The creation paradigm (1)

The term “paradigm” shall be used to indicate what Imré Lakatos called “research programmes.”

For Lakatos, what we think of as a ‘theory’ may actually be a succession of slightly different theories and experimental techniques developed over time, that share some common idea, or what Lakatos called their ‘hard core’. Lakatos called such changing collections ‘Research Programmes’. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Lakatos].

The creation paradigm is presented here as the common idea of theories and histories around the concept of special creation. The core propositions of the creation paradigm are described.

There are two overarching propositions:

1. History and Science

The subject of natural history is primarily history and secondarily natural science. Similarly, the subject of ancient history is primarily history and secondarily science. The actions and events of history have greater significance than the laws and generalizations of science. Science is not a gatekeeper of facts. If an action or event is sufficiently attested, then it must be accepted by science, whether or not it can be explained by science.

2. Biblical Significance

The document known as the Bible is a uniquely significant historical document because of its accurate preservation of the experience of people in very ancient times. The Bible also provides strong evidence in support of the other propositions.

There are two philosophical propositions:

3. Philosophical Creation

This is the philosophical and theological proposition that the reason why there is something rather than nothing is that God did it. What God did is called “create”. What God created is called “creation”, or “the universe”. This says nothing about how, when, or why God created. This entails that God sustains all creation and that creation in some way exhibits God.

4. Beautiful, Ordered Creation

All creation exhibits the handiwork of God. The initial creation was very good. Subsequent states of creation also exhibit the handiwork of God, although it may be obscured. God is a God of order and creation is orderly. Even when creation appears disorderly, there is order beneath the surface. Also, every change from the initial creation has a cause. Intractable change may be understood stochastically but it still is caused. There is no change that is completely random or uncaused.

Abstract or imaginary order such as we find in mathematics can be expected to be found in this ordered creation. It is appropriate to use concepts such as mathematics to understand creation. Other sources of imaginary order such as literature and the arts are appropriate as well.

There are two temporal propositions:

5. Bounded Creation

This is the proposition that (a) there was a time zero, a beginning point, that (b) time is linear rather than cyclic, and that (c) there will be a final time point. Thus the universe is not infinite in extent, either temporally or spatially. Time and space are bounded. Time is like a line segment.

6. Recent Creation

This is the proposition about when the creation of the earth took place relative to the present. It is asserted that the creation of the earth is recent, on the order of 10,000 years ago (i.e., between 5,000 and 50,000 years ago). This contrasts with ideas that the time since the creation of the earth is several orders of magnitude more, such as billions of years ago.

There are four propositions that are known from biblical revelation:

7. Creation Week

This is the proposition about how long God took to fully create the universe. It asserts that the time it took is measured in days, specifically six days of activity and one day of rest. The term “day” here is understand to mean one rotation of the earth around its axis as measured on the earth. It allows that a day on the earth may have a different duration if measured elsewhere.

In what follows, the term “initial creation” will be used to mean the state of the universe at the end of the creation week.

8. Mature Creation

This is the proposition that the initial creation contained (a) the earth, the moon, and stars fully created rather than in a primitive state, and (b) organic life in a mature state rather than in an immature state. So the age of the earth is within a few days of the age of the universe. It does not preclude the development of other planets, moons, and stars subsequent to the initial creation.

9. Specific Creation

This is the proposition that organic life was created as multiple kinds rather than as a single kind. Historically, these kinds were called “species” but the term species has narrowed in meaning. A new term has recently been coined to indicate a created kind: “baramin”. The number and extent of the baramin are matters of active investigation.

10. Human Creation

This is the proposition that human life was created as a special kind of life. The distinct character of human beings is described variously, such as “created in the image of God”, a living soul made of matter and spirit, or the steward of creation.

There are two propositions that pertain to historical events after the initial creation.

11. Major Catastrophes

There have been a small number of catastrophes that have produced major changes in a short period of time. Specifically these are: (a) a universal catastrophe called the Fall, (b) a worldwide catastrophe called the Flood, and (c) a catastrophe affecting all humanity called the Confusion of Tongues. A description of these catastrophes is contained in historical sources, particularly the Bible, and in the effects that are still observable today.

12. Limited Change

This is the proposition about the difference between the current state of creation and the initial state of creation. Changes from the initial creation have occurred within limits. A state of creation may be very different from the initial creation but it is in continuity with it. In particular, (a) the differences are matters of degree, not of kind, and that (b) the different kinds of life remain separate, they have not intermixed or hybridized.

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These are the core propositions of the creation paradigm. A theory or explanation that affirms or assumes some but not all of these propositions may be a partial creation paradigm but is not the full creation paradigm. At a minimum, a creation paradigm must affirm Philosophical Creation.

One conclusion from these propositions is that understanding creation requires a two-fold methodology. This is because creation originates from the top down but evidence about it comes from the bottom up. So both bottom-up and top-down investigations are necessary to converge at the most accurate understanding of creation. Both inferences from the past to the present and from the present to the past are necessary to converge at the most accurate understanding of creation. An integration of the two approaches is best. Theological: Internal causation is involved in every change in some way, with few exceptions. Even changes that appear completely miraculous and caused by God alone almost always have some element of internal causation as well. Many changes appear to have substantial internal causation and this may be discerned by investigation such as the sciences undertake. But no matter how much internal causation may appear to completely cause a change, there is some involvement of God.

With few exceptions, every change since the initial creation is from a combination of causes that are both external and internal to creation. God is external to the creation and God is involved in some way in every change. How God is involved other than sustaining creation may not be clear or may require a specific revelation to know.

Finally, there are methodological guidelines and experimental techniques that accompany these propositions and patterns. Here is a short summary of these:

  1. Abstract or imaginary order such as we find in mathematics can be expected to be found in creation. It is appropriate to use concepts such as mathematics to understand creation. Other sources of imaginary order such as literature and the arts are appropriate as well.
  2. Both bottom-up and top-down investigations are necessary to converge at the most accurate understanding of creation. An integration of these two approaches is best.

Both inferences from the past to the present and from the present to the past are necessary to converge at the most accurate understanding of creation. An integration of these two approaches is best.

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There are also thematic and explanatory patterns that relate to these assertions. These are used in the “storylines” of the creation paradigm to describe and explain changes and chronologies.

  1. All creation exhibits the handiwork of God. The initial creation was very good. Subsequent states of creation also exhibit the handiwork of God, although it may be obscured.
  2. Every change from the initial creation has a cause. Intractable change may be understood stochastically but it still is caused. There is no change that is completely random or uncaused.
  3. Changes from the initial creation have occurred within limits. A state of creation may be very different from the initial creation but it is in continuity with it and within limits. In particular, differences between kinds of life have not been violated.
  4. There have been degenerative changes from the initial creation but there have also been redemptive actions that have reversed some or all of a degenerative change.
  5. With few exceptions, every change since the initial creation is from a combination of causes that are both external and internal to creation. God is external to the creation and God is involved in some way in every change. How God is involved other than sustaining creation may not be clear or may require a specific revelation to know.

9/2008