Our earth, what a marvel. I can't even imagine the forces and time it took to construct a formation like this one. It's a geologic record that begs for a creation story. And, not to disappoint, there are plenty of origin stories around.
Take, for example, the Bible and the Book of Genesis which featured a six-day workweek, some mud, a caucasian couple, a serpent, an apple, original sin, expulsion from the Garden, more sin, and guilt--and many of us bought it, believe it--amazing!
This leads me to this fascinating origin story involving the Irish Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656), Professor of Theological Controversies at Trinity College in Dublin. The good archbishop thought it would be a good idea to try his hand at calculating the age of the earth. So, he started with Adam and Eve and worked his way up to Abraham's tribe, and on up the genealogic ladder, arriving at a creation date of 4004 BC, and... [drum roll] Noah's Flood in 2049 BC [cymbal crash]!
Then, another biblical seer, John Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, who--when not trying to figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin--came up with the exact time and day: October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 AM!
If you had been alive at the time you probably wouldn't have wanted to snicker openly or question any of this too loudly for fear that you might be invited to a barbeque where you, along with a witch or two, might have served as fuel.
Well, that was then and this is now--what's changed? As far as I can tell there haven't been any burning-at-the-stake events in Arizona. And, thanks to the scientific method, the age of the earth has been calculated at somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5 billion years old. Hopefully, the James Webb Telescope, will allow scientists to peer back in time and make even more amazing discoveries about the origin of our universe and our teenie-tiny planet.
And yet, despite this progress and the many people who have contributed to our scientific origin story, there remain a good number of people who steadfastly believe that the earth is 6,000 years old and/or are creationists who will not accept the theory of evolution.
I waiver between laughing and crying. So when I need some cheering up I turn to Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Witch Scene
Paz--
David
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