It illustrates the selective literalism of young-earth creationists, that they never seem to realize the ludicrous conclusions they end up drawing could be outdone by still more bizarre ones if they were consistent in their literalism.
As an example, consider the repeated references in Genesis 1 to God speaking.
For speech – literal speech – to be transmitted, there has to be a medium to carry it. That’s why “in space, no one can hear you scream.” On Earth, the atmosphere transmits sound.
So in order for God to have created through speaking, there must have been an already-existing atmosphere or other medium to carry the sound. And if one posits that, then one denies creation out of nothing, which young-earth creationists typically affirm. And that’s without getting into a discussion about divine vocal cords.
The alternative is to accept that there is anthropomorphism and other non-literal depiction in this chapter.
I wonder which of the two options young-earth creationists will choose when confronted with these stark alternatives.
On a related note, here’s something some of you will enjoy. Let me know if you get the joke, as well as the connection with the topic of this blog post…
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