Pope Pius XII 1951 Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Identified Genesis 1:3
Fiat Lux = "Let there be light"
With the Big Bang.
"It seems indeed that science today, rising suddenly
[after] millions of centuries, has succeeded in being a witness to that primordial Fiat lux, when along with matter, there burst forth from nothing a sea of light and radiation, and the elements split and churned and formed into millions of galaxies."
"To the Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences", 22 novembre 1951 - Pio XII, Discorsi
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Key Bible Passages to be considered today:
• Genesis 1:1-2:3
• Proverbs 8:22-31
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A Basic Problem – hundreds of ways that the Creation passages have been understood.
- My claim to consideration is that I believe that the interpretation here is consistent (to the best of my understanding) with the Creation Narrative as given by
Modern Science – beginning with the Science of
Cosmology (the subject of my 19thpsalm.org
website).
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Synopsis
The Six Divine Workdays and Tasks
• Day One: Create the universe
• Day Two: Carve out a haven for the Earth and Life
• Day Three: Form dry land on Earth; fill with plants for food
• Day Four: Organize the heavenly bodies
• Fill the Earth with Animals:
- Day Five: Ocean and Air
- Day Six (a): Land
• Day Six (b): Create Man (male and female)
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the Matter of Terms
• How does Time figure in Creation?
• What is "Water"?
• What is the "Abyss" or "Deep"?
--- PARTICULARLY IN THE FIRST TWO VERSES:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep .
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters .
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• TIME IS CREATED: it is part of the created universe.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• TIME IS CREATED: it is part of the created universe.
=> Before the Planck Time (BB + 5 x 10 -44 s) nobody can describe what things looked like.
IN PARTICULAR, the appearance of things is indescribable! BEFORE the Planck Time and before the Big Bang occurred.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• GOD IS TIMELESS. So…
• How do you write a Work Order? How describe his creative activity?
=> Sequence of Activities???
=> Duration of Activities???
BEFORE the BB?
AFTER the BB?
St. Augustine of Hippo,
The Literal Meaning of Genesis
[ ad lit.
] ca. 415 AD.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• GOD IS TIMELESS. So…
St. Augustine's Solution:
( Ad. Lit.
V.5.13)
• Instantaneous Creation of Everything
"in Potential" -- God "Created potentially, for time would bring them into view in the ages to come."
- i.e. created "formless and empty",
• Later, "fleshed out" – but that was not the creation.
St. Thomas Aquinas
( Summa Theol.
Ques. 66, Art. 1)
"Whether formlessness of created matter preceded in time its formation?"
Today's Suggestion: God DID create in time (but not "by the clock"), for a very good reason…
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• … God DID create in time for another reason: To preserve the integrity of his Silent Voice.
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Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
 How does Time figure in Creation?
• The Silent Voice –
Einstein's "Incomprehensible thing"
"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible."
 The Time component in Creation displays how
God Used Natural Processes when they would do the job.
-- Creation of the universe 13.73 By ago
-- Creation of the elements in stars over 9 By
-- Formation of the Solar System and Earth (4 By)
-- Preparation of the Earth & Atmosphere (3+ By)
-- Preparation of Land with Plant Food (400+ My)
-- etc.
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Concepts
DESCRIBING THE INDESCRIBABLE
Preface - Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep .
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters .
Proverbs 8:22-31
22 “The Lord possessed me [Wisdom - dcb] at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth . …
26 before he had made the earth with its fields,…
27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep ,…
 What is " water " and what is the " deep "?
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Concepts
The Matter of Terms
• How does Time figure in Creation?
• What is "Water"?
St. Augustine,
Ad. Lit . I.5.10
"We might say that by the term 'water' the sacred writer wished to designate the whole of material creation. In this way he would show whence all things that we can recognize in their proper kinds had been made and formed, calling them water."
Water  Appears as Fluid or liquid "stuff"
… (Whatever appearance means in an indescribable context!)
Hebrew words Related?:
• "water" (Mayim – םִי ָּמ)
• "heavens" (Shamayim -- םִי ַמ ָּש)
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Concepts
The Matter of Terms
• What is "Water"? – A more traditional (wrong?) view: image source: 15 http://www.geocreationism.com/

Concepts
The Matter of Time & the matter of Terms
• What is the Abyss or Deep?
 Symbolizes a vast, wild, dangerous, fickle, lawless place with no place of safety, no safe haven.
Preface - Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep [abyss],
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters .
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Creation Day One
• First Workday: Day One
Task: Create the universe
The Big Bang and Cosmic Inflation
Day One - Genesis 1:3-5
3 And God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good.
And God separated the light from darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And there was evening and morning, the first day.
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Creation Day One
• First Workday: Day One
Task: Create the universe
The Big Bang and Cosmic Inflation
Day One - Genesis 1:3-5
3 And God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good.
And God separated the light from darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And there was evening and morning, the first day.
Separating Light from Darkness:
• The Cosmic Inflation?
• The End of Ionization?
Sistine Chapel
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Creation Day Two
• Second Workday: Day Two
Task: Carve out a Haven for Earth and Life
Day Two - Genesis 1:6-8
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse* in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
--- Compare with Proverbs 8:27:
"when he drew a circle on the face of the deep ,"
* Hebrew Raqia ( ַַעי ִק ָּר) Translations "firmament", "Dome", "Vault"
"carry baggage that tends to predispose how we English readers
Interpret these verses, hindering our ability to derive their meaning."
Rick Lanser, Genesis 1 and the Raqia (2009)
.
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The Shields protecting Life on Earth:
 Ozone Shield
 Earth's Magnetic Shield
 Gravitational Deflection of Comets, Asteroids, etc.
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Creation Day Two
The False (retrojected) "Hebrew Cosmology"
Flammarian Woodcut (1888)
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Creation Day Two
• Second Workday: Day Two
Task: Carve out a Haven for Earth and Life
So… What is the true cosmology intended in Genesis Day Two?
 A haven that shields Earth.
It exists at several nested havens:
• Milky Way Galaxy
• Solar System
• Habitable Zone around the Sun
• Shields around the Earth
• Earth's Atmosphere
From the viewpoint of a person on Earth, the
Atmosphere is the most immediate reference.
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The Anthropic Principle
Comment on Anthropic Principles
1903 Alfred Russel Wallace Man's Place in the Universe.
1913 Lawrence J. Henderson The Fitness of the Environment
1988 Barrow & Tipler, Anthropic Cosmological Principle
Brandon Carter (1973): "Although our situation is not necessarily central , it is inevitably privileged to some extent."
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Figure from http://knol.google.com/k/the-anthropic-principle#

Creation Day Three
• Third Workday: Day Three
Task: Create Dry Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 1:9-13
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”
And it was so.
…
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”
And it was so.
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Creation Day Three
• Third Workday: Day Three
Task: Create Dry Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 1:9-13
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”
And it was so.
Early Earth
Continent Formation --Subduction
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Creation Day Three
• Third Workday: Day Three
Task: Create Dry Land and Vegetation
Day Three - Genesis 1:9-13
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”
And it was so.
…
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”
And it was so.
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Creation Day Four
• Fourth Workday: Day Four
Task: Organize the Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 1:14-19
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.
And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
…
16 And God made the two great lights
—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night —and the stars.
17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens….
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Creation Day Four
• Fourth Workday: Day Four
Task: Organize the Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 1:14-19
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.
And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years …
-- Clear out Cosmic debris
-- Create stable planetary Orbits
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Creation Day Four
• Fourth Workday: Day Four
Task: Organize the Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 1:14-19
Newton's Puzzlement: Why is the Earth's Orbit stable?
Conclusion: God had to intervene occasionally.
The most egregious mis-statement of the Scientific Age:
Napoleon: Does your mathematics include the hand of God?
LaPlace: "I have no need for that hypothesis."
Re. a copy of Celestial Mechanics , presented to Napoleon in 1799.
Fact: The Earth's Orbit is Chaotic.
(LaPlace was in error).
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Creation Day Four
• Fourth Workday: Day Four
Task: Organize the Heavenly Bodies
Day Four - Genesis 1:14-19
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.
And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…
=> The first systematic Science – Astronomy .
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