblical text. This, of course, does not mean that the Book of Genesis can be read as tutorial. We are only arguing that there is a scientific explanation that does not contradict the biblical text. The present work is devoted to establishing this fact.
1. Rabbi E. Munk, The Seven Days of the Beginning (Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1974).
2. A. Carmell and C. Domb, Challenge (Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1978), pp. 124-140.
3. Munk, p. 50.
The origin of the universe according to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis [chapter Bereshit]
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was chaotic and empty, and darkness was over the deep; and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.3 And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.4 And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.5 And God called the light day, and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day.
The events associated with the first day of creation are described in the first five verses of Genesis. They contain several statements that seem unbelievable.
1. First of all, we read that God created the universe (1:1). It is clear that the creation of the universe is the greatest event that has ever taken place. No scientist, however, has been able to find any evidence that clearly and irrefutably testifies to this event. Why? Why are there, in fact, no signs pointing to this event? In general, we have to admit that the very concept of creation ex nihilo(i.e. something from nothing) contradicts the well-known laws of nature, in particular, the law of conservation of mass and energy. From this law it follows that the creation of something from nothing is impossible.
2. We read that God created light (1:3). What light? We now know such sources of light as the Sun and the stars, the light reflected by the Moon, the light of a burning match or a switched on lamp. But on the first day there was no sun, no stars, no man. Thus the nature of this light is a mystery, never explained in the following text. Meanwhile, this issue is given such importance that the entire first day, one sixth of the entire history of the creation of the world, is devoted to this mysterious light.
3. Then, we read, God "separated" the light from the darkness (1:4). Darkness is not a substance that can be separated from light. The word "darkness" simply means the absence of light. Where there is darkness, there is no light; where there is light, there is no darkness. Thus, the concept of separating light from darkness makes no logical sense.
4. We read that in the beginning the universe was in a state of chaos (in Hebrew: tohu wa-wohu) (1:2). The text does not give the slightest indication of the nature of this chaos. What exactly was in a chaotic state? And how was this chaos eliminated, if it was eliminated at all?
5. Finally, we read that the entire complex chain of cosmological events, without which the creation of the world could not have happened, took place over the course of a single day (1:5). Meanwhile, it is well known that cosmological events are measured not in days or even years, but in billions of years.
Here are some questions that I would like to have answered. And now we will consider the modern scientific facts on each of these issues, analyzing in detail all the apparent contradictions between science and the Book of Genesis. We will show that, no matter how incredible it may seem, the last years scientific information gives the biblical text an explanation that is fully consistent with the current level of scientific knowledge.
Cosmology
Cosmology is the branch of science concerned with the origin of the universe.
Interest in it has not dried up for thousands of years in almost all civilizations. However, up to the present century, all cosmological studies have had a very meager scientific basis, if not none at all, based solely on conjectures. It is important to note that even by the middle of the twentieth century, the situation had changed little for the better. As writes Nobel Laureate, Professor of Harvard University, Steven Weinberg, “in the 50s of our century it was customary to think that a self-respecting scientist would not devote time to such a subject as studying the early stages of the development of the Universe - then there simply was no experimental and theoretical basis, on which one could build the history of the universe on early stages development” 1 .
Common in the 50s. approach to cosmology was based on the belief that the universe as we observe it today has always existed in its present form. 2 Indeed, the alleged immutability of the universe was confirmed by the results of thousands of years of continuous astronomical observations, drawing a constant, unchanging picture of the sky. The arrangement of stars and constellations that we observe today is almost identical to that which we find in the records of ancient astrologers.
The traditional view of the fixedness of the stars naturally tells us the idea of the immutability of the universe; it probably explains part of our willingness to accept this thought, although it has no truly scientific justification
The Big Bang Theory"
In 1946, George Gamow and his collaborators proposed a completely different cosmological theory. 3 The main features of this revolutionary theory are presented in a table in which time is measured in billions of years. The present time is indicated by the number "15", because, according to Gamow's theory, the Universe began 15 billion years ago. It was at that moment, indicated on the table by the number "0", that suddenly, out of nothing, a giant fireball appeared, the so-called primary clot of energy, known in popular usage as the "Big Bang".
The sudden appearance of a primary fiery clot marked the beginning of the Universe, in the sense that absolutely nothing existed before the Big Bang.
The "Big Bang" is thus the most accurate embodiment of creation ex nihilo.
The term "fireball" should not give the erroneous impression that something was actually on fire. This clot represented the highest concentration of pure energy. A familiar example of concentrated clean energy is the bright spot of light produced by the sun's rays at the focus of a magnifying glass. The primary fireball can be imagined as a bunch of solar rays magnified millions of times, concentrated by a lens.
Let us leave for the time being the most important question of where this fiery clot came from, and let us describe some of the main features of this theory.
In particular, how did the development of the primary clot of energy take place, the result of which was the Universe that we know? Our world consists of matter (in the form of atoms and molecules), which is the original component of everything that we see, from stars and galaxies to oceans, trees and animals. Where did all this matter come from?
The answer is contained in the famous formula of Einstein's theory of relativity: E \u003d mc 2 where E is energy, m is matter, and c is the speed of light. This formula reflects the ability of matter to turn into energy. Moreover, since c 2 is a huge quantity, a small amount of matter is enough to produce a gigantic amount of energy.
This transformation of matter into energy is not just a hypothetical possibility, it underlies the production of atomic energy; Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by powerful atomic bombs - and on the other hand, millions of families use electricity obtained from the use of the same process for peaceful purposes.
The Big Bang theory is based on the fact that Einstein's formula works in both directions: not only can matter be turned into energy, but energy can be turned into matter. Although the production of even a small amount of matter requires a huge amount of energy, its supply in the primary clot was so grandiose that it served as the source of all the matter that now exists in the Universe.
The primary bunch consisted of light energy of the same type as that emitted by the Sun. The term "light" is used by us to denote a general phenomenon called "electromagnetic radiation" by scientists. This phenomenon is most easily explained by turning again to the Sun. The electromagnetic radiation from the sun that is visible to the eye is called visible light. Its spectrum includes all shades from red to blue (the colors of the rainbow familiar to us). The sun also emits electromagnetic radiation that is not visible to the eye, or invisible light. The "color" spectrum of invisible sunlight includes infrared rays (which give the skin a warm sensation), ultraviolet rays (the cause of sunburn), microwaves (used in microwave ovens), radio waves, x-rays, and the like.
There is no significant difference between the colors of visible and invisible light; together they make up the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. A camera loaded with the appropriate film will register all these colors with equal success. Therefore, following common practice, we use the word "light" to refer to all electromagnetic radiation, including both visible and invisible light.
We are now approaching major event, which took place shortly after the Big Bang, and is indicated in the table by the number 0.001. Some basic information is needed to understand this event.
The form of matter known to us is an atom or a group of atoms called a molecule. However, when, just after zero time, the formation of matter occurred, it did not exist in the form of atoms. The incredibly high temperature of the primary bunch would instantly destroy any atom. Therefore, matter existed in a different form, which is called "plasma" . The essential difference between these two forms of matter is that the atom is electrically neutral, while the plasma consists of particles that carry either a positive or negative charge. These charged particles "trap" light, blocking its passage through the plasma. Therefore, from the side, the plasma always looks dark.
A fraction of a second after the "big bang" the universe consisted of the light of the primary bunch penetrating the plasma. Although the light of the bunch was incredibly strong, the plasma absorbed it; light could not penetrate it and was therefore "invisible". To imagine this situation, imagine that there was someone in the world at that time with a camera. The universe would appear dark to our photographer because of the plasma, and the footage captured by him would be completely black, although the universe was filled with the light of a primordial fireball. It would look as if someone, without using a flash, snapped the pictures in a completely dark room.
Starting from the zero moment, the red-hot primary clot began to cool rapidly. By the time indicated on the table by the number 0.001, it had cooled so much that it allowed the charged particles of the plasma to combine and form atoms. The formation of atoms from plasma was a vital event that determined the path of development of the Universe in its present form.
In contrast to plasma, any space filled with free atoms and molecules is completely transparent. One has only to remember the transparent atmosphere of our planet, consisting of air molecules (mainly nitrogen and oxygen). Light flows freely through the atmosphere; From the surface of the Earth, the Sun, Moon, distant stars and galaxies are clearly visible. Thus, when the plasma suddenly turned into atoms and molecules 15 billion years ago, it ceased to trap the light of the fiery clot. This light has become "visible"; it soon filled the entire universe and fills it to this day.
This concludes our very brief description of the main provisions of George Gamow's Big Bang theory. As with every scientific theory, the criterion for its acceptability is the practical confirmation of the correctness of its assumptions. The most striking thing about the Big Bang theory is the assumption that the world has been filled with light for 15 billion years, since the "beginning of time." This light, most of whose spectrum is invisible, has very special qualities (it is not necessary to consider them now) that make it easy to distinguish it from any other types of electromagnetic radiation.
However, the predicted radiation was not immediately detected. And here's why: the primary clot was incredibly hot and contained gigantic energy. Over time, however, it expanded and cooled, causing the radiant energy to spread in all directions. Today, fifteen billion years later, the energy of the primary clot is extremely rarefied, its electromagnetic radiation is so weak that it was technically impossible to detect it using the scientific equipment that was available before.
Let's summarize the situation. The cosmological theory of the "Big Bang" was fundamentally different from the generally accepted concepts. In addition, the dramatic assumption put forward by the theory about the existence of a special radiation that fills the entire Universe could not be verified for technical reasons. It is not surprising, therefore, that the theory of the "big bang" was not taken seriously by the scientific community.
Confirmation of the theory
After World War II, there were revolutionary shifts in many areas of technology. That was the era of semiconductors, lasers and electronic computers. The scientific apparatus has also undergone a radical improvement. Many experiments that were not feasible with the technology of the forties became routine in the 60s. Radiation detectors, which is especially important for us, have also been improved a hundredfold. By the 1960s, detecting the super-weak magnetic radiation predicted by the Big Bang theory had become technically feasible.
In 1965, two American scientists, employees of the research laboratory of the Bell telephone company, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, were measuring galactic radio waves using especially sensitive antennas. While testing the antenna, they noticed a very faint, unfamiliar electromagnetic radiation that seemed to come from all directions from outer space. It soon became clear that this was the very radiation predicted by the Big Bang theory.
After the discovery of Penzias and Wilson was published, their results were confirmed by many other researchers. At present, there is not a shadow of a doubt that this fundamental assumption of the "Big Bang" theory is a scientifically substantiated fact. Moreover, other key assumptions of this theory were also confirmed. For example, the theory suggests that all the galaxies in the universe run away with great speed as a result of the initial explosion, with distant galaxies moving at a higher speed than nearby ones. This “recession” of galaxies, guessed by Gamow, was confirmed mainly by the studies of the American astronomer Edwin Hubble; the speed of galactic motion is called Hubble constants. Another victory for the Big Bang theory is related to chemical composition Universe. The ratio of the amount of hydrogen and helium, observed in the Universe, fully corresponds to the postulates of the theory.
The significance of Penzias and Wilson's discovery can hardly be overestimated. In 1978 they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Professor Steven Weinberg called it "one of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth century." 5 Weinberg's enthusiasm is understandable. The Big Bang theory has radically changed our understanding of the origin of the universe.
The Big Bang theory received further confirmation in the 1990s. NASA launched the COBE satellite out of the atmosphere to measure various properties of the radiation caused by the "Big Bang". The information obtained fully confirmed the Big Bang theory. The discoveries made in 1992 with the help of COBE were repeatedly covered by the press.
Since all the assumptions of the Big Bang theory were confirmed, it turned into a generally accepted cosmological theory, yet other theories of this kind were forgotten.
Currently, all cosmological research is carried out exclusively within the framework of the Big Bang theory.
Torah text
Let us now return to our original intention to compare the biblical text with the findings of modern science. So, let's take a closer look at each of the five points listed at the beginning of this chapter.
1. Creation of the world
The creation of the world has acquired the significance of a recognized scientific fact. Professor of Cambridge University, Nobel Prize winner Paul Dirac formulated the position of modern science in relation to the creation of the world as follows: “The development of radio astronomy, which has taken place in recent years, has greatly expanded our knowledge of the remote parts of the Universe. As a result, it became obvious that the creation of the world took place at a certain point in time. 6
At present, any researcher, with the help of appropriate measurements, can obtain data that clearly and unequivocally prove that the creation of the world really took place.
It will be instructive to quote the statements of several leading cosmologists. Cambridge University professor Stephen Hawking: "The moment of creation of the world as such lies beyond the currently known laws of physics" 7 .
MIT professor Alan Guth and University of Pennsylvania professor Paul Steinhardt: "Creation still has no explanation" 8 .
And here are the titles of two recently published scientific papers on cosmology: "The Creation of the World"9 and "The Moment of the Creation of the World" 10 .
The term "creation" has clearly ceased to be the exclusive prerogative of Bible scholars and has entered the vocabulary of science. In any serious scientific discussion of cosmology, the creation of the world now occupies a leading place.
We now come to the central problem, crucial issue about what caused the sudden appearance of a primary clot of energy, announcing the creation of the universe. According to some leading cosmologists, the creation of the world "lies beyond the currently known laws of physics" 12 and "still has no explanation" 13 .
Unlike science, Genesis provides an explanation. She explains the reason for the creation of the world and does so in the very first line: “In beginning G-d created…” [Genesis 1:1]
2. Light
So, cosmology has established that the sudden, inexplicable appearance of a clot of energy is the creation of the world. Biblical expression "Let there be light" [Genesis 1:3] can therefore be understood as an indication of the primary fireball - the "big bang" - heralding the emergence of the universe. All matter and all energy now existing in the world derive their origin directly from this "light." Let us especially note the fact that on the first day there were not two separate, unrelated acts of creation - the Universe and light - but only one.
3. Separation of light from darkness
The Big Bang theory states that the original universe consisted of a mixture of plasma and light from a primordial fireball. The universe at that moment seemed dark because of the plasma. The sudden transformation of plasma into atoms shortly after the creation of the world led to the fact that the electromagnetic radiation (“light”) of the primary clot of energy “separated” from the until then dark Universe and shone unhindered in space.
The biblical words "And God separated the light from the darkness" can be interpreted as a description of the "separation" of light from the dark fiery-plasma mixture. Fifteen billion years later, this separated radiation ("light") was discovered by Penzias and Wilson, for which they received the Nobel Prize.
4. Chaos
Since 1980, the big bang theory has been enriched by significant new discoveries, which Guth and Steinhardt have collectively termed the "expanding universe." In a recently published article summarizing these new discoveries, there is the following phrase: "originally the universe was in a disordered, chaotic state" 14 .
One of the new books on cosmology deals in detail with the phenomenon of primordial chaos and the most important cosmological consequences arising from it 15 . The section of the book dealing with this issue is entitled "Primary Chaos" and is placed in the chapter titled "From Chaos to Cosmos."
And, finally, Andrei Linde, professor at the Moscow Physics Institute. Lebedev proposed the so-called "scenario of chaotic expansion" describing the origins of the Universe 16 .
An explanation of the nature of this chaos and its significance is beyond the scope of this monograph, but it must be emphasized that the role of chaos in the development of the primordial Universe has become a major subject of cosmological research. How important this subject is to our topic is obvious: the Book of Genesis states that the universe began in a state of chaos (in Hebrew: tohu wa-wohu) [Genesis 1:2].
5. Creation of the world in one day
There is a widespread belief that since cosmological changes are extremely slow at present, they have always been at the same pace. This, in fact, was the philosophy of the former, now refuted cosmological theories. The modern theory, the "Big Bang" theory, says, on the contrary, that a long chain of dramatic cosmological changes at the beginning of the universe took place in an extremely short time.
This situation was vividly emphasized by Harvard University professor Steven Weinberg, who called his popular book on modern cosmology "First Three Minutes". Professor Weinberg needed 151 pages of text and many diagrams to describe the most important cosmological changes in our universe, which took only three minutes.
conclusions
The main conclusions are best conveyed by the formulation of professors Guth and Steinhardt, who believe that "from a historical point of view, probably the most revolutionary aspect" of modern cosmological theory is the assertion that matter and energy were created in the literal sense of the word. They emphasize that "this postulate radically contradicts the centuries-old scientific tradition, which asserted that it is impossible to make something out of nothing" 17 .
In short, as a result of centuries of intense scientific work, done by the best minds of mankind, finally created a picture of the world, strikingly coinciding with those in simple terms with which the book of Genesis begins.
TO CONTINUE - in the series of articles "Creation of the World and Science" on our website.
1. S. Weinberg, The First Three Minutes (London: Andre Deutsch & Fontana, 1977), pp. 13-14.
2. H. Bondi, Cosmology, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1960).
3. Weinbeirg, see 1; G. Bath, The State of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 1980), ch. 1.
5. Weinberg, p. 120.
6. R.A.M. Dirac, Commentarii, vol. 2, no. 11, 1972, p. 15; vol. 3, no. 24, 1972, p. 2.
7.S.W. Hawking and G.F.R. Ellis, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (Cambridge University Press, 1973), p. 364.
9.P.W. Atkins, The Creation (Oxford. W. H. Freeman, 1981).
10. J.S. Trefil, The Moment of Creation (New York: Charles Scriber, 1983).
11. A. Vilenkin, Physics Letters, vol. 117, 1982, pp. 25-28.
12. Hawking and Ellis, p. 364.
13. Guth and Steinhardt, p. 102.
14. Ibid.
15.J.D. Barrow and J. Silk, The Left Hand of Creation (London, Heinemann, 1983).
17. Guth and Steinhardt, p. 102.
About the third day of creation
Part 1
“And God said, Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it became so. And the waters under the sky were gathered into their places, and dry land appeared. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called the seas. And God saw that it was good.”
Since the earthly world was created for man, then everything in it was arranged by God not by chance, but reasonably and expediently. The earthly world is destined to become a kind of school for the wisdom and piety of the future man, and in this sense, the material world is also, as it were, an embodied reflection of human nature. Then the appearance of land at the beginning of the third day in the chosen system of images can be considered as the completion of the formation of the triad - spirit, soul and body.
Man is a mysterious combination of two natures - spiritual and material. And just as the body cannot live without the soul, so the soul without the body is not a person. Just as we cannot call water a sea without coasts limiting it, so also coasts without water cannot be called a sea. The Apostle Paul more than once in his epistles calls the flesh an earthen vessel in which the soul is located. According to the explanation of the holy fathers, after the fall, God bound the riot of the human soul with weak flesh, just as the riot of the sea is restrained by the shores. The immaterial soul is placed in the flesh, in a rough material shell, a tight shell, which, due to its limitations, keeps the unbridled aspirations of the soul, does not allow it to completely move away from God, just as the fallen angels led by Satan with lightning speed.
So the sea - a stormy, mobile element, always striving to fill free space with itself, is limited to dry land. This is noticed by the poetic gaze of the holy prophet Jeremiah: “... he laid the sand as the border of the sea, the eternal limit, which he will not cross; and although its waves rush, they cannot overcome it; although they rage, they cannot cross it"(Jer. 5:22), he says, passing on the words of God and marveling at His glorious deeds. In the parables of Solomon and in the prophetic book of Ezra, it is said that the sea was given its place and limits, "lest the waters overstep its bounds"(3 Ezra 4:19; Prov. 8:29). The holy prophets here speak of the sea, but they mean those spiritual images that are reflected in the movement of earthly elements.
Vast expanses of land enrich the soul with the most various types and likenesses. We cannot say exactly what the world of the earth was like before the fall of man, but what we see now provides a huge wealth of artistic comparisons. In other places, mountains, cut by abysses and gorges, appear before a person in grandiose majesty. In others, vast valleys and vast expanses of the steppes stretch, framed by the soft contours of the hills. In other places, the surface of the earth is cut by steep banks of ravines and bizarre bends of river beds. In others, the seemingly endless undulating expanse of deserts covered with sand dunes strikes the eye.
The land, as a rule, is static, it has specific shapes and sizes, it is solid and motionless. Land contemplation teaches a person to understand the difference in distance between objects and their sizes, to distinguish between large and small, long and short, heavy and light, hard and soft. It gives you the opportunity to feel with your foot the reliability of a solid earth's surface, to compare it with the restless surface of lakes and the rapid movement of river waters. Raising his eyes up, a person sees the vast expanse of the sky, now shining with bottomless blue, now covered with gloomy clouds, now adorned with light clouds that excite the poetic soul with their unique figures.
The chaotic appearance of various places on land symbolizes the freedom that the Lord gave to man, and at the same time the disorder of his soul and all his activities, if it is separated from God. The very nature of land, in turn, consists of a huge variety of substances and minerals that have very characteristic properties that provide rich material both for the spiritual development of man and for future material progress. The land teaches excellent lessons to seekers of truth, enriches human thinking with a huge wealth of poetic images and similarities necessary for comprehending and reflecting the laws of the spiritual world.
The Lord Himself in Holy Scripture, speaking of the offspring of Abraham, often compares it with sea sand, according to its innumerability. And yourself, as a solid foundation of truth on earth, with a stone at the forefront(Mat. 21:42), that is, of the utmost importance in building a house. The holy prophets of God spoke of mountains, meaning great people - kings and rulers of the world, teachers and mentors of the peoples; about islands, implying either countries and settlements of the peoples of the earth (Gen.10:5, Is41:5, Soph.2:11, etc.), or monastic cloisters (Rev.16:20).
Poets and thinkers of all times and peoples widely used these images in their literary works, in philosophical and theological works, which constitute a precious treasury of human thought. Also in their daily lives, people often use artistic allegories given by the nature of land. For example, about a selfish, quarrelsome person, they say heavy character. They will say about a person who is not touchy and peace-loving - he has easy character. They will say about a cruel and ruthless man - he has stone heart. They will say about the stubborn and persistent - how rock, but about the good and peaceful they say, soft heart. They say about a reliable and faithful person, his word is like diamond. The human heart can be hot, glance happens cold, heavy and even lead, words warm or sharp etc.
There are countless examples of artistic allegories in human language related to land - they are found at every turn. But we are accustomed to them and do not notice what an important role the images of the earth's surface and its constituent substances play in human thinking and communication.
About the third day of creation
Part 2
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth vegetation, grass yielding seed after its kind and likeness, and fruitful tree yielding fruit after its kind, in which is its seed, on the earth. And it became so. And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed after its kind and after its likeness, and a fruitful tree bearing fruit, in which is its seed after its kind, upon the earth. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the third day.
The third day of creation is crowned with the creation of "greenery", that is, the first form of life on earth - flora that covered the earth with a carpet of herbs and flowers, thickets of bushes and trees. In an amazing way, the earthly soil, consisting of various simple substances, is spiritualized by God and produces from the chaos of chemical elements a multi-colored multitude of beautiful plant species, which are an image of beauty and order. Terrestrial vegetation appeared as a great miracle of the transformation of material chaos into a highly organized structure, active and independent, which builds, preserves and nourishes itself, penetrating the soil with its roots. According to the word of the Creator, the plants came out of the earth capable of "sow the seed" And "to bear fruit in which seed according to its kind and likeness". Greenery was created not only for beauty, it is also prepared as food for future new living creatures - animals and humans, so it must have the ability to make up for its loss.
Terrestrial vegetation is very diverse and sometimes modest in appearance, sometimes amazingly beautiful. In the structure of most plants, we see something common and common to all - root, trunk, branches, leaves and fruits. At the same time, each plant has its own spiritual and poetic artistic image, "character". Quite different in appearance are the soft, silky grass and the colorful variety of flowers. Mighty trees sway with their tall crowns and rustle their foliage, branchy shrubs frame the forest with rounded green tents. Trees differ from each other in appearance and internal structure. They all bear fruit, each of its kind, of different quality, color and shape. The appearance of fruits on the branches, as a rule, is preceded by flowers that transform into fruit ovaries.
Greenery can symbolize the primary spirituality of human nature, the beginnings of the moral law, some psychophysical and social instincts that were originally invested in a person and which are clearly visible already in infancy. So, a child, immediately after birth, is already capable of crying, and crying to express his dissatisfaction with something. After four or six weeks, he already begins to smile at his mother, often responding with a smile to the smile of any friendly face. And if you look at the child menacingly or gloomily, he will get scared and cry. Soon he already distinguishes between his own and others, and, seeing an unfamiliar face, he is worried. From two or three years old, a baby can already be offended and forgive, persistently demand something for himself and immediately give it to his neighbor. The main feature of a healthy child under normal conditions is gaiety, a sense of his being as joy and happiness. From the early age we notice in children compassion, friendliness, ability and desire for creative activity. The child is able to understand what sin is, has shame, fear, perceives stories about God and angels well. He himself, without prompting, perfectly distinguishes the images of the world around him and treats them accordingly: he likes to play with a kitten or a puppy, but runs away from a dog, is afraid of a snake or a rat.
That is, certain moral laws, concepts and instincts are embedded in a person from his very birth, which are the basis for his further development in the process of earthly life. This gift of the Creator makes the human soul capable of comprehending many wise spiritual truths, receptive to poetic allegories and artistic comparisons. Images of plant nature make up a whole world of verbal generalizations in the verbal and mental culture of man. These similarities fill our speech, enrich our thinking.
There are a large number of proverbs and sayings related to the plant world. In many life processes - in design and construction, in solving problematic issues and tasks, in understanding people's relationships, we can hear about root question or problem, branches scientific directions. Talk about fruits And infertility efforts, assimilate oak hardness someone's firm stance, compared to flexible trunk of a young birch malleable young soul. Compare family pedigree with a tree, strong sons with young oak trees. We are talking about a cowardly person - “trembles like aspen leaf».
The use of images of the plant world in many divinely inspired texts of the Holy Scriptures, both in the books of the Old Testament and in the Gospel. Vivid examples of this are the appearance of God to the prophet Moses from a burning bush (Ex. 3: 2), which, according to the teaching of the fathers, Holy Mother of God; the butler's dream (Gen. 40:9); Prophecy of Jacob about sons (Gen. 49:21,22); the blessing of Balaam (Numbers 24:6); the parable of Jotham (Judg. 9:8-15); many other comparisons (Deut. 32:32; Judges 9:8-15; Job. 15:33; Ps. 79:9; Ps. 91:13; Jer. 12:10; Sir. 50:14 and so on. ).
In the Gospel narrative, this is the miracle of the withered fig tree, symbolizing the Old Testament Israel (Matt. 21:19); the parable of the barren fig tree, left at the request of the gardener, in the image of God's long-suffering for the sinner (Luke 13:7); in the parables of the tares (Matt. 13:39) and the sower (Mark 4:3-20). At the beginning of His sermon on repentance, the Son of God calls the people of Israel whitened cornfield, finished to the harvest and the students reapers(John 4:35-37). In a farewell conversation with the disciples, Jesus Christ compares Himself with the vine, and the disciples with grape branches. The Revelation of John the Theologian tells about the great disasters at the end of the age in images harvest and collection grape fruit. WITH branched tree compare the development of local churches, fallen branches called heretical communities.
On the Fourth Day of Creation
When I look to Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, to the moon and the stars that You have set, what is man, that You remember him, and the son of man, that You visit him?
(Ps. 8:4,5)
“... And God said: let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to illuminate the earth and to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and times, and days, and years; and let them be lamps in the firmament of heaven to give light to the earth. And it became so. And God created two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars; and God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light to the earth, and rule over the day and night, and separate the light from the darkness.”
On the fourth day, God's command is the sun, moon and stars. The earth began its rotation around its axis and around the sun. The planets and other cosmic bodies that make up the solar system appeared and set off on their run around the sun. As Holy Scripture testifies, the main purpose of the great luminaries is the Sun to illuminate and control the earth during the day, the Moon - at night. Under control, one must understand the strict distribution of light and darkness, which makes it possible to accurately determine the time of day, and by the phases of the moon and the position of the stars, multi-day and multi-year periods of time. In addition, the sun and stars serve as landmarks for travelers to find their way in the desert, help to accurately determine the direction of movement in the sea.
Athanasius the Great teaches: “Each of the stars and each of the great luminaries did not appear in such a way that one was the first, and the other the second; but on one day, by the same command, all are called into being.” That is, the entire outer space, and all the stars and planets created by God, as well as the solar system, were arranged immediately perfect, as they should be according to the plan of the Creator. And again, for the future smart people who preach "multi-billion dollar evolution", it is said clearly and definitely: And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.
St. John Chrysostom explains why the creation of the heavenly bodies took place precisely on the fourth day: “Why does God decorate the earth before decorating heaven? Because of the polytheism that had arisen and the false worship of the sun, moon and stars. Why didn't God create the sun and the moon on the first day?.. Because there were no fruits yet that were supposed to enjoy the warmth - the fruits sprouted on the third day. Lest you again think that they have grown by the action of the sun, God creates the sun, the moon and the stars when their creation is completed.
Around the Sun, at the behest of the almighty Creator, the abyss of outer space rapidly unfolds and fills with stars. Billions of star clusters emerge from the darkness, consisting of many billions of stars like our sun. As astronomers have determined, most galaxies look like a flat disk with some thickening in the center (in the plane it resembles a spindle). These clusters were called galaxies, and the solar system took its place in one of them. But there are also globular clusters of stars, there are grandiose and inexpressibly beautiful clouds of stars and the so-called interstellar dust, the types of which have become available to mankind thanks to the images of the Hubble telescope, placed into the earth's orbit.
The solar system is located closer to the edge of the galaxy, at a distance equal to about 2/3 of the radius from the center. This position of the sun is quite remarkable! After all, if our earth were in the very center of the galaxy, then the whole sky shone from a huge number of stars and no telescopes would allow us to contemplate the vast expanses of the created universe. And if the Lord placed the sun in the space between the galaxies, then the sky would be almost completely dark, except for rare bright spots of distant star clusters. But the sun is located in such a way that a person can observe individual stars, and the nearest galaxy, and distant star clusters, and even entire clusters of galaxies located at a distance from the earth incomprehensible to the human mind. For modern man, the visible universe is a world of gigantic cosmic dimensions and speeds. In comparison with them, our Earth seems to be the smallest speck of space.
The majestic views of the starry sky have attracted the human eye for many centuries. On clear nights, the starry sky captivates the gaze of the traveler with its unearthly beauty. The moon attracts the attention of the observer with its mysterious smile, glowing in the darkness of the night with a soft silvery light. The moon shines by reflected light and therefore its appearance changes from a narrow crescent to a full bright circle, depending on its illumination by the sun. On a full moon in a clear sky, the bright moonlight illuminates nature, creating pictures that excite the view with a special color scheme. During the day, sunlight fills the sky with a dazzling blue, through which neither the light of the stars nor the moon can be seen.
Visible to the human eye, the movement of the luminaries across the firmament takes place according to strict and unshakable laws, symbolizing the eternity and inviolability of God's decrees. Since ancient times, observations of the stars have been carried out, maps have been drawn, tables and charts of the movement of stars have been compiled. Planets are being studied solar system, comets and asteroids, meteorites and interstellar dust, space distances are measured. Special radio telescopes sensitively listen to all radio signals coming from the depths of space, hoping to find messages from "other civilizations" in them. But the exploration of outer space does not so much remove as it puts more and more new questions before man. Space does not reveal its secrets, but more and more puzzles researchers.
However, this is the concern of astronomers. But for us, something else is important - the spiritual meaning of the story of the Holy Scriptures about the fourth day of creation, its symbolic meaning in the six-day system of the universe. Since ancient times, a man with excitement and reverent horror of the distant unknown spaces of space. What does the vast cosmos represent to us, with its countless scatterings of stars? What new concepts and similarities were enriched on the fourth day of human thinking in contemplation of the beauty of the starry sky? Images of immense cosmic depths with multicolored collections of luminaries allowed theologians and philosophers to reflect on the properties of the invisible God-Trinity, the heavenly Church, the world of angels, and the scale of the divine creativity of the mighty right hand of the Lord of space and time.
Poets and thinkers of all times find in heaven beautiful allegories for their works. This is the royal triumph of the sun, illuminating and warming the earth during the day, without dividing people into righteous and unrighteous. This is the mysterious procession of the Moon, with its silver disk changing from night to night, taking place for many centuries according to the same strict rule. This is the poetry of stars shining in impenetrable darkness, depicting either angels (Job. 38:7), or primates of the Holy Churches (Rev. 1:20), or great kings or reasonable and steadfast righteous, testifying to the truth in the darkness of ignorance and apostasy (Dan. 12:3). In the Pentateuch of Moses, the future countless offspring of Abraham (Gen. 15:5) and Israel (Deut. 10:22) are compared with the stars. In the inspired prophecy of Balaam, the future Savior of the world is called a star (Numbers 24:17).
(To be continued)
On the fourth day of the creation of the world
We are surrounded by a wonderful world. Everything in it is very beautiful. And not just beautiful, but amazingly beautiful. There are no two identical flowers in the world, and no two leaves on all the trees in the world are the same either. And even snowflakes are never the same.
But when it snows, so many snowflakes fall from the sky that it is impossible to count them.
The world that surrounds us is not only very beautiful. It also has a lot of variety in it.
And not only everything in the world is diverse, but also rationally arranged. It has water, light, air, which are necessary for life. Without just one thing, life would be impossible.
God began to give life to the world from the very first day of creation. First He created light, then water. And on the third day, God commanded the earth to grow out of itself all kinds of greenery, and then all kinds of plants appeared. Of course, these were not the majestic trees or beautiful flowers that surround us now. The first plants looked like fine green dust. But they were alive. All future magnificent ones were hidden in them, just as a large and beautiful tree is hidden in a small grain.
And the first plants began to produce air. And air is necessary for the life of all other creatures.
God created the world in a few days, although, of course, he could have created it not even in a day or an hour, but in an instant. But God has a lot of love. And He created the world because love overwhelmed Him - the Infinite God.
And if someone does something out of love, he tries to do it discreetly: so that the loved one does not feel obligated. After all, true love is not something to give as if in debt. Real love asks for nothing back.
And Divine Love is true love. Therefore, God created the world gradually, as if grown from a seed.
On the fourth day, God commanded:
Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven.
The firmament is the space of the Universe. God began to arrange it on the first day of creation, when he separated darkness and light, and called darkness night, and light day, and commanded them to replace each other.
On the fourth day, God finally arranged the world of the heavenly stars and planets. He commanded them to be lamps in the firmament of heaven, to shine upon the earth. God created the two most important luminaries for our planet - the Sun and the Moon.
The sun's rays bring light and warmth to the earth. Light and heat are needed so that life on earth does not die out, but rather develops.
But the moon gives very little light, and its rays do not warm. Of course, the Moon is a very beautiful celestial body, and it is very pleasant to look at it on a quiet moonlit night.
But of all living beings, there were only the first plants that looked like green dust. Therefore, there was no one to look at the Moon, but it was absolutely necessary. All plants grow stronger at night than during the day, and especially strongly when the full moon is shining in the sky.
And the first plants still needed to become grasses, trees and shrubs so that life on earth could develop further.
God continued to create - and this was the fourth day.
It so happened that on the first day of winter I found HER! And it was also Thursday, that is, the fourth day of the week, about which it is written above.
Tigrul, I love you. I'm sorry if it's banal, but it happened. I only see these words in front of my eyes and see my happiness. .Your Fox.
