Day 1: All In A Day's Work

One of the most crucial interpretations in Biblical exegesis is the meaning of the Hebrew word "yom", often translated as "day", used throughout the Bible and especially as used in Genesis 1.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 English Standard Version (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

(unspecified duration during which the ocean and first coastlines form, per Job 38)

2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

(unspecified duration of darkness)

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

The scene opens at some point after the creation of the heavens and the earth.  After?  Yes, after.  The deep has already burst out (Job 38:8), been wrapped in clouds, been barred in, and had waves halted, yet the earth is described as formless and void.  Darkness is then over the face of the deep for an unspecified duration.  Each of the Days of creation begins with the words, "And God said", which is where the First Day begins.

Contrast is created when God commands that light shine in the darkness. (See also John 1:5)

God issues a command: "Let there be light"
Creation responds to God's command: and there was light.
God pronounces judgement on creation: And God saw that the light was good.

The pronouncement that the light is "good" stands in contrast to the whole of creation being declared "very good" when it is finished.  The word for "good" used throughout Genesis 1 holds the primary meaning "pleasant, agreeable".

This pleasant, agreeable light will drive photosynthesis and provide virtually all of the energy for all of the lifeforms on earth.  These amazingly complex, God-created, photosynthetic processes will also transform the earth, making it habitable for plant and animal life.  As the story opens, God brings light into focus.  The Spirit of God is hovering (see Deut. 32:11 for the same word) over the waters, brooding over His creation and stimulating it to come to life.  These first lifeforms are light-driven organisms which transform the earth by sequestering harmful metal ions and producing oxygen which is not yet available on earth.  As the story closes in Genesis 1:30, the last created thing mentioned is "green plants for food".

It is possible to see a chiastic structure, which is a common Hebrew linguistic form, in Genesis 1:

• Formless and Void
• Light (drives photosynthesis and causes green plants to grow)
• the rest of the creation narrative
• Green Plants for Food (energy from photosynthesis)
• Very Good (formed and full of life)

Although the Hebrew people would not have comprehended photosynthesis as such, they certainly understood that light of the sun causes and is necessary for green plants to grow.

The light is "good" because it begins to fulfill its created purpose, but not yet "very good" because it's purpose is not yet fully complete as we see next.

The next action is that God "separated" the light from the darkness.  Literally in Hebrew it reads as such:  And divided God a space between the light and between the darkness.

Light and darkness are not separated by time, but by location.  There is "space" between light and darkness.  If this is not clear enough from the Hebrew in Genesis 1, we can refer to the revelation of God in Job 38.

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, 

20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

In order to understand Genesis 1 properly, we have to think like a Hebrew.  The setting for the Book of Job is during the time of Abraham, who preceded Moses, the compiler of Genesis 1.  So the concept of spacial separation of light and darkness is already a concept in the Hebrew people's minds when they receive Genesis 1.

God calls the light day and God calls the darkness night.  There is no time component to this distinction.  One side (location) of the earth is flooded with light while the other side (location) is plunged into darkness.  The observer of this phenomena during Day 1 of creation is the  Spirit of God.   God is omnipresent, able to "be present" hovering over the waters of the deep of the whole world at the same time.  He is present in the light and present in the darkness - therefore He "calls" them both, indicating His complete sovereignty over light and darkness, day and night.

Furthermore, God is spirit, immaterial, and therefore not "gravitationally bound" to the surface to earth.  Therefore, He is not affected by the rotation of the earth.  He is not dragged along, under the force of gravity and the pressure of the atmosphere, forced to experience day and night according to the rotation of the planet.  From God's perspective, Day and Night are places, more so than times.

The first usage of the word "day" in Genesis 1 is to indicate the "place of light".  The context of the verse is what reveals this meaning.  The word "day" is used in many other contexts in the Bible, not related to the original creation sequence and therefore has other meanings in these other contexts.  Because the Book of Job is God's revelation regarding the creation of the earth, it provides appropriate commentary in the same context, the creation sequence.

As we close out Day 1, the transition phrase, "And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day", is utilized.  This repeated phrase is the structural marker that gives Genesis 1 its unique form.  The meaning of day and night as related to light and darkness and location is already established, and is independent of time.

What is notable is that Evening, Morning, and Day are used in a unique context, one of transition.  We have to read ahead in Genesis 1 to see that the greater light will rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night.  This arrangement is not proscribed until the Fourth Day.  Therefore, we cannot connect Evening and Morning and Day in the transition sentences to the government of the Sun or Moon.  In other words, Day 1 may have an Evening and a Morning, but it does not have a sunset and a sunrise.  Therefore, these words are clearly being used for a different linguistic context, and therefore carry a different meaning.  Furthermore, there is no time component implied.

The rule of the Sun and Moon over day and over night is not pronounced "good" until the Fourth Day, because the separation, for which the Sun and Moon were created, is not yet complete until the Fourth Day.  This explains why the light is good on Day One, but not the separation.  The separation exists, but is not yet operating in its final form.  The separation exists geographically, but the sequence of day and night is not yet proceeding under the regulated rule of the Sun and Moon.

The meaning of Evening and Morning in context is that each day is marked by an ending and by a new beginning.  This is used to mark out six successive ranges of activity in which God forms the earth into a habitable world.   These phases march along in ordered procession, each bearing a distinction from the last.

This linear view of time is crucial to the Hebrew and Christian mindset.  We see a similar pattern in Biblical history:  the time from Adam to Noah, the time from Noah to Abraham, the time from Abraham to the Exodus, the time from the Exodus to the Exile, the time from the Exile to the birth of Christ, the time from the birth Christ to the return of Christ, and so forth.  The point here is not to identify, or quibble about, what these specific phases are, but rather to point out that the concept of linear time means a moving from the start of something to a final, pre-determined outcome.  Observe that the creation account in Genesis 1 underscores the mindset that all of time and life is ordered toward a specific final destiny.  Just as with many other aspects of God's timeline for humanity, He does not disclose the exact length of time of each of the phases of His plan.

In summary, Genesis 1 defines Day and Night in geographic terms with relation to Light and Darkness.  Each ordinal Day, i.e. the First Day, are defined, in in terms of what happens, as follows:

• One Day completed comprised of:
• God's Commands and Actions, i.e. "Let there be..." or "God [did something]..."
• Creation's Responses, i.e. "[created thing] [did something]"
• God's Judgements, i.e. "... was good" or "God called..."
• A Transition to a new Era with an Ending and Beginning

Please feel free to post comments or questions.

Day 3: On Solid Ground

The events of the Third Day of creation begin with a description of God preparing land upon which plants will grow.

Genesis 1:9-11 English Standard Version (ESV)

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”

And it was so.

10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.

And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”

And it was so.

These statements speak to a process that occurs at God's command.  For additional insight, Scripture describes other acts of God that pertain to these events.

Job 38:25-27 English Standard Version (ESV) 

25 “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, 26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, 27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

Pictured here is a process of erosion, operating over time, to cut a channel for rain down from the heights into the barren lowlands that then spring forth with vegetation.  The word grass [deshe'] used in Job 38:27 is the same word translated "vegetation" in Genesis 1:11 and distinct from the word [hasir or châtsı̂yr] used for grass for livestock in Psalm 104:14.

This should link the imagery of Job 38 to the creation story of Genesis 1 in the astute reader's mind.  This connection of course would be much more obvious to those studying this in their native Hebrew language.

Psalm 104 and Job 38 speak elegantly and beautifully of what God has done.  Genesis 1 shows us something of the sequence of events.  Interestingly, some commentators say that Job 38 dates to the time of Abraham, long before Moses wrote or compiled Genesis 1, and Psalm 104 of course came from David, long after Moses.  So these three perspectives, each perhaps building on the other, can help us to see more clearly what work God was doing in creating a habitat for humanity.

David contributes the following to our understanding:

Psalm 104:5-9 English Standard Version (ESV) 

5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

To complete the picture, we turn to David's son Solomon whom God imbued with wisdom regarding all manner of knowledge about the earth:

Ecclesiastes 1:7 English Standard Version (ESV)
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.

Bringing this all together, we see a process where continental crust is rising up above sea level, continents are colliding and thus forming mountain chains, rain clouds burst against the mountains sending torrents of rain, the rain cuts channels into the rock, the valleys sink down collecting channels of water in to streams, and the streams all run down back to sea level where the water is all gathered into the "one place", the ocean, which is itself comprised of multiple "seas" separated by continental landforms.

God causes all of this to begin on the Third Day with the purpose of supporting plant life on Earth.  The plants will be the food for birds and animals.  It's a process that takes an unspecified amount of time to unfold.

It is important to point out that the land forms of the Third Day are not the first land forms to ever exist.

Job 38:8,11 English Standard Version (ESV)
 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

The "Deep", which we identify with the "sea" in Ecclesiastes 1, was obviously present since the First Day and it's waves would have crashed against early continents.  These continents are recycled by the process of plate tectonics, and thus, these early continents never supported plants.  They were void of life as described in Genesis 1:2.

Vegetation first colonized land along river channels, needing easy access to water because they did not have extensive roots systems and seeds.  Descriptions of the Devonian period illustrate what life was like on Earth during the early part of the Third Day, before the advent of fruit trees.  You might enjoy this artwork created over 100 years ago.

By Eduard Riou (1838-1900) from The World Before the Deluge 1872, United States [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The first continental land mass to support plants was Gondwana, which literally means "forest of the Gonds".  During the Devonian most land on earth was gathered into one large continent.  Gondwana primarily existed from 550 ma to 320 ma.  By 100 ma, or the end of the Third Day, it had broken up into the continents that we have today.

Therefore, the Ages of Joy creation timeline includes the formation of Gondwana at about 550 ma as being near the very beginning of the Third Day.

Geologic Record	Time (ma)	Biblical Account	Day
Ocean		The Deep
Continents to support plants	550	Dry Land that will have plants	3rd
Bryophytes[1] (first plants)	~470[2]	Vegetation - tender, new deshe'	3rd
Seeds	~370[3]	Plants yielding seeds	3rd
Woody Angiosperms	113-100[4]	Trees bearing fruit	3rd
Birds		Birds
C4 Plants and Grasses	~30[5]	Grass and cultivated plants[6]	6th
Cattle	20[7]	Livestock	6th
Humans		Man	6th
ma = millions of anum (latin for years) before present | July 21, 2018 | v1.2 Bryophytes Origin and early evolution of land plants Problems and considerations Seed plants by ~370 ma Appearance of Fruit Trees Anatomical enablers and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in grasses Humanity's Grassroots: How Grazing Animals Shaped Evolution Bovidae

Day 3: Rooting the Biblical Account in the Geologic Record

The Biblical creation account in Genesis 1 references many specific events God ordained in the process of creating the Earth as a habitat for mankind.  Here we will anchor a concordant view of creation and science in four specific events thats are mentioned in Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 and which are well identified in the layers of geologic sediment.

Genesis 1:11-13 (ESV)
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Genesis 1:29-31 (ESV)
29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Psalm 104:14 (ESV)
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth

The first three of these events are listed in relation to the Third day of creation. The fourth event is mentioned in the Psalm in relation to livestock and man and harkens back to the blessing on the sixth day.

Dictionary	Bible
Ocean	The Deep
Continents	Dry Land
Plants	Plants
Birds	Birds
Cattle	Livestock
Humans	Man
basic table of events v1.0

In the table below, events are added to basic table of events (above) introduced in an earlier post.

Geologic Record	Time (ma)	Biblical Account	Day
Ocean		The Deep
Continents		Dry Land
Bryophytes[1] (first plants)	~470[2]	Vegetation - tender, new deshe'	3rd
Seeds	~370[3]	Plants yielding seeds	3rd
Woody Angiosperms	113-100[4]	Trees bearing fruit	3rd
Birds		Birds
C4 Plants and Grasses	~30[5]	Grass and cultivated plants[6]	6th
Cattle	20[7]	Livestock	6th
Humans		Man	6th
ma = millions of anum (latin for years) before present | July 19, 2018 | v1.1 Bryophytes Origin and early evolution of land plants Problems and considerations Seed plants by ~370 ma Appearance of Fruit Trees Anatomical enablers and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in grasses Humanity's Grassroots: How Grazing Animals Shaped Evolution Bovidae

Genesis 1 addresses many basic questions, primarily in the context of "Where did that thing come from?" where that thing could be people, trees, the moon, apples, etc.?

It answers those questions by relaying the high-level events that lead to the inhabited world that we experience every day.

Scientists are also interested in seeking and sharing answers to the same questions, because these are timeless questions that most people have at one time or another. They do so by utilizing many techniques.  The framework of answers often involves discovering where in the geological column a certain that thing is first found, or trying to predict when in time a certain that thing may have first come into existence.

Interpreting Genesis 1 involves recognizing that it addresses the origin of the things that exist today in the world around us.  Therefore, when it lists the origins of vegetation, seed plants, and fruit trees, it is addressing the origins of the kinds that exist today.

The word translated "vegetation" comes from the Hebrew word "deshe'" which refers to new plants, tender plants, and tender herbs.  The word is used to describe the first plants that sprout in a barren area.  This is applicable to the first plants to colonize land.  They were spreading into a barren area.  The Hebrew word deshe' includes the meaning "tender".  Plants that are tender lack an ingredient called lignin that makes plants stiff.  New, immature grass, referred to as deshe' is low in lignin.  So too are many of kinds of plants that first invade barren areas. These include a class of plants called bryophytes.  Bryophytes are also among the first land plants. Literature searches offer good agreement that Bryophytes have been abundant on earth since the Silurian (444-419 ma) and may have existed much longer, with 470 ma being often sited.  It is significant, and relevant, that bryophytes still exist and are common throughout the world today.  Rather than applying to an ancient, extinct type of plant, the Bible is referring to the origin of kinds of plants that are still abundant on the earth today, categorized as mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

After the bryophytes, God created many kinds of seed plants.  Evidence exists that seeds, zera', have existed since 370 ma.

The next reference refers to trees that produce fruit with seeds in the fruit.  These type of plants are know as woody angiosperms, scientifically.  Currently, the best evidence points to fruit trees being created during the Albian period which ranges from ~113 to 100 ma.  This included the kinds of trees that continue to exist today: figs, planes, and magnolias.

Ages of Joy takes these events to indicate that the Third Day of creation ranged over the time frame from a point before 470 ma to 100 ma.  We will see that looking at the emergence of dry land pushes back the starting point of the Third Day to before 500 ma.

Plants are also featured in Genesis 1 on the Sixth Day.  Here they are called out as a blessing to all creatures.  We do not see a reference to a new creation of plants, but we do see the blessing.  We also find a very specific reference in Psalm 104 stated that God causes grass to grow for livestock and plants for man to cultivate.  Psalm 104 uses the Hebrew word hasir for livestock feed which is a word not used in Genesis 1.  Psalm 104 also uses the words lechem for food-grain for mankind, also a word not used in Genesis 1.  This is interesting because the words used for the kinds of plants created on the Third Day were very specific, not necessarily general words.

When we investigate the scientific record, we find that a very amazing event occurred approximately 30 million years ago.  A new type of photosynthesis was introduced to the world that is call C4 photosynthesis.  And despite the complexity, C4 photosynthesis evolved more than 62 times independently in flowering plants.  C4 plants are very productive and provide most of the food that humans and their livestock rely upon.  The following quote indicates the impact of this event.

"Corn is C4, sugarcane is C4," researcher Kevin Uno, a geologist at the University of Utah, told LiveScience. "Although C4 grasses make up less than 1 percent of all plant species in the world, they are responsible for 30 percent of all biomass on Earth. Humans evolved (were created, AOJ) in a world where C4 grasses were available. These are the plants we rely on for food. They made a big impact." ^[link]

What we learn is that a special creation event occurred on the Sixth Day, referenced in Psalm 104, that was the implementation of the blessing of God mentioned in Genesis 1.  By carefully searching the Scriptures, but also looking at scientific discoveries, we can better appreciate the handiwork of God.  

Examining the scientific and Biblical data also helps us to root the Ages of Joy creation timeline in the geologic record.  We see that the Third  Day includes the timeframe from 470 to 100 ma.  The Sixth Day includes the timeframe from ~30 ma to the creation of Adam.

Ages of Joy

The tagline "Ages of Joy" reflects a gleaned understanding of God's experience in creating the Heavens and the Earth.  God reveals His heart to his prophets throughout the Scriptures.  In the Book of Job, God challenges Job's thinking by helping Job to think about the awesome works of God in creating the heavens and the earth.  And in so doing, God reveals the mood in heaven.

Job 38:4-7 English Standard Version (ESV)
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5  Who determined its measurements —surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

God's creative acts create a thrill of joy among the the angels in heaven inspiring songs and shouts of joy.

Proverbs 8:27-31 English Standard Version (ESV)
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

In the reflection on creation in Proverbs 8, the wisdom pouring forth from God, by which the world was made, was God's delight and the personified "wisdom" also is rejoicing before God and delighting in the inhabited world.

Psalm 19:1-6 English Standard Version (ESV)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat. 

In Psalm 19 the miracles of creation are associated with glory and joy.  In Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, God is glorified and delighted, the sons of God shout for joy, wisdom is delighted, and even the sun following its course brings joy.

We use the term "ages" because it reflects on the scope of God's master plan to create an inhabited world -- a plan so expansive that it could only be carried out by an Eternal Being of wisdom and power.

Habakkuk 3:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 He [The LORD] stood and measured the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.

Habakkuk compares God's eternal ways to the durability of the hills and mountains.  Moses also compares the everlasting God to the mountains and the earth itself, entities that seem to possess an eternal characteristic, but which God goes before.

Psalm 90:1-2 English Standard Version (ESV)
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night. 

Moses, who gives us Genesis 1, also reflects on God's everlasting ways in relation to His creative works.  The title "Days of Creation, Ages of Joy" was inspired by these passages and reflects the basic approach of this site to analyzing scientific discoveries in the light of Biblical revelation.

From a human standpoint, the heavens and the earth seem almost unimaginably old.  The Hebrew language is stymied at communicating "billions of years" and instead speaks of the earth being "everlasting and eternal" yet clearly communicating that it is not so in the same way that God is eternal.  From a Biblical standpoint, we see that the Eternal LORD of the Universe, daily and with joy, oversees the transformation of the Earth from "formless and void" to "inhabited by the children of man".  He wields power and wisdom as He speaks, creates, forms, establishes, draws, assigns, and stretches the heavens and the earth into being and conforms them to His purposes.  These then are the "Days of Creation" and the "Ages of Joy".

The Questions that Drives the Quest

The motivation for doing the research that led to the creation of Ages of Joy came from a question I asked myself over 38 years ago.

My father, now retired, is one of the all-time great high school science teachers.  The kind that invented amazing demonstrations and setup intricate laboratory exercises for his students to get real hands on experience.  As a first and second grader living on the frozen tundra of bush Alaska, where my dad was teaching school at the time, the best entertainment came from visiting the high school science lab after school and in the evenings watching reel-to-reel science films on the "big screen".  My love for science was born of such experiences.

We moved to a small town in rural Minnesota and as a third-grader, I discovered the school library and began devouring every science book on the shelves - especially those about space and dinosaurs. I loved to learn.  Back in those days, "surfing the internet" was called "thumbing through the unabridged dictionary looking for the pen-and-ink drawings".  Anything worth making a drawing for must be very important to learn about.  I discovered a drawing depicting the geologic column - a fascinating diagram providing a glimpse into Earth's deep history.

At about the same time, I was given a Bible in Sunday school.  As I started reading it, I was quickly fascinated by the account of God creating the Earth and immediately compared it to the geologic column.  This is what jumped out at me:

Dictionary	Bible
Ocean	The Deep
Continents	Dry Land
Plants	Plants
Birds	Birds
Cattle	Livestock
Humans	Man

Of course, I saw some differences and parts that I did not know how to fit together. Yet, since God created the Earth, the Bible must have it right, I figured.  At the same time, I wanted to know more details than what the Bible provided.  I wanted to know everything that had happened and the Bible was providing an overview - kind of like an outline or summary of the most important events.  Now I had learned my science from a small town library.  Some books were written in the 50's, some in the 60's, and a few in the 70's.  So I innately understood that scientific understanding was changing over time.  And thus, the question was born:

"When scientists finally work out the history of planet Earth with enough accuracy, will they be able to fill in the details surrounding the events in Genesis 1?"

There is another question that lingers in many people's minds.

"Do the events in Genesis 1 really line up with the history of earth as described by geologists and paleontologist?"

Over the years, I have come across some great material that helps to answer these questions, but still I wanted to know more and to be able to share what I was learning.  So a couple of years ago, I launched my own quest.  I started a list of all the events identified in Earth's history that seemed important.  I began by reading wikipedia and searching for journal articles and followed up by scanning for articles on Science Daily to get the latest scoop.  What I have found thrilled me enough to motivate this website.  I hope you enjoy seeing the details emerge along with me as I continue this exploration.

 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

A Perspective on Genesis 1 and Geologic Time