Adam wrote,
<< Prior to methane being the major greenhouse gas perhaps the Earth was
covered in carbon dioxide ice clouds which would act as infrared heat traps,
allowing liquid water oceans in the first aeons of the Dim Sun, but would
totally obscure the heavens. Thus the first creative act of God in Genesis,
the creation of the diurnal cycle might imply the creation of life - the
methanotrophic ecosystem - that preceded the rest of Creation?
>>
Sorry, Adam,
But Gen 1 is following Mesopotamian motifs and traditions so far as its
world-picture is concerned. (The divine revelation is in the world-view, not
the picture). Any concord between the ancient Near Eastern "universe" of Gen
1 and that of modern science is accidental.
Note that in Genesis 1 when God does his first creative act, making light,
there are not "liquid water oceans", but just one ocean covering the entire
earth (which does not correlate with modern science). And, the ocean is not
there in the "first aeons of the Dim Sun" because the sky itself (understood
at the time to be a rock-solid dome) has not yet been made (Day 2), much less
the sun (Day 4).
Every reference to science in the Bible that I have ever seen is an
accommodation to the science of the times. The revelation is for the purpose
of fully equipping the man of God, as a man of God, not as a scientist.
Best wishes,
Paul S.
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