After participating in the reforms that moved the Worldwide Church of God to orthodox, Gene Nouhan uses his experience to address the anti-Christian notions of the Young Earth Reform Movement. He goes out of his way to distinguish between the Reform Movement among Young Earthers and the simple belief in a young earth by literalizing Genesis.
Christians have always been free to take the days of Genesis literally or figuratively without prejudice to their faith. Young Earth reformers disagree. They call those who take the six days figuratively, as did many of the best theologians of the past, compromised Christians.
Nouhan shares the main ideas that turned the Worldwide Church of God from a cult to a mainstream Evangelical body, theologically. Three historical teachings in Christian thought set the stage for the historical reform in the Worldwide Church of God. That was a better understanding of 1. The nature of God, 2. The purposes of the Bible and 3. The Mission of the Church.
In this blog we focus on the nature of God and the six days in Genesis. God is infinite. He created the universe from beyond it therefore, He is not bound by time, space, or matter. When the Bible describes God with human traits it is figurative.
The Hebrew scripture says that Moses saw God’s back parts; was that literal or a physical representation called a theophany? The New Testament says, “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). Paul says, that “no one has seen God or can see [him]” (1 Timothy 6:16). Therefore, we must take those body parts for God as a physical representation infused with His presence and not to be taken literally. We know that God Almighty is omnipresent, Spirit, and not in a body. By using humanlike descriptions of God’s actions, the Bible means that God interacts with the world and we can relate to Him.
Anthropomorphisms
The Six-Day War in Creationism by Gene Nouhan is a stunning new book with outstanding reviews from scholars, pastors, and lay Christians, that helps readers understand the nature of God in context to the times of Genesis. The author portrays God speaking Hebrew at the beginning of time, when there were no humans. God appears to keep the Hebrew work schedule mentioned in Psalm 104:22-23 where humans are governed by the rising and setting of the sun, “When the sun rises, [in the morning] … People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.” Human-like traits for God are called anthropomorphisms that bridge the gap between God’s infinite nature and his self-disclosure and plan that culminate in the Incarnation. Nouhan shows, definitively, that these descriptions must be metaphorical. They help us relate to God when otherwise He would be a total mystery.
The Danger of Literalism
Taking anthropomorphisms literally denies God’s infinite attributes, usually in service to an exclusive doctrine particular to a group, usually a fundamentalist group or cult. Instead, God means to reveal himself gradually, as humans were able to receive it. Even today many Christians cannot deal with the infinite nature of God.
If we think God has a body like ours, we miss the point. Jesus said, God is spirit. Spirits don’t have bodies. In fact, “spirit” means without body! By understanding the terms used of God’s nature and occasional metaphors not meant literally, we get a clearer picture of what the authors of the Bible mean beyond mere words. Metaphors and figurative language are not lies as some fundamentalists believe. They are a profound vehicle for meaning.
The attributes of God include being all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent (not limited in space like a body). These show that God is not like humans. God’s nature is beyond homo-sapien nature so that words cannot narrow the gulf that exists between God and humans. C. S. Lewis wrote:
Man, after all, is the highest of the things we meet in sensuous experience…it is not unreasonable to suppose that we are less unlike [God] than anything else we know. No doubt, we are unspeakably different from Him; to that extent, all man-like images [of God] are false.[1]
Notice Lewis’s compound negative language— “not unreasonable…that we are less unlike”—eloquently or unartfully (take your pick) demonstrates the difficulty of comparing the nature of God to ourselves with words.
God’s knowledge is limitless. He knows everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen in any universes he creates; He made it so. His power is infinite, meaning He can do anything consistent with creation. God’s presence is everywhere, not in one place where He notices the sun going up and down for six days!
Understanding the nature of God gives us a corrective for misinterpreting the language of Genesis. A greater revelation on God’s nature and Christian cosmology is in John 1:1-4, 14:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Conclusion
The Six-Day War in Creationism by Gene Nouhan is a remarkable advance on the theology and purposes of Genesis which have nothing to do with science. Nouhan’s book focuses on three historical teaching in Christian thought: the nature of God that we have seen, the purposes of the Bible in the next blog, and the Mission of Church all of which can be a template for resolving other theological disputes.
By understanding God’s nature helps us see that Genesis 1-2 cannot be taken literally without compromising God’s infinite attributes. God is not limited by human traits but is far greater than we can imagine. Recognizing this deepens our confidence in God, His Word, and makes our faith journey richer and more meaningful.
The Six-Day War in Creationism shows that while Christians have always been free to interpret Genesis literally or figuratively the Young Earth Reform Movement goes beyond biblical interpretation that these blogs will make clear. Nouhan’s book is a comprehensive critique of the Young Earth Movement with surprising insights. It is authoritative with over 500 footnotes from the best theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers past and present. You will never look at Creationism in the same way again.