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Green Round Ball

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Studies on this site:

translation of studies from dutch is still in progress

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What is life
and how did it start?

I. Start

II. Definitions of life

III. Ideas on the origin of life

IV. Ideas on the origin of life

V. Words from the Word

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VI. Time and space filled with questions

III.  - Ideas on the origin of life

The ideas on the origin of life can be divided in four different groups, each with many variants. These are young earth creationists·, old earth creationists, religious evolutionists and philosophic evolutionists. In other religions, different ideas exist [#00], but these are beyond the scope of my paper.  Young earth creationists think that the earth is between 6000 and 10,000 years old, and are limited by their interpretation of Genesis. This resides not only in age-old conflicts with geology over the age of the earth, but also with archaeological discoveries of human activity as old as 50,000 years ago [#01]. Old earth creationists, fit the geological time table into their account of Genesis.  Both groups of creationists see biology as less sound on the origin of species than their interpretation of the genesis story.  Religious evolutionists fit general accepted scientific ideas on evolution in their Christian interpretation of the entire Bible. Philosophic evolutionists limit themselves to biological facts and theories, without God [#02].

IV.  Biblical point of view

From Genesis till Revelations, the Bible deals with wisdom on the Spiritual life. In spite of being the greatest source on spiritual life, the Word tells little about the other definitions of life. One will have a hard time searching for technical details on how to build a church or bake bread, harvest and bottle wine in the Bible. Beside this the also gives little information on medicine, animal instincts and genes. People living in the 21e century have other sources for those kinds of information, like the architect, the baker, the winegrower, the physician, the behavioral or molecular biologist. The Bible deals pre-eminently over the Spiritual life (live 4).

The spirit inspired men to write the Bible. Most text are in metaphor of thousand years old. The old testament was preserved for millennia by the arts of copying by hand.  From a methodological point of view, it is not unconceivable that some small (un) intentional mistakes have been made. Sometimes biblical views appear to contradict, such as the chapters in Genesis dealing with creation [#03]. Although the Bible contradicts itself in certain details, it is always clear concerning the essence of faith. In general we read a translation, in which words and word-use are different than in the original old-Hebrew language. At several occasions, Jesus points out to errors in reading and understanding of the Word in His fellow Jews. I’d prefer to have my Bible explanation supported by a three-fold representation as direct text from both the old and new testament and supported by the teachings of Jesus Christ, our only direct Divine source.

The heart of the Bible can be summarized as God created everything, that is the matter (earth), the spirit, life, and man. Jesus Christ, the son who is one with the Creator, came to earth to testify of God’s love and redeem all men from their sins. God’s love is for every man; each man is unique for God.  The Holy Spirit is left with men, so that men can use this Divine power to search the Truth, and to live the truth in love. Here begins the investigation on creation, using our healthy mind given by God, the Bible and modern science.

V. - Words from the Word.

Genesis starts of confusing.  First, everything is created {Ge.1:1-2:7}, including animals {Ge.1:20-25}, and mankind, male and female {Ge.1:27}.  Then paradise is made, described as being in higher areas, despite the earthly names of places and rivers {Ge.2:8-25}.  A male person is formed and placed twice in this paradise {Gen.2:8,15}, and next again animals are formed {Gen.2:18-20} and finally a reprise of the forming of a female person {Gen.2:21-23}. Following the original sin {Ge.3:1-24} man is banished from the Garden of Eden {Ge.3:23-24} and they live (Adam again?) on earth.  The story from Eden is a clear story of two persons: Adam and Eve. In the creation story  mankind is described in general terms {Gen.1:27}. Creating is defined as making something new; that did not exist before. However, Genesis gives no details on how plant and animal species arise {Gen.1:11-13,20:25; Gen.2:19,20}. The verses just mentioned that Gods Word did.

It has been argued before, the Bible is no biology book. That is not a problem since the Bible deals with life-4, the spiritual life. Spiritual is precisely why created God mankind: to govern, to rule the earth {Gen.1:26}. In order to govern one needs wisdom and spirit, life 3 and 4. These forms of lives were not present in plants and animals that were created by God, but are present in God self: and created God mankind in His image {Ge.1:26,27}. Creation of mankind is also mentioned in the New Testament. Jesus will create a new man in us {Eph.2:15; 2Co.5:17; 1Pe.1:3}. Becoming a Christian does not mean that you will get a new body; your organs, lungs, liver, kidneys and heart (blood pump) remain the same; Jesus clearly refers to the creation of the spiritual man {see also Gal.6:15}.

So how did God form man out of dust of the earth? What is the meaning of the word 'dust', here translated as dust from the earth'? Hebrew uses eight different words knows for dust. In the next chapter, becomes the same Hebrew term 'dust' is used again as a God punishes the smake: ‘and you will eat dust' {Ge.3:14}.  A possible answer would thus be ‘dust is what a snake eats!' A snake is a predator using infrared eyes to find warm-blooded preys. Warm-blooded preys are birds and mammals. In the scope of life-1 and 2 (biology) man is a mammal. Of course, man is much more than that, but only in the scope of life-3 and 4.

Where only two people created, Adam and Eve? Here we come into technical details from Hebrew. Adam is both the name of the first man, and the general term of mankind {Ge.5:2}; Eve means life {Ge.3:20}. When Cain killed his brother {Ge.4:8}, he left, got a woman and founded a city {Ge.4:17}. Where did she come from, if the only persons that existed were Adam and Eve, and their son Cain?  A simple explanation could be that the creation of ‘Adam’ could mean mankind, thus several men, which could also be translated from the Hebrew.

The bottom line is that no one can say that Genesis chapter 1 to 4 are the complete story of the first five men on earth (is Cain’s wife mentioned in Ge.1:27?). It should be clear from reading Genesis, that God created everything (matter, life, the living, the animals and mankind). So are there other biblical sources on the account of creation?

VI.  - Time and space filled with questions

Genesis tells that God first created the earth {Ge.1:3-5}, and next lighted the difference between day and night {Gen.1:3-5}. Thereafter plant were made, which depend on light {Gen.1:11,12}. Remarkably, the sun, the moon and the stars and all expansions of heaven were made after this {Ge.1:14-18}. Some from that time on, the sun is the source of daylight. So which light made day and night before the creation of the sun?  God’s light is always present!  Would such a source be suitable for plants? How is the sun an expansion of heaven {Ge.1:14-18} in the light of the work of Copernicus in 1507, that the earth circles around the sun?

All these questions ask how God create the cosmos, but do not raise any doubt that God created. Geologists, nature scientists, date their discoveries on ground from two principles. One is relative dating, build on the idea that what is laid down first will be under.  The other is absolute dating and uses decline of radioactive isotopes.  Radioactive isotope decline has a fixed rate, the so-called half value time. It is used in the atom clock, the clock used to standardize all the worlds clocks. How long the halve time is, depends on the speed of decay of the isotape.  The half time of spontaneous decline is of 14C (isotope of carbon) is 5730 year, for 40K (potassium isotope) is this 1.3 billion years. Other isotopes (atoms with the same chemical quality, but different of weights) of carbon and potassium do not decay. Living plants and animals have an exchange of carbon with the surroundings and thus have all isotopes in fixed ratios.  After dying, 14C will be halved in 5,730 year, leaving a quarter is after 2 x 5,730=11,460 year and onjy an eighth after (3 x) 17,190 year.  The amount of other carbon isotopes can be used to calculated the initial amount of 14C, the rest has been lost in time, allowing calculation of the time gone by since this life-form died.. Similarly the decline of 40K (potassium) to 40Ar (argon) in rocks can be used to date these.  Rocks are formed with potassium, but without the gas argon [#04]. Using isotope dating, the earth is dated as approximately 4.6 billion years old [#04].

Radioactive dating is of the stony part of fossils can be used to date plants. In the older, deeper layer, unfamiliar plant and animal species are found.  In the upper, more recent, the species are much more familiar. This suggests that change over time ( = evolution) has taken place. Remnants of modern men that are found until approximately 50,000 years old [#01]. Is the earth billions years old!?  This conflicts with the interpretation of young earth creationists! Does life exist for (hundred) million years and did it change over time?  This conflicts with both young as old earth creationists!  Some Christians seek the answer in Genesis, like the Irish archbishop James Ussher in 1650. From the description of the lives of the forefathers, he calculated that the first man was created in 4004 before Christ [#05].  Paul wrote on the use of genealogy: not to teach false doctrines nor devote themselves to myths and genealogiesas these promote controversies, in stead of God’s work which is through faith {1Ti.1:4}. This can be interpreted that Genesis should not be used to calculate when creation took place. The Bible also tells us that are time is different from God’s {Ps.90:4; 2Pe.3:8}. If a day could be thousand years, how would one translate a week for creation in the spiritual way? The creation week does hold an important message though, namely one day of rest in every week!