GENESIS 1 – CREATION THEORIES

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GENESIS

Lesson #03

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 1 – CREATION THEORIES

• Memory verse: Psalms 148:5
• Creationism:
  • Basic Assumptions — all creation theories are based on the following assumptions:
    • There is an all powerful God who exists outside of our universe and outside of our time dimension.
    • This God created everything that exists in our universe at a specific time in the unknown distant past.
  • The Flood Geology Theory of Creation:
    • God created the world in 6 literal days.
    • The earth is only about 6-10,000 years old.
      • This number is based on the genealogies in the Bible and on creation science research (La Jolla, CA)
      • The scientific means of measuring time to billions of years for the beginning of the earth is not accurate.
      • The rate of natural processes used in dating techniques today was either interrupted at the time of the world-wide flood, or they were different before the flood than after the flood. (In other words, the clock either stopped, or was re-set.)
      • Dinosaurs existed during the time of Adam and became extinct gradually after the flood.
      • Fossil evidence has been observed where a dinosaur track and a man’s footprint are superimposed on each other indicating they probably lived at the same time but mostly they lived in different parts of the world.
      • Fossil men are all related to modern man and descendants of Adam. But fossil men were not man-apes.
    • Biblical and Scientific Evidence:
      • Gen 7:11 A disruptive world-wide cataclysmic event.
      • Modern scientific dating methods are not reliable before the flood of 6,000 years ago.
      • Death was first introduced to man and animals by Adam’s sin. (1Cor 15:21-22 Rom 5:14)
  • The Day Age Theory of Creation:
    • The six days of creation correspond to thousands or millions of years corresponding to geology’s outline of earth’s history.
    • The Hebrew word yarn for “day” in Genesis 1 can mean a 24 hour day or it can mean a longer period of time.
      • Azoic era — rocks formed and cooled
        • 4,500,000,000 – 17,000,000,000 yrs.ago
      • Archeozoic era — seas and algae fossils
        • 2,100,000,000 -1,300,000,000 yrs.ago.
      • Proterozoic era — glaciers, simple plants, sponges, and worms
        • 1,000,000,000 – 750,000,000 yrs.ago.
      • Paleozoic era — forests, fish, reptiles
        • 500,000,000 – 230,000,000 yrs.ago.
      • Mesozoic era — large trees, dinosaurs, birds
        • 200,000,000 – 130,000,000 yrs.ago.
        • Cenozoic era — northern glaciers, mammals, humans
  • 60,000,000 – 10,000 yrs.ago.
  • Therefore, fossil men are all related to modern man and all descendants of Adam. Adam and eve were created before the Pleistocene ice age.
  • Biblical and scientific realities:
  • Read Genesis 1:1-27
    • If you examine the 6-day creation in Genesis 1, it does not line up with the 6 geologic eras exactly.
    • See specifically Gen 1:14-19 — the fourth day.
      • Creation of the sun and moon on the fourth day would mean that the plants created on the third day would exist millions of years without sunlight.
      • The Bible says over and over, the ‘evening and the morning’ were the first day (second, third, fourth, etc.) According to the pattern that the Jews used to reckon a day, from sunset to sunset.
        • Read Exo 20:11
        • This theory violates Rom 5:14 and 1Cor 15:21-22 where death came by Adam. This theory depends upon the idea that there was death millions of years before Adam.
  • The Gap Theory of Creation:
    • God created all angels some time in the distant past each having a will.
    • God created earth and other planets in Gen 1:1.
      • Lucifer (Satan) sought to be God and was cast out of heaven to earth with 1/3 of the angels who fell with him. (see Eze 28:11-19 Isa 14:12-23)
      • When Satan was cast to earth, it caused 6 cataclysmic events on the earth that ruined (became void) the original creation.
        • These 6 cataclysmic events correspond to the 6 periods of geologic time listed above.
        • The result of these cataclysmic events caused coal and oil deposits of fossils from a pre-creation world deep within the earth.
        • The sun, moon, and stars were turned off. Job 9:7
        • Therefore, a gap of an unknown length of time existed between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2. (see Isa 45:18 and Jer 4:23-28)
    • Gen 1:2 is the beginning of a new creation of six literal days 6-10,000 years ago.
      • Dinosaurs and ape-type men existed in the original creation in Gen 1:1 and became extinct when Lucifer fell before the new creation in Gen 1:2. Therefore, ape-type men are not related to Adam.
      • Adam and Eve were probably created about 10,000 years ago.
    • Biblical evidence:
      • The word “‘was without form and void” in Gen 1:2 literally means “became” without form and void.
      • The Hebrew word “void” is bohu.
        • The same word is used in Isa 45:18. It says God did not create the world as a “void”. Therefore, the void occurred in the fall of Lucifer.
        • The word “‘replenish’ the earth” in Gen 1:28 literally means ‘to fill it again’ indicating that there may have been a creation before Adam which was destroyed by Lucifer’s fall.
        • However, the word, “replenish” is only observable in the English translations.
    • Biblical Consequence:
      • Death came to all of Adam’s creation as a result of the original sin of Adam and Eve. The Bible does not talk about death prior to Adam and Eve’s fall in Gen 3. (Rom 5:14)
      • Death did not exist before that time. (Gen 2:17). Therefore, for there to have existed a creation prior to Adam that died, presents a basic problem. Jesus Christ came to redeem man not only from his personal sin but from “original sin” that began with Adam. The Bible does not mention a pre-Adam sin that brought death into the world for which we need a redeemer.
      • Exo 20:11 says God made heaven and earth and everything in 6 days with no gap of years in between.
  • A Combination of the Gap Theory and the Flood Geology Theory of Creation:
    • This combination theory accepts all the above statements of the flood geology theory. It also accepts the ruined (void) creation because of the fall of Lucifer (Satan) from the gap theory in order to explain the wording in Gen 1:2.
    • This combination theory rejects the idea that there was any pre-Adam creation of man or animals.
    • The Biblical evidence:
    • If God said throughout the six days that his creation was “good”, Satan’s fall must have occurred after the first week of creation and not between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2.
  • The Literal Day Theory of Creation:
    • God created the universe and Adam in 6 literal days about 6-10,000 years ago.
    • There is no attempt to explain or reconcile any legitimate scientific evidence.
    • Read Heb 11:3.

Homework

Genesis 1

• Application of the Introduction to Genesis 1:
  • Write a paragraph of your own theory and viewpoint of what you believe about creation:
• Preparation for Gen 1
  • Read Gen 1:1-31
    • Make a chart of each day’s events:
• Day 1:
• Day 2:
• Day 3:
• Day 4:
• Day 5:
• Day 6:
• Memory verse: Gen 1:31