With this post I am reviewing a book named Genesis One – A Scientific Perspective by Hugh Ross. Hugh Ross is a noted astronomer and the founder of Reasons to Believe which is a foundation dedicated to reconciling the Bible with scientific findings. This short 34 page book goes line by line through Genesis 1 – 17 and shows how each passage is backed up by scientific findings.
The knowledge that Mr. Ross has regarding the meanings of the original Aramaic and Greek words adds great insight to this findings. I will not be covering each text that was discussed in the book. I will leave that up to you. I did want to include one paragraph about how human history begins:
DNA analysis can now test the Bible’s claim that humanity is descended from one couple living approximately 50,000 years ago. We all get our mitochondrial DNA from our mothers. All men get their Y-chromosome DNA from their fathers. Mitochondrial DNA studies confirm that the human species is traceable back to a single woman who lived 50,000 years ago (taking into account that 10 to 20 percent of the population inherits two types of mitochondrial DNA and less than 1 percent three types). Y-chromosome DNA studies confirm that the human species is traceable back to a single man who lived between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago.
DNA recovered from a dozen Neanderthal species eliminates Neanderthal as a possible ancestor for humanity. It also shows that Neanderthals as a species experienced little if any change with respect to time. Similarly, DNA recovered from human species that date back more than 20,000 years show little, if any, change with respect to time in the human species.
Later in this topic author makes the following statement.
The evidence available today is staggering both in quantity and quality. For the first time in history, science confirms every creation event – and its sequence – as described in Genesis.
What this tells us is that if we concede that the earth was created in seven day ages instead of seven 24 hour days then science very much aligns with biblical text. It seems that many Christians link the theory of evolution with the scientific belief of Genesis. Mr. Ross very much rejects that idea. Evolution is very much an unverified theory and has no scientific fact to back it up.
While I certainly realize that this book will not change minds of people who are totally locked into the seven 24 hour day interpretation of the bible it should at least make everyone else appreciate how well science and the Bible are intrinsically linked. We Christian should not fear God given scientific facts given to us by the Holy Spirit as we are able to understand them.
