| |
|
The Bible, as a guided book, attempted to explain the evolution of mankind in terms that humans could understand. Realize that in the day and age that the Bible was written, such matters as planets orbiting around a Sun, evolution in response to adaptations or genetic mutations, and such theories as the Big Bang did not exist. Man saw the Sun rise and set, seeded his crops or tended his herds, and hoped to raise his children before old age took him out. How would one explain evolution and genetic engineering to such a man? Simply, and with a tale they could relate to.
Such a tale was the creation tale. Since God is acknowledged by all, God caused all this to happen, ultimately. Since the stages on any planet that ultimately sustain life are basically the lifeless planet in darkness, the form and the void, and then the light, as in let there be light, and then the waters, as condensation happens as a planets cools, and then the plants, as without vegetation there can be no mobile animals, and then the fish in the sea, as all life first evolves from a watery womb, and then the creeping creatures that leave the waters followed by land animals and flying creatures, and lastly intelligent species such as man. This tale was not meant to be literal, but was meant to explain the steps so that man could understand. It is only the rigidly religious who cannot see the obvious who fail to understand. If the road sign said Go when green, and the light never turned green, they would stand there still.