Previously, I was a very strict literalist when it came to the bible. I used the slippery slope argument that if one part was not real and factual, we would end up having a pick and choose theology. However, my study of history and how people/events are passed down has shown me that in fact, while a particular may not be in itself truth, the whole can be. This fits very nicely with the "full inspiration" of the scripture -- and is why proof-texting is so weak.
In the matter of creation, we have stories that were orally passed from one generation to the next. It is a very convenient method to break creation into periods of "days" for the "rising" and the "setting" of the sun have always marked a period that could be recognized as a day. (For those true science-minded, I realize the sun neither rises nor sets, and that some portions of the earth might have the equivalent of six-month days...but, I hope you get my drift). Picking apart the language of the choice of the word day makes no sense. I will use another story as a backdrop for this:
Is the person in the Da Vinci's Last Supper painting a man or a woman? Is it John or Mary as some hypothesize. We could study the facial features, we could study the pose -- the result? Who cares. Da Vinci was not there! He is not an eye witness painting an artists sketch as in some courtroom. He frankly could have painted any features/details in that he wanted. What we see is how the artist pictured it in his mind.
So, back to creation. The story of creation was passed down orally for many generations before it was written. So, to make the account more easily committed to memory and able to be retold, a certain poetic license had to be exercised. Which came first light or darkness? I contend light -- look at the sun, darkness occurs when the sun is obscured. Without something to obscure the sun from view, we would naturally have light... But, I digress. Man was created on the first day? Ummm, no. The second? Again no, so frankly how do we know if God created the heavens or the earth first? Well, only because as the story was passed down, it was determined that it was significant to place them in that order... Let's assume it was how God related it to Adam, and how he related it to his descendants -- it is important not how it was done, but, how it was recorded -- that is the truth we are to take away.
Did it really take God six days? Why not six seconds? Well, there was no truly accurate measurement for a second (maybe they used 1-Mississippi or something). So, it became a definable period of time for the story -- 1 day (later determined to be one revolution of the earth -- funny, when it was discovered that the earth rotated around its own axis as well as the sun, math did not change, but was confirmed! -- this contradicts those who say that science would fall if the earth was discovered to not be old).
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that we must recognize the bible as a record. It is accurate in that it was meant to record the relationship between God and man. The interesting thing is that many have through the years doubted the bible. Some would hold up certain passages and say, "See not true." It might be verses about a place or an event. Yet, discoveries are made that consistently show the bible to be an accurate record of a people.
Do I have a point? Not sure. I have journeyed from literalism to a deeper view of the bible. Is it simply a photograph that catches the sun and the figures represented? Or, is it a beautiful poem that captures the heart of God and his yearning to be closer to us -- his creation? James Thomas Flexner wrote in "Washington: The Indispensable Man" that once the myth of Washington was removed, we would more fully appreciate the man that Washington was and his true greatness. How much more so this is true of God!
When we see how God has so jealously sought to have a relationship with us -- with me; I am awed that the creator of the universe has so sought my worship! When I realize that the story of the bible is not man struggling to be close to God, but, God seeking his creation's fellowship -- I understand that the story is so much deeper than did the earth come into being in 144 hours, or was it for me to fall to my knees upon to worship My Creator
