Are you an Evolutionist or a Creationist ?

Question

I'm a Creationist and I support the '' Gap Theory ''

Note - Please don't bash other users and myself since some people were quite agressive in my questions and I don't feel like debating right now , I'm tired , sleepy ... Of course you may disagree with the Idea/Theory , etc

All opinions are welcomed

Acid Zebra, a-the-ist. - I'm not going to write a full text right now so I'm going to summarize in very basic terms ( in about 5 minutes or so before I go to sleep ) ... Okay basically it talks about the gap of indeterminate time between the first two verses of Genesis chapter 1

First verse - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Second verse - And the earth was without form, and empty; and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters

If you look closely there is a '' contradiction '' between the 2 verses

One talks about perfection , life and the other talks about destruction

And since I believe that there aren't contradictions in the Bible ( but that it may contain statements that are (1) figures of speech, (2) non-technical descriptions, or (3) difficult to understand ) , I started to study these especific verses ...

I started to read the Bible in it's original language ( Hebrew ) , and I found something astonishing , whereas the English Bible says , '' was '' ( or another term which I don't remember ) , etc in it's original language , it is written

'' In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth BECAME without form, and empty; and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters ''

Now people may say there is an error of translation then , no according to the original language , was and/or became were counted as the same thing

Pember recognized that a fossil record of death, decay, and disease before sin was totally inconsistent with the Bible's teaching:

For, as the fossil remains clearly show not only were disease and death—inseparable companions of sin—then prevalent among the living creatures of the earth, but even ferocity and slaughter.

He understood there could be no carnivores before sin:

On the Sixth Day God pronounced every thing which He had made to be very good, a declaration which would seem altogether inconsistent with the present condition of the animal as well as the vegetable kingdom.

Again: He gave the green herb alone for food “to every beast of the field, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

There were, therefore, no carnivora in the sinless world (page 35).

Pember taught from Isaiah that the earth will be restored to what it was like at first.

There will be no more death, disease, or carnivorous activity.

However, because he had accepted the long ages for the fossil record, what was he to do with all this death, disease, and destruction in the record?

Since, then, the fossil remains are those of creatures anterior to Adam, and yet show evident tokens of disease, death, and mutual destruction, they must have belonged to another world, and have a sin-stained history of their own (page 35).

Thus, in trying to reconcile the long ages with Scripture, Pember justifies the gap theory:

There is room for any length of time between the first and second verses of the Bible.

And again; since we have no inspired account of geological formations, we are at liberty to believe that they were developed just in the order which we find them.

The whole process took place in pre-Adamite times, in connection, perhaps, with another race of beings, and, consequently, does not at present concern us (page 28).

With this background, let us consider this gap theory in detail.

Basically, this theory incorporates three strands of thought:

A literal view of Genesis.

Belief in an extremely long but unidentified age for the earth.

An obligation to fit the origin of most of the geologic strata and other geologic evidence between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.

Gap theorists oppose evolution, but believe in an ancient origin of the universe.

There are many variations of the gap theory.

According to Fields, the theory can be summarized as follows:

In the far distant dateless past, God created a perfect heaven and perfect earth.

Satan was ruler of the earth which was peopled by a race of “men” without any souls. Eventually, Satan, who dwelled in a garden of Eden composed of minerals (Ezekiel 28), rebelled by desiring to become like God (Isaiah 14).

Because of Satan's fall, sin entered the universe and brought on the earth God's judgment in the form of a flood (indicated by the water of 1:2), and then a global ice age when the light and heat from the sun were somehow removed.

All the plant, animal, and human fossils upon the earth today date from this “Lucifer's flood” and do not bear any genetic relationship with the plants, animals, and fossils living upon the earth today.[13]

Some versions of the gap theory state that the fossil record (geologic column) formed over millions of years, and then God destroyed the earth with a catastrophe (Lucifer's flood) that left it “without form and void.”

Western Bible commentaries written before the 18th century, and before the belief in a long age for the earth became popular, knew nothing of any gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.

Certainly some commentaries proposed intervals of various lengths of time for reasons relating to Satan's fall,[14] but none proposed a “ruin-reconstruction” situation, or pre-Adamite world.

In other words God created the Heavens and the Earth and the inhabitants ( which includes Dinosaurs , demons , etc ) , some verses in the Bible explain that ...

Yes demons were inhabitants , but they were not created in the Image of God , like Man

No demons are not fallen angels , for angels HAVE bodies , while demons SEEK bodies , you cannot seek what you already have

But then Lucifer had not yet become Satan , there was still harmony

After he sinned , he went against God but he was thrown out of the Heavens and right into Earth thus destroying it

Christ said in a verse that he saw Satan fall like lightning

Then shut the Sun and the stars in his anger ( which may explain the Ice Age , not heat , all that is left is coldness ) ...

And it stayed that way for millions perphaps billions of years , then God restored the Earth and he created Man ( in his own image ) , so Man was created a while ago , but the Earth was not ...

Okay that's it I'm going to sleep ... Have a nice day or night , Goodbye

Answer 1

I don't think those two things should be listed like that, it's more an issue of are you a Creationist or an Abiogenesist?

Evolution has never claimed to explain the origin of life, nor will it ever.

Answer 2

Please.. the whole "there was no death before the fall" is complete BS simply because plants had to die to feed animals. Plants are living beings, comprised of cells extremely similar to ours and even reproduce sexually.

Since plants died, and animals can't eat every part of a plant, something had to clear up the mess - yes that's right, bacteria and fungus had to exist prior to the supposed fall that "brought them into existence".

As for the "gap theory", it's an enterpretation of Genesis, not a theory. A theory would be a model explanation of how it was done, with some empirical evidence to support it. What you support is the "gap enterpretation". And since you assume that the 6 days were not 6 literal days, why assume that anything else is literal? Why not enterpret it all as a parable?

Answer 3

Thanks for explaining the gap theory. I am a creationist and I never knew how to explain the gap between the verses in Genesis. I always thought that the earth being without form referred to a non-physical dimension below the heavens that was later filled with the creations of the sons of God.

Answer 4

Evolution is fact. Creation has more holes in it than a sieve.

Can you explain why there are two creation stories? Genesis 1 (God creates man and woman together) and Genesis 2 (God creates man, then animals, and then woman).

Can you explain how we can have night and day on day 1 when the sun wasn't created until day 4?

Answer 5

Evolutionist

though i believe there is a lack of evidence to support claims that man and ape evolved from a common ancestor.

Answer 6

Ah, the god of the gaps. The gaps steadily narrow as science progresses.

Answer 7

Creationist.

Of course, I reject all evolutionary theory, as well as creationist theory.

That's because "theory" in and of itself is always flawed because men thought up the theories.

I'm a creationist because I believe God created everything we see. He's a pretty big guy. It's entirely within reason.

Answer 8

Creationist as stated in Genesis

Answer 9

Oh, you can read Hebrew? Huh. I didn't think creationists could read. Guess that blows my theory right out of the water...

Answer 10

Both...

I personally believe that a higher consciousness (God if you must...) set forth the evolution process.