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Jarred,
Probably around four billion years.
The Church has never required us
to read the first eleven chapters
of the book of Genesis as if it were
literal history. There are three
possible ways to interpret these
eleven chapters before Abraham, the
first two of which a Catholic may
adhere to:
- Literal history
- Non-literal history
- Pure myth
- Literal history is how you have
interpreted it. That is acceptable.
- Non-literal history is still
history; it's an acknowledgement
that these things occurred,
but the literary form is more
of an allegory or symbolic. For
example:
- perhaps the serpent represented
the devil
- the tree of life represents
God's offer for complete
union with Him with His
supernatural life permeating
our being
- the fruit representing
sin, etc.
It would be seen as God communicating
profound truths about Himself,
us, and creation through symbols.
Most Catholic scholars interpret
it this way.
- Pure myth sees it as a story
with no necessary intrinsic truths
being communicated; only man's
way of explaining his experience.
This cannot be the interpretation
of a faithful Catholic.
Whether we understand these first
eleven chapters of Genesis to be
literal or symbolic, the main truths
remain the same:
- God, as all-good and all-powerful,
created the universe out of nothing
- He created mankind in His own
image to have a personal relationship
with
- He created man and woman for
each other to love and procreate
a family in marriage.
- This marital love communicates
God's love, His will for us, and,
in the fall of Adam and Eve, where
we inherited original sin,
our lack of cooperation with Him.
Peace,
Paul
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