The Story of Creation as told by Theology and by Science
The Story of Creation as told by Theology and by Science
Book Excerpt
Lord God had formed,"
&c. In ii. 5, on the other hand, the pluperfect might with
advantage have given place to another form: "For the Lord God did
not cause it to rain." The phenomenon referred to appears to have
been local and temporary. Had the pluperfect been omitted in one
case and supplied in the other two sources of apparent difficulty
would have been removed.
It is very clear, then, that there could be no approach to scientific accuracy in a narrative written in such a language as this. Such accuracy is, in fact, attainable only in proportion, as science has moulded language for its own purposes. But language is at all times an index of the general mental condition of the people who use it, and so the knowledge and the ideas of the men of these primitive times must have been extremely limited in all those directions with which we have to do. Accordingly, we find no trace of any doubt whether the information with reference to external objects which was received through the senses was in all cases
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