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Download Notes THEORIES ON THE AGE OF THE EARTH AND GENESIS 1 Gen 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. UNIFORMITARIANISM versus CATASTROPHISM Secular evolutionists say that everything in geology, biology and cosmology can be explained by existing (slow) processes of Uniformitarianism. AGE OF THE EARTH As such, secular geologists say that the earth is billions of years old and that there was no creator. Christians all agree with each other that God created the earth, but are divided on the issue of the earth’s age: 1. Old-earth creationists agree with the evolutionary timescales of millions or billions of years and attempt to harmonise Genesis 1 with evolutionary timescales (not the Theory of Evolution per se – as they still believe in God as the creator). 2. Young-earth creationists take a very literal view of Genesis 1 and insist that the earth is a few thousand (6,000 – 10,000) years old. AGE OF THE EARTH We will look at some theories that Creationists have regarding the timing of the creative week. Old Earth Creationism 1. Theistic Evolution 2. Progressive Creationism 3. Gap Theory Young Earth Creationism This theory asserts that there is a “gap” of millions (or billions) of years between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2. Gen 1:1 (KJV) In Gen 1:2 And the earth was the beginning God without form, and void; created the heaven and darkness was upon the and the earth. face of the deep. LIONS YEARS OF GEN 1:1 MIL GEN 1:2 PASSIVE GAP THEORY There are two variants of the theory: 1. PASSIVE GAP THEORY (Restitution Creationism, Creatio Ex Materia) According to this view God simply waited for millions of years after creating the heavens and the earth to complete his creative work. Theologians who promoted this view include: J.N. Darby (1800–1882), J. Wheelhouse (1844-1918), F.E. König (1846- 1936), A. Heidel (1907-1955), E.J. Young (1907-68). Some contemporary theologians who appear to have adopted this position are: G. Henton Davies (1906-98), D. Kidner (1913- 2008), B.S. Childs (1923-2007), Norman Geisler (1932-), John Ankerberg (1945-), William Lane Craig (1949-), Hank Hanegraaff (1950-) and Greg Koukl (1950-). RUIN-RECONSTRUCTION 2. ACTIVE GAP THEORY (Ruin-Reconstruction) This Theory holds that the earth was originally created with form, but after a gap of millions of years it became “without form and void”. Dr. Henry M. Morris writes: “The idea is something like this: billions of years ago God created the spacemass-time universe. Then the geological ages took place over billions of years of earth history. The different forms of life developed that are now preserved in the fossil record. These life- forms represent those ages - the invertebrates of the Cambrian Period, the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Period, finally the mammals, birds and ‘ape-men’ of the Tertiary Period - just before the recent epoch.” RUIN-RECONSTRUCTION … the idea is that, at the end of these geological ages, a great cataclysm took place on earth, with Satan having rebelled in heaven and many of the angels following him in that rebellion. God, therefore, cast him to the earth, and the earth underwent a great cataclysm, leaving it finally without form and void, and with darkness on the face of the deep, as described in Genesis 1:2. 1 See NOTE 1 1 https://answersingenesis.org/genesis/gap- theory/the-gap-theory-an-idea-with-holes/ RUIN-RECONSTRUCTION Subsequently, according to this idea … God then re-created or reconstituted the earth in the six literal days of creation recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. 1 1 Ibid THE EARLY CHURCH What did the early church believe regarding the age of the earth? The sexta-septamillennial view held that each millennium is actually a day according to God (cf. 2 Peter 3:8), and that at the end of the 6,000 years (6 millennial days) since the creation, Christ will return. Early adherents of this view included Pseudo-Barnabas, Papias, Irenaeus, Methodius, Lactantius, Commodianus, Theophilus, Tertullian, Melito, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau and the Montanists. Name Lived Quoted age of Earth (years) Irenaeus 130–202 less than 6000 Theophilus ?–185 5529 Clement of dates Adam at 5592 BC and places 150–215 Alexandria creation outside of time Hippolytus of Rome ?–235 5500 BC Julius Africanus 160–240 5500 BC Origen 182–251 much less than 10,000 Lactantius 240–320 less than 6000 Eusebius 263–339 Adam to birth of Christ = 5228 years Augustine 354–430 5600 BC Venerable Bede 672–735 3952 BC (based on the Masoretic text) George Syncellus ?–810 5534 years at the resurrection of Christ Martin Luther 1483–1546 3960 BC John Calvin 1509–1564 less than 6000 James Ussher 1581–1656 4004 BC John Lightfoot 1602–1675 3928 BC https://www.conservapedia.com/Earth_age_opinions_of_prominent_Christians_-_pre-1800 A RECENT IDEA Some incorrectly claim that Augustine (5th century) believed in an old earth. But, using the Septuagint chronology, he wrote in “City of God” that Creation took place around 5600 BC. One of the chapters in this book has the title “On the mistaken view of history that ascribes many thousands of years to the age of the earth.” Furthermore Augustine believed in the historicity of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, as well as the worldwide flood. So theistic evolutionists who appeal to Augustine for support are misguided. The historical view of Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant interpreters saw no gap between the first 2 verses of Genesis. The Gap Theory is a relatively recent idea. Until the advent of modern geology, no one proposed a gap between these verses. A RECENT IDEA Bible commentaries before the rise of the Theory of Uniformitarianism in the late 18th century are silent about the “Ruin-Reconstruction” theory. The man responsible for its origin is Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers (1780- 1847). He and William Buckland proposed: Millions of millions of years may have occupied the indefinite interval, between the beginning in which God created the heavens and the earth and the evening or commencement of the first day of the Mosaic narrative ... The condition [of the earth and waters] is also described as a state of confusion and emptiness (tohu va bohu), words which are usually interpreted by the vague Greek term chaos, which may be geologically considered designating the wreck and ruins of a former world. Following is a defence presented by some Gap Theorists. 1 1 https://www.kjvbible.org/gap_theory.html STRAW MAN A straw man is a common form of argument based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent’s argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent. It is used to describe people who create a false “straw man” to represent their opponent’s position, then subsequently destroying the straw man and claiming victory. The former slide was a straw-man argument. Chalmers was not trying to accommodate Darwin, but Charles Hutton (1726–1797) who originated the theory of uniformitarianism—a fundamental principle of modern geology. RUIN-RECONSTRUCTION The Gap Theory became the dominant view among evangelicals until the 1960s. It was widely disseminated in older editions of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), the Newberry Reference Bible (1890) and Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible (1963). Other proponents include E. W. Bullinger (1837-1913), G. H. Pember (1837-1910), Arthur Pink (1886-1952), Harry Rimmer (Modern Science and the Genesis Record: 1937), L. Allen Higley (Science and Truth: 1940), George DeHoff (Why We Believe the Bible: 1944) and Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960). More contemporary supporters of the theory include: Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Chuck Missler, John Hagee, Billy Graham, Peter Ruckman, Michael Pearl and Benny Hinn. E.g. Here is a chart by the well-known and influential Dispensationalist Clarence Larkin (1850-1924) in the early 20th century, illustrating his belief in the Gap Theory. WAW: AND or BUT? Gap-Theorists argue that God wouldn’t create the world in a chaotic condition. Part of their argument is focussed on the Hebrew conjunction “waw” that begins Gen 1:2. They wish to translate it as “but”. The idea is that there is a contrast between what was stated in Gen 1:1 and the statement of Gen 1:2. The author is emphasizing that the earth was created perfect but something happened that caused to become formless and void. 1 The Hebrew word “waw”, usually translated “and” is a simple conjunction. Gap Theorists attempt to make it a word that indicates a strong contrast to that which was previously stated. Yet it is merely the simple term for “and”… A crucial doctrine should not be based upon this one word. 1 1 https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_654.cfm HAYAH: WAS or BECAME? Gap theorists want to render “and the earth was” as “but the earth became”. Gen 1:1-2 (KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And (Heb: waw) the earth was (Heb: hayah) without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The word translated “was” in Gen 1:2 is the Hebrew verb “hayah”. Gap theorists point out that in other places in the creation account the verb “hayah” is translated “became” or “had become” (Gen 2:7,10; 3:22, etc.). 1 Thus, they argue that the earth was created perfectly and then became without form and void. The world, though created perfect, became desolate and uninhabitable. HAYAH: WAS or BECAME? No known translation says “became”. In all the standard translations, Gen 1:2 is rendered as “was”.
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