THE GEOCENTRICITY OF GENESIS
According to Genesis the earth was made first. All the rest of the universe was an accessory. On the fourth day of creation the sun, moon, and "the stars also"--mere trifles, lumped together at the end of the inventory--were brought into existence. These were "created" and "set" in heaven "to give light upon the earth." With as much reason it might be said that mice were made to eat cheese. The celestial systems do not exist for the sake of the earth any more than an army exists for the sake of a single soldier. He gets his share of rations, but he is not the object of the combination. Astronomy shows us the insignificance of our planet. It is but a drop in the ocean, a grain of sand on the sea shore. We know of at least 182 stupendous objects revolving in regular orbits round the sun, of which the earth is far from being the largest. For them also, and not merely for the sake of the earth, does the sun "rule the day." And when we look beyond our solar system into the mighty universe of other suns and planets we might well ask what light is ruling each of them. The Genesis account, compared with our wealth of knowledge, does appear like a geocentric dream. When Anaxagoras dared to suggest that the sun was as large as the Peloponnesus he startled his Greek contemporaries. What must have been the notions of a pre-scientific people like the ancient Hebrews? For them it must have been easy to regard the sun, moon, "and the stars also" as mere satellites of the earth, set up in the sky as lanterns for the human race. Calvin stated, in his Commentary on the Book of Genesis, that "God himself took the space of six days, for the purpose of accumulating his works to the capacity of man." Inotherwords, the creation of all the various planets and suns in the cosmos revolved conveniently around man's weekly time schedule, measured in earth days. How geocentric can you get?

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