In the Beginning...
4,004 BC
-4004 -4004
44.00E34.00N
MISC

MESOPOTAMIA
	"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  This first verse of the Bible explains the origin of the universe held to by the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
	On the first day, according to the Bible, God said, "Let there be light" and so made night and day.  On the second, God created Heaven (or the sky); the third, the seas, land, and trees; the fourth, the sun and moon; the fifth, fish and birds; the sixth, animals of the land, including humans.  On the seventh day God rested.
	Scientists say the earth is far older than the 6,000 years often proposed for creation.  Most also hold to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which says higher species developed from lower species over millions of years by gradual chance adaptations.
	Creation defenders say the fossils don't show the gradual changes predicted by Darwin. Others say the "days" in the Bible are long ages and the creation of the sun was actually on the first day, but could only be seen clearly on the fourth "day" as an opaque atmosphere cleared.  Yet others say God created a mature world with evidence of a past that never was, so brand new trees, for example, would have many annual rings.
	A big problem for creation defenders is one of their own -- Anglican Archbishop James Usher.
	Usher was a divinity professor at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in the early 16th Century. He was a fine scholar but will probably only be remembered for saying the world was created in 4004 BC.
	Usher tried to determine the earth's age by adding the ages of the men listed in the Bible. By taking the age of the first man, Adam, until the birth of his son, then adding the son's age until the birth of his son, and so forth, he concluded that God created the earth in 4004 BC.
	English clergyman, John Lightfoot, tried to be even more precise. He figured the world began at 9 a.m. on October 26, 4004 BC!
	Usher's dating might have been forgotten if someone hadn't placed it in the marginal notes of the King James Bible, thereby lending it an authority it would not otherwise have had.
	In light of modern dating, 4004 BC has been abandoned, not only by geologists, who estimate the earth's age at about 4.6 billion years, but also by many biblical scholars, who say the biblical chronology is probably partial, that the terms "father" and "son" in the Bible can also mean "ancestor" and "descendent," and that the six "days" of creation in the Bible could be long ages.
	Leaving disputes about dates, the Bible says that the first two humans, Adam and Eve, had it good.  All they had to do was take care of a beautiful garden God had made.
	Eat from any tree in the garden, God said, but just one thing: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
	So -- of course -- that's what they did.
	The Bible says that a serpent (generally considered to be the Devil) tricked Eve into tasting the fruit. Then she gave it to her husband, who also took a bite.
	For their disobedience God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden and promised them toil and hardship. And though their bodies did not die that day, many theologians would say their spirits did.