The Second Truth:
The Earth is billions of years old, not thousands of years old and mankind was proceeded by lower forms of life.
Let's get this out of the way. I'm a Christian. I believe that the Bible is God's word. There is not a single word in the Bible that God did not place there.
Many Christians think that if they do not take every word literally, then the Bible must not be the truth. Being literal is not the same thing as truth. Something can be a representation of a concept and still be the truth and not be literal. This would mean that much of the Bible would be left to interpretation. Actually, all of the Bible is left to interpretation. It's just a matter of choosing whose interpretation.
The story of creation states that in six days, God created the Earth and the heavens. A day, on Earth is measured by the rotation of the Earth. We have divided that into 24 hours and call that a day. But chances are that no where else in the universe is a day marked as the same period-of-time as ours.
So, is our day, a day everywhere in God's creation? Has God created other, sentient beings? There is no proof. But if there are, do they experience our day? Most likely not.
Is it possible that a day to God is 24 hours? Certainly. Is it possible that God created the universe in five days? Yes.
But consider that it takes light millions, sometimes billions of years to travel from a distant star to Earth.
Did God create the universe with light from distant objects already reaching Earth. Possible. But that would mean that God lets nature (that he created), tell us one thing, when something else is true. Does that seem like something that God would do? Can he do it? Sure. Did he do it that way? It would seem to be paradoxical. God leading us to believe something that is not true.
Part B of the Second Truth:
Did we come from apes? Not exactly. We both had a common ancestor. I refer you again to the concept that the Bible, has to be literal to be true.
We all go from being innocent, not ashamed of our bodies, to becoming aware. Isn't this concept one that is intrinsically represented in the story of Adam and Eve? Doesn't every person go from innocence to carnal knowledge?
Could this also be a representation of the evolution of mankind? The transition from being part of the animal kingdom to a sentient being? And how did we transition? At God's will.
Evolution, only becomes impossible if the Earth were thousands of years old. And the belief that the Earth is only thousands of years old is necessary, only if you believe that creation in five days must be a literal truth, not a representative truth.
I find no contradiction between evolution, and the Earth being billions of years old and the Bible. After all, how did the Big Bang come about? I find nothing more God like than the Big Bang.
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