TIME ENOUGH FOR EVERYTHING
Two B.C. academics devise a theory to merge Creation theory and evolution
As science finds ever more evidence confirming the universe is billions of years old, Biblical accounts of a seven-day Creation are increasingly seen as metaphorical, even by the faithful. According to a new theory devised by two B.C. academics, however, the two views of the universe need not be seen as exclusive.
While working on a science fiction film, Chris Montoya, a 49-year-old psychology professor at the University College of the Cariboo in Williams Lake, B.C., and his friend, Simon Fraser University physics student Graeme MacKay, wondered how a Creator's interactions with the earth would affect time. Some scientists have already speculated that, because God exists outside mankind's space and time, time for Him moves at a different rate than for us. Messrs. Montoya and MacKay have taken that concept a step further by creating a mathematical equation to show how the Biblical account of Creation and the fossil record could both be true using Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Their theory begins with the idea that God experiences time differently than humans. Prof. Montoya estimates the entire history of the universe to be about 17 of God's days. The academics' equation has found five points where the Bible and the fossil record line up almost perfectly. Four of these points are days (in God's time) three, four, five and six of the Bible's account of creation.
Prof. Montoya also cites Psalms 90:4, where David writes that "a thousand years are as a day in your sight." When David wrote these words ca. 500 BC, this was during God's day 12, when a day in God's timeline would last 1,000 human years, according to the equation. "If David is just using a metaphor, how did he happen to use the right number of years?" asks Prof. Montoya. "We're talking about sheep herders. They couldn't have managed to put everything in the right order in their Creation accounts based on what they knew. It's like someone was leaving a little message for us to find once we discovered how time works in our universe."
Stuart Sutherland, an earth-origins specialist at the University of B.C., calls the academic's work "an interesting concept...but I would be cautious about shoehorning and stretching things to make a theory fit." The professor, who has a Christian background but does not attend church, believes science and theology can exist side by side, as they are intended to address different things. "Science asks how; religion asks why...When you find that you don't know all the answers, it's actually quite gratifying as it gives you more to investigate."
Prof. Montoya, who also believes in God without being particularly religious, believes that when it comes to the origins of the universe, science and religion should work together. "There's evidence an intelligent design is at work in the universe," he says. "I'd agree with the Psalmist that we are 'fearfully and wonderfully made.'"
PHOTO (COLOR): Psychology professor Montoya: (left) and assistant MacKay: God's time is different from ours.
Source: Report / Newsmagazine (National Edition), 2/18/2002, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p49, 2/3p, 1c
Author(s): Hiebert, Rick
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