I think that there are two possible interpretations of Genesis 1-2. One of them is that these chapters are to be taken literally and that God created Eve from a rib and made all the creatures appear out of nothing. The second possible interpretation is that God used natural laws to create the universe, just as he now uses natural laws to sustain the universe. According to this second interpretation, Genesis 1-2 are not to be taken literally, as if they were part of a scientific textbook. They should be taken as chapters in a book whose primary purpose is to save man by establishing a relationship between him and God. It seems pretty obvious to me that a two-page account of the universe aimed at bronze-age peasants must necessarily contain many oversimplifications and allegories. Hence, the second interpretation seems to me to be the most reasonable one. In addition, only the second interpretation matches what we have learned through scientific enquiry. Hence, this strongly suggests that the second interpretation is the one that we should be adopting. Mr. X mentioned that this second interpretation would turn God into an inefficient God. The concept of efficiency makes sense if you have limited resources. However, if you can create your own resources, like God does, efficiency is meaningless. Mr. X also mentioned that the second, less literal interpretation, would contradict the verse that says that death entered the world through sin. This is true only if you take death to mean physical death. The Bible does NOT teach that. Throughout the Bible we see that when God mentions death he is primarily concerned with spiritual death. He told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the tree of good and evil, they would certainly die. Did he lie? Of course not. When they ate of the tree of good and evil they died spiritually because they lost their communion with God. That's why Jesus says that whoever believes in him will never die. It was spiritual death that entered the world through sin, not physical death.