Creation: Why Did God Take Billions Of Years?

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I know questions like this have no definitive answer, but why didn’t God just “snap his finger” and put man and all other life forms on Earth instead of the whole long process that developed? I think for many non-believers this is another reason for them to doubt the existence of God
 
Because God desires belief based upon faith, not knowledge.
 
To God, a billion years is like the snap of a finger. When I was a kid, time felt so much longer since, in reference to my whole life up until that point, a year was huge. Now the years seem to just fly by.

The vastness of time also shows forth the infinite power and vastness of God.

St. Robert Bellarmine wrote a little book called “The Mind’s Ascent to God by a Ladder of Created Things.” The second step in the ladder is consideration of the vastness of the universe. He discusses how even at his time the universe seemed almost immeasurable, but that they were just beginning to learn it is even more vast than they had thought. He asks, if the vastness of the universe is so great, how much greater still is its Creator? Time is just another dimension of creation.

The vastness of creation across time and space helps us to comprehend–even if just a little bit–the incomprehensible greatness and omnipotence of God.
 
God took the time that was necessary to create the world.

Miracles happen naturally, not like a magician’s tricks.

Jim
 
He desires both. He desires all men to know the truth. I’ve heard some fundagelicals say God is testing us by making the universe seem older or by putting dinosaur bones in the ground. That’s absurd. God is not a deceiver or a player of “gotcha!” games.

Faith is not believing that God exists, but believing what God has revealed is true based on the authority of God the revealer. You need to know that God exists before you can put your faith in Him.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Miracles happen naturally, not like a magician’s tricks.
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By definition, if something happens naturally, it is not a miracle (in fact, a magician’s trick would not be a miracle, because they actually are done naturally). Miracles are by their very nature supernatural, or as the Fathers and theologians say, above, contrary to, or outside nature.
 
Creation itself is a miracle.

To look for signs and wonder’s is the evil Jesus spoke against.

Jim
 
Because creating everything fully fledged with the wave of a hand is inelegant and tasteless.
 
I don’t really think this question has any point. We can’t know, we can only observe and hypothesize

My personal opinion on the subject? God knew that once we reach the point of being able to study it, we would find the history of our world and the species that lived on it endlessly fascinating.

Dinosaurs are awesome, and that it why God took so long; to include these types of species in creation so that we could find them and be in awe of the wonders of creation.

Also, it does a better job of showing God’s power. Sure, you could just pop everything into existence, that it certainly an unbelievable display of God’s abilities. However, in my book it is a greater display of ability, and love/care, to guide a universe over the course of billions of years, to reach the desired state when you actually introduce the life you created it for.

There’s also the fact that time is meaningless to God…

That’s just my take though…
 
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Interesting . I have often wondered if some things are not possible, even for God. Is that what you are saying?
 
GUYMAN said:
I know questions like this have no definitive answer, but why didn’t God just “snap his finger” and put man and all other life forms on Earth instead of the whole long process that developed? I think for many non-believers this is another reason for them to doubt the existence of God
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Why did he do it that way? I dunno. Why not?
You’re asking to know the mind of God as if he thinks like we do. God doesn’t think like we do, God simply is.
Christians are called to be good observers. Part of that observation is to look at experience and accept it.
If that’s the way God reveals his creation, then so be it.
 
Possible or not possible are concepts restricted to our own limited understanding.

To create a universe as it is, God uses what He knows to make it happen, even when it defies our limited understanding.

I read somewhere that the physics we understand today, is limited to our own environment and may not be the same in other galaxies or dimensions.

Jim
 
Back in 1976 I had the privilege to see a five year old girl cured of cerebral palsy by a priests at a huge healing service.

Despite there being about 500 people in attendance, few saw the miracle.

It happened so naturally and without anything profound like we see in the movies, that many did not see it.

My four brothers and mother who was there, did not see it. My wife, my father and myself, did see it.

15 years later, I met the young woman who was the child. She confirmed that it wasn’t just my emotions caught up in the event. She indeed was healed.

As I thought about it, this may be how it was when Jesus healed a person. Despite all the crowds of curiosity seekers, it probably happened in such a natural way, that only those whom God wish to reveal Himself, saw it.

It’s why I’m opposed to people running after alleged miracles seeing the Blessed Mother on the sides of buildings or in a piece of pastry.

Jim
 
GUYMAN said:
why didn’t God just “snap his finger” and put man and all other life forms on Earth instead of the whole long process that developed?
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That was the easy part. Filling out all the paperwork is what held things up. The environmental impact report alone must have been a mega bear.
 
Personally I have to treat the creation story as a myth that prehistoric people used to explain why their world existed. Any person open to considering even basic science and evidence about our world would have to think so in IMHO. Even our current explanation of the universe is imperfect, understanding the relationship of subatomic and atomic worlds (especially mathematically) has stalled in recent decades. I feel secure in supposing the human mind will never fully be able understand every facet of the universe; merely since we will probably not be able to observe everything directly and will rely on mathematical models to explain what we can’t observe.
 
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