It is very important to read the biblical references accompanying the diagram. They point to the physical features about the ‘Heavens and the Earth’, that were thought to exist at the time the Bible was written. For us in the 21st Century, they are quaint ideas. We might learn some theological truths from the Bible creation stories, but we learn nothing at all that is helpful regarding its factual, physical reality. It is absurd to think we can!
As you can see from the above diagram, this is not a diagram of the Cosmos. It is totally different to that which is universally held today, but this is what the writers of the Genesis myths were writing about. They had no idea at all about the Cosmos as we understand it today. You will not find the words ‘universe’ or ‘cosmos’ in the Bible. The concepts we have today were totally beyond their comprehension and imagination.
We should not criticise these ideas too much, because the writers had none of the scientific information that is readily available to us today. Biblical ideas belong to the human imaginations of more than 2 - 4 thousand years ago.
If we seek verses from the Bible to use when speaking of the factual, physical nature of the Cosmos, we will find none of any value. We can find verses which point to very important theological ideas, but for the actual structure of the Cosmos itself, NO! Nothing.
One of the theological ideas that may come to us from the 1st creation story in Genesis chapter 2, is that of humans, animals and birds being made from the dust of the Earth; Genesis 2:7, 18 and 3:19, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’. Theologically, this could remind us that we should practise humility and not think of ourselves ‘more highly than they ought to think’, Romans 12:3. So, according to the Bible, we are dust; made up of dust of the Earth; that dry dirt under our feet or the unwanted refuse that we sweep up and put in the rubbish bin or mop up with a damp rag. 'Dust' - we don't really think it is of much use!
However, our modern, scientific knowledge tells that we are made up of ‘star dust’; minute particles that are the foundation of everything that is in this wonderful, majestic grandeur, we call the Cosmos. We are not Earth dust, dirt to be discarded as rubbish, but star-dust, enjoying the privilege of being part of the ultimate, beautiful mystery. This is scientific fact. More of this a bit later.
Our/my connection with the Cosmos.
Humanity has always searched to find out how and when we, as humans, came to be. We have been told numerous stories and myths about how we all started. Many of these stories point to truths about humanity but none of them have given us solid, physical, factual information about this issue. As followers of Jesus, we are familiar with the Hebrew myths in the Bible, in Genesis. They point to theological insights but give us no factual information about the physical structure of the Cosmos.
We need a new origin story. And now we have it.
A smattering of science about the origin of the Cosmos.
This is not theological or poetical. It purports to say what the situation actually was.
In the beginning, there was a tiny speck of matter that had nearly infinite energy and density. It underwent a sudden violent expansion; we call the Big Bang. This Big Bang happened about 13.7 billion years. After this sudden burst of energy, the expansion continued at an astonishingly high rate, doubling in size every 10-34 seconds, creating space as it rapidly increased in size. From today’s scientific observations, we know that the Cosmos is still expanding, and at an accelerated pace.
One of the results of the Big Bang was coming into being of stars, galaxies, as well as much of the stuff of the Cosmos, we can observe today. We know that Hydrogen, came to be with the Big Bang. At that time, Hydrogen saturated the cosmos. We also know that Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen came to be with the burning of stars, a 'short' time after the Big Bang – about 300 million years.
A smattering of chemistry, with comments about our physical human body.
There are over 100 different elements, 92 of which are naturally occurring. Each of these more than one hundred 'elements', cannot be chemically broken down into simpler substances. They are the primary constituents of matter. Each element has been given a chemical symbol, e.g. Oxygen-O, Hydrogen-H, Carbon-C, Nitrogen-N, Chlorine-Cl, Sodium-Na, Iron-Fe, Calcium-Ca, and so on. Using these symbols makes it very easy to tell us a lot about a compound, we might be studying. Compounds are the results of ‘bonding’ of different elements. For instance, water is formed by the bonding of Hydrogen and Oxygen – H2O. The capital letter symbols denote what elements are present and the little number denotes how many atoms of each element is present. For water, there are 2 atoms of Hydrogen to every 1 atom of Oxygen. Another example is table salt. It is formed by the bonding of Sodium and Chlorine, NaCl, chemically known as Sodium Chloride, – with equal numbers of each atom.
Most importantly for us, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen atoms make up 96% of our human body, 65% Oxygen, 18% Carbon, 10% Hydrogen and 3% Nitrogen. They don’t occur by themselves but occur as bonded with each other, or bonded with other elements to form compounds, some of which are extremely complex.
Water, H2O - is the most abundant compound in our bodies. Up to 60% of the human adult body is water. According to H.H. Mitchell, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%. Water is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen, H2O.
We have billions upon billions of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen atoms in us, and they all are many billions of years old. They came into being at the Big Bang or just after. Being naturally indestructible, they have had an extremely long and complex journey, getting into us, but that is the result of the processes of evolution, over billions of years. This complex journey includes their involvement in the evolution of life on the earth.
Many different scenarios have been put forward regarding the history of life on the Earth. I have picked one which has some scientific support. This timeline looks something like this.
The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old and here are the accompanying evolutionary (obviously very approximate) datings:
3.8 billion years ago, evolution of simple cells
2 billion years ago, evolution into complex cells
600 million years ago, evolution into simple animals,
570 million years ago, evolution into arthropods - ancestors of insects
550 million years ago, evolution into complex animals,
500 million years ago, evolution into fish
475 million years ago, evolution into land plants,
400 million years ago, evolution into insects and seeds,
300 million years ago, evolution into reptiles,
200 million years ago, evolution into mammals,
150 million years ago, evolution into birds,
130 million years ago, evolution into flowers,
65 million years since the non-avian dinosaurs died out,
200,000-300,000 years since humans started looking like and acting basically something like they do today.
So, the journey of all the atoms that are 96% of us, have had a very, very long, complex journey, stretching back through the evolution of life on earth, through the evolution of the earth in our Solar system about 4.5 billion years ago, through the evolution of the constellation of the Milky Way about 13 billion years ago, right back to the Big Bang.
What a journey! What we are made of, is as old as the Big Bang. At least 96% of us is about 13.7 billion years old. We may not look it, but that’s the truth!
What an incredible and profound mystery! But that’s where we came from. We are stardust. We are part of the Cosmos, always have been and always will be.
We are children of the cosmos.
With that origin, our self-consciousness came through evolution. Our origins of either earth-dust or stardust did not automatically bring with it, self-consciousness. This, it has been said, makes us different to lifeless material like rocks, water, air, etc., and most ‘lower’ forms of life, like plants and animals, etc. Self-consciousness came through evolution and it took millions of years.
However helpful the teaching of Genesis might be, we have needed a new origin story.
And we have it now! Actually, we have had it for some time!
It is very appropriate to use our 21st Century knowledge and say we are not really dust of the Earth, as Genesis tells us. We are ‘stardust’. As such, we are physically part of the Cosmos. We are all part, a very privileged part. Let us be thankful and celebrate this, our origin.
“Are humans really made of stardust?” YES!
Planetary scientist and cosmologist, Dr Ashley King explains. 'It is totally 100% true: nearly all the elements in the human body were made in a star and many have come through several supernovas.'
And when I die? The Cosmos will receive back all the indestructible atoms of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen, and all the others that are in me, which have been loaned to me for my 3 score years and 20. The Cosmos will use them in some other way for a different important purpose, maybe pushing up daisies. Wow. That excites me. This is evolution.
What else may happen or may not happen, is still unknown.
I continue to belong, to be united to the cosmos.
To all this, I confidently add my belief, that the same unknowable life-force-energy mystery that was active in the Big Bang and exploding stars, etc, is now active in my life, as it is in all life around me. This has been the case for always. We are all part of this wonderful Cosmos, always have been and always will be. This unknowable life-force-energy mystery, which I am comfortable calling ‘God’, has been, is, and always will be the active sustaining force in this changing, expanding and evolving wonderful Cosmos. And in ME!!!
96% of me was there at the beginning and will be there at the end. I am an everlasting child of the Cosmos. Hallelujah!!
