Creation

"I believe that God made the  world in six days. If I don't believe that I have no right to say that I believe any of the Bible."
"I tried to believe that God made the world in six days but I'm a scientist and I just couldn't do it. For a while it seemed that my faith was in jeopardy."
These are Just two of the things that people have said to me about the creation story in the first chapter of the Bible. 

Sixteen hundred years ago a man called Augustine was concerned that we would put people off faith by talking nonsense about scientific things. He thought that this was dangerous. I agree with him. My scientist friend almost lost her faith, until she discovered that there was another way to read the Bible. 

So what about those of us who do hold to a six day creation? Well, let me say this as gently as I can. Many Christian writers across the centuries have disagreed with you. This wasn't because they understood modern science; it was because they looked at Genesis 1 and they thought that it didn't look like a historical account. How, for example, are we meant to understand day and night existing before the sun and moon? 

The point of Genesis 1, I believe, is that it raises issues. How should we treat our environment? Should we be vegan?  What about gender issues? Why are we so stressed?  We will have a look at this chapter in Sunday..