Differences In Christianity

Christianity is a religion that is often generalized, when, in actuality, there are very different beliefs within each sect. Perhaps the most controversial topic among the different sects in Christianity is how one would translate the book of Genesis, chapters one and two. That unspoken question is the gateway into understanding a person’s worldview, because it sets the tone for how the rest of the conversation will ensue. Whether the earth and everything in it was formed by the Creator within long periods of time, using the evolutionary standpoint, or within only 144 hours, there are many ways that one can translate these two chapters, but it all boils down to either a literal translation or a non-literal translation. Each perspective

Within a lecture presented by John Walton, the speaker explained that when reading the different accounts of the Bible, one must understand the frame of mind in which it was written (Walton, 2014). There were about 35 to 40 different authors of the Bible, and all wrote their books within different periods of time spanning across 1,500 years (Got Questions Ministries, 2016). There is quite a bit of a time difference from the first to the last author, and so there must have been different cultural references. Since Moses is presumed to have written Genesis, among other works (2016), it is possible that he perceived the time of a day differently than a different author down the timeline, such as Daniel or

Within its foundation, even the Bible cannot distinguish the timeline of creation. For example, in chapter one of the book of Genesis, it begins by explaining that God created light and darkness and then adds that there was an evening and morning- the first day (Genesis 1:3, NIV). In other words, God created light and darkness before there was even a definition for a “day.” Adding to that, it seems that a “day” was simply a light across the world. There was no time limit for how long the light appeared or how quickly the darkness came. It is only when the Lord commanded for there to be heavenly bodies to symbolize time, that a system of time began by the fourth “day” (Genesis 1:14, NIV). Even then, the rotation of the earth could have been slower, and so a day lasted longer, such as what had happened when Joshua requested for a longer day from the Lord in order to defeat his enemies, the Amorites (Joshua 10:12-13, NIV). Therefore, the passage should be understood to be poetical, or not literally stated (Stewart, 2016). Lastly, Genesis chapters one and two do not have a matching sequence for when each of God’s creations were established. For example, in the first chapter, the livestock and the plants appeared before man came into being.