Reflection on Genesis 1
A. Cressy Morrison, Ph.D. Chemistry, in "Man Does Not Stand Alone", 1944
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void."
This is the original chaos of an unformed earth.
"Darkness was on the face of the deep."
The oceans were mostly in the sky, as impenetrable clouds, and no light could reach the earth.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."
The clouds were cleared away. The earth had cooled, the rotation of the earth made night and day.
"God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters."
Out of the waters that covered all the earth rose the continents, and the dry land appeared, and above the earth, the atmosphere.
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, ..."
Note that vegetation is mentioned before animal life.
"And God made two great lights .. He made the stars also."
The sun and moon became visible through the clouds and as the clouds finally cleared, the stars appeared, "also".
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
All moving life originated in the water, and the firmament of heaven is the atmosphere.
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth."
Animals are now on earth after the seas had been populated.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, ...and let them have dominion over every living thing. He blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply."
All this has come to pass, and man has dominion.
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