Found in Translation - Genesis One

By J. Roland Kent

J.R. Kent has solved a 2,500-year-old mystery that defies both religion and science! Hidden in the thirty-one verses of Genesis One is a message so powerful it could ultimately change the course of global events. Our hi-tech world is barely a century old, and already life altering environmental, terrorist, political, economic, and health threats pose potentially dire consequences for our future. However, many of the ancient, advanced civilizations such as the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans and the Mayans of Central America endured for thousands of years. So what was their secret, and how is it revealed in the Genesis verses?
Genesis One is an ancient creation account for the earth, plants, animals, and humankind. However, when reading these verses they may seem bewildering and out of the natural order. The premise of this book illustrates in startling detail that this amazing storyin factperfectly correlates with the theories of modern science! There are several reasons why this mystery has not been revealed until now. First, an ancient author wrote this account in the original Hebrew language, but the actual evolutionary sequence of the Earth that he so accurately revealed has been lost in translation by the many biblical versions that followed. Second, the discoveries of modern science now put us at a point in time when this correlation has now been found in translation. This revelation then begs two questions. How was this knowledge possible in ancient times, and who wrote it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Feb 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504346269

J. Roland Kent

J. Roland Kent is a graduate engineer with a major in science and worked for a large Midwestern R&D engineering company. He and his wife now travel extensively, seeking answers and photographing natures mysteries. His curiosity of the natural world and his love of breaking hidden codes made writing Found in Translation the ideal subject.

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Copyright © 2016 J. Roland Kent.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-4625-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-4627-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-4626-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016900368

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/20/2016

CONTENTS

An Ancient Chinese Fable

Preface

Introduction

Author’s Note

Chapter 1   The Genesis 1 Premise

Part 1   What Is Genesis 1?

Part 2   The Premise

Part 3   Lost in Translation

Chapter 2   The Hebrew Culture

Part 4   The Vocabulary

Part 5   Ancient Storytelling

Part 6   The Written Word

Part 7   The Author

Chapter 3   The Missing Piece (A Hypothetical Consideration)

Part 8   Who Wrote Genesis 1?

Part 9   The First Civilization

Part 10   The Lost Civilizations

Chapter 4   Starting the Investigation

Part 11   The Conflict

Part 12   The Correlation

Chapter 5   In the Beginning–The Religion

Part 13   A Young Earth?

Part 14   The Time Gap

Chapter 6   In the Beginning – the Science

Part 15   The Origin of Scientific Thought

Part 16   The Father of Modern Science

Part 17   The Mind of Modern Science

Part 18   The Standard Model

Chapter 7   God Created

Part 19   The Riddle of Creation

Part 20   The Scientists and God

Part 21   The Skeptics and God

Chapter 8   The Heaven

Part 22   The Milky Way

Part 23   Our Sun

Part 24   The Solar System

Chapter 9   And the Earth

Part 25   Birth of the Earth

Part 26   The Goldilocks Planet

Chapter 10   Unformed and Void

Part 27   Another Agreement!

Part 28   The Magnetosphere

Part 29   Our Moon

Part 30   If We Had No Moon

Part 31   The Moon’s Influence

Chapter 11   The Darkness and the Deep

Part 32   The Darkness

Part 33   The Deep

Chapter 12   The Spirit of God

Part 34   The Spirit

Part 35   What Is Life?

Part 36   The Search for Life

Part 37   The Origin of Life Question

Part 38   An Imaginary Journey

Chapter 13   Let There Be Light

Part 39   The Audience

Part 40   The Light

Part 41   The Clearing

Chapter 14   Evening and Morning, One Day

Part 42   A Day

Part 43   End of an Era

Chapter 15   The Firmament

Part 44   The Sky

Part 45   Made or Created?

Part 46   Our Atmosphere

Part 47   Our Air

Chapter 16   The Dry Land

Part 48   The Continents

Part 49   Plate Tectonics

Part 50   Tectonics and Our Air

Chapter 17   The Plants

Part 51   God and the Plants

Part 52   Plant Origins

Part 53   The Ozone Layer

Part 54   The Land Plants

Chapter 18   The Stage Is Set

Part 55   Day Four Confusion

Part 56   Day Four Translation

Part 57   Day Four Correlation

Chapter 19   Swarms of Living Creatures

Part 58   Swarming Creatures

Part 59   The Genesis Animals

Part 60   Charles Darwin

Part 61   The First Animal?

Part 62   The Pre-Cambrian Era

Part 63   The Cambrian Explosion

Part 64   The Absence of Evidence

Part 65   From Water to Land

Part 66   The Contrarians

Part 67   The Birds

Chapter 20   Our Image and Likeness

Part 68   Us and Our

Part 69    Anatomically Modern Humans

Part 70   What Makes Us Human?

Chapter 21   Healing the Divide

Part 71   Cause of the Divide

Part 72   Genesis 1, Now!

Part 73   Our Future

Part 74   The Thirty-One Verses Twenty-Five Hundred Years Later

Appendix A   The 31 Verses of Genesis 1

Appendix B   Ussher’s Calculations

Appendix C   History of the Big Bang Theory

Appendix D   Timeline of Geological and Evolution Events

Appendix E   Dark Problems

Appendix F   The Milky Way

Appendix G   Stars Types

Appendix H   Dating Techniques

Appendix I   Moon Theories

Appendix J   The Greater and Lesser Lights Rule

Appendix K   Biblical Calendar and Astronomy

References

Endnotes

Dedicated to my beloved

for her wisdom, inspiration

and loving patience

An Ancient Chinese Fable

Perhaps

A wise Chinese farmer, his son, and their horse lived near a small village. One beautiful summer day the horse ran away. When his neighbors in the village heard the alarming news, they paid the farmer a visit. How terrible, they said with concern.

Perhaps, the farmer responded.

The next morning when the farmer awoke, his horse returned and brought along three wild stallions with it. How fortunate, the neighbors exclaimed with excitement.

Perhaps, replied the old man.

The following day, his son mounted one of the untamed horses and attempted to ride it, but he was thrown and broke his leg. Once again, the neighbors came to offer their regret for his misfortune.

Perhaps, the farmer countered.

Several days later military recruiters visited the village to draft the young men into the army. Realizing that his leg was broken, they left the farmer’s son behind and continued on their way. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

Perhaps, said the farmer.

Preface

Religious and spiritual followers affirm their beliefs founded on faith while scientists and researchers build their theories from the physical evidence they acquire during their investigations. However, neither religious beliefs nor scientific theories are always correct or ever complete. For millennia, biblical scholars have translated the Scriptures from the original Hebrew text, first into Greek, then Latin, and then English. From those translations, hundreds of religions have been founded, each with their own set of beliefs, based on what church leaders believed those translated words meant. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines belief as, a feeling of being sure something exists or that something is true. In contrast, scientists gather evidence from nature that give rise to scientific theories. They combine their hypotheses and then construct scientific models that change over time as new evidence is introduced. The dictionary defines scientific theory as a scientifically acceptable principle offered to explain phenomena through testing and evidence.

This division of thought may be the result of how the human brain is organized with the two hemispheres divided by a groove called the medial longitudinal fissure. Some psychologists propose each hemisphere is specialized, what they call left-brain, right-brain dominance. They suggest the function of the right hemisphere is expressive, imaginative and emotive in nature; while the left hemisphere is adept at tasks involving logic, analytical thinking, language, numbers, and reasoning. Everyone has each of these qualities to some degree or another, but genes may determine how an individual will interact socially—outgoing and expressive, or reserved and controlled. Whether or not this theory is entirely correct is a matter of debate, but we all know people who are more extroverted, flamboyant, and emotional, and others who are more introverted, cerebral and aloof. It could be said that analytical and scientific thinkers view the world with the slogan, I’ll believe it when I see it (evidence). And at the same time, people who are more emotional and spiritual in nature might have the opposite slogan, I’ll see it when I believe it (belief). These slogans could also apply to science (analytical/evidence) and religion (emotional/belief), and therein exists the dichotomy between the worldview that these two groups represent.

One of the primary aims of both religion and science is to offer an explanation for the origin of everything, especially the beginning of time and space and where we came from. Religious followers have a simple answer; they believe God created everything in the beginning. In contrast, scientists have advanced many elaborate theories to explain our origins. However, beliefs, faith, principles, and theories do not provide concrete answers—they are not complete. As such, both sides of the religion/science divide have failed to give us a coherent explanation of our origins, which has resulted in contradictory messages and have thus created divisive opposition between many groups of people.

Many creationists believe God created the universe, the earth, the plants, the animals and humans 6,000 years ago, in six twenty-four-hour days. However, this belief denies the realities and the physical laws of nature. Since they believe God created everything, then they must admit that He also created nature’s laws. The fact is, the universe and everything in it conforms to these laws and to the physical constants (i.e. E=mc²). Physicists have gathered an abundance of evidence by exploring the cosmos with large, powerful telescopes, and by viewing the nanoscopic quantum world with electron microscopes and powerful atom smashers. Geologists have found compelling evidence by uncovering geologic samples recorded in rock strata, and from prehistoric fossil finds. These methods all provide confirmation that earth’s geological and evolutionary history have occurred very slowly, over billions of years—not six days.

Physicists theorize the universe began from a single particle smaller than an atom and then expanded into everything that now exists. This theory, known as the Big Bang is how they explain the universe after the first microsecond of its existence. However, they cannot explain the origin of this particle, what caused it to happen, or what existed before it. The known physical laws of nature do not allow for it to have originated from nothing.

In 1859, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution now known as Darwinism. This idea is an explanation of how life naturally evolved from one initial microorganism into the countless variety of plant and animal species both living and extinct. However, the theory does not explain how life could have originated from nonliving, inorganic, inert elements. Biologists can explain what living organisms do: grow, move, sense, reproduce and heal. However, they do not know what the life energy is that animates them to do these things. Darwinism does not explain how or why the very first animal originated, and disappointingly for evolutionists, there are major gaps in the fossil record for the anticipated transitional animals that led from the very first microorganism in the ocean to all of the animal species, both living as well as extinct.

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So here’s the thing—

Humans are distinct from all other animal species. We are not only conscious of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we are also aware of our personal existence, and aware of our awareness. There is no complete scientific explanation of what human consciousness actually is; but, ironically it gives us the ability to contemplate where we came from, and to imagine what our future holds. When combining the Big Bang theory with Darwinism, one could conclude that over billions of years, multitudes of inert chemical elements and compounds combined, and then somehow self-organized themselves into living microorganisms here on earth. Then, after billions of random mutations they evolved in complexity over billions of more years, eventually acquiring human consciousness with the ability to ponder their own existence and where they came from. In other words, inert, non-living elements from thirteen billion years ago somehow became conscious of their own existence. From the viewpoint of science, not only does this scenario seem completely unscientific, but based on all the known laws of physics and biology, it is not possible. And yet—fundamentally speaking—these ideas are what scientists theorize happened and what science scholars teach in our schools and universities.

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Two of the many roles that science and religion play in our lives are to not only teach us where we came from, but to also successfully lead us into the future and to help us attain purposeful lives. Generally speaking, the purpose that we as individuals have is to live our lives, raise our families, work at our jobs, and do the things we enjoy during our free time. However, humanity as a whole must also have an underlying purpose with the role of science and religion preparing the way. If humankind does not have purpose then our endeavors, no matter how grand we think they are, will not lead anywhere. Entire nations are then nothing more than rudderless ships on turbulent seas and their citizens are victims to the hundreds of global threats that have become a scourge on the planet. If we ever hope to have a future with purpose, then there must be another alternative.

I contend that neither side of the religion/science divide can be complete without the other, for the same reason the left side of the human brain cannot be not complete without the right side. Even though the brain is divided, the two sides must still work together in unison in order to survive; and, I believe the same holds true for religion and science. Cooperation is the key if we ever hope to have a harmonious and all-inclusive answer for our origins and thus a purposeful blueprint for our destinies.

The highest purpose of religion is to help believer’s lead moral lives and develop a spiritual base. But if this is true, then why is there such a growing apathy and lack of trust with religion; and why is terrorism in the name of God growing at such an alarming rate? Science touches every part of our lives, with its primary purpose being to give us new technologies to make our lives easier, healthier, and safer. However, at the same time it has also given us the horrendous weapons of war, and modernization has produced a dramatic decline of the environment. With this being said, one may ask what is the ultimate purpose science has in mind for humanity (i.e. where is science leading us). The numerous risks to our planet and the mounting disasters that occur every day cause many to fear our modern civilization may be on the verge of collapse. The world is encountering many serious problems—some old and many new. One only has to listen to the daily news reports to hear the increasing frequency of serious worldwide tragedies that threaten our very way of life. If the harried pace of these dangers continue, it is likely that the course of current world events will cause disastrous consequences for us now, and for future generations. Even if we do not destroy ourselves in a nuclear holocaust, the earth is getting hotter, the population is growing at an alarming rate (currently seven billion, predicted to be eleven billion by 2050), and natural resources essential to our survival are rapidly being depleted.

If we expect to have a positive outcome with a feasible and thus a promising future, then things must change. When it comes to finding the answer to where we came from and what the future holds in store for us, the theories of science and the beliefs of religion are failing us. Neither side of the divide alone can possibly provide us with a comprehensive account of our origins. If the foundations for understanding our beginnings from the viewpoint of both religion and science are not in sync, then it is not possible for them to build an enduring and thus promising future. The beliefs, theories, and philosophies of religion and science are only valid and of lasting future significance if their foundations are built on a stable premise—which they are not.

The Industrial Revolution began in 1760, and ushered in the transition from manual production to machine manufacturing processes. By marking this period as the beginning of our industrial/technological civilization, that makes our modern society only about 250 years old. And, look what has happened in that short time; we have created threats to ourselves that previous generations could have never even imagined. Many experts and renowned scientists alike believe we are only at the beginning stages on a path of total global destruction. Yet many of the ancient, advanced civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Phoenicians, and the Mayans of Central America, to name just a few, endured for many thousands of years. So what was the secret for their longevity? Twenty-five-hundred years ago an unknown author wrote thirty-one verses in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis where he revealed their secret. The ancient message that he embedded in these verses contains vital clues for us now in the twenty-first century. However, the key to understanding his insights and then implementing a plan with purpose for our future depends on how motivated we are as a worldwide community to change the course of the disastrous path on which we are currently racing. As the saying goes, like it or not we are all in this together; and, that certainly includes both religion and science.

Introduction

My journey into the mysterious world of Genesis 1 began in 1960. This was when I rode on a school bus to a small religious school several miles from my home. For the first hour of the school day, my classmates and I received religious instruction, which required us to study selected Bible verses. We were then expected to memorize them, and one by one we would stand next to our desks and recite what we learned. Supposedly, this daily routine proved to our teachers that we remembered what they taught us, but for me it was nothing more than an annoyance that was required to get a passing grade.

Many of these scriptural passages were beyond me, and as such I did not understand or care much about them. However, there was one exception that did intrigue me, the thirty-one verses of Genesis 1 that outlined the creation of the earth. To me, they appeared to be more like the chapter in a science book than the typical biblical texts to which I had become accustomed. Even so, they were no less confusing, and many of them seemed to contradict one another, especially the sequence where the Genesis 1 author described the creation events of the earth.

For example, one verse seemed to say that God created the earth before He created the sun and the stars. Another verse seemed to say that He created light before He created the sun. Other verses read as if He created the plants before He created the sun, and that didn’t make sense because we all knew plants need sunlight. And since God had not yet created humans, I questioned who He was talking to when He said Let us make man in our image. However, the phrase that especially baffled me was In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. So, why were these words in particular so confusing to me? Genesis 1:1 said there was a beginning, but the science books of the 1950s and early 60s claimed the universe had no beginning, it had always existed—it was eternal. Since science was modern, and the Genesis verses were very old, I decided they were nothing more than ancient words with little credibility.

We were told that the words of the Bible were inspired by God, and not to doubt what we read or what we were taught. Real believers did not question God’s word, and we should accept everything that was written in the Bible as the truth. But the problem for me was what science was teaching at the time opposed the very first three words in the first book of the Bible— In the beginning. So if I trusted science then that meant I doubted the Bible, and as a child it was all very confusing.

I only attended that school through eighth grade and then entered the public school system. My focus was on making friends, playing sports, earning some spending money and having fun. Those things were of paramount importance to me, and they certainly took precedent over any religious conflicts I may have had. But then in 1965 my fascination with Genesis 1 was rekindled. It was then that the scientific community adopted the phrase, the Big Bang. This new theory claimed the universe did, in fact, have a beginning that started from a tiny particle and then inflated into the vast expanse that now exists. This discovery meant that scientists now agreed there was indeed a beginning to the universe, and it was not eternal as they had once thought. It was then that I realized this new scientific theory supported the first three words in the first chapter of the Bible.

When I read Genesis 1 in the years that followed, I began to recognize other scientific parallels, even though I still saw many of the same inconsistencies. I thought perhaps since the first three words were proven correct then it might be of interest to see if there was any scientific evidence that might correlate with the other verses. Over the years, as I studied them from the perspective of modern science, I indeed found many correlations to the scientific discoveries that had been made. When reading Genesis 1 from this new scientific viewpoint, I came to realize it is unlike any of the other forty-nine chapters in the book of Genesis. In fact, it is unique from all the other books of the entire Bible. The second chapter of Genesis describes mankind’s (Adam and Eve) fall from God’s grace in the Garden of Eden, and the rest of the Bible is dedicated to teaching believers about the path back to redemption. In contrast, the thirty-one verses of Genesis 1 are entirely different; they are the story of the creation events of the earth up to and including the creation of humans.

I have a limitless curiosity about the origin of things in the natural world, and I love to unravel mysteries, which makes Genesis 1 the ideal subject. My determination to write this book required a great deal of objective scientific analysis and a commitment to abandon my preconceived religious biases. If I was a scientist or a theologian, it is unlikely I would have written it because the contradictory focus of these disciplines would have more than likely clouded my objectivity. My desire to confirm the accuracy of the Genesis 1 verses with the many geologic discoveries and the theories for the origin of plants and animals led me to study each word. I evaluated them verse by verse and phrase by phrase and then compared each word in context to its original Hebrew definitions. I wanted to discover for myself if the perceived contradictions were as unrealistic as most people including myself thought, or were there other explanations.

Genesis 1 is a great mystery because its words were written over 2,500 years ago for a Hebrew culture that had virtually no scientific knowledge of the natural world. As I interpreted these ancient words from a scientific perspective, it was like assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and watching a completed picture of our origins come together like never before. Even so, there is one missing piece of the puzzle that provides some intriguing speculation that will be evaluated in the following chapters.

As I began to gather more evidence, I was led to the world of forensic science, the technique of collecting and then examining information from the past. Most people think of forensics as it relates to criminal or civil law investigations, but forensic techniques are also used in many fields of science to investigate ancient times. When searching for the scientific and biblical information that I needed for my research, the objective was to follow the evidence regardless of where it led. In doing so, it is easy to see why people hold onto lifelong beliefs even when undeniable evidence to the contrary conflicts with their long-held personal views. This tendency is also true of people in the fields of science and religion. While there is no attempt to deepen the divide that exists between these two worldviews, the facts that I present will undoubtedly challenge the personal beliefs and the biases of many people.

I relied on the documented expertise from hundreds of theologians, scientists, and historians for the material I needed to write this book. It was also important to know how and why creationists interpret Genesis 1 as they do. To understand their conflicting views, I compared creationist beliefs to the theories of science. It is no secret that most religions believe God created everything, and in contrast science theorizes that everything came to be by unguided, natural events. If the scientific premise of Genesis 1 as presented in this book is deemed to be credible, then these two views needed to be evaluated. But first, the groundwork had to be laid by asking some fundamental questions.

• What did the ancient Hebrews believe about the beginning of the heaven and earth when the author wrote Genesis 1?

• How do creationists, the people who believe God created the earth six-thousand years ago in six days, interpret the Genesis 1 verses and our beginnings?

• What does the scientific community theorize for our origins?

My investigation into the world of Genesis 1 was not just about retrieving various scientific facts or knowing where to find biblical passages that related to the topic at hand. Instead, it was about associating those facts with one another and then correlating them to the Genesis 1 verses. In doing so, a surprising revelation came to light. A much different understanding of our origins emerged when the combined perspective of both science and religion together are considered. There is a major component for life on Earth that neither side of the divide alone has pieced together. I based this revelation on the scientific evidence that I garnered from the documented statements of archeologists and scientists in various fields. I call this discovery The Earth’s Eighteen Life-Sustaining Requirements,