How can the bible and science explain the Six Days of Creation?

Every Orthodox teaching of the Christian doctrine begins with the study of creation to affirm the good nature of creation and humanity (Genesis 1:31). This is followed by the study of the Fall of Man to understand the causes of human suffering. After that, the discussion moves to redemption and salvation, which requires affirming the Orthodox belief in the nature of Christ (Christological Dogma). The discussion concludes by affirming belief in the Holy Spirit and His role in creation and the Church, working within us through the sacraments until the resurrection and the life of the world to come. Thus, the Church has established the Creed to solidify these concepts. Geology suggests that the universe came into existence 10 billion years ago, and Earth around 4.5 billion years ago. In terms of Earth’s history, it has been divided based on its remnants and fossils into two parts: the Proterozoic Era (before the Cambrian), and the Post-Cambrian Era. The former is characterized by the formation of Earth and the presence of primitive organisms that left no significant traces. The latter is divided into three eras: the Paleozoic (ancient life), the Mesozoic (middle life), and the Cenozoic (recent life). Each era is further divided into periods marked by distinct fossils indicating the types of organisms that lived during them, along with the separated layers of soil and sudden climate changes. The book of Genesis, in its first three chapters, tells a poetic but real story using symbolic language, as interpreted and affirmed by many early Church Fathers like St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and Origen. It teaches us that God is the sole Creator, the reason for the existence of the universe and humanity, without a partner. After each section of the creation (symbolized by the six days), it affirms that the material creation is good and pleasing. How could it not be, since it is the work of a “pure power,” as taught by St. Athanasius the Great? Moreover, humanity was created uniquely, carrying a special “grace” that made it “very good.” In his work On the Incarnation of the Word, St. Athanasius explains that this grace was given to humanity to protect and preserve it from corruption—both physical decay and spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. He taught that man was not created immortal in a bodily sense but was created mortal by nature. Those who believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis 1-3, known as Creationists, claim that the entire universe was created in just 144 hours (six days). They reject scientific findings, accusing scientists of trying to undermine faith, even though many scientists believe in the existence of a Creator while also respecting scientific discoveries. So, is there really a conflict between the Bible and science, particularly regarding the origins of life and the emergence of human consciousness? The issue is not between the Bible and science, nor between faith and enlightened analytical thought. Francis Bacon stated that God gave us two infallible books: 1. The “Book of Nature,” interpreted through science. 2. The “Holy Scriptures,” interpreted through theology. Though both books are infallible, their interpretations, being human endeavors, are subject to error. This explains the apparent conflict between scientists and theologians, especially when theologians (as in the case of Galileo in the 17th century) mistakenly think that their scientific views hold the same validity as their theological ones, or that their theological stance is equivalent to a scientific one. Scientists estimate the age of creation on Earth to be around 5 billion years. However, the Bible states that creation occurred in six days. How can this be reconciled? This raises an important question: Should one adhere to the divinely inspired account of creation in the Bible, or follow the conclusions of science based on meticulous research using the latest scientific methods? The Six Days of Creation: Attempts to Reconcile the Explanation of the Six Days of Creation in the Bible Throughout history, many Christian scholars and thinkers have attempted to reconcile the two views (that the Bible states creation occurred in six days and that science claims it took millions of years). Some of these attempts include: 1. The First View: Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks, proposed that creation occurred in short periods (the six days of creation), with long intervals, representing millions of years, between these short periods. This means that after each day of creation, God paused the process for millions of years. Stoner suggests that creation happened suddenly and rapidly, as evidenced by the abrupt changes between the Earth’s layers and the fossils they contain. Response to This View: • The number of geological eras that would need to separate the days of creation does not correspond with the six days of creation. • Some days of creation include living creatures whose fossils span more than one geological era, such as the fifth day, which includes creatures that appeared and spread gradually across both the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. • Certain geological periods are linked to natural phenomena, geological movements, or creatures mentioned in the Bible on more than one day. For instance, the pre-Cambrian period aligns with what was created in the first four days. 2. The Second View: In his book In the Beginning and Adamic Earth, William Kelley posits that there are two creations: the first is what science details in the geological ages, which was entirely wiped out, and the second is the creation described in detail in the Bible, a new creation after the destruction of the first. Response to This View: • If God created the first creation over long periods (as described scientifically as geological eras lasting hundreds of millions of years), why did He change His method and create the second creation in just six days? • The first creation’s extinction, as described, seems illogical and without reason. 3. The Third View: This view assumes that the days of creation mentioned in the Bible were not 24-hour periods but much longer, lasting hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. Response to This View: • If each day of creation represents millions of years, how could plants and animals survive for such prolonged periods in darkness or constant sunlight? The phrase “and darkness was upon the face of the deep” refers to the thick vapors that emanated from the intense heat of the earth, rising to great heights and preventing any light from penetrating. It is observed that many creatures believed to have gone extinct during the geological ages are still present today. When tracing their functional evolution, it becomes evident that many current organisms are a natural, gradual extension of those that existed long ago, preserved as fossils deep within the earth—though it was claimed they had perished! Third View: This view suggests that the days of creation mentioned in the Bible were not 24-hour periods, but rather long spans of time. The length of each “day” could have encompassed hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. In other words, the night of that “day” might not have lasted just hours, but millions of years, and the same would apply to its daytime. To further reconcile this, proponents suggest that the first four days of creation (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, and Day Four) correspond to the Pre-Cambrian period. They also suggest that the fifth day of creation includes the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, while the Cenozoic era is divided between the sixth and seventh days. Response to this assumption: 1. If we assume that each day of creation corresponds to a geological age, meaning that each day lasted several million years, this implies that the night of that day also lasted several million years, followed by several million years of daylight. How would plants or animals, whose lifespans rarely exceed a few hundred years, survive in perpetual darkness? And how could animals survive the depletion of oxygen during such long periods of darkness, given that oxygen is produced by plants only in the presence of light? Conversely, how could these creatures endure continuous scorching sunlight for millions of years without respite? 2. This assumption is scientifically untenable because the length of a day has been constant since the earth’s formation. The earth has always completed its rotation around its axis in 24 hours, and this has not changed since the beginning. Fourth View: This view suggests that the word “day” in the Bible is symbolic and represents a period of time, regardless of its exact duration. It may refer to an era or a shorter period. The day, though short for us, may correspond to an era in God’s time. Just as a day has evening and morning, marking a beginning and an end, so too do eras, no matter how long they last, have a beginning and an end. In this sense, the word “day” is not meant to be taken literally but symbolically.