Preface to Genesis

In 1905, in a single issue of Annalen der Physik, a young patent examiner published three separate papers. One, on Brownian motion, was original enough to have sourced a PhD dissertation. Another, titled “On a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Conversion of Light” would win its young author the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.

But the third one, titled, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," would make its author’s name synonymous with genius. Albert Einstein had figured out that time isn’t what we think it is.

Ironically titled “relativity,” Einstein’s theory postulated that one absolute – the speed of light – governed all the laws of physics. From this, many wonderful things can be derived. The mass of an object is a function of its speed relative to the speed of light. This leads to E=mc². All atomic energy is rooted in that one equation.

Einstein also showed that time is a function of speed relative to the speed of light. This amazing concept has profound implications that reach even into interpreting the Bible.

Relativity isn’t just a theory; it’s a fact that NASA deals with every day. The Global Positioning System must account for the effects of relativity. Otherwise, your GPS wouldn’t work.

Einstein introduced a concept called “time dilation,” which is that time slows down when you’re moving a significant percentage of the speed of light (that is, a significant percentage of 670 million miles an hour). This is best illustrated in what is known as “The Twins Paradox.”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-relativity-theor/

Imagine twins, one of whom becomes an astronaut. If the astronaut goes on a long trip, traveling very fast, when the astronaut returns he/she will be younger than the twin that stayed home. In fact, the now older twin may have been dead for centuries. Even residents of the International Space Station are affected, though only by a fraction of a second. Still, that much time dilation could throw the Global Positioning System way off.

The theological implication of time dilation is simple but important. Since time is not in synchrony everywhere – there is no universal clock – the creator must have dominion over time. Omnipresent implies omnitemporal. Anything less would be a “local” creator, which is a contradiction in terms. This is in perfect harmony with the Bible.

in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. – Tit. 1:2 (NKJV)

The Bible implies that God created time. Good; anything else would show the Bible to be a creation of man. Any religion with a creator who is subject to the constraints of time is debunked by modern physics.

Faith is not belief without evidence. Blind faith is belief without evidence.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Evidence – it’s all around us. Genesis helps us understand the evidence. The evidence helps us understand Genesis.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies