contributed by Edward Barnes
As Atheists we are fully aware that the Bible contains hundreds of ambiguities, contradictions and blatant scientific errors. A deeply brainwashed Christian may ask, “Where are all these alleged contradictions?” You can tell them to turn their Bibles or fancy I-Pad Bible app to Genesis, the first chapter. The onslaught of contradictions and scientific errors occur at about the third verse. Let’s examine Genesis one verse three through five:
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said let there be light. Sounds easy enough, right? God, the omnipotent creator of the universe, simply spoke light into existence. And when he spoke those words, with his mighty tongue, instantly light appeared, pushing back the darkness. There is only one problem. Since God did not create the sun until the fourth day, where did this mysterious light come from? What was the source? How could there be light without the sun?
Let’s take a look at verse four:
“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”
So God, somehow, separated or “divided” the light from the darkness. Obviously he had a giant light switch that he used to turn this “mysterious”, unnamed light source off. I always thought darkness occurred when half the earth was facing away from the sun. Oh, but wait……at this point the sun had not been created yet. So much for that idea.
Let’s look at verse five:
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Okay, now I’m just flat out confused. The evening and the morning were the first day? Wait a minute how could there be a morning or an evening without the sun? Morning and evening are signified based on the position of the earth in relation to how it is facing the sun. Without the sun, how can morning and evening be determined?
Let’s review. We have light created without the sun. Next we have God dividing the light and the darkness. Finally there were mornings and evenings before God created the sun. These scientific anomalies that are found in the first few verses of Genesis are usually ignored and rarely discussed in religious circles. Why is that? Could it be that if these blatant scientific errors, listed in the first few verse of Genesis, are revealed and openly discussed it may cast a long shadow of doubt upon the rest of the Bible?
Oh, one last question: When God created the sun and the moon, on the fourth day, where did the “original” light that was created on the first day go? Okay, I better quit while I’m ahead. I’m going to be accused for thinking, which seems to be strongly discouraged by Christians.