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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 23, 2024

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From what I understand with Genesis specifically, it's is speculative at best to suggest that it was understood as a scientific account of creation at the time, so it seems unlikely it was intended to be received in the way a 21st Century American would receive it. There's some pretty interesting textual evidence that at least part of the point of the creation story was about exploding certain other "hostile" creation myths. (Given the time of year, it's worth remembering Genesis 3:15, which is some extremely advanced foreshadowing even if you take the story as a parable!)

BUT

I have played Civilization V, which has an option to simulate the age of the Earth (I think at 3, 4, and 5 million years, don't quote me on that). And anyone inside my Civilization game would think the Earth was millions of years old and had undergone millions of years of evolution and such, which of course is patently untrue – I created the game (ex nihilo if you will) one second ago on my computer, with barbarians springing forth as if out of Jove's forehead and such.

My point here isn't to argue about Genesis (although I enjoy discussing it and would be happy to, in a friendly way!), just to point out that if you believe an omnipotent God is a viable hypothesis the range of possibilities about the nature of reality is broader even than the range of possibilities under e.g. the simulation hypothesis.