A handbook of Freethought

by Unknown

“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”

And still another instance may be given to show that the word “day” has no double meaning: “And God made two great lights, the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night.” The word “day” obviously means what we mean by it when we use it in connection with night.

These proofs settle the question of the meaning of the word “day.” It means in Genesis just what it means when we use it. The account given of creation in speaking of “days” meant literally twenty-four hours; and geology and astronomy prove such statements to be childish and foolish. If we should admit that the word “day” in this narrative meant millions of years, then the first Sabbath upon which the Lord rested and was refreshed also meant millions of years. If this be so then it is safe to infer that he is still resting. This may in some degree account for the fact that the ministers are trying to run the world in his name. For if God exerts his power over the world to guide and control it according to his own sovereign will it is nothing less than high handed presumption if not rebellious usurpation on the part of the clergy to attempt to take the management out of his hands.

In the second chapter of Genesis, Adam is said to have been made before the animals were created. After Adam had given names to all the animals as they passed before him in grand review, there was no helpmeet found among them for him, and as an afterthought God formed a woman for him out of a rib. But here was a very long period between the creation of Adam and Eve. According to the first chapter of Genesis Adam and Eve were created at the same time, and before the creation of the animal kingdom, but in the second chapter man was the first creature made and woman the last. This would make Adam millions of years older than Eve, if the word “day” means millions of years in the first chapter of Genesis.

“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven.”

According to this writer’s ideas heaven and earth were two flat spheres, upon each of which were vast quantities of water. The firmament in which were set the sun, moon, and stars was in some way supported at a short distance above the earth.

The Hebrew term rakia so translated, is generally regarded as expressive of simple expansion, and is so rendered in the margin of the A. V. (authorized version). ([Gen. 1 : 6].) The root means to expand by beating whether by the hand, the foot, or any other instrument. It is especially used of beating out metals into thin plates. ([Ex. 39 : 3], and [Num. 16 : 39].) The sense of solidity is combined with the ideas of expansion and tenuity in the term. The same idea of solidity runs through all the references to the rakia. In [Exodus 24 : 10], it is represented as a solid floor. So again in [Ezekiel 1 : 22–26], the “firmament” is the floor on which the throne of the Most High is placed. Further, the office of the rakia in the economy of the world demanded strength and substance. It was to serve as a division between the waters above and the waters below. ([Gen. 1 : 7].) In keeping with this view the rakia was provided with “windows” ([Gen. 7 : 11], [Isa. 24 : 18], [Mal. 3 : 10]), and “doors” ([Ps. 78 : 23]) through which the rain and the snow might descend. A secondary purpose which the rakia served was to support the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars ([Gen. 1 : 14]), in which they were fixed as nails, and from which consequently, they might be said to drop off. ([Isa. 14 : 12–34], [Mat. 24 : 29].) In all these particulars we recognize the same view as was entertained by the Greeks, and to a certain extent by the Latins. If it be objected to the Mosaic account that the view embodied in the word rakia does not harmonize with strict philosophical truth, the answer to such an objection is, that the writer describes things as they appear rather than as they are. (Smith’s “Abridged Bible Dictionary,” Firmament.)

One not acquainted with the wonderful flexibility of biblical interpretation, might conclude after reading this explicit definition of the rakia that the story of creation was an inspired revelation, but not true. We ourselves are inclined to this opinion, and we accept the conclusion that the Mosaic description of the firmament “does not harmonize with strict philosophical truth; and possibly we shall conclude that all parts of the Mosaic cosmogony will show that the writer who attempts to give a history of the beginning of the universe, did nothing more than describe things as they appeared to his mind’s eye, rather than as they actually were.

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and 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.”

This was on the third day, and we read that on the fifth day, “God created great whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind.” But in the evolution of life upon this earth, grasses, trees and plants do not precede the evolution of marine animals. Here again we come upon one of those instances where the account given does not harmonize with strict philosophical truth; but the answer to such objections is that “the writer describes things as they appear rather than as they are.” In modern language we should say he was merely guessing at the riddle of existence.