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CreationCreation
Did God Really Take Six Days?
Did God Really Take Six Days?
Psalm 118: 8
• Shortest Chapter = Psalm 117• Longest Chapter = Psalm 119• 594 chapters before Psalm 118• 594 chapters after Psalm 118• 594 + 594 = 1,188
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
Psalm 118: 8 (NIV)
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?
“So God created…every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1: 21 – 23
The Trouble with Compromise
Different Interpretations of Genesis One
• Literal Six Days• Gap Theory• Day-Age Theory• Progressive Creation• Framework
Hypothesis• Revelatory Days• Literal Day-with-Gaps• Theistic Evolution
Genesis
Day-Age Gap
Progressive
The Gap Theory
Problems with the Gap Theory
• Death Before Sin
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.”
1 Corinthians 15: 21
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned…Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses…”
Romans 5: 12, 14a
(if just men, what about roses? “thorns” – Gen. 3: 18)
“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
All of Creation (not just mankind)
Romans 8: 22
“Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”
Genesis 3: 21
First mention of death in Scripture.
“…without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins].”
Hebrews 9: 22b
What difference would it make if death and bloodshed were
common prior to sin?
Problems with the Gap Theory
• Death Before Sin• “Very Good?”
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
God saw the light, that it was good (v.4) And God saw that it was good (v.10)And God saw that it was good (v.12)And God saw that it was good (v.18)And God saw that it was good (v.21)And God saw that it was good (v.25)
Genesis 1: 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25
“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Genesis 1: 31
Problems with the Gap Theory
• Death Before Sin• “Very Good?”• Satan rebels before Eden
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
“For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.”
[will discuss meaning of day later]
Exodus 20: 11a
“…you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God…You were the anointed cherub who covers…You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”
Ezekiel 28: 12b, 13a, 14a, 15
Problems with the Gap Theory
• Death Before Sin• “Very Good?”• Satan rebels before Eden• No Biblical support
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
The most straightforward reading of the verses sees verse 1 as a subject-and-verb clause, with verse 2 containing three “circumstantial clauses”…This grammatical connection between verses 1 and 2 thus rules out the gap theory.
The Revised and Expanded Answers Book, Master Books,
2000. p.68.
Problems with the Gap Theory
• Death Before Sin• “Very Good?”• Satan rebels before Eden• No Biblical support• Lucifer’s flood?
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden Why
Luc
ifer’
s flo
od
Why
Luc
ifer’
s flo
od
And
not
Noa
h’s?
And
not
Noa
h’s?
The Day-Age Theory
“Both Genesis and geology agree that the simpler forms appeared first and the more complex later. Both agree that mankind appeared as the latest and highest product of the creative process. Thus in its broad outlines, the sequence set forth in the Hebrew account is in harmony with that indicated by the data of geology.”Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament
Introduction, p. 202
Problems with the Day-Age Theory
• Death Before Sin• When did Adam die?
Day-AgeDay-AgeTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Is God Still
Is God StillResting?
Resting?
How
did
pla
nts
How
did
pla
nts
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
“So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.”
Genesis 5: 5
Problems with the Day-Age Theory
• Death Before Sin• When did Adam die?• How did the plants survive?
Day-AgeDay-AgeTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Is God Still
Is God StillResting?
Resting?
How
did
pla
nts
How
did
pla
nts
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit….’ So the evening and the morning were the third day.”
Genesis 1: 11a, 13
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years….” Then God made two great lights: the greater light [sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night [moon]. Genesis 1: 14, 16
Problems with the Day-Age Theory
• Death Before Sin• When did Adam die?• How did the plants survive?• Is God still resting?• “Very Good?”
Day-AgeDay-AgeTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Is God Still
Is God StillResting?
Resting?
How
did
pla
nts
How
did
pla
nts
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Problems with the Different Views
GapGapTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Was
the
wor
ld
Was
the
wor
ld
““ver
y go
od?”
very
goo
d?”
Satan rebels
Satan rebels
before Eden
before Eden
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
ProgressiveProgressiveCreationCreation
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Loca
l Flo
od?
Loca
l Flo
od?
Was the world
Was the world
““very good?”
very good?”
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
TheisticTheisticEvolutionEvolution
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
No
Foss
il
No
Foss
ilS
uppo
rt
Sup
port
Against God’s
Against God’s
Character
Character
No
Bib
lical
No
Bib
lical
Bas
isB
asis
Day-AgeDay-AgeTheoryTheory
Death Before Sin
Death Before Sin
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Did
Ada
m D
ie
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Bef
ore
Day
Sev
en?
Is God Still
Is God StillResting?
Resting?
How
did
pla
nts
How
did
pla
nts
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Sur
vive
w/o
sun
?
Why did these different theories only come about after so-called science started teaching that the earth was billions of years old? If the Bible
truly taught that the earth was millions or billions of years old then
these theories would have been around for thousands of years.
Why a literal six-day creation?
• Biblical support
LiteralLiteralSix-DaySix-Day
No Death Before Sin
No Death Before Sin
Sci
entif
ical
ly
Sci
entif
ical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
In line with
In line with
God’s Character
God’s Character
Bib
lical
ly
Bib
lical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Exodus 20: 11a
It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31: 17, 18
“Yom” in the Old Testament
• With a number
• With evening and morning
• With the word “night”
• 400+ times
• 23 times
• 50 times
New Testament uses of Genesis
• Only II & III John, Philemon do not quote from early chapters of it.• Jesus quoted from it 25 times!• Paul referred to creation (see Romans 1 and Colossians 1)• Peter often used Genesis (1 Peter 3 / 2 Peter 2 – 3)
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?”
Matthew 19: 4, 5
Why a literal six-day creation?
• Biblical support• Death is a result of
sin• God’s character
LiteralLiteralSix-DaySix-Day
No Death Before Sin
No Death Before Sin
Sci
entif
ical
ly
Sci
entif
ical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
In line with
In line with
God’s Character
God’s Character
Bib
lical
ly
Bib
lical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
Would a loving God use billions of years of death, disease, bloodshed, suffering, and pain to get us here? Would He then call everything He made “very good?” The idea that God used evolution to get us here is demeaning to God and borders on the blasphemous.
“It becomes clear now that the whole justification of Jesus’ life and death is predicated on the existence of Adam and the forbidden fruit he and Eve ate. Without the original sin, who needs to be redeemed? Without Adam’s fall into a life of constant sin terminated by death, what purpose is there to Christianity? None.”
Richard Bozarth, “The Meaning of Evolution,” American Atheist (Feb. 1978), p. 19
“Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus' earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam
and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”---Richard Bozarth / American Atheist
Learn Lesson of Scopes’ Trial
- Setup by ACLU and lawyer Clarence Darrow in an attempt to get Christianity on the witness stand.- Showed the world that most Christians cannot answer the questions posed by evolutionists. - William Jennings Bryan said to trust the scientists.AiG – The Monkey Trial, Inherently Wind
Learn the lesson of the Scopes’ trial.
The Bible has not changed.
Evolutionary theories change all the time. The
evidence used at the Scopes’ Trial has now
been thrown out by the evolutionists.
Why a literal six-day creation?
• Biblical support• Death is a result of
sin• God’s character• Scientifically
supported LiteralLiteralSix-DaySix-Day
No Death Before Sin
No Death Before Sin
Sci
entif
ical
ly
Sci
entif
ical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
In line with
In line with
God’s Character
God’s Character
Bib
lical
ly
Bib
lical
lyS
uppo
rted
Sup
port
ed
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God, except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however
boldly I might be confessing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”Martin Luther
If you cannot understand how this could have been done in six literal days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are.
Martin Luther
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
Psalm 118: 8 (NIV)
It’s not science vs. Bible or old earth vs. young earth. It is about trusting God’s Word from the very first
verse.
We need to stop telling God what He did and allow Him to tell us what He did. He was there so He ought to know how He created
everything. If he lied about it in Genesis 1, then
when does God start telling the truth?
