Disneology #6: Which Came First? Plant life or the Sun?

I refer to the chronological order of creation. As strange as it may seem, I see some strong advantages in the fact that Disney presents a god-less picture of the origins of the world. The strongest advantage lies in our being offered a non-theological perspective with which to compare our theological perspectives. The order of Creation in Genesis mirrors the order of the origins of the universe as depicted by science in Disney’s Epcot exhibits. The following is a chronology supplied by Genesis 1 and Epcot’s Universe of Energy and Living Seas Preshow exhibits:

Gen. 1:2: “formless and void” mass
Disney: Big Bang

Gen. 1:3: “light”
Disney: “Cloud-covered planet” but “Volcanoes spew”

Gen. 1:6: “the expanse . . . separated the water under the expanse from the water above it”
Disney: “wait and wait and wait . . . until clouds of gasses condense and rain upon the planet”

Gen. 1:9: “Let the water . . . be gathered into . . . seas”
Disney: “rain and rain and rain . . . . the Deluge . . . finally stopped; the Sea had been born”

Gen. 1:11: “Let the land produce vegetation”
Disney: “ underwater volcanoes,” “small plants . . . single-celled,” phytoplankton produce photosynthesis; other vegetation produced chemosynthesis

Gen. 1:14: “lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and . . . serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years”
Disney: After the “sea had been born,” the sun is now finally visible in the Living Seas Preshow film. The same phenomenon is shown in the same order in the Universe of Energy.

Gen. 1:20: “Let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly”
Disney: underwater animal life (in the Living Seas preshow) and water-dependent dinosaurs and pterodactyls (in the Universe of Energy)

Gen. 1:24: “livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals” followed by “man”
Disney: Other lizards . . . humans

ASSIGNMENT #6: RECALL THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN THE BRIEF ONE-MINUTE CAPSULE OF THE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE IN “UNIVERSE OF ENERGY.” THEN, VISIT “THE LIVING SEAS” ATTRACTION AT EPCOT. UNFORTUNATELY, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE, THERE, TO VIEW WHAT WAS FORMERLY “THE LIVING SEAS PRESHOW FILM.” THAT FILM HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED WITH A MUCH LESS THEOLOGICAL “NEMO’S ADVENTURES” RIDE. IT IS NEVERTHELESS WORTHWHILE TO WATCH (ALBEIT, A RATHER POOR COPY OF) THIS FILM AT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qdu3QCuzgg
I think a further explanation is appropriate here concerning the problem some have with the introduction by Genesis of the Sun, Moon and stars on Day Four. The Bible does not say plants were “created” before the sun, moon, and stars. The term “create” is used by Genesis only in terms of creating the “heavens and the earth” in 1:1 (which seems to imply [in the term “heavens”] that the Sun, Moon, and stars were already created by Day One), creating “the great creatures of the sea and every living” thing in the sea in 1:21 (the beginning of animal life), and God creating “man in his own image” in 1:27. The Bible only implies that on the 4th day, the sun, moon, and stars were made visible in the firmament, to divide day from night. On the implication of “visibility” in Day 4, what else could lights dividing day from night, being markers for seasons, days, and years, and shedding light upon the earth be? This chronological issue of when the Sun, Moon, and stars came into being seems to be the only serious objection non-believers cite regarding the order of creation in the first chapter of Genesis. Disney’s exhibits provide a visual tour of prehistory: The big bang happens, the earth is hot, there is light (from the hot magma and volcanoes) and the “waters” are so hot, they are nothing but vapors surrounding the earth so dense that no light from sun-moon-stars is visible, the earth starts to cool, water vapors begin to condense and gather into seas, vegetation begins, and finally the condensation is so thorough the sun-moon-stars are visible from the surface of the earth. The point I am making has to do with the fact that, at some time prior to the sun-moon-stars becoming visible from the surface of the earth, the earth’s waters were in a gaseous form, hovering above the land surfaces. We know that these water vapors, if they were suspended above the surface of the Earth in gaseous form would be impenetrable by sunlight since we can see that, after they condensed and became the sea, we need only go below the surface of the sea a few thousand feet before we encounter absolute darkness.

ASSIGNMENT #7: NOW THAT YOU HAVE THEOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF CREATION, DO WHAT GOD DID: TAKE SOME TIME TO REST AND ENJOY HIS CREATION (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER):

GO TO THE LAND PAVILION AT EPCOT AND TAKE THE RIDE “LIVING WITH THE LAND” TO ENJOY THE CREATION OF VEGETATION. FOR THAT MATTER, JUST TAKE IN ALL OF THE SCENIC LANDSCAPING OF ANY DISNEY PARK. ENJOY PLANT LIFE!

VIEW THE SHOW “IT’S TOUGH TO BE A BUG” AT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TO GET A GLANCE AT REALLY SMALL ANIMAL LIFE.

ENJOY THE UNDERWATER CREATURES OF THE LIVING SEAS EXHIBIT AT EPCOT.
VISIT THE SHOW “FLIGHTS OF WONDER” AT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TO BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED WITH THE BIRDS OF THE AIR. YOU WILL SEE MORE BIRDS ON YOUR SAFARI AND WALKS THROUGH PANGANI FOREST AND THE JUNGLE TREK.

TAKE A JEEP RIDE AT KILIMANJARO SAFARIS IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TO SEE A WIDE VARIETY OF CREEPING THINGS (CROCODILES), LIVESTOCK, AND WILD ANIMALS.

WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR SAFARI, STROLL THROUGH MAHARAJAH JUNGLE TREK AT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. THEN SEE THE HIGHEST LIFE FORMS BEFORE MAN—THE APES—AT PANGANI FOREST.

THROUGHOUT YOUR VISIT TO WALT DISNEY WORLD, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER GOD’S HIGHEST CREATION, GATHERED TOGETHER FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: HUMAN BEINGS.

Hopefully, you will agree with God’s assessment in Genesis 1:3: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”