Rekieta Phasic-Timetable Theory: Bridging science and creation
There’s an ongoing struggle in our world between two indomitable and un-falsifiable foes. The argument is either relatively new or relatively old (depending on which side you fall). Simplified, the argument is pitched as evolutionism vs. creationism. Really, though, that doesn’t encompass the true question or adequately detail the major factions; the real question is old earth vs. young earth.
Evolution vs. creation is too broad-brush. Many creationists believe in a divinely manifested evolution; finding God as creator doesn’t preclude the tools he may have used to develop his creation. So, if the rift isn’t believers vs. non-believers it must lie somewhere else. On the surface, many would say the rift is between biblical literalists, and everyone else. I think this is incomplete (as I will illustrate) but it’s a good distinction to start from because many of us have had a discussion where someone views the creation story of the bible as a positive, literal assertion of history.
I can jive with this viewpoint. I run into trouble because I have a basic disagreement, not with the literal truth of the biblical record, but with the problems associated with assumptions made by young-earth creationists and with the functional problems of ancient-author understandings of the universe we know exists. I think the Genesis account of creation is true, but I would imagine (and have personally experienced) that my reading of Genesis varies greatly from many young-earth creationists out there. I think Genesis, first and foremost, is not intended as a science lesson. It establishes God as creator, man as caretaker, man in the image of God, and it establishes man as flawed.
Young-earthers assert that the earth is approximately 10,000-15,000 years old, based on the biblical genealogy record. Again, as I will demonstrate, I’m ok with this estimation of the earth’s age, but not in any conventional sense or the sense shared by Young-earthers.
This is where my analysis gets a little heady, and probably overly wordy. I think that both old and young earth theories are concurrently true. I know, this seems weird, but follow me. We’ll start with some basic premises I need you to accept; I don’t think they’re much of a stretch (unless you are an atheist). I am operating under the premise that God created the universe; this necessarily means that God existed before and thus exists outside of our universe. I also need you to understand that time, as we understand it and as I discuss it, is a physical dimension of our universe.
Modern physics tells us that time is a physical dimension, much like the traditional X, Y, Z axes that we all hated in geometry. The key difference between temporal [time] dimensions and the spatial dimensions is our method for navigating them. We navigate time on an increasing axis and have not been able to travel in the opposite direction, yet. In the spatial dimensions we are free to traverse both positively and negatively (though, one could argue that this is not true if we look past relativistic physics, that’s a separate discussion). Many assume that this means we experience time on a fixed vector, but this isn’t true. The passage of time (both perceived and real) is subjective to our state of mind [perceived] and the speed we are travelling [real]. Relativity postulates and experiments have shown that objects moving at a higher velocity literally move through time at a slower rate.
Math is not hindered as we are in its time-travelling abilities and physicists use math to “travel back in time” with relative frequency. With math, and its ability to move forward or backward through time, we are able to travel along all dimensions both forward and backwards. I am spending a lot of time on this because it’s important to understand that our perception of time is limited to forward, but time itself is not limited to forward.
This temporal freedom tells us that time, both “past” and “future” (or positive and negative) exists already. We know that “now” is relative to your motion, so this instant isn’t the only instant that exists, but the totality of instants must exist for time to play out the way it does. Time exists inside our universe, not outside. This is important because it means that God is not affected by time; God created time at the same moment he created space.
I know this is getting really cerebral but you must understand this concept because time is exactly like space. If time is exactly like space, then the idea that time “started” at zero is false. There isn’t a “start” to space; there isn’t a start to time. Maybe that’s too simplistic, there isn’t a “linear” start to space that then progresses to an end of space; there is a starting point (as indefinable as a single point in the universe can be) but there is no ending point. Time is identical in that time must have started somewhere, but the start is irrespective of its existence.
Basically, when God created space, he created all of it; it follows that he must also have created all of time. We have labeled “the beginning of time” relative to our current position and our experience of time in only a positive direction. That, however, is like saying one end of a road is the beginning and the other is the end: this can only be true if you travel in one direction, but on a two way road, those points can be reversed. Further, we have no idea where the builders actually started when they made the road; they may have started in the middle.
This is where the phasic-timetable comes through. Since God created the totality of time in the same instant, his entry point into creation is irrelevant to the passage of time. God’s creation point has absolutely nothing to do with year zero. It’s like saying a baker made a loaf of bread starting from one end.
Since God’s entry into the timeline is irrelevant, there’s nothing precluding both a biblical timetable (including a literal six-day creation) and our current conceptions of an old-earth/old-universe existing concurrently. Both are possible simultaneously. When you want to get really heady, consider the physical possibility that the actual date of the creation is in the future.
After all, he said his sons haven't risen up against him (yet). And, afaik, he hasn't killed anyone, so again, he is superior to David!
