I found it very interesting that St. Augustine in writing on the Literal interpretation of Genesis warns Christians to be very cautious in making the bible say something that it doesn’t really say, and then looking foolish in the light of common reason that disagrees.

 

I used to believe in a 7 day literal interpretation of Genesis (I was also a young-earth enthusiast) – however, the more I study of evolution and the big bang, the more I at least see, in my own mind, that taking that position may not be the best exegetical approach to Genesis (in fact, there are interpretive reasons as well – but I won’t get into them).

 

Just to go hand and hand with this conversation, here is the quote that I was referencing from Augustine.

 

“Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up their vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn (Augustine, 1982).”

 

References

Augustine, S. (1982). The Literal Meaning of Genesis Vol 1. New Jersey: Paulist Press.