In the beginning God created heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest. The earth was without form--and void, then light appeared. God
made a firmament and two waters, the greater of which was beneath the firmament, the lesser above. The waters were gathered together; dry
land appeared. Plants came forth upon the dry land. Sun, moon, and stars appeared. Sea life, winged creatures, and then the land animals.
And lastly God created mankind.
The first chapter of Genesis is the story of the creation of our world. The realm of scientific thought, theoretical though it may be, is very much like the Genesis story. A nebulous creation followed by an evolutionary
period is strongly suggested in Genesis One. The "Nebular Theory" explains how a huge, shapeless, interstellar gas cloud condensed into a flat rotating disc. Gas composed mostly of hydrogen, but including dust of many different compositions, is found many places throughout the visible universe.
Mutual attraction (gravity) within such a cloud will draw each atom and molecule toward a central area. Rotation within the cloud is as natural as it is when water goes down a drain. Centrifugal force shapes the
condensing cloud into a flat disc. This is a natural result of rotation. The
greatest concentration of gas and dust will be in one or more central lumps with smaller concentrations streaming around it. The earth up to this point would be without form, empty or void--and quite cold. As
density within the dust cloud increases, mutual attraction becomes stronger. More and more matter from the remains of the flattened disc is
then drawn into these forming bodies. Greater concentrations mean greater gravitational attractions, greater forces of compression and friction all combine to produce localized heat energy which becomes trapped within the increasing mass of matter. Natural radioactivity
produces more heat. These two major heat sources, plus others, unite to raise the temperature to a point sufficient to start thermonuclear reactions, slowly at first but increasing in intensity. In our own solar system the "lump" at the center was the only one large enough to kindle and to maintain its own atomic fire. The planet Jupiter is a borderline
case. To date it has not ignited but some people believe it may at some
future time. Many of the protoplanets were (and still are) too small to hold their early atmospheres. Some were able to hold only a portion of
the heavier parts of their original atmosphere.
The dust cloud thinned,
light had appeared.
During this time the protoearth was coming into its own. A core within one of the smaller concentrations around the protosun was building its own reserve of heat energy. It wasn't big enough to ignite itself
atomically as did the sun. However, it did become warm enough to produce chemical reactions (example--hydrogen and oxygen uniting to form water). This would t
