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I used to say, “I believe God created everything in seven days.” Then, I changed my position…
Then, I changed my position, and for a long time I said, “God didn’t create everything in seven days — he created everything in six days. And on the seventh day, he rested.”
At the same time, from early childhood, I have loved everything about science — the scientific method, scientific discovery, scientific adventure. I love the process of wondering about our world, which leads to a hypothesis, which leads to testing. Sometimes testing proves, sometimes it disproves, and sometimes tests are inconclusive. But in all of this, we learn. And I love it.
I have never seen a conflict between faith in God and loving science. I knew that the apparent contradictions had to have a resolution that kept both God and the scientific method in the equation. Whatever we learn through the scientific method is true — until we learn more. Then we revise — that is, improve — our understanding of truth. Since God is truth (note 1), how can there be a conflict?
I no longer consider God’s creation to have happened in six days. Now, I understand that there are two complementary truths about God’s creative work:
1. Everything God created, he created in an instant.