"From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began:
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man." - John Dryden
Much has been made about the supposed contradictions that the Genesis creation chronology has with knowledge gained by modern science. In fact, many choose not to accept the legitimacy of the Bible because of some of the statements in Genesis. I believe however that both the Bible and nature reveal the same God and that there can be a great deal of reconciliation between the creation chronology and the facts and inferences gathered through scientific means.
It's important to note however that I think that gaining an *exact* mapping of the Biblical creation sequence to scientific knowledge will be difficult, if not impossible. I've concluded this after serious thought for three primary reasons. First, it's a law that communicated information is typically lost over time. Throughout history many words have been written down only to be misinterpreted centuries later because the reader lacked historical and cultural context. For example, consider the varying uses of terms for "soda" in different areas across America. Some folks refer to "soda" as "pop", others use the word "coke", and still others use just "soda." The people in each region understand one another but sometimes there's less than exact transmission of meaning when people from different areas discuss beverages. Now extrapolate this minor communication problem over thousands of years and hundreds of generations. This makes it very hard to believe that we can gain precise scientific knowledge of the meanings of the terms and words used in Genesis considering it was written so long ago. The second reason that I doubt our ability to completely understand the Genesis chronology is the nature of ancient Hebrew. Unlike modern English, ancient Hebrew contains many fewer words and symbols and is much less technical in nature. Thirdly, the Bible was not mainly written to communicate scientific information. The Bible is the unfolding of a love story between God and His Creation and this primary theme exudes clearly and redundantly through the pages of Scripture. For this reason, the creation description in Genesis is not comprehensive from a scientific perspective and thus there are many "details" which are left out such as the creation of single celled bacteria or the creation of animals like dinosaurs.
Although, having stated my reservations concerning detailed correlation between Scripture and science, the harmony that does exist when it comes to high level events and constructs is nothing less than remarkable and is suggestive that the writer of Genesis had divine inspiration.
What follows is my working harmonization of the Biblical creation sequence inspired and sourced partially by the works of Hugh Ross and Don Stoner.
(Note: For a much more detailed analysis of the "harmonization problem" I suggest that you read the references documented below.)
Biblical Day 1 - Started 12-18 billion years ago at the point of the "Big Bang"
Biblical Text: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
God's Activity: This day encompassed the supernatural creation of our Universe - matter, energy, time and space, and the physical laws and constants which govern it. In addition, the natural law creation (0) of galaxies, solar systems and Sun, planets and moon also takes later on this day .
Consider also the definitive statement about the beginning of the Universe. Up until about 100 years ago most scientists including Einstein believed in a Universe that had no beginning and this first verse seemed ludicrous. However due to modern science we can trace the origins of the Universe back to a finite point in the past where all the laws of physics break down into a singularity where no time or space existed. Lastly, note that this implies God is transcendent and is not contained within or by the Universe - thus the Creator and the Creation are not one and the same and should not be treated as such. In other words, "Don't worship trees!".
Key Point: The biblical author makes a frame of reference change in Genesis 1:2, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." From this point on the creation statements concerning celestial bodies should be interpreted from the perspective of someone right above the watery surface of the earth.
Biblical Text: "Let there be light."
God's Activity: None; but from the standpoint of the surface of the Earth, visible light from the Sun can first be observed through the still very thick atmosphere.
Biblical Day 2 - Started ~ 4 billion years ago
Biblical Text: "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.. God called the expanse sky.'"
God's Activity: The natural law formation of the water cycle. A distinct division now existed between water in the clouds and water on the surface of the planet. In addition, the supernatural creation of single celled bacteria/algae which helped prepare the atmosphere for oxygen required by higher life forms also takes place during this time period.(1)
Biblical Day 3 - Started ~ 2.5 - 3 billion years ago
Biblical Text: "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear."
God's Activity: The natural law act of continental formation takes place during this day.
Biblical Text: "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it..."
God's Activity: The first appearance of *real* plants and trees don't start showing up until about 500mya in the fossil record. However, there's been some questioning of the meaning of the ancient Hebrew words used for "seeds, trees, and fruit". They may in fact convey much broader and more generic meanings than we currently understand those words to mean in modern English. Although I don't subscribe to the theory of macro-evolution, it's important to note that microbiologists have used gene-mutation analysis with some evolutionary assumptions to determine that land fungi appeared about 1.3 billion years ago which would place them during the third creation day. In summary, I believe that until we learn more about ancient Hebrew or find more fossil evidence in this area this aspect of the creation will remain a mystery.
Biblical Day 4 - Started ~ 1 billion years ago
Biblical Text: "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth."
God's Activity: Now that the atmosphere is clear of interplanetary dust and debris, the natural law revelation of celestial objects which were created during Biblical Day 1 takes place. They are to be used as time markers.
Biblical Day 5 - Started ~500-600 million years ago
Biblical Text: "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let winged creatures(2) fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."
God's Activity: The supernatural creation of complex sea life, fish and insects takes place on this day. The Cambrian explosion takes place during the early part of this day.
Biblical Day 6 - Started ~230 million years ago
Biblical Text: "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind."
God's Activity: The day starts with the supernatural creation of reptiles and mammals. For example during this day the "canine" kind was created and eventually through micro-evolutionary means gave rise to modern dogs, wolves, etc.
Biblical Text: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
God's Activity: On day six is the supernatural creation of the crown jewel of His creation: Homo sapiens. I believe that Adam was the first anatomically modern man. Another minor point to note which admittedly is unadulterated speculation is how God created Eve through the "re-use" of a part of Adam. Even though I think the primary significance of God's use of Adam's rib in the creation of Eve is to communicate the special bond between husband and wife, there's also a potential explanation for the biological homology that we see across many living organisms.
Biblical Day 7 - Started ~100,000 years ago and is present and ongoing(3)
Biblical Text: "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."
God's Activity: Supernatural creation ceases. Micro-evolution remains as the only agent of biological change.
Notes:
(0) In my opinion supernatural (or ex nihilo) creation is no more or less spectacular than natural law creation. Also, my understanding of God's acts as either supernatural or *just* natural stems from my scriptural interpretation and my understanding of modern science.
(1) This is not mentioned specifically in Scripture, but it's obvious that Scripture doesn't mention the creation of every single living organism.
(2) Most modern Bibles translate the ancient Hebrew word "owph" as birds but this not need be so. The word "owph" is also translated as grasshopper, and bats in other places in the Bible.
(3) Note that the seventh day does not contain the verses signifying daily closure "And there was evening, and there was morning..." found for all of the previous six days. This lends credence to the idea that each creation day should be interpreted as long periods of time.
References:
A New Look at An Old Earth - Don Stoner
Creation and Time - Dr. Hugh Ross
The Science of God - Dr. Gerald Schroeder
