SPECIAL STUDIES FROM GENESIS 1-11

The universe is how old? “The key to Darwin’s explanation is time and the passage of many centuries.” ( Robert Jastrow, evolutionist) “Time is the hero of the plot…. What we regard as impossible on the basis of human experience is meaningless here. Given so much time, the impossible becomes possible, the possible becomes probable, and the probable becomes virtually certain. One has only to wait; time itself performs miracles.” (George Wald, evolutionist) An eternity of time will not help their case because time is not a creator. Duane Gish observed that the concept of a frog being turned into a prince in an instant is a fairy tale but the assertion that a frog, given three hundred million years, can turn into a man, is considered science!

Before the days of creation? This assumes a gap of billions of years between the first two verses of Genesis 1 in which existed a prehistoric earth with prehistoric man. Then, there was a cataclysmic event that destroyed it all (i.e. either a war in heaven in which Satan was cast to earth and destroyed it all or a comet that collided with our planet). After this, God re-created our universe in six days.

Before the days of creation? This view claims the word “was” should be translated “became” in Genesis 1:2.  This does not agree with the many accepted translations of the Bible nor the leading Hebrew scholars.  “The cataclysmic theory…respecting v. 2 can have no place in a proper translation. The construction of ‘became void,’ etc., is not justified by Hebrew syntax. When the verb ‘to be’ (hayah) is to be constructed as ‘became,’ the addition of the prepositional lamedh is is required with the following word to provide this meaning, and this preposition is absent here.” (Harold Stigers, A Commentary On Genesis, p. 49)

Before the days of creation? This view claims that Genesis 1:28 implies the earth was once full and needed to be filled up again.  Though the KJV translates “replenish”, the same word is translated “fill” in verse 22.  The Hebrew simply means “to fill” (Strong’s Hebrew).  Even in English “re” does not necessarily mean “again” (e.g. realize, receive, rejoice, rebuff, repeal).

Before the days of creation? This view contradicts the Bible account.  Moses said that everything was made in six days (Exo. 20:11).  There was no prehistoric man (Gen. 3:21; Acts 17:26; 1 Cor. 15:45).  No cataclysm could leave nothing but the earth in empty dark space as described in Genesis 1:1-2.  There was no re-creation. The same word “created” in verse 1 is used in verses 21 and 27, as well as in 2:3-4; 5:1-2.  Death entered through Adam, not before the days of creation (1 Cor. 15:21; Rom. 5:12).  Man was here “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6).

During the days of creation? This view contends that the days of creation are not literal approximate 24 hour days but long ages or eons of time allowing for evolution to take place and giving us a very old world. “It is hardly conceivable that anyone would question the interpretation of these days as ordinary days were it not for the fact that people are attempting to reconcile Genesis with evolution.” (John Klotz)

During the days of creation? The Hebrew word (yom) translated “day” in Genesis 1 is precisely defined in verse 5: “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” This word always refers to a 24 hour day (in non-prophetic passages) when:  Preceded by a numeral (>100x in the OT).  Used with the phrase “evening and morning” (>100x in the OT).  Occurring in the plural (>700x in the OT).

During the days of creation? The six creation days of Genesis 1 are:  Preceded by a numeral and used with the phrase “evening and morning” (see vv. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).  Used in the plural in Exodus 20:8-11 and compared with the normal 24 hour days of the week (cf. also Exo. 31:14-17). “If the word ‘day’ in this chapter does not mean the period of 24 hours, the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless.” (Expositor’s Bible, W. R. Nicoll)

During the days of creation? If the word “day” means long geological periods, then there are some big problems in the field of botany.  Plant life would have had to survive through long periods of total darkness.  The insects necessary for cross pollination of certain plants would not have been created for two more long periods making it impossible for the plants to reproduce and survive.

During the days of creation? Jesus plainly teaches that God created humans “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6; cf. Mat. 19:4; Rom. 1:20), not six long geological periods of millions and billions of years from the creation!

After the days of creation? This theory says that there are billions of years of evolutionary development after the creation week of Genesis 1. Even if there were, this would be too late…according to the theory the evolutionary work was already done before man came on the scene!

After the days of creation? Some try to find this time while Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. We don’t know how long that Adam and Eve were in the Garden but we do know that:  The devil “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).  Abel was killed “from the foundation of the world” (Luke 11:50-51).  Adam was only 130 years old when his son, Seth, was born (Gen. 5:3).

After the days of creation? Some try to find this time in massive gaps in the genealogical record of the Bible. The only way we know of any gaps is because the Bible fills them in (e.g. Gen. 11:10-12 w/Luke 3:35-36)! Archeologists have confirmed that there is only about 2,000 years from Christ back to Abraham. The only question is from Abraham back to Adam (20 generations). Jude 14 tells us that Enoch is the seventh from Adam. That leaves only 13 generations left! Gaps in the genealogy of the Bible do not affect the chronology of the Bible (e.g. Gen. 5; 11). According to the chronology of the Bible, Adam was created only about 4,000 years before Christ (See Years From Creation).

After the days of creation? “In conclusion, let it be emphasized that there is but one motive underlying the attempt to stretch the genealogies back for literally hundreds of thousands of years. And that is to accommodate the geologic-anthropologic time scale so essential for the evolutionary hypothesis. Time is desperately needed if evolution occurred; miraculous creation does not need it, and the Bible does not indicate it. Let us, therefore, not be stampeded into accepting compromising and ridiculous views of the Bible simply to facilitate the baseless theories of those who are dead set on being infidels anyway!” (Wayne Jackson, Biblical Genealogies and Human History)

Gap Theory Creation Re-Creation Day 1Day 4Day 2Day 5Day 3Day 6 Billions Of Years About 6,000 Years Billions Of Years Day-Age Theory 2013 Day 6 Gapology Theory Biblical Account “From the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6)

SPECIAL STUDIES FROM GENESIS 1-11