S
eparation of land and seas; the creation of vegetation
On the third day of creation, God did two things. He separated the Seas from the Dry Land, and he also started the process of plant life. On this third day of creation, the earth was covered with water and God gathered the waters on earth together into one place allowing the dry land to appear. He called the dry land Earth and the gathering together of the waters he called the Seas. Genesis 1:9 and 10.
There are two possible ways of looking at this. One is that the world/earth was actually covered in water. The second is that the reference to water here is not actually to water, but a liquid form of land, for example molten lava. Both theories are supported by science.
According to science, in December 2008 it was reported that a new model of the early Earth developed by Australian scientists, suggests that until around 2.5 billion years ago oceans covered almost the whole of the planet Earth. At that time just 2% to 3% of the Earth’s surface would have been dry land. As opposed to 28% today. It is reasonable to assume that at one time between the creation of the earth, some 4.6 billion years ago, and 2.5 billion years ago, even this 2% to 3% of the land was underwater.
See http://metro.co.uk/2008/12/31/early-earth-was-covered-in-water-274995/ .
Isn’t this stunning, that Moses told us that the earth was covered in water, and science “discovered” this thousands of years later with the help of sophisticated computers?
The other thought I have is that this reference in Genesis may mean liquid rather than literally water. In this case the earth, in its early days, would have been a liquid mass of molten lava due to the extreme heat and volcanic activity. This later cooled off forming waters, and eventually the dry land appeared. This scenario is also supported by science. Either way it seems that Moses had it right.
CREATION OF PLANT LIFE.
The separation of the waters from the dry land was not all that happened on the third day. All vegetation was also created on this day. Genesis says:
“And God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day”. Genesis 1:11 and 12. King James Bible.
Two issues come to mind when I attempt to reconcile this second item. The first is, did plant life originate in water or, as this text seems to suggest, on dry land. The second issue is with the timing. We know that in the Biblical account the sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day. Is it possible that plant life originated before them?
With respect to both these issues science leaves some critical gaps. It is not sure for example regarding the question as to where plant life first originated. There are varying theories including; in water, underneath the crust of the earth, and even in outer space and then transported to Earth by meteors and asteroids. So, all of the theories provided by science are speculation. However one scientific theory is that life could have begun as far back as 4.4 billion years ago in hydrothermal vents beneath Earth’s surface. If it is beneath Earth’s surface then it would be on dry land, albeit underneath the seas.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Earth , under Hadean and Archeon Eons, on page 3 of the article.
Another way of looking at it is that God in this text is using the word earth comprehensively to include the land and the seas. In any case, given that science itself is not certain on this point, I don’t think there is a conflict at this time between the Bible and science.
With respect to whether or not plants were created before the sun and moon, I believe science is also not sure and the dates are too close to tell. For example science tells us that the earth is between 4.5 billion years old and in some cases that it is 4.7 billion years old. It also says that the moon is about 4.6 billion years old, and the sun about 4.2 billion years old. One thing that is clear from the different numbers is that an exact date, even in terms of hundreds of millions of years, is not possible at this time. All these dates are estimates. Given the massive figures we are talking about, this is not surprising. Also given that these are estimates, and we have an estimate of 4.4 billion years ago of when life possibly originated, and 4.6 billion years ago when the moon was finished, it could well be that life predates the moon and the sun; since an estimate for the formation of the sun is 4.2 billion years ago.
My conclusion: Because of the uncertainty of the states, and the closeness of the dates to each other, it is probably impossible to determine, at least at this stage of our history, whether there is a conflict between the two accounts. Given this, I am ready to accept the Biblical account.: