*Genesis 1 / *Gen. 1 -
(Re: What about *evolution?)
An old earth and evolution can be true without contradicting Creationism, because evolution per se (random mutation and survival of the fittest) can coexist with miraculous creation, just as an automated process created by a human (for example, a computer program which makes random, colorful pictures which can be seen as art) can coexist with that same human sometimes performing a task himself directly (painting some pictures by hand). That is, evolution per se can be a process created by God to allow new, adaptive species to arise naturally over time. And this process can coexist with God Himself sometimes creating new species miraculously and instantaneously. So with regard to evolution and Creationism, it does not have to be either/or, but can be both/and.
Some people ask why would God wait millions of years for something to evolve from a one-celled organism when He could just create it miraculously and instantaneously? God could do that for the same reason that He has every human start out as a one-celled organism: a zygote in its mother's womb. God then has a human zygote only gradually develop through natural means into an embryo, and then into a fetus, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, and an adult. And God has other animals develop gradually in a similar way. And He has plants start out as seeds. So it must give God pleasure to see organisms develop naturally over time, just as it must give Him pleasure to also sometimes create plants and animals miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, like He did in Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:20-27, during three of the seven, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3 to 2:4.
(Re: A *Gap Theory)
Creationism can include what could be called a Double-Gap Theory, meaning that there could have been two gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed His own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose naturally on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created some new species miraculously and instantaneously, whenever He wanted to (compare what evolutionists call "punctuated equilibria").
Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm like a comet-strike had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate that rogue planets in our galaxy could outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six, literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.
Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11). After that, God created the plants of the local Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9), and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then He created an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).
Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago, based on Biblical chronology, yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens, or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, as far back as 200,000 years. Also, all of the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate, or are as old as, the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we do not consider to have been fully human like us, such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis, could have all been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.
And this does not get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens or similar or far more advanced life-forms could have been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about fourteen billion years old, and it contains about a hundred billion galaxies, each containing about a hundred billion stars. So even if only one star out of every ten billion stars has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, billions of years prior to His beginning of His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, on the earth.
~
(Re: Exodus 20:11 makes clear that the heaven and earth were created in six days. There were no gaps)
That's right, in that there were no gaps in the six days of Genesis 1:3-31, which were six, literal, 24-hour days.
But there could have been a long gap of time before the six days, that is, a gap of some 4.5 billion years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Also, there could have been some ten billion years between the time that God first created the universe, and the time that He first created the earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven) in Genesis 1:1. For nothing requires that God created the universe during the six days of Genesis 1:3-31, or even during the preceding time of Genesis 1:1.
(For example, see Genesis 1:3, Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:14, and Genesis 1:16 below)
~
(Re: But is not the earth only *6,000 years old?) / (*6000) / (Biblical *chronology)
The Bible does not require that the earth is only 6,000 years old. All it requires is that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. For various Bible verses make it possible to estimate the year BC that Adam, as opposed to the earth, was created, by working back from the year BC that Solomon's temple began to be built. Historians say that it began to be built about 966 BC. And the Bible shows that it began to be built 480 years after Israel's Exodus from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). And Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt before the Exodus (Exodus 12:40-41). And Israel had entered Egypt when Jacob was 130 (Genesis 47:9). And Jacob had been born when his father Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:26). And Isaac had been born when his father Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5). And Abraham had been born when his father Terah was about 70 (Genesis 11:26). And Terah had been born when his father Nahor was 29 (Genesis 11:24). And Nahor had been born when his father Serug was 30 (Genesis 11:22). And Serug had been born when his father Reu was 32 (Genesis 11:20). And Reu had been born when his father Peleg was 30 (Genesis 11:18).
And Peleg had been born when his father Eber was 34 (Genesis 11:16). And Eber had been born when his father Salah was 30 (Genesis 11:14). And Salah had been born when his father Arphaxad was 35 (Genesis 11:12). And Arphaxad had been born when his father Shem was 100 (Genesis 11:10). And Shem had been born when his father Noah was 502 (Genesis 11:10 and Genesis 7:6). And Noah had been born when his father Lamech was 182 (Genesis 5:28-29). And Lamech had been born when his father Methuselah was 187 (Genesis 5:25). And Methuselah had been born when his father Enoch was 65 (Genesis 5:21). And Enoch had been born when his father Jared was 162 (Genesis 5:18). And Jared had been born when his father Mahalaleel was 65 (Genesis 5:15). And Mahalaleel had been born when his father Cainan was 70 (Genesis 5:12). And Cainan had been born when his father Enos was 90 (Genesis 5:9). And Enos had been born when his father Seth was 105 (Genesis 5:6). And Seth had been born when his father Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3).
Adding up the numbers of years above, we see that Adam was created about 4114 BC. This lines up with the fact that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC. If Adam was created about 4114 BC, this means that 6,000 years since Adam's creation were completed back at the end of about 1886 AD, and that the 7th millennium began about 1887 AD. (But this does not mean that the Millennium of Revelation 20:4-6 has started yet.) Also, it is curious that the next year, 1888 AD, Blavatsky published her book "The Secret Doctrine", referring to the "New Age". Also, it is curious that the Mayan calendar begins in 3114 BC, exactly 1,000 years after 4114 BC. Also, the numbers of years in the Bible verses referenced above show that Abraham, who was first promised the land of Israel by God (Exodus 32:13), was born about 1,948 years after Adam's creation, just as the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 AD.
~
(Re: *Civilization began about 4000 BC?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC (subsequent to Adam's creation about 4114 BC), by "civilization" is meant "the stage of cultural development at which writing and the keeping of written records is attained" (Webster's, a print version). "The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marked the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history. The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established and grew to prominence" (Wikipedia -- 4th millennium BC).
Regarding "civilization" being defined by Oxford Dictionaries as the "most advanced" stage of human social development and organization: Our current human civilization (fourth millennium BC to the present) is the most advanced stage of human social development and organization compared to all known prehistoric (pre-fourth-millennium BC) stages.
~
(Re: "Current" human civilization?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC, by "current" is meant that civilization which began in the fourth millennium BC and continues on today, as opposed to any pre-Adamic human civilizations which may have existed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years ago.
If there were pre-Adamic civilizations, they could have reached as high a level of technology as in our society today. For the Bible says: "there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things" (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). And even our future technology could have already been invented on the earth during past eons, for "that which is to be hath already been" (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
But all past-eons technology on the earth could have been obliterated by God, leaving no trace of it, just as all of our own technology today (and in our future) will eventually be obliterated by God, when "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10b). Here, "earth" can mean just the surface of the earth. For the planet itself will continue on forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4, Psalms 104:5, Psalms 78:69b). So the future, "new earth" (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) can be a new surface for the earth.
~
(Re: Current "human" civilization?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC, by "human" civilization is meant human civilization in general, as opposed to the civilization of any particular people, for example Aztec civilization.
Also, by "human" civilization is meant civilization started by humans as opposed to any non-human animals. For preceding the first human civilization, there could have been non-human, mammalian civilizations some 65 to two million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent horse-like beings (compare the strange horse-like beings in Revelation 9:17-19). These could have rebelled against God and then been banished from this planet, and forced to live, perhaps, in underground bases on the far side of the moon, or on the next planet out from the sun. For the future army of 200 million strange horse-like beings in Revelation 9:16-19 will have to come from somewhere.
And preceding the first mammalian civilization, there could have been reptilian civilizations some 250 to 65 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent dinosaur/dragon creatures (compare Satan being a dragon in Revelation 12:9).
And preceding the first reptilian civilization, there could have been amphibian civilizations some 350 to 250 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent frog-like creatures, who could have rebelled against God and become unclean spirits (compare the frog-like creatures/unclean spirits in Revelation 16:13-14).
And preceding the first amphibian civilization, there could have been insect civilizations some 450 to 350 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent locust-like beings (compare the strange locust-like beings in Revelation 9:3-10), who could have rebelled against God and been banished to a cavern deep underground (compare the sealed pit in Revelation 9:1b-3,11).
~
(Re: But do not only humans have the hands required to build things and civilizations?)
The various strange beings mentioned above could have human-like hands. For they are not the same as the horses, locusts, frogs, etc., which we see today. And the Bible shows that non-human creatures can have human-like hands (Ezekiel 1:5-14).
--
*Genesis 1:1 / *Gen. 1:1 -
(Re: Means that there are no aliens?)
Some people feel that Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of the universe, so that the subsequent verses making no reference to the creation of aliens means that they cannot exist. But in Genesis 1:1 the original Hebrew word (shamayim: H8064) translated as "heaven" or "heavens" can be translated as the "air" in which the birds fly (Genesis 1:30; 1 Samuel 17:44, Proverbs 30:19). So Genesis 1:1 does not have to be referring to when God created the universe (which could be about fourteen billion years old), or to when God created any of the other inhabited planets which could exist in the universe. Instead, Genesis 1:1 can be referring to when God created the earth, which could be about 4.5 billion years old, and its atmosphere.
Also, if a person rightly believes that God created angels, even though Genesis chapters 1-2 make no reference to angels, then why cannot that person also believe that God could have also created aliens, even though Genesis chapters 1-2 make no reference to aliens? And if God could have created both angels and aliens, then why could not some phenomena known as UFOs be angelic or demonic, and some be alien? (Most could simply be unidentified human aircraft or spacecraft, or planetary or star lights under extraordinary atmospheric conditions.)
(See also the "aliens?" section of Psalms 8:3 below)
--
*Genesis 1:3-5 / *Gen. 1:3 -
(Let there be light)
This does not have to mean: "Let light exist for the first time anywhere", but can simply mean: "Let there be light on the earth".
Compare Goethe's last words: "More light!". He did not mean: "There needs to be more light throughout the universe". Instead, he was saying: "Let there be more light in this room", in which he was about to die. A woman I knew similarly made her husband turn on every light in her house shortly before she died. Compare also what Job 10:21-22 says.
Genesis 1:3-5 could simply mean that God had some light source in space temporarily light up one-half of the earth as bright as day, three, literal, 24-hour days before He created the sun (Genesis 1:14-19).
~
(Re: Could the light have come from inside God's temple in heaven?)
Possibly, for the third "heaven" of the earth (2 Corinthians 12:2b) could be not far beyond both the earth's atmosphere (the first "heaven": Genesis 1:20b) and a small, surrounding area of outer space (the second "heaven": Deuteronomy 4:19). That is, the earth's third heaven, which could be in a fourth, spiritual, spatial dimension, could be close enough to the earth so that light sent down from the third heaven miraculously and temporarily by God could have lit up one-half of the earth as bright as day, three, literal, 24-hour days before God created the sun (Genesis 1:14-19).
But this would work only if the earth's third heaven was located off to one side of the earth. It could in fact be located high above the north pole (compare the connection between heaven and "the north" in Isaiah 14:13, KJV). In this case, light sent down to the earth would have lit up the northern hemisphere in a continuous daylight, and left the southern hemisphere in a continuous night. But this does not match Genesis 1:5b, for it refers to a daily, alternating day and night, like we experience today. Also, what we today call "the northern lights", while they can be explained by physics, could also point to the glory of the third heaven's location. And Psalms 48:2's reference to "the north" could refer to the location of God's literal city of New Jerusalem, which is now in the third heaven (Hebrews 12:22).
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*Genesis 1:6-7 / *Gen. 1:6 -
This refers to God restoring the earth's atmosphere (the firmament, the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b), so that it could hold water up in the air, such as in rain clouds, above and separate from the water in the ocean.
(See also 2 Corinthians 12:2 below)
--
*Genesis 1:10 / *Gen. 1:10 -
This does not mean that the planet earth was not created until the third day. Instead, it simply means that God restored dry land to the earth on the third day. For the planet earth existed long before the first day (Genesis 1:1-5) of God's restoration of the earth.
In Genesis 1:10 the original Hebrew word ('erets: H0776) translated as "earth" can simply mean "land" (Genesis 2:11) as opposed to "seas" (Genesis 1:10).
--
*Genesis 1:14-17 / *Gen. 1:14 -
This does not contradict that God could have also made, at some prior times, such as billions of years earlier, a trillion other suns (stars) and moons for a trillion other inhabited planets elsewhere in the universe.
--
*Genesis 1:16 / *Gen. 1:16 -
This only requires that at that time, God created the sun and moon. For there is no "he made" in the original Hebrew before "the stars also", which phrase could simply mean that the stars (which God could have created at some prior times, such as billions of years earlier) also "rule" the night along with the moon.
Or, because there is no "the" before "stars" in the original Hebrew, Genesis 1:16 could mean that God made only some stars at that time, to serve as "signs for seasons" (Genesis 1:14), such as the stars in the Mazzaroth (compare the Zodiac) constellations (Job 38:32), which stars are extremely few in number compared with the total number of stars in the universe.
Even in the night sky as a whole, there are only about 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye, while the universe contains about 100 billion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars. So even if Genesis 1:16 refers to God creating at that time the 6,000 or so stars visible to the naked eye, this does not require that He created the other stars in the universe at that time (instead of at some prior times), which other stars are not visible to the naked eye, and so would serve no function for people on the earth before the invention of telescopes.
~
(Re: *Fontenelle)
Fontenelle's book in the mid-seventeenth century AD was probably inspired by all of the new heavenly bodies brought into view through the invention of telescopes beginning in the early seventeenth century AD.
~
(Re: Does the creation account in Genesis describe the moon as being a light source of its own, and not "reflecting light" as the world teaches?)
Note that nothing in the creation account in Genesis requires that the moon does not reflect light from the sun. Also, men have walked on the moon, and saw that it did not give off its own light. Also, the phases of the moon prove that it has no light of its own. But this does not mean that it is not a light. For even our car headlights are reflected off of chrome mirrors behind bright bulbs. That is, their being a reflection of a light does not negate that they are lights.
--
*Genesis 1:29 / *Gen. 1:29 -
(Re: Vegetarianism)
See section 2 of 1 Timothy 4:1 below.
--
*Genesis 1:31 / *Gen. 1:31 -
Regarding evolution, someone might ask if pre-Fall death and sin were "good" (Genesis 1:31). Of course, the answer is no. But all of the references to "good" in Genesis 1:4-31 can refer to only the initial state of what God created on the earth during only the six, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3-31, not necessarily to everything which God had created on the earth before that.
~
(Re: Is Satan good?)
No, but who we now call Satan could have still been good, as an unfallen Lucifer, at the time of Genesis 1:4-31.
(See section 2 of Revelation 13 below)
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(Re: Were all creatures created to live indefinitely?)
Note that nothing requires that any creatures created on the earth before Genesis 1:3-31 were created to live indefinitely.
~
(Re: Did death not exist before the Fall, so that there could not have been any evolution?)
Before the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, death did not exist for Adam and Eve themselves. But nothing requires that death did not exist for anything which God could have created on the earth before that.
~
(Re: Is the faith needed to be an evolutionist too staggering?)
Once someone has the faith that God is the Creator of everything (John 1:3), it takes no more faith to believe that God is the Creator of the natural process of evolution, and the Creator of an old earth.
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Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Nov 13, 2018
(Re: What about *evolution?)
An old earth and evolution can be true without contradicting Creationism, because evolution per se (random mutation and survival of the fittest) can coexist with miraculous creation, just as an automated process created by a human (for example, a computer program which makes random, colorful pictures which can be seen as art) can coexist with that same human sometimes performing a task himself directly (painting some pictures by hand). That is, evolution per se can be a process created by God to allow new, adaptive species to arise naturally over time. And this process can coexist with God Himself sometimes creating new species miraculously and instantaneously. So with regard to evolution and Creationism, it does not have to be either/or, but can be both/and.
Some people ask why would God wait millions of years for something to evolve from a one-celled organism when He could just create it miraculously and instantaneously? God could do that for the same reason that He has every human start out as a one-celled organism: a zygote in its mother's womb. God then has a human zygote only gradually develop through natural means into an embryo, and then into a fetus, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, and an adult. And God has other animals develop gradually in a similar way. And He has plants start out as seeds. So it must give God pleasure to see organisms develop naturally over time, just as it must give Him pleasure to also sometimes create plants and animals miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, like He did in Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:20-27, during three of the seven, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3 to 2:4.
(Re: A *Gap Theory)
Creationism can include what could be called a Double-Gap Theory, meaning that there could have been two gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed His own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose naturally on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created some new species miraculously and instantaneously, whenever He wanted to (compare what evolutionists call "punctuated equilibria").
Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm like a comet-strike had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate that rogue planets in our galaxy could outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six, literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.
Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11). After that, God created the plants of the local Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9), and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then He created an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).
Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago, based on Biblical chronology, yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens, or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, as far back as 200,000 years. Also, all of the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate, or are as old as, the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we do not consider to have been fully human like us, such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis, could have all been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.
And this does not get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens or similar or far more advanced life-forms could have been miraculously created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about fourteen billion years old, and it contains about a hundred billion galaxies, each containing about a hundred billion stars. So even if only one star out of every ten billion stars has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, billions of years prior to His beginning of His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, on the earth.
~
(Re: Exodus 20:11 makes clear that the heaven and earth were created in six days. There were no gaps)
That's right, in that there were no gaps in the six days of Genesis 1:3-31, which were six, literal, 24-hour days.
But there could have been a long gap of time before the six days, that is, a gap of some 4.5 billion years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Also, there could have been some ten billion years between the time that God first created the universe, and the time that He first created the earth and its atmosphere (the first heaven) in Genesis 1:1. For nothing requires that God created the universe during the six days of Genesis 1:3-31, or even during the preceding time of Genesis 1:1.
(For example, see Genesis 1:3, Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:14, and Genesis 1:16 below)
~
(Re: But is not the earth only *6,000 years old?) / (*6000) / (Biblical *chronology)
The Bible does not require that the earth is only 6,000 years old. All it requires is that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. For various Bible verses make it possible to estimate the year BC that Adam, as opposed to the earth, was created, by working back from the year BC that Solomon's temple began to be built. Historians say that it began to be built about 966 BC. And the Bible shows that it began to be built 480 years after Israel's Exodus from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). And Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt before the Exodus (Exodus 12:40-41). And Israel had entered Egypt when Jacob was 130 (Genesis 47:9). And Jacob had been born when his father Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:26). And Isaac had been born when his father Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5). And Abraham had been born when his father Terah was about 70 (Genesis 11:26). And Terah had been born when his father Nahor was 29 (Genesis 11:24). And Nahor had been born when his father Serug was 30 (Genesis 11:22). And Serug had been born when his father Reu was 32 (Genesis 11:20). And Reu had been born when his father Peleg was 30 (Genesis 11:18).
And Peleg had been born when his father Eber was 34 (Genesis 11:16). And Eber had been born when his father Salah was 30 (Genesis 11:14). And Salah had been born when his father Arphaxad was 35 (Genesis 11:12). And Arphaxad had been born when his father Shem was 100 (Genesis 11:10). And Shem had been born when his father Noah was 502 (Genesis 11:10 and Genesis 7:6). And Noah had been born when his father Lamech was 182 (Genesis 5:28-29). And Lamech had been born when his father Methuselah was 187 (Genesis 5:25). And Methuselah had been born when his father Enoch was 65 (Genesis 5:21). And Enoch had been born when his father Jared was 162 (Genesis 5:18). And Jared had been born when his father Mahalaleel was 65 (Genesis 5:15). And Mahalaleel had been born when his father Cainan was 70 (Genesis 5:12). And Cainan had been born when his father Enos was 90 (Genesis 5:9). And Enos had been born when his father Seth was 105 (Genesis 5:6). And Seth had been born when his father Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3).
Adding up the numbers of years above, we see that Adam was created about 4114 BC. This lines up with the fact that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC. If Adam was created about 4114 BC, this means that 6,000 years since Adam's creation were completed back at the end of about 1886 AD, and that the 7th millennium began about 1887 AD. (But this does not mean that the Millennium of Revelation 20:4-6 has started yet.) Also, it is curious that the next year, 1888 AD, Blavatsky published her book "The Secret Doctrine", referring to the "New Age". Also, it is curious that the Mayan calendar begins in 3114 BC, exactly 1,000 years after 4114 BC. Also, the numbers of years in the Bible verses referenced above show that Abraham, who was first promised the land of Israel by God (Exodus 32:13), was born about 1,948 years after Adam's creation, just as the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 AD.
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(Re: *Civilization began about 4000 BC?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC (subsequent to Adam's creation about 4114 BC), by "civilization" is meant "the stage of cultural development at which writing and the keeping of written records is attained" (Webster's, a print version). "The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marked the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history. The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established and grew to prominence" (Wikipedia -- 4th millennium BC).
Regarding "civilization" being defined by Oxford Dictionaries as the "most advanced" stage of human social development and organization: Our current human civilization (fourth millennium BC to the present) is the most advanced stage of human social development and organization compared to all known prehistoric (pre-fourth-millennium BC) stages.
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(Re: "Current" human civilization?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC, by "current" is meant that civilization which began in the fourth millennium BC and continues on today, as opposed to any pre-Adamic human civilizations which may have existed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years ago.
If there were pre-Adamic civilizations, they could have reached as high a level of technology as in our society today. For the Bible says: "there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things" (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). And even our future technology could have already been invented on the earth during past eons, for "that which is to be hath already been" (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
But all past-eons technology on the earth could have been obliterated by God, leaving no trace of it, just as all of our own technology today (and in our future) will eventually be obliterated by God, when "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10b). Here, "earth" can mean just the surface of the earth. For the planet itself will continue on forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4, Psalms 104:5, Psalms 78:69b). So the future, "new earth" (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) can be a new surface for the earth.
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(Re: Current "human" civilization?)
Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4000 BC, by "human" civilization is meant human civilization in general, as opposed to the civilization of any particular people, for example Aztec civilization.
Also, by "human" civilization is meant civilization started by humans as opposed to any non-human animals. For preceding the first human civilization, there could have been non-human, mammalian civilizations some 65 to two million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent horse-like beings (compare the strange horse-like beings in Revelation 9:17-19). These could have rebelled against God and then been banished from this planet, and forced to live, perhaps, in underground bases on the far side of the moon, or on the next planet out from the sun. For the future army of 200 million strange horse-like beings in Revelation 9:16-19 will have to come from somewhere.
And preceding the first mammalian civilization, there could have been reptilian civilizations some 250 to 65 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent dinosaur/dragon creatures (compare Satan being a dragon in Revelation 12:9).
And preceding the first reptilian civilization, there could have been amphibian civilizations some 350 to 250 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent frog-like creatures, who could have rebelled against God and become unclean spirits (compare the frog-like creatures/unclean spirits in Revelation 16:13-14).
And preceding the first amphibian civilization, there could have been insect civilizations some 450 to 350 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent locust-like beings (compare the strange locust-like beings in Revelation 9:3-10), who could have rebelled against God and been banished to a cavern deep underground (compare the sealed pit in Revelation 9:1b-3,11).
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(Re: But do not only humans have the hands required to build things and civilizations?)
The various strange beings mentioned above could have human-like hands. For they are not the same as the horses, locusts, frogs, etc., which we see today. And the Bible shows that non-human creatures can have human-like hands (Ezekiel 1:5-14).
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*Genesis 1:1 / *Gen. 1:1 -
(Re: Means that there are no aliens?)
Some people feel that Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of the universe, so that the subsequent verses making no reference to the creation of aliens means that they cannot exist. But in Genesis 1:1 the original Hebrew word (shamayim: H8064) translated as "heaven" or "heavens" can be translated as the "air" in which the birds fly (Genesis 1:30; 1 Samuel 17:44, Proverbs 30:19). So Genesis 1:1 does not have to be referring to when God created the universe (which could be about fourteen billion years old), or to when God created any of the other inhabited planets which could exist in the universe. Instead, Genesis 1:1 can be referring to when God created the earth, which could be about 4.5 billion years old, and its atmosphere.
Also, if a person rightly believes that God created angels, even though Genesis chapters 1-2 make no reference to angels, then why cannot that person also believe that God could have also created aliens, even though Genesis chapters 1-2 make no reference to aliens? And if God could have created both angels and aliens, then why could not some phenomena known as UFOs be angelic or demonic, and some be alien? (Most could simply be unidentified human aircraft or spacecraft, or planetary or star lights under extraordinary atmospheric conditions.)
(See also the "aliens?" section of Psalms 8:3 below)
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*Genesis 1:3-5 / *Gen. 1:3 -
(Let there be light)
This does not have to mean: "Let light exist for the first time anywhere", but can simply mean: "Let there be light on the earth".
Compare Goethe's last words: "More light!". He did not mean: "There needs to be more light throughout the universe". Instead, he was saying: "Let there be more light in this room", in which he was about to die. A woman I knew similarly made her husband turn on every light in her house shortly before she died. Compare also what Job 10:21-22 says.
Genesis 1:3-5 could simply mean that God had some light source in space temporarily light up one-half of the earth as bright as day, three, literal, 24-hour days before He created the sun (Genesis 1:14-19).
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(Re: Could the light have come from inside God's temple in heaven?)
Possibly, for the third "heaven" of the earth (2 Corinthians 12:2b) could be not far beyond both the earth's atmosphere (the first "heaven": Genesis 1:20b) and a small, surrounding area of outer space (the second "heaven": Deuteronomy 4:19). That is, the earth's third heaven, which could be in a fourth, spiritual, spatial dimension, could be close enough to the earth so that light sent down from the third heaven miraculously and temporarily by God could have lit up one-half of the earth as bright as day, three, literal, 24-hour days before God created the sun (Genesis 1:14-19).
But this would work only if the earth's third heaven was located off to one side of the earth. It could in fact be located high above the north pole (compare the connection between heaven and "the north" in Isaiah 14:13, KJV). In this case, light sent down to the earth would have lit up the northern hemisphere in a continuous daylight, and left the southern hemisphere in a continuous night. But this does not match Genesis 1:5b, for it refers to a daily, alternating day and night, like we experience today. Also, what we today call "the northern lights", while they can be explained by physics, could also point to the glory of the third heaven's location. And Psalms 48:2's reference to "the north" could refer to the location of God's literal city of New Jerusalem, which is now in the third heaven (Hebrews 12:22).
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*Genesis 1:6-7 / *Gen. 1:6 -
This refers to God restoring the earth's atmosphere (the firmament, the first heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b), so that it could hold water up in the air, such as in rain clouds, above and separate from the water in the ocean.
(See also 2 Corinthians 12:2 below)
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*Genesis 1:10 / *Gen. 1:10 -
This does not mean that the planet earth was not created until the third day. Instead, it simply means that God restored dry land to the earth on the third day. For the planet earth existed long before the first day (Genesis 1:1-5) of God's restoration of the earth.
In Genesis 1:10 the original Hebrew word ('erets: H0776) translated as "earth" can simply mean "land" (Genesis 2:11) as opposed to "seas" (Genesis 1:10).
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*Genesis 1:14-17 / *Gen. 1:14 -
This does not contradict that God could have also made, at some prior times, such as billions of years earlier, a trillion other suns (stars) and moons for a trillion other inhabited planets elsewhere in the universe.
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*Genesis 1:16 / *Gen. 1:16 -
This only requires that at that time, God created the sun and moon. For there is no "he made" in the original Hebrew before "the stars also", which phrase could simply mean that the stars (which God could have created at some prior times, such as billions of years earlier) also "rule" the night along with the moon.
Or, because there is no "the" before "stars" in the original Hebrew, Genesis 1:16 could mean that God made only some stars at that time, to serve as "signs for seasons" (Genesis 1:14), such as the stars in the Mazzaroth (compare the Zodiac) constellations (Job 38:32), which stars are extremely few in number compared with the total number of stars in the universe.
Even in the night sky as a whole, there are only about 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye, while the universe contains about 100 billion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars. So even if Genesis 1:16 refers to God creating at that time the 6,000 or so stars visible to the naked eye, this does not require that He created the other stars in the universe at that time (instead of at some prior times), which other stars are not visible to the naked eye, and so would serve no function for people on the earth before the invention of telescopes.
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(Re: *Fontenelle)
Fontenelle's book in the mid-seventeenth century AD was probably inspired by all of the new heavenly bodies brought into view through the invention of telescopes beginning in the early seventeenth century AD.
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(Re: Does the creation account in Genesis describe the moon as being a light source of its own, and not "reflecting light" as the world teaches?)
Note that nothing in the creation account in Genesis requires that the moon does not reflect light from the sun. Also, men have walked on the moon, and saw that it did not give off its own light. Also, the phases of the moon prove that it has no light of its own. But this does not mean that it is not a light. For even our car headlights are reflected off of chrome mirrors behind bright bulbs. That is, their being a reflection of a light does not negate that they are lights.
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*Genesis 1:29 / *Gen. 1:29 -
(Re: Vegetarianism)
See section 2 of 1 Timothy 4:1 below.
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*Genesis 1:31 / *Gen. 1:31 -
Regarding evolution, someone might ask if pre-Fall death and sin were "good" (Genesis 1:31). Of course, the answer is no. But all of the references to "good" in Genesis 1:4-31 can refer to only the initial state of what God created on the earth during only the six, literal, 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3-31, not necessarily to everything which God had created on the earth before that.
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(Re: Is Satan good?)
No, but who we now call Satan could have still been good, as an unfallen Lucifer, at the time of Genesis 1:4-31.
(See section 2 of Revelation 13 below)
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(Re: Were all creatures created to live indefinitely?)
Note that nothing requires that any creatures created on the earth before Genesis 1:3-31 were created to live indefinitely.
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(Re: Did death not exist before the Fall, so that there could not have been any evolution?)
Before the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, death did not exist for Adam and Eve themselves. But nothing requires that death did not exist for anything which God could have created on the earth before that.
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(Re: Is the faith needed to be an evolutionist too staggering?)
Once someone has the faith that God is the Creator of everything (John 1:3), it takes no more faith to believe that God is the Creator of the natural process of evolution, and the Creator of an old earth.
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Nov 13, 2018
