Do a simple comparision, Thaumaturgy:
Genesis 1:
- The order of creation.
- No suffering or death.
- The Godhead speaking.
Science:
- The order of the creation is wrong.
- Survival of the Fittest.
- God does not exist.
Now tell me that that second list is not hostile to the first one.
I've decided to clear things up a bit.
What Fundamentalists tell us:
1. There is no evolution... well, after the fall... well, there is microevolution... well, hyperevolution after the flood...
2. No physical death. Death implies an unmerciful God (2 Kings 2:23-24, Hosea 9:11-16, Ezekiel 9:5-7, Exodus 12:29-30, Leviticus 26:21-22, Isaiah 13:15-18, 1 Samuel 15:2-3, Exodus 32:26-29).
3. God speaking. He seemed a lot more talkative back then...
What Genesis 1 tells us:
1. The main point is that God is the creator of all things in particular. This, as opposed to the many polytheistic religions at the time where each one of these categories would be created by a separate god. And the 7th day shows that God isn't bound to creating things. He isn't simply a creation machine, but can sit back and enjoy His creation, which attributes human characteristics to Him - He isn't impersonal.
2. No
spiritual death (would it make sense for God to tell Adam and Eve they would die if they had never witnessed physical death?)
3. Adam and Eve represented the Human Race, much as Israel is refered to as a single person yet is a representation of the nation of Israel.
What Science tells us:
1. The
literal interpretation of the creation story is wrong.
2. Heritable variations lead to differential reproductive success. Whether is this how God created, science cannot say but we have the evidence to show it happened(s)
3. God may/may not exist, we cannot test it.
The debate over Genesis is not really a debate about science versus the Bible, for the God of the Bible is also the God of science. Rather it is a debate over how to properly interpret Genesis. Much of Genesis only conflicts with science if you demand certain interpretations.
What if, for example, you took the prophetic interpretation. Genesis 1 is not written in the first person, rather it is as if someone is seeing and hearing what's happening (say, for example, Moses), and is recording what he sees and hears. Suppose that God reveals Genesis 1 to the prophet for a week. Each day of that week God shows him a new thing that He did. What if the phrase
"And there was evening, and there was morning" which is repeated each day was referring to the actual evenings and mornings which the prophet experience. He went to bed. He got up. And then God gave him another vision, and repeated this for each day.
Youth Earth Creationists demand a certain interpretation of Genesis 1, even though it contradicts what can be inferred from the available evidence and refuse to consider other possible interpretations that are more consistent with the evidence.
Is it all that different when the Catholic Church threatened to kill Galileo simply because his scientific observations contradicted their interpretation of scripture? Yet it is not that they blindly read the Bible and ignore extra-Biblical information, for when they read Revelation, they don't interpret it in the same manner as they do in Genesis 1. If you don't hold to what they refer to as a "literal" interpretation of Genesis 1, it seems you're a heretic, but if you don't hold to a "literal" interpretation of Revelation, that doesn't matter. Why?
In interpreting the "What Actually Happened?" questions in the Bible, there is, of course, only one correct interpretation, though it may have many applications. But it is often not sufficient just to assume that the Bible is true. For many people who assume the Bible is true might still read it in different ways. For example, if your understanding of certain words is different, you may come to a different conclusion. For example in
Acts 2:5 it says
"Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven."
Really! This implies that there were Jews in every nation in the world, and that they made the long trek from Mongolia, Australia, and South America just to come to the feast of the Pentecost! And if history teaches otherwise, then to hell with history, that's what the Bible says!
As foolish as it sounds, arguments over Genesis often go like that. The error being made here is using a 20th century English interpretation of a phrase that was written in ancient Greek 2000 years ago. So is it possible we might misunderstand certain words written in ancient Hebrew 3500 years ago?
Then there is also the sense in which it is written. Much of the Old Testament uses oriental styles of expression, incorporating symbols, analogies, allegories. Even Jesus spoke in this style with parables and symbols ("Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days") Yet taken literally or assuming a western style of expression, these could be misunderstood. Genesis 1 could have been written in such a fashion, as has been noted with the prophectic interpretation.
Use your noodle...