A writer for Prophecy in the News, by the name of Terri McInnis, posted an article on their website, entitled, Gap Theory Exposed. She immediately referenced a book she had “just begun to read,” by Dr. Henry Morris named The Beginning of the World. She goes on to tell us that Dr. Morris was: an American Young Creationist, a Christian Apologist, and, an engineer. He also founded the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research in Dallas Texas. I have done this as well, giving you the reader, the titles, and accolades of some person, with the hopes of building acceptance of some thesis. In doing this, there is also the hope that you will accept these words as the only proper way of looking at a subject.
Young Creationist is merely another way of saying that Dr. Morris is a young earth proponent – that means, in the Doctor's mind and others like him, God made all creation in a literal six days, and therefore the earth is only a little over six thousand years old based upon the age of Adam (Adam may well have lived an indeterminate amount of time before he and his "wife" ate the fruit and initiated the process of physical death - all time, as we know it, stems from that act.) I have a sister who also leans hard on the young earth theory; the problem with that is that my sister has no valid arguments to prove her point. You can scream at me all day long, arguing that carbon dating is invalid, but you can't adequately explain where dinosaurs came from, or that there were multiple extinctions.
The other thing proponents of young earth have, is a problem with the word yôm.
The Word Study Dictionary explains the meaning of the word yôm as: “A masculine noun meaning day, time, year. This word stands as the most basic conception of time in the Old Testament. It designates such wide-ranging elements as the daylight hours from sunrise to sunset (Gen_1:5; 1Ki_19:4); a literal twenty-four hour cycle (Deu_16:8; 2Ki_25:30); a generic span of time (Gen_26:8; Num_20:15); a given point in time (Gen_2:17; Gen_47:29; Eze_33:12). In the plural, the word may also mean the span of life (Psa_102:3 [4]) or a year (Lev_25:29; 1Sa_27:7).”
The Strong's concordance tells us that the word yôm primarily means “to be hot.” However, it also carries the same connotations that the Word Study Dictionary does.
People who are adept with the Hebrew language will tell you that the word is defined when associated with another word that would define the length of time, in this case, a hot phase, and therefore a 24 hour period since it is associated with "darkness." However, the scriptures do not give us that precise definition. Let me show you.
Genesis 1:3-5 KJV And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Since a day is as a thousand years with God, then I can assume that the measure of time can often be an irrelevant thing with Him. (Anyone knowledgeable in scripture is aware of the 70 years of captivity assigned to Israel; and although a defined period of time they remained in captivity for several years beyond that time. And then, there is the very specific timing that we learn of in Daniel's prophecy; a timing that spells out, that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks of years - 490 years. The fascinating aspect of this is that Jesus, in the role of Messiah, placed himself on that young colt and rode into Jerusalem on the 490th day, just as it was given to Daniel. All this proves that God is capable of keeping precise time if He needs to.
Based on what I see in verses 3-5 of Genesis chapter one, can I assume that God has a clock and this period, like most sports, is a mandatory precisely timed period? NO.
So, what do I see in Genesis 1:3-5?
God, creating light. Light and day are obvious counterparts that separate the daylight hours from the night, but, as you pursue the depth of the Hebrews words find two diversified events which I will explain.
Light is the word ore and means illumination, or luminaries – in this case, stars and planets. Since our Sun falls in the category of stars, and we are the perfect distance from our star, then the earth has just the right amount of warmth or yôm. In verse five He calls that light that gives heat day. But verse four points out that there is also a darkness present. Before His creation of luminaries, I suspect that there was nothing more than vast, cold darkness.
Now, look up the word darkness, and you get something ominous. "chôshek meaning the dark; hence (literally) darkness; (figuratively)misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - dark (-ness), night, obscurity."
Could I look at the creation, as I do the Book of Revelation, where we see a cyclical and repeated telling of the chain of events and the possible interruption of those events? Perhaps, but perhaps God is trying to get us to understand something deeper; like the fall of Satan. That event is shrouded in secrecy; or is it? It could be that this “gap” is where Satan was thrown to earth.
In Luke's Gospel, the disciples came back excited about the short missionary trip Jesus sent them, and they said, “even the devils are subject to us through your name.” Well, that is fascinating news, but Jesus knew it would work for them; and yet Jesus responds with what some might perceive as negativity.
Luke 10:17-18 KJV And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. (18) And he said unto them; I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
From what I understand sarcastic banter, intended to outdo the other, was a way of life for the Jew. I can hear many of you now saying, Jesus would have never entered into such an exchange; but He did, with Nathanael. When Philip found Nathanael to tell him about finding Jesus, the one the scriptures talk about, Nathanael responds with, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Jesus, knowing this, cuts Nathanael down to size with, you thought that was something, wait till you see what else happens. Read the first chapter of John's gospel to get the whole picture.
John 1:50-51 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. (51) And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
So when we look at Luke 10:17-18, he is telling them, that there is more, and that I was there and witnessed this event. Now you should be asking, what did Satan's fall look like? One Bible teacher described it as though Satan was thrown like a dart. Considering how extremely hard God could throw something, I can picture an impact crater much like the one found off the Yucatan Peninsula. Scientists tell us that the Yucatan crater alone could have caused at least one of the extinctions. Just something to think about.
I will tell you straight away; I lean toward the idea that the earth is billions of years old; it just makes more sense to me based upon evidence and what I see when I look at the Hebrew words that tell us of the creation. The bottom line here, is that my beliefs, in my mind, do not diminish God in any way, but instead make Him more powerful and surprising; and, neither do arguments for a young earth decrease God in my mind, although I have watched people struggle with their beliefs as they deal with these conflicts we are so adamant about.
One the first things Ms. McInnis points out, presumably from Dr. Morris' book, is that “most Christians do not believe in evolution, yet they believe that the earth evolved over 16.5 billion years!” Stop here for a moment; as of yet I thought we were talking about the possibility of a very long and indeterminate gap in time between verses 1 and 2? No one said anything about evolution, yet, but we will. Can I understand that something happened to make the earth void and formless? Yes, I can.
Look at what Genesis 1:2 tells us.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2 NASB)
Now stop for a moment and allow me to show you verse one.
Genesis 1:1 JPS In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
If God spoke everything into existence, then why not the earth? We assume he did. But without form and void certainly does not sound like He did, unless he made the earth in the spinning blob form that scientists occasionally depict. If that was the case and God had to allow for cooling and settling, you might think He would have told us. Note this passage from Isaiah:
Isaiah 45:18 NASB For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else.
While it clearly says he formed it to be inhabited, it also clearly states that the earth was formed. Now that can take some time, or, God can merely speak the globe into existence – He is capable of doing that. Even if God created it perfectly in the first few moments, there was no light to sustain plant growth, and, if you are doing your advance reading, then you know that we did not have sun until the fourth "day."
Now, let's go back to this idea of evolution for a moment. In time, as we read the creation story in Genesis, we see a couple of things -
Genesis 1:26-27 KJV And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:26-27 may cause some people grief as they try to understand what just happened, but suffice it to say, this is a spiritual event. Humankind, as yet, has no earthly bodies. It is not until Genesis chapter two that we see the man being formed.
Genesis 2:7 KJV And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Even though He formed the man, He does not form the woman from the man's rib, for, once again, some indeterminate time. What is my take away from this? Man did not evolve. But then what of something like the Paracas Peru elongated skulls? DNA testing has shown them to be pre-Nazca, but show haploid associations with European and Middle Eastern groups; and, “they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far.” [https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/breaking-new-dna-testing-2000-year-old-elongated-paracas-skulls-changes-020914]
Now, how might these unknown mutations be explained? For that answer, we have to indulge ourselves in Genesis chapter six.
Genesis 6:2-4 KJV That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. (3) And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. (4) There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
I am not going to take the time to pursue this, but there is something mysterious and ominous going here. Men like LA Marzulli, go to tremendous lengths to explain the giants, and, how they came back into the earth after the flood of Noah's day, that destroyed all flesh, but Noah and his family. This information tends to indicate that our discoveries from the Paracas region, with their elongated skulls, may have been pre-flood, but then, as I said, the giants continued to show up after the flood.
Why point all this out? Because I don't see an evolution within God's creation of man at all. What I see is a demonic infiltration with mutations, and that should concern us more than the age of the earth because apparently, this infiltration not stopped.
Back to Genesis
If the earth was perfect as Isaiah 45:18 declares, then what happened? Perhaps this can help to explain.
Genesis 1:2 NLT The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:2 says that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Spirit is the Hebrew word ruach and means wind, breath, mind, spirit; this should have an immediate significance to what we recognize in New Testament terms as the Holy Spirit. Where else do we see the Holy Spirit? At the beginning of creation.
John 1:1-3 ESV In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
Why, if God merely spoke a perfect creation into existence, does He now have to move upon the face of the waters with His Spirit? Is it to put things back into order? Or, is it just part of the plan? There is little doubt that the earth was filled with some form of chaos for a time; a time long enough to petrify trees, and cause multiple generations of dinosaurs to be buried alive.
Maybe I have not opened or closed the gap in the theory, but I hope that I made you think. There are some things that I don't think we need to be so brutally adamant about, and the Gap theory is one of them. It may bring some answers, but as several of my friends would say, it is a minor argument in the schemes of things.
Young Creationist is merely another way of saying that Dr. Morris is a young earth proponent – that means, in the Doctor's mind and others like him, God made all creation in a literal six days, and therefore the earth is only a little over six thousand years old based upon the age of Adam (Adam may well have lived an indeterminate amount of time before he and his "wife" ate the fruit and initiated the process of physical death - all time, as we know it, stems from that act.) I have a sister who also leans hard on the young earth theory; the problem with that is that my sister has no valid arguments to prove her point. You can scream at me all day long, arguing that carbon dating is invalid, but you can't adequately explain where dinosaurs came from, or that there were multiple extinctions.
The other thing proponents of young earth have, is a problem with the word yôm.
The Word Study Dictionary explains the meaning of the word yôm as: “A masculine noun meaning day, time, year. This word stands as the most basic conception of time in the Old Testament. It designates such wide-ranging elements as the daylight hours from sunrise to sunset (Gen_1:5; 1Ki_19:4); a literal twenty-four hour cycle (Deu_16:8; 2Ki_25:30); a generic span of time (Gen_26:8; Num_20:15); a given point in time (Gen_2:17; Gen_47:29; Eze_33:12). In the plural, the word may also mean the span of life (Psa_102:3 [4]) or a year (Lev_25:29; 1Sa_27:7).”
The Strong's concordance tells us that the word yôm primarily means “to be hot.” However, it also carries the same connotations that the Word Study Dictionary does.
People who are adept with the Hebrew language will tell you that the word is defined when associated with another word that would define the length of time, in this case, a hot phase, and therefore a 24 hour period since it is associated with "darkness." However, the scriptures do not give us that precise definition. Let me show you.
Genesis 1:3-5 KJV And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (5) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Since a day is as a thousand years with God, then I can assume that the measure of time can often be an irrelevant thing with Him. (Anyone knowledgeable in scripture is aware of the 70 years of captivity assigned to Israel; and although a defined period of time they remained in captivity for several years beyond that time. And then, there is the very specific timing that we learn of in Daniel's prophecy; a timing that spells out, that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks of years - 490 years. The fascinating aspect of this is that Jesus, in the role of Messiah, placed himself on that young colt and rode into Jerusalem on the 490th day, just as it was given to Daniel. All this proves that God is capable of keeping precise time if He needs to.
Based on what I see in verses 3-5 of Genesis chapter one, can I assume that God has a clock and this period, like most sports, is a mandatory precisely timed period? NO.
So, what do I see in Genesis 1:3-5?
God, creating light. Light and day are obvious counterparts that separate the daylight hours from the night, but, as you pursue the depth of the Hebrews words find two diversified events which I will explain.
Light is the word ore and means illumination, or luminaries – in this case, stars and planets. Since our Sun falls in the category of stars, and we are the perfect distance from our star, then the earth has just the right amount of warmth or yôm. In verse five He calls that light that gives heat day. But verse four points out that there is also a darkness present. Before His creation of luminaries, I suspect that there was nothing more than vast, cold darkness.
Now, look up the word darkness, and you get something ominous. "chôshek meaning the dark; hence (literally) darkness; (figuratively)misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: - dark (-ness), night, obscurity."
Could I look at the creation, as I do the Book of Revelation, where we see a cyclical and repeated telling of the chain of events and the possible interruption of those events? Perhaps, but perhaps God is trying to get us to understand something deeper; like the fall of Satan. That event is shrouded in secrecy; or is it? It could be that this “gap” is where Satan was thrown to earth.
In Luke's Gospel, the disciples came back excited about the short missionary trip Jesus sent them, and they said, “even the devils are subject to us through your name.” Well, that is fascinating news, but Jesus knew it would work for them; and yet Jesus responds with what some might perceive as negativity.
Luke 10:17-18 KJV And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. (18) And he said unto them; I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
From what I understand sarcastic banter, intended to outdo the other, was a way of life for the Jew. I can hear many of you now saying, Jesus would have never entered into such an exchange; but He did, with Nathanael. When Philip found Nathanael to tell him about finding Jesus, the one the scriptures talk about, Nathanael responds with, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Jesus, knowing this, cuts Nathanael down to size with, you thought that was something, wait till you see what else happens. Read the first chapter of John's gospel to get the whole picture.
John 1:50-51 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. (51) And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
So when we look at Luke 10:17-18, he is telling them, that there is more, and that I was there and witnessed this event. Now you should be asking, what did Satan's fall look like? One Bible teacher described it as though Satan was thrown like a dart. Considering how extremely hard God could throw something, I can picture an impact crater much like the one found off the Yucatan Peninsula. Scientists tell us that the Yucatan crater alone could have caused at least one of the extinctions. Just something to think about.
I will tell you straight away; I lean toward the idea that the earth is billions of years old; it just makes more sense to me based upon evidence and what I see when I look at the Hebrew words that tell us of the creation. The bottom line here, is that my beliefs, in my mind, do not diminish God in any way, but instead make Him more powerful and surprising; and, neither do arguments for a young earth decrease God in my mind, although I have watched people struggle with their beliefs as they deal with these conflicts we are so adamant about.
One the first things Ms. McInnis points out, presumably from Dr. Morris' book, is that “most Christians do not believe in evolution, yet they believe that the earth evolved over 16.5 billion years!” Stop here for a moment; as of yet I thought we were talking about the possibility of a very long and indeterminate gap in time between verses 1 and 2? No one said anything about evolution, yet, but we will. Can I understand that something happened to make the earth void and formless? Yes, I can.
Look at what Genesis 1:2 tells us.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:2 NASB)
Now stop for a moment and allow me to show you verse one.
Genesis 1:1 JPS In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
If God spoke everything into existence, then why not the earth? We assume he did. But without form and void certainly does not sound like He did, unless he made the earth in the spinning blob form that scientists occasionally depict. If that was the case and God had to allow for cooling and settling, you might think He would have told us. Note this passage from Isaiah:
Isaiah 45:18 NASB For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else.
While it clearly says he formed it to be inhabited, it also clearly states that the earth was formed. Now that can take some time, or, God can merely speak the globe into existence – He is capable of doing that. Even if God created it perfectly in the first few moments, there was no light to sustain plant growth, and, if you are doing your advance reading, then you know that we did not have sun until the fourth "day."
Now, let's go back to this idea of evolution for a moment. In time, as we read the creation story in Genesis, we see a couple of things -
Genesis 1:26-27 KJV And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. (27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:26-27 may cause some people grief as they try to understand what just happened, but suffice it to say, this is a spiritual event. Humankind, as yet, has no earthly bodies. It is not until Genesis chapter two that we see the man being formed.
Genesis 2:7 KJV And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Even though He formed the man, He does not form the woman from the man's rib, for, once again, some indeterminate time. What is my take away from this? Man did not evolve. But then what of something like the Paracas Peru elongated skulls? DNA testing has shown them to be pre-Nazca, but show haploid associations with European and Middle Eastern groups; and, “they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far.” [https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/breaking-new-dna-testing-2000-year-old-elongated-paracas-skulls-changes-020914]
Now, how might these unknown mutations be explained? For that answer, we have to indulge ourselves in Genesis chapter six.
Genesis 6:2-4 KJV That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. (3) And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. (4) There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
I am not going to take the time to pursue this, but there is something mysterious and ominous going here. Men like LA Marzulli, go to tremendous lengths to explain the giants, and, how they came back into the earth after the flood of Noah's day, that destroyed all flesh, but Noah and his family. This information tends to indicate that our discoveries from the Paracas region, with their elongated skulls, may have been pre-flood, but then, as I said, the giants continued to show up after the flood.
Why point all this out? Because I don't see an evolution within God's creation of man at all. What I see is a demonic infiltration with mutations, and that should concern us more than the age of the earth because apparently, this infiltration not stopped.
Back to Genesis
If the earth was perfect as Isaiah 45:18 declares, then what happened? Perhaps this can help to explain.
Genesis 1:2 NLT The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- "And darkness upon the face of the deep."
Genesis 1:2 says that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Spirit is the Hebrew word ruach and means wind, breath, mind, spirit; this should have an immediate significance to what we recognize in New Testament terms as the Holy Spirit. Where else do we see the Holy Spirit? At the beginning of creation.
John 1:1-3 ESV In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
Why, if God merely spoke a perfect creation into existence, does He now have to move upon the face of the waters with His Spirit? Is it to put things back into order? Or, is it just part of the plan? There is little doubt that the earth was filled with some form of chaos for a time; a time long enough to petrify trees, and cause multiple generations of dinosaurs to be buried alive.
Maybe I have not opened or closed the gap in the theory, but I hope that I made you think. There are some things that I don't think we need to be so brutally adamant about, and the Gap theory is one of them. It may bring some answers, but as several of my friends would say, it is a minor argument in the schemes of things.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to make a relevant comment. If approved, it will be posted.