The Riddle of Genesis 1
A constant premise of Geocreationism for me has been that Moses wrote Genesis 1 in a literal fashion, and that we should interpret it likewise. In the last six months, I modified that slightly when I learned of the scientific perspectives of mankind at the time, and had my eyes opened to Moses’ consistency with that perspective in his writing. Did that negate my premise? Not entirely. Moses still meant Genesis 1 literally. He just did not realize the actual scientific details of what he wrote. Instead, he took the truth, and described it in the clearest terms that he could… which were the scientific terms and imagery of his time. Determining what really happened from what Moses has a been like solving a riddle, but once you back out of his writing the real physical phenomenon that generated the appearances his people would have understood from his writing, you realize that what he tried to describe is right on. Riddle solved. However, that is not the riddle my title refers to.
One of the challenges of Genesis has been persuading people on what a Yom could mean. Christians generally interpret it to be one of two possibilities: either its a 24-hour day, or its an arbitrarily long historical era. Unfortunately, neither meaning is the definition of a Yom. A Yom is delimited by 2 consecutive sunsets. Of course, the time of sunset is from the perspective of the observer, and the only observers mentioned in a physical means are Jesus (Proverbs 
and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1). Therefore, I proposed that Jesus and the Holy Spirit stayed in the sunlight as long as it suited them, essentially defining for themselves the start and end of each creation day. It is the only interpretation I am aware of that interprets Yom based on its dictionary definition, it just happens to allow for an earth of any age. However, even this is not the riddle my title refers to.
Another challenge of Genesis is the time sequence of Days 5 and 6. If you look at the fossil record, you find animals from Day 6 appearing before the animals of Day 5… a distinct overlap. In fact, if you look at the life forms that had to exist on Day 3 and 4 for plants to exist, it suggests Day 5 even overlapped Day 4 a bit. Yet, Yoms do not overlap. On the other hand, after the KT impact 65 million years ago, life recovered on earth and evolved into our modern forms in precisely the order recorded… first sealife and birds, then land mammals and man. No overlap. Yet, even this is not the riddle I refer to.
The riddle I refer to is actually a riddle that many people assume is there, but actually is not. Consider these verses from Numbers 12:
6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
I have stated elsewhere on this blog my belief that Moses was writing an eye witness account of the creation. This verse does not prove it, but I think that my findings in secular scientific literature of physical phenomenon matching Moses description makes a pretty good case for it. But these verses make one thing clear to me. If I am correct, that Moses was recording an eye witness account of creation, and that account was God’s, then we know from these verses that God did not hold back his account. He did not provide it in riddles or figures of speech. God told Moses exactly what He said, and exactly what occurred, and then Moses recorded it the best that he could. The fact that we see riddles in the account is not by God’s design, but because of our remoteness from Him, remoteness resulting from time, remoteness resulting from Moses’ humanity, remoteness resulting from our preconceived notions. We are the ones remote from God, too remote to always or completely understand what it is God said, point blank, to Moses.
In the end, I realize this is not an argument for my particular view on creation, though it is to me a confirmation, because I found a scripture that confirms something I had concluded already… that Jesus did not present creation to Moses as a riddle. However, it is an argument for something… that we not dismiss others’ interpretations of creation out of hand. Every person’s theory who believes in Jesus is trying to be faithful to Him, and I think we should treat each other that way.