This website is the culmination of our prospecting through the opinions, scientific evidence, and theological history surrounding the origins and history of the Earth.  Representative polls indicate that there is a widespread divergence in Americans' personal beliefs regarding the Earth's creation.  Presented, are the three most commonly held views:  that of a fundamental Christian, a non-traditional Christian, and a non-secular scientist.  We hope that the ideas and debates contained herein will intrigue the reader as much as they have inspired us in this site's creation.
 
 

Included are the ideolgies of:

• Fundamental Christianity:  The Bible is the direct word of God.  The Earth was created in six days regardless of scientific "evidence" to the contrary.
• Non-traditional Christianity:  The Bible is a human interpretation of God's word, and is/was not meant to be a scientific account of Creation.  In this view, the Bible does not conflict with scientific evidence, as it is a testament of faith.
• Non-secular Science:  The Bible is not a scientific text, and should not be taken literally.  However, if taken literally, the Bible is an inaccurate depiction of the creation of the Earth, as scientific evidence indicates that the Earth was formed over aeons.

The age and origins of the earth can be estimated by science and evaluated by theology, but cannot be definitively determined by either.  The fundamental curiosity of the human species requires that this question be asked.  The fundamental nature of the earth denies that it be answered.

Realistically, the origins of Earth, and the greater Universe are not known.

However, that assumes that the Bible is the direct word of God, and that God was telling time by the Earth's rotations around the Sun before he was finished creating either.

It is not unrealistic to consider that the Bible, having been translated and rewritten countless times, is a Human interpretation of God's word into a timescale that humans could understand. And, it is not a stretch of either Christianity or Judaism to suppose that a time period that would have been aeons to a human on the Earth could have been days to an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent being such as God.

For those that believe that the Bible is the direct and pure word of God, it is also not a stretch to imagine that God had not set the world rotating as quickly as it is now while he was creating it.

From the standpoint of pure scientific fact, we are still trying to figure out exactly how old the Earth is.  Granted, it is more than six Earth days, but can we scientifically prove that God  is/was limited to Earth time?
 

The reality of this debate is that the real underlying question cannot be answered to any degree of objective truth. How the world was created is a question of belief, not a question of fact. No living human was there. We just don't know for certain.

If an omnipotent being created the world as we know it, is it impossible to imagine that he left clues like puzzle pieces to foster our curiosity? If not, and the Creationist Theory is incorrect, it is perfectly logical for humans to comfort themselves with the idea that there was a greater plan for our world's existence, especially our own. Similarly, if a scientist (or for that matter, a truck driver or any other person) prefers to extrapolate backwards in time with scientific evidence and postulate the origins of the Universe, why should that be any more or less appropriate?

It is the right of each individual to investigate each theory and follow the belief that satisfies his/her own convictions, whatever that might be.
 

This website created for Chemistry 465: Senior Seminar.

Authors:   jadams@udel.edu
              mac@udel.edu
              dingdong@udel.edu

   Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry homepage.

  University of Delaware homepage.
 

Copyright University of Delaware, October 1998.
Last updated: October 26, 1998.
URL of this document: http://udel.edu/~jadams/