The CreationoverviewBoth the belief that life on earth was started by God (“creation”), and the belief that life began on its own and evolved into higher life forms over a long period of time (“evolution”), are hotly-contested issues. Even within the sphere of creationism itself, there are two major debates: whether God created the universe, earth, plants, animals, and people in six, literal 24-hour days (“young-earth” view), or whether He created all of it in six long epochs or “age-days” of time (“old-earth” view). The controversy concerning the timing of the Creation revolves primarily around the meaning of the word “day” (which, in Hebrew is yōm) in Another view is the “gap” theory, which suggests that God created everything in Genesis 1:1. Then Satan and fallen angels then ruined everything that God had created. There ensued a “gap” of time of indeterminate length—perhaps several million years—until God decided to restore, repair, and reinstate everything, beginning in Genesis 1:2, which He did during a short creative week. I steadfastly reject this view, which is described in more detail in Closing the Gap: A Scientist’s Response to the Gap Theory. I believe that God, the Creator, created the entire seen and unseen universe and everything in it (including the heavens and the earth, as well as all life). As such, the remainder of this commentary will deal mainly with my views of and ideas about the Creation. Other related issues, as well as outside sources regarding Creation and Evolution, are included in the final two sections, other issues and other sources, of Part 2. the Bible and scienceFor centuries, and up to the present time, many have believed that the early chapters of Genesis are unscientific, and/or that observations in science do not support the creative events described in Genesis. I am convinced that these beliefs are unfounded. God created the heavens (entire universe and heaven itself) and the earth, and then everything on the earth The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the worldAs the Creator, God certainly would want mankind, His greatest creation,
But God also created the means for mankind to utilize systematic research and methods by which he could organize his observations of nature into general laws. This is science, which is not in opposition to God; on the contrary, God created science as a vitally important implement, which people could employ to confirm both the existence and the creativity of God. bad and good scienceIt is true that many scientists, whether unwittingly or intentionally, have presented so-called “evidence” of several bogus scientific discoveries—for instance, indicating that certain anthropological findings are something which, in fact, they are not. Unfortunately, this has led many, who believe in a Creator God, to look with stark skepticism upon virtually any and all scientific discoveries, particularly when such findings strongly indicate that the universe (and the earth) are exceedingly old. An even more extreme view is that science is a “tool of the devil,” used by atheists to deceive an ignorant world into believing that the Bible is false. (For instance, read The Flat-out Truth and The Earth Is Not Moving, both of which imply that any “non-literal” interpretation of the Bible is false.) In particular, the creation passages in Genesis 1 and 2 often are used as a launch pad for hostile, contentious attacks by those holding to a “young-earth” view against both
In the past, the only crude scientific methods available were unable to obtain extremely accurate measurements of the universe and of the earth, in particular their ages, incorrectly calculating the latter to be only a few thousand, a few million, or eventually a few hundred million years old. The fact is that science now, much more precisely than at any time in the past, has enabled us to determine the ages of the universe and the earth (about 13.7 and 4.56 billion years, respectively), as well as to measure other parameters in the cosmos, which heretofore were impossible to calculate without highly technological methods and approaches. Such noteworthy discoveries, particularly since the dawn of this new millennium, are a clear testament to us that God meticulously and exquisitely fine-tuned every last detail of His Creation on our behalf, during the first six “age-days” of creation. As such, contemporary scientific evidence itself is absolute confirmation that people now, more than ever before, are without excuse in failing to believe that an Almighty Creator made everything that we see and about which we know yōm = “day”As noted previously in the overview, arguably the leading issue causing disgreement between “young-earth” proponents and those endorsing an “old-earth” view is a controversy over the meaning of the word “day” in Hebrew has a relatively small vocabulary, at least with respect to English. As such, most words in Hebrew have more literal meanings than they do in English. For instance, the word “day” in English has two literal meanings: However, yōm (which is the Hebrew equivalent of “day”), in addition to the above two meanings, has this literal meaning as well: There is no word other than yōm, in biblical Hebrew, indicating a long period of time, such as an “age,” an “era,” an “epoch,” or an “eon.” Thus, there is no compelling reason to presume that the word “day” (which is the English translation of yōm in Genesis chapters 1 and 2) absolutely must refer only to a 24-hour day, nor that the series of creative events by God, from “day” #1 to “day” #6, took place over a period of merely six 24-hour periods. To say that the word “day” in Genesis 1 and 2, when translated into English (or into any other language) literally must mean a 24-hour period of time, is incorrect. For instance, consider verse 5 of Genesis 1: God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night”Here, the word “day” certainly does not refer to a 24-hour period of time but, specifically, to “light” or to a period consisting of light. Moreover, the full “days” of creation, each consisting of an “evening and morning,” were not limited to being 24 hours in length. long “days”Just as, in English, “day” can indicate an extended period of time (such as “in the day of the Great Depression” or “in George Washington’s day”), so, in Hebrew, yōm also can specify an indefinite time of unknown length. In fact, within the creation account itself is such an example, as is quoted here from both the King James and Amplified Bible versions: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavensIn this passage is a clear example of how “day” (yōm) refers not to a 24-hour day but, rather, to a longer period of time—in this case, the entire span of creation events. Another example is an instance where “day” refers to a period of time (during the Millennium) after the Messiah, Jesus, has returned and will bestow great blessings upon Israel: In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in IsraelYet other examples are in references, throughout the Old Testament, to the “day of the Lord” ordinalsSome believe that the ordinals “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in describing the days of creation, are sure indicators that they were days of 24 hours in length. However, there is no rule, pertaining to Hebrew usage or grammar, which dictates that yōm, when preceded by an ordinal, must refer to a 24-hour day. Here is an example in the Old Testament where an ordinal is used before the word “day” (yōm), and the usage of “day” in this case clearly does not indicate a period of 24 hours: After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presenceIn this prophecy, “day” most likely represents a period of time approximating 1,000 years (read more in my description of Hosea 6:1-3). In the New International version of the Bible, the translation, in English, of a description applied to the first creation day reads as follows: And there was evening, and there was morning—the first dayThis translation, however, is incorrect. Here is the actual word-for-word translation of this, from Hebrew into English: And was evening and was morning day one (Genesis 1:2b).Thus, in the original Hebrew, the text reads “day one” and does not have the ordinal “first” associated with that “day.” There is nothing in the text that designates the length of the initial “day” of Creation; that “day” just as well could be a long period of time as it could be 24 hours. In my opinion, the distinction between “day one” and the references to the other “days” (“second day,” “third day,” “fourth day,” etc.) indicates that the length of “day” one of Creation differed from the length of the other “days.” In fact, I believe that “day” #1, most likely, was of much greater length than the other “days” of the Creation. evening and morningIn Hebrew, a 24-hour day would be assumed to extend from evening to evening. It would include the evening/night or dark hours, then the morning/day or light hours—as is described for the six creation days, “and there was evening, and there was morning” (or, literally, “evening was and morning was”: Now consider an imaginary observer on the earth, watching the events of creation unfold (at least, after the earth had been created). If the observer were located on the equator, the periods of night and day would be about 12 hours each. However, if the location of the observer were north of the Arctic circle, the periods of night and day would be about 6 months each. Thus, in Barrow, Alaska, the period of time of “evening and morning” is about one year. In Genesis 1, “evening” is ’ereb and “morning” is boqer. Besides “evening” and ”morning,” additional meanings of these words are “darkness” and “light.” In the latter context, we can see God’s hand at work, in each creation day, as bringing something that did not exist before, or was invisible, from darkness into the light (or into existence) to declare His glory. The use of “evening was and morning was,” repeatedly, was used in reference to the six creation days. It indicates that rather than being 24-hour days, these most likely were long periods of time with distinct starting and stopping points—that is, epochs of time. It makes sense that each “day” of the Creation would begin with “evening” and continue through the next “morning,” since the first yom = “day” (that is, unspecified or unknown period of time) began with darkness “over the surface of the deep” The author of Hebrews wrote that Christ “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” the seventh “day”Interestingly, there is one “day” for which the description “evening was and morning was” is absent: the seventh “day.” The “seventh day” is mentioned twice The writer of Hebrews also spoke of the “seventh day” That Sabbath-rest “day” is yet another period of time, not a 24-hour period, and is equivalent to the future thousand-year span known as the Millennium. However, the Millennium is not an eighth day; it is the final portion of the lengthy seventh day—Today—which is thousands of years long and during which God has rested from His initial creative tasks. The Millennium merely will be the final period of rest, 1,000 years in length (at the end of the seventh “day,” in which we presently are living), for those saved unto eternal life. Ultimately, after the Millennium is over, those who have been saved will enter the newly created heavens and earth The seventh day will end when “the first heaven and the first earth”—considered “good” or “very good” when they were created during the six “days” of the Creation I feel that the practice of circumcision, ordained by God to take place on the eighth day of a male’s life the sixth “day”A great many time-consuming events took place on the sixth “day” of the Creation. God made or created the following, during that particular “day”: God also did these things on that sixth “day”: Thus, on this one particular creative “day,” God created countless numbers of animals; then created the Garden of Eden where numerous types of trees grew, in time, out of the ground; then created Adam and, ultimately, Eve. Adam, in turn, meticulously gardened all of the plants, carefully studied all of the animals, prudently named the animals, and learned how to relate to Eve. Upon seeing Eve, Adam’s initial exclamation was “Happa’am,” which can be translated “now at last,” “now finally,” or “now at length.” Here are the translations, according to the New Living Translation and The Message Bibles: “At last!” Adam exclaimed. “She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of a man”Here, very likely, is an indication that an ample period of time (weeks, months, or even years) had passed since his own creation had taken place. After having spent a substantial amount of time tending the garden and naming the animals, he was delighted that, “at last,” someone like himself finally had been made to become his helper and partner. Adam was placed in the garden (and tended systematically to all of it, presumably as God had instructed him to do), then methodically named all of the untold quantity of livestock, birds of the air, and beasts of the field that were brought to him. Presumably, Adam performed his tasks in daylight hours—which, if done during one, single 24-hour day, would have been about half of that amount of time. There is no biblical indication that, before Adam sinned, he executed his tasks at super-human speed, nor that he possessed phenomenal intelligence or wisdom, as some suggest in attempting to explain how he carried out the profusion of assignments and projects God had given to him, allegedly within a single solar day. The idea that all of these activities, by both God and Adam, would have taken place in 24 hours (or, even more implausibly, 12 hours of daylight) is so incredible as to defy judicious reasoning. the fourth and third “days”Many have questioned how God could have created the sun (as well as the moon) on the fourth “day” if the vegetation created on the third “day” would have required light and heat to exist. Here is the passage in question: God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth dayUpon a casual reading of this passage in English, it appears as though it is indicating that the sun and moon came into existence on the fourth creation “day.” However, as seen in the yōm = “day” section, the meanings of words in the original Hebrew, not in English, must be examined. The word ’asa is the Hebrew verb for “made” in the above passage; it is the pluperfect form of the verb, indicating action already completed. That is, the sun, moon, and stars already had been made at some point in the past, prior to the fourth creation “day.”. God previously had set them in the sky to be light-giving sources for the earth. Note that the idea of separating light from darkness is found both in The Lord spoke the heavens into existence, and then all of the stars (starry host) were formed, with the Word of His mouth In any newly-formed solar system, a star or sun is formed first, and eventually the debris orbiting around it coalesces into planets and other bodies. Initially, light from the sun is almost completely blocked from reaching the surface of any planet, due to closely packed interplanetary debris and a dense, opaque atmospheric layer around each planet. Thus, the earth, when it was formed—following the formation of the sun as part of the starry host, which occurred after the heavens were created—was enshrouded in darkness and, of course, was empty or devoid of any type of life (Genesis 1:2a). As earth’s atmosphere began to become less condensed, it became translucent, allowing some of the sun’s light to penetrate through to the earth’s surface Then vegetation was able to grow on the dry land God’s “week”It has been claimed by many who embrace the idea of 24-hour days of creation that the Fourth Commandment, as listed in Exodus, supports their view: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holyThe idea is that because God compared a man’s work week of six 24-hour days plus a 24-hour Sabbath of rest, to His “week” of the Creation, then the latter must have encompassed seven 24-hour days. However, it has been shown that we presently are in the seventh “day” of God’s “week”; and, so far, this “day” has lasted thousands of years. Also, there are cases where a “Sabbath,” or a period of rest/freedom following a sequence of six periods of work, is a year in length In addition, some claim that the meaning of the “first occurrence” of a word dictates its meaning in every case thereafter. The idea is, somehow, that the Ten Commandments written in stone and given by God to Moses precluded, in time, the writing of any of the Torah by Moses. Firstly, however, the Fourth Commandment has been shown to be a passage describing God’s pattern of doing something for six consecutive periods of time and ceasing from that activity for one (the seventh) period. Secondly, an assumption is made that Moses never scripted any portion of Genesis or Exodus prior to God’s giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. There is no evidence for the latter. Would God have expected Moses to have written everything contained in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all at once, at the very end of his life? Could not Moses have “taken notes” of major events along the way, such as his experience with the burning bush The comparison of God’s creative “week” with man’s week, as part of the description of the Fourth Commandment, is a reference to a sequential pattern of doing something (typically, but not limited to, working) for six periods of time and ceasing or resting on the seventh. A day or a year of rest (Sabbath) is suitable for people or land; whereas, a much longer period of time for a Sabbath-rest is appropriate for God. The fact that God’s Sabbath-rest (the seventh “day”) is a long period of time, which still continues, is an indication that the first six creative days probably were at least as long as the seventh—and very likely were a great deal longer. death and decay before sinA claim made by “young-earth” creationists is that no death nor decay, of any kind, existed prior to Eve and Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden
Romans 5:12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...This verse, though, speaks of Adam’s original sin and how, through that sin, sin entered the world of mankind. As a result, all men have sinned. Moreover, Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all menAgain, all men are condemned due to the trespass of Adam. Furthermore, all men are capable of being justified by the righteous act of one man—Jesus’ death on the cross. Because the wages of sin is death The wages of each person’s sin is the death of that person. Animals and plants cannot sin; they are incapable of disobedience and rebellion against God, and God does not hold them personally responsible for their actions. Animals and plants lived and died on the earth to help prepare the earth for the onset of mankind (beginning with Adam and Eve) into the world, on the sixth “day” of creation. Of all of God’s creatures, Adam and Eve were the only ones who had the opportunity to escape death. They alone were made in the image of God Romans 8:22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present timeThis verse, if anything, lends credence to the idea that pain and death have been a part of the animal and plant kingdoms since their beginnings, prior to the creation of Adam and Eve and their subsequent sin. There certainly is no indication that Adam and Eve’s original sin was responsible for the suffering and death of animals and plants. Consider the reading of this verse in the context of the verses before it: 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present timeThis purpose of this Creation, from the very beginning, has been to prepare for, separate out, and reveal God’s chosen children who, with Christ, ultimately will reign over it Had this universe been created in a “perfect” state, we would have to assume that there was no waste, of any type, prior to Adam and Eve’s disobedience and sin. Yet, are we to assume that the trillions of stars in the universe originally were infinitely stable but, in an instant of time (upon Adam and Eve’s sin) were converted to a less efficient state of nuclear fusion? On a smaller and more familiar scale, is it likely that every bird, fish, and mammal on earth (including Adam and Eve) instantly developed digestive and elimination systems (including the internal and external anatomical changes involved), enabling them to process food and excrete waste products on a daily basis? When Adam and Eve ate something before they sinned, did the food just disappear as soon as they swallowed it? No. It was digested; part of it nourished their bodies, and part of it decayed and was eliminated, just as the same process happens to food when we eat it now. This is because Adam and Eve lived in an imperfect, decaying universe, just as we do today. I find such proposals to the contrary much too incredible to accept. 1 Corinthians 15:21,22For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made aliveThese two verses have nothing to do with the death of animals and plants, as there is no clear indication in the Bible as to whether or not there will be a future resurrection from the dead for animals and plants. Christ rose from the dead so that mankind could be redeemed from the death that comes from sin. As in Adam, all people die, so in Christ all people will be made alive, whether resurrected unto eternal life or eternal death (the second death). To understand the full message of these verses, in context, it is important to read them along with the two verses (20 and 23) immediately before and after them: 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to himChrist is not the firstfruits from the dead of animals and plants, but of humans. Only those who have died in Him will be raised in Him. All birth involves anguish and labor (see pain and work), and there always is a high price to pay for glory, freedom, and ultimate happiness. From its inception, the primary function of this Creation, with its countless trials and tribulations, and immeasurable pain and suffering, has been to give birth to those who fully will understand and accept God’s righteous ways—the first group of whom will be those glorified at the Rapture. The latter “elect” will be changed into perfected, incorruptible, imperishable forms to rule and reign with Jesus during the Millennium—and, even more importantly, to exist with God throughout eternity in the realm of the new Creation (see old and new Creations). tenuous assumptionsThe “Young-Earth” Misunderstandings and Agenda cause creationists who embrace the “young-earth” view to find, in nature, examples of “big” things that took relatively short periods of time to transpire. Then, from there, it is a common strategy to extrapolate to a larger, global scale, making generalized assumptions that are unsubstantiated scientifically. It is pointed out, for instance, that a new river canyon was formed in one day (March 19, 1982), subsequent to the explosion of Mount St. Helens in 1980. The claim is made, then, that this is a demonstration of how the Grand Canyon “must” have been formed in a short period of time, due to a sudden, massive flow of water resulting from the Great Flood. Another example, on a small scale, is pointing out a pipe protruding from the ground, with water rising up through the pipe and running down the sides. A large accumulation of limestone and other minerals are observed to be deposited around the pipe, over a period of only a few months. This is presented as “evidence” that Carlsbad Caverns “must” have taken a relatively short period of time to form—not untold millions of years, which is explained by geologists to have taken place. The type of reasoning used in these cases is “inductive,” where something specific is observed and, from there, a generalized theory about how things work is formulated. On the other hand, the majority of valid scientific experimentation involves more of a “deductive” process, where a theory is put forth, hypotheses are tested, and the observations noted from this scientific method lead to specific conclusions. Young-earth creationists often use the argument that if God is as powerful as Christians believe He is, it would not have required billions of years for Him to create the universe and everything in it. He easily could have done it in six solar days. I agree. But if God is infinitely powerful, which I have no doubt that He is, then why did He not create the entire universe in six minutes, in six milliseconds, or even instantaneously? One can see that the six 24-hour day theory itself places God’s act of creation on a time scale of finite length. Six 24-hour days, from a human’s finite perspective, is a short period of time; however, several billion years, from God’s infinite perspective, also is a short period of time. Furthermore, from the perspective of human kind, the phrases “little while” of Haggai 2:6 and “coming soon” of Revelation 22:7,12,20 do not seem to “add up” if the world is a few thousand years old. Yet, living in the final few millennia of extremely lengthy eons of time, and considering the infinite frame of reference of God, who spoke those words, they make complete sense.
Ted’s Bible Commentaries
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