Bible Study
See other Bible Study Articles
Title: The Gap Theory—an Idea with Holes?
Source:
[None]
URL Source: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-gaptheory-problems.html
Published: Dec 1, 1987
Author: Henry M. Morris
Post Date: 2012-11-16 07:19:29 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 3942
Comments: 13
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’ (Genesis 1:1). ‘And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.’ (Genesis 1:2). Many people assume there is a great gap in time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Most of these do this to accommodate the geological age system of billions of years of supposed earth history in the Genesis record of creation. 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. Then 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. Subsequently, according to this idea—usually known as the ‘gap’ theory—God then re-created or reconstituted the earth in the six literal days of creation recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. The argument for this theory makes verse two read, ‘The earth became without form and void’ (some would render it ‘The earth became waste and desolate’), as though it had previously been a beautiful world. But now, because of the cataclysm, it was a devastated remnant of a world, so that there was a change of condition. It became without form and void. ‘Was’ Means ‘Was’ A significant problem with this idea is that the Hebrew word for ‘was’ really should be translated ‘was’. It should not be translated ‘became’. It is the Hebrew verb of being, hayah, and normally it is simply translated ‘was’. In all the standard translations of the Old Testament, that is the way this verse is rendered. On some occasions, in an unusual situation if the context requires it, the word can be translated ‘became’. There are some instances like that in the Old Testament. By far the tremendous majority of times, however, when the verb is used, it is simply translated ‘was’. In the absence of any indication in the immediate context that it should be rendered by a change of state, where it became something which it wasn’t, one would normally assume it was simply a declarative statement describing how the situation existed at the time. The earth was, in response to God’s creative fiat, initially without form and void. Some people use Isaiah 45:18 as an argument for the use of ‘became’ in Genesis 1:2. In this verse, Isaiah says that God created the earth not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited. The word ‘in vain’ is the same as tohu; that is, the same word translated ‘without form’ in Genesis 1:2. So ‘gap’ theorists say that since God did not create it that way, it must have become that way. But again, the context is significant. In Isaiah, the context requires the use of the translation ‘in vain’. That is, God did not create the earth without a purpose; He created it to be inhabited. Genesis 1 tells us then how He brought form to the unformed earth and inhabitants to the empty earth. It was not really finished until He said so at the end of the six days of creation. The word tohu is actually translated 10 different ways in about 20 occurrences in the Old Testament. Isaiah 45:19 has the same word, and there it has to be translated ‘vainly’ or ‘in vain’. It is also proper to translate it that way in Isaiah 45:18. It depends on the context as to how it is to be precisely translated. In Genesis 1:2 the context simply indicates the earth had no structure as yet. It was unformed; it was not even spherical at that point, but was comprised of only the basic elements of earth material. Sequence Furthermore, it is important to note that the verse begins with the conjunction, ‘and’ (Hebrew waw), and this same conjunction introduces every single verse of the first chapter of Genesis, so there is a sequence of actions implied. There was this happening, and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this . . . each following directly upon the other. When it said that God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, the implication is that this was immediately following the creation. Another argument of those who advocate the ‘gap’ theory is that the word ‘darkness’ suggests that something is wrong with the creation. But Isaiah 45:7 says that God created the darkness. In order for there to be day and night, which was necessary for the further activity of God and man upon the earth, there must be day and night. So God actually had to create darkness. Thus there is nothing implicitly wrong with it being dark. God created it that way. Darkness later came to represent, in some contexts, a symbol of evil—as opposed to light—since ‘God is light and in Him is no darkness at all’ (1 John 1:5). But in the context here there is no evil connotation suggested. On the other hand, there are many overwhelming difficulties with the ‘gap’ theory, and we really should not accept this as the interpretation of Genesis 1:2. The idea that the geological ages took place in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is precluded by the plain biblical statement in the Ten Commandments, where God said, ‘In six days, the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is’ (Exodus 20:11). That is, He was telling man that he must work six days and rest one day because God worked six days and rested one day. The context goes on to say that everything in heaven and earth and in the sea was made in six days. There could have been nothing left over that was not made during the six days. The ‘gap’ theory, on the other hand, would require that only the surface of the earth was reconstituted in the six days. The earth’s core, the basic structure, the great fossil beds containing the remnants of the dinosaurs, and so on, all of this would predate the six days of Creation. But God says specifically that everything in the earth and in the heavens and in the sea was made in the six days. Death Before Sin? Theologically, there is also a very grave difficulty with the ‘gap’ theory. The Bible says there was no sin or death until man brought them into the world. According to the ‘gap’ theory, however, there had already been billions of years of suffering and death in the world, represented by the fossils and the sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust, which are supposed now to identify the geological ages. According to the ‘gap’ theory, at the end of the geological ages Satan sinned and was cast to the earth and then there was a great cataclysm, so that the geological ages with billions of years of suffering and death took place before Satan sinned and certainly before man sinned. The Bible, on the other hand, says specifically that ‘by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin’ (Romans 5:12), so that there was no death in the world until man brought sin into it. The ‘gap’ theory would require billions of years of suffering in the world before man or even Satan had sinned, and that means that God Himself would be directly responsible for sin in the world. God could not be the author of sin. So the ‘gap’ theory is precluded theologically. Non-Science Scientifically, it won’t work either, because the whole essence of the geological age system, which some people try to accommodate by the ‘gap’ theory, is based on what geologists call ‘uniformitarianism’ that is, the continuity of processes in the ancient world with those in the modern world. The very structure of the geological age system is based on the assumption that present rates and processes are the same as those that took place in the past. There is no room for a world-wide cataclysm interrupting those processes in the system of the geological ages. That is why no geologist would ever accept the ‘gap’ theory. In order to have a world-wide cataclysm that would destroy all the pre-cataclysm mountains and cast them into the sea, so that there was the deep everywhere, and then blow billions of tons of debris up into the sky so that there was darkness over the deep everywhere, as Genesis 1:2 describes it, it would have to be a world-wide nuclear explosion, or volcanic explosion, or something which would literally disintegrate the crust of the earth where the fossils and the sedimentary rocks are that identify the geological ages. So the ‘gap’ theory would destroy the evidence for the geological ages in order to accommodate them! It is a self-negating theory scientifically; it creates overwhelming scientific problems. No geologist would ever accept the ‘gap’ theory. Therefore, we have to reject the ‘gap’ theory as an interpretation of Genesis 1:2. We can be confident that a simple and straightforward, literal interpretation of the biblical record will satisfy all the real facts of geology.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Coral Snake, Don, Redleghunter (#0)
So we are supposed to what work for six million or six billion years then rest for a million or a billion years. I would highly reccomend this book Coral Snake. It is the best or one of the best books on the subject.
Jewish Rabbis recognize Serpent Seedline
If there is any doubt how it came about, just refer to what God tells us in Exodus 20.
"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.) Psalm 139:16
There isn't a thing in Scripture that tells us there was a world previous to this one. In fact, Scripture addresses only the world we have now. Anything else is assuption, i.e. a real lesson in how to see things that aren't there.
God tells us He created everything. I believe Him. No need for further debate.
"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.) Psalm 139:16
Sorry but it is YEC (Young Earth Creation) that has the holes, and they are NOT only the ones that fossils of Synapsids like Dometrodon and Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex were dug from. Probably the most glaring hole in the YEC doctrine is the Speed of Light. You guys can get around most of the other holes like Radiometric dating with "creative" interpretations of it. However the speed of light is an impossible hole for YEC to cover up. Say God created light 6000 years ago in Genesis 1:3 as the YECs say. This means that we should not be able to see any star further than 6000 light years away. If we accept that God created light then we must accept that he set its speed at around 186,202 miles per second as well. At this speed ONLY the stars 6000 light years or LESS away from the earth could be seen from the earth PERIOD. There is no way around this except for perhapse some kind of Star Trek style "warp drive" involved in early creation to bring light from BILLIONS of light years away to earth instantaniously. The Bible however does not allow for this. It tells us that God created light and by extension set its speed at 186,202 miles per second. Light itself therefore tells us BY ITS SPEED that its creation was billions of years before its reappearance on earth at the command of God in Genesis 1:3 in an Earth Age apart from this one or in a much longer creation period than the use of the hebrew word "Yom" as a literal 24 hour day would allow.
Where is that in scripture? Oh it isn't. You are adding to scripture. Why do you insist on adding to scripture?
That is lame snake. The creation was created finished. God didn'th ave to wait for light. Again this is proof that you are trying to make the Bible fit with mans "science" which changes constantly. Your view is not biblical in any sense at all. It is nonsense that people who are afraid to rely on scripture. You still haven't addressed that the earth was created in days not millinos of years. Why are you changing days into millions of years. You want your ears tickled by some "new revelation" that isn't new at all but made up and non scriptural.
Where is that in the Bible? Oh you are adding to scripture again my friend. God made a complete finished creation.
He created a finished product. There was no need to wait. I find it troubling that in order to make your points you use absolutely no scripture. Your view is not biblical.
No God doesn't need a space ship. You should have leaned that from Star Trek. Anyway that isn't the "ONLY" explanation. He created a finished product. Again no scripture. You are using limited man knowledge to try to interpret scripture. Scripture translates scripture.
An old Earth is biblical, more so in fact than a lot of what passes for Christian teaching today such as YEC, the rapture, fertility eggs and "quick like a rabbit" sex symbology and a false sex Goddess's name (Astarte == Ishtar == Easter) applied to what should be the High Holy Passover Communion day of Christianity. Furthermore you really have to study the letter that God wrote to us (The Bible) chapter by chapter and verse by verse by subject object and article to really understand it. Sometimes you have to get back to the original manuscrips using the tools that have been made to allow the English reader to do it (ie Strong's Concordance, Companion Bible version of the King James Bible). YEC is just like fertility eggs and "quick like a rabbit". It is Man's TRADITIONS about the Book of Genesis and actually has its origins in the teachings of the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH just as fertility eggs and "quick like a rabbit" did. Yahaveh God gave us what is inside our foreheads (our BRAINS) to be USED, especially during the study of his letter to us, not simply to absorb the traditions of men that make VOID the word of God from some one verse a sunday preacher. Here is yet another scripture that points to the First earth age and an Old Earth. Jeremiah 4:23 Jeremiah 4:24 Jeremiah 4:25 Jeremiah 4:26 This passage is both history and prophesy as are many prophesies in the Bible when it is actually studied without the traditions of men that make VOID the word of God acting as blinders on your understanding. The historic meaning of these passages is to take the reader back to the Catabole to explain the prophesy of the similar "without form and void" condition of the world that will be at the end of the mellenium during the White Throne Judgement and the creation that begins the Third Eternal Earth Age. Notice that in Jeremiah 4:25 it clearly says that there was no man PERIOD in the time being depicted here. There WERE men on the ark during noah's flood therefore the historic period being depicted here can not be Noah's flood. it was the Catabole. The prophetic period depicted in this passage is the final Catabole when Satan will be punished with his followers by eternal DESTRUCTION in hell, NOT eternal torture. Here is another verse from Paul's letter to the Hebrews that shows that god created WORLDS on this earth, not simply a single world. These "worlds" are in all probability the three Earth Ages as well as the current Heaven and "hell". (Actually Paradise with a gulf between the part where those that "make it" (are saved) go after death and the part where those with unforgiven sin go.) Hebrews 11.3 Lets just say that this is the one verse that the "one verse a sunday revs" will NEVER quote in their orgies of self adoration and money begging that they call "sermons" because it is rather tradition busting when it comes to the Three Earth Ages. Also another thing leading to the existance of the two previous Earth ages and the coming of a third one is the sudden rise of flesh humans capable of WRITING and therefore penning the Bible for God. While the fossils and the Speed of Light point to a multi billion year old earth and universe the first civilizations with written language and extensive animal domestication (domestic animals like dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, cattle, camels, sheep, pigs, non venomous farm snakes, fence lizards, carp and goldfish, etc. like flesh man are separate creations spacific to the Second Earth Age) do occur around 6000 years ago and this definitely points to a sudden change in Earth Ages at that time just like what would happen if Genesis depicted two world ages and not just one. The Bible warns that TAKING AWAY FROM SCRIPTURE in order to hold to the traditions of man like YEC, Rapture, fertility eggs and "quick like a rabbit" is just as bad as adding to it. To take the First Earth Age out of the Scriptures having to do with the Beginning I believe is taking away from the Scriptures.
Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. Jeremiah 4:25 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. Jeremiah 4:26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. HOw do these verses point to an "old" earth? Answer. They don't.
On the other hand, there are many overwhelming difficulties with the ‘gap’ theory, and we really should not accept this as the interpretation of Genesis 1:2. The idea that the geological ages took place in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 is precluded by the plain biblical statement in the Ten Commandments, where God said, ‘In six days, the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is’ (Exodus 20:11). That is, He was telling man that he must work six days and rest one day because God worked six days and rested one day. The context goes on to say that everything in heaven and earth and in the sea was made in six days. There could have been nothing left over that was not made during the six days.
#2. To: A K A Stone, Coral Snake, Don, Redleghunter (#1)
www.study.faithweb.com/study/Serpentseed.html
#3. To: A K A Stone, Coral Snake, Don (#1)
#4. To: All (#3)
#5. To: Don (#4)
#6. To: A K A Stone (#1)
The FARO RESERVE BANK!!! 
#7. To: Coral Snake (#6)
Sorry but it is YEC (Young Earth Creation) that has the holes, and they are NOT only the ones that fossils of Synapsids like Dometrodon and Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex were dug from.
#8. To: Coral Snake (#6)
Probably the most glaring hole in the YEC doctrine is the Speed of Light.
#9. To: Coral Snake (#6)
Say God created light 6000 years ago in Genesis 1:3 as the YECs say. This means that we should not be able to see any star further than 6000 light years away.
#10. To: Coral Snake (#6)
If we accept that God created light then we must accept that he set its speed at around 186,202 miles per second as well.
#11. To: Coral Snake (#6)
At this speed ONLY the stars 6000 light years or LESS away from the earth could be seen from the earth PERIOD. There is no way around this except for perhapse some kind of Star Trek style "warp drive" involved in early creation to bring light from BILLIONS of light years away to earth instantaniously.
#12. To: A K A Stone (#11)
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. The FARO RESERVE BANK!!!
#13. To: Coral Snake (#12)
Here is yet another scripture that points to the First earth age and an Old Earth.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]