Just recently a preacher in our brotherhood recommended an article entitled, “The Multiple Truths of Myths.” This came after commenting on an article entitled, “Should We Take Creation Stories in Genesis Literally.” After being asked, “Are you saying we shouldn’t take the creation account literally?” He responded “yessir.” Such a response is sad but deserves some treatment and rebuttal.

Despite attempting to re-define what a myth is, the truth remains. A myth is something that one does not take to be factual in nature. The article says, “Creation stories in Genesis were among the many myths that were told in the ancient Near East. Today we may think of myths as beliefs thar are not true, but as a literary genre, myths ‘are stories that convey and reinforce aspects of a culture’s worldview: many truths.’”1

Moses was not interested in reinforcing a culture’s worldview. Ancient people believed in a higher being, but they argued about who or what that higher being was. Moses sought to assert the superiority of Jehovah and the false nature of all other “gods” by demonstrating His primacy in the creation of the universe. Thus, he was stating the truth about the way the world and all its creatures were formed. It is to be taken as literal history.

The nature of the created universe demands that the earth be created in a six-day twenty-four-hour period. When one considers the fact that certain organisms live in symbiotic relationships, their symbiont could not have evolved in such a fashion to have allowed its host to survive without its presence. One example of this might be the termite.

Termites have a symbiont that lives in their intestinal tract. A symbiont is defined as “an organism that lives in close association with another organism, often benefiting from this relationship.”2 This symbiont that lives in the gut of the termite helps the termite digest cellulose. One source avers,

The termite gut teems with microbes that are essential for the digestion of cellulose. Without these microbial symbionts, termites would be unable to digest wood. This is an example of mutualism, in which both the termites and the microbes benefit.3

Without this symbiont, the termite would perish. That being the case, how did the termite and its host evolve in such a manner to provide for the survival of each creature given the theory of evolution? The survival of each creature would have been doomed if it took millions of years for each creature to evolve like modern science postulates.

There are other examples of obligate mutualism. Obligate mutualism is defined as a symbiotic relationship in which each species “depends on the other for its very survival.” The relationship between honeybees and flowers is another example. One source says,

Many flowering plants can’t reproduce without insect pollinators. Bees are important pollinators that benefit because they feed on nectar and use the pollen mainly to feed their larvae.”4

If bees and flowering plants were not created in the manner outlined in the book of Genesis, many flowering plants or honeybees could not have survived based on the millions of years that evolution postulates. One writer states,

Some plants are pollinated solely by insects. Clover is pollinated by bees and the yucca plant has the pronuba moth as its only means of pollination. How did these plants reproduce during millions of years of that alleged fourth day-age?5

Once again, logic dictates that the earth was created over a literal six-day period.

From scripture, one notices the nature of the Sabbath day in comparison to the creation. Notice what Exodus 20:11 says, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” The context of Exodus 20:11 demands that the “Sabbath day” consist of a twenty-four hour period of time or at least the Jewish understanding of a normal one day period. Surely, no reasonable person would argue that the Sabbath day, figuratively speaking, would mean eons of time as some people take it in the creation account.

Moreover, reading the text of the creation account in Genesis shows that there was a period of time know as a “year.” Genesis 1:14 teaches, “Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” If a “day” in the Genesis text is really symbolic of millions of years, what does a one year period of time represent? A good rule of interpretation is “the literal is preferred over the figurative unless context demands otherwise.” There is no reason to believe that the earth was created over millions of years per the teachings of scripture.

If a one day period of time was millions of years in duration, there would be no possible way that a plant could survive that expanse of time. Light was created before plants and animals. Logically, it had to be this way for plants to survive and for animals and insects to live off of the plants. Genesis 1:3-5 says, “Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”

Logic and scripture dictate that the earth was created in a literal six day period. To claim that the creation account is a “myth” undermines the Bible. How can the opening words of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, be understood as “myth” and allow one to take the remainder

of the Bible in a literal fashion? The answer is simple and apparent. Moses’ account of Jehovah’s creation is to be taken as literal fact and not myth.

1 Ngo, Robin (2024). “Should We Take Creation Stories in Genesis Literally?” Biblical Archaeological Society.
2 Symbiont - Vocab, Definition, and Must Know Facts | Fiveable
3 Termites-Educator-film.pdf (biointeractive.org)
4 Mutualism Definition and Examples in Biology (sciencenotes.org)
5 The Creation "Days" - Literal or Figurative? | Christian Courier