Pre adamic / ruin-restore / gap creationism

[cloudyday2]

Just wondering how many believe in gap creationism. I'm a non-believer, but it seems that gap creationism would have a lot of appeal to the imagination. It reminds me of tales of lost cultures, ancient aliens, and so forth. Christian authors could write interesting fiction about the adventures of pre-Adamic people, why Lucifer chose to rebel, etc. - somewhat analogous to the "Left Behind" books.

Gap creationism (also known as ruin-restoration creationism, restoration creationism, or "The Gap Theory") is a form of old Earth creationism that posits that the six-yom creation period, as described in the Book of Genesis, involved six literal 24-hour days (light being "day" and dark "night" as God specified), but that there was a gap of time between two distinct creations in the first and the second verses of Genesis, which the theory states explains many scientific observations, including the age of the Earth.[1][2][3] It differs from day-age creationism, which posits that the 'days' of creation were much longer periods (of thousands or millions of years), and from young Earth creationism, which although it agrees concerning the six literal 24-hour days of creation, does not posit any gap of time.

Gap creationism - Wikipedia

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Gap theory opens it's arms to all the geological history of the past. Genesis actually portrays two ruin/restoration events: the restoration of the surface of the earth and the creation of modern man, and, the flood. The pattern of restoration was given in Genesis 1, so there was no need to repeat it in the flood narrative.

 

[AV1611VET]

Gap Theory explains why we see craters on the moon and elsewhere, attributing them to a cosmic battle that took place when Lucifer and company rebelled.

The earth, caught in the crossfire, was rendered "formless and void."

 

[Aman777]

The UnScriptural Gap Theory...

Gen 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:2 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.

Paraphrase: In the beginning God the Trinity created the air and the ground. And the ground was without form, since there were NO hands to shape it, and darkness or DEATH was upon the face of the deep. Notice that God correctly shows that Water was not created separately but as a part of the Air. Ancient men could NOT have known this. There is NO Gap between God creating the elements of which EVERYTHING would consist and God brooding/hovering upon the face of the water.

The NEXT verse keeps this thought in context since God says, Let there be Light and Jesus, the Light of the first Day, today, and the Light of Heaven Rev 21:23 came into the physical world to defeat the darkness or death, which was upon everything God created apart from Himself. Jesus also will mold or shape the air, dust and water (clay) into everything which exists physically. Jhn 1:3

The Gap Theory is UnScriptural and requires one to "add to" what is actually written in Genesis. God Bless you

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The UnScriptural Gap Theory...

Gen 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:2 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.

Paraphrase: In the beginning God the Trinity created the air and the ground. And the ground was without form, since there were NO hands to shape it, and darkness or DEATH was upon the face of the deep. Notice that God correctly shows that Water was not created separately but as a part of the Air. Ancient men could NOT have known this. There is NO Gap between God creating the elements of which EVERYTHING would consist and God brooding/hovering upon the face of the water.

The NEXT verse keeps this thought in context since God says, Let there be Light and Jesus, the Light of the first Day, today, and the Light of Heaven Rev 21:23 came into the physical world to defeat the darkness or death, which was upon everything God created apart from Himself. Jesus also will mold or shape the air, dust and water (clay) into everything which exists physically. Jhn 1:3

The Gap Theory is UnScriptural and requires one to "add to" what is actually written in Genesis. God Bless you

Gap theory doesn't really add anything. It merely builds a reasonable bridge between the "beginning" of heaven and earth some 4.5 billion years ago and the restoration of Genesis One 6-10 thousand years ago. The translators were all YEC"s thus the translation of 'was' instead of 'became' in verse two. The only thing added is a different understanding of the creation account.

 

[dad]

Just wondering how many believe in gap creationism. I'm a non-believer, but it seems that gap creationism would have a lot of appeal to the imagination. It reminds me of tales of lost cultures, ancient aliens, and so forth. Christian authors could write interesting fiction about the adventures of pre-Adamic people, why Lucifer chose to rebel, etc. - somewhat analogous to the "Left Behind" books.


Gap creationism - Wikipedia

Why stop there when we are inventing gaps? How about 'aliens used earth as a yoyo and then the string became the sun'?

 

[AV1611VET]

Why stop there when we are inventing gaps? How about 'aliens used earth as a yoyo and then the string became the sun'?

Indeed.

"Gap Theory" better applies to evolution, than creationism.

 

[Ygrene Imref]

Just wondering how many believe in gap creationism. I'm a non-believer, but it seems that gap creationism would have a lot of appeal to the imagination. It reminds me of tales of lost cultures, ancient aliens, and so forth. Christian authors could write interesting fiction about the adventures of pre-Adamic people, why Lucifer chose to rebel, etc. - somewhat analogous to the "Left Behind" books.


Gap creationism - Wikipedia

I do believe "Yom" (day) in all of its connotations - from the evening to morning to the context of an aeon.

I do believe the word "hayah" in all of its connotations, especially its meaning of "became," implying a evolution of events to come to the eventual implied existence.

I do believe the word "or," and the word "choshek" in its meanings and connotations for "light," and "darkness," respectively. Or means illumination in every possible way, and choshek means darkness, specifically death, ignorance, pain, death, etc.

I do believe you can have an evening and morning without a sun, moon or stars, because "evening" is "erab" in Hebrew, which is from another word (arab,) meaning to make a pledge with a covering of darkness. And, morning is "boqer" in Hebrew, meaning to plough through with light, or the end of "night" (layil; a winding/twisting/spiral away from day.)


For this reason, I believe between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 was an unspecified amount of time. And, something more than mere separation of "light and dark" happened. The earth wasn't made void; it became void. Darkness, choshek, fell on the face of the deep. Then, God separated light from darkness.

This sounds like war, rebellion and/or the eventual end of an age that may have lasted aeons (as Yom also means an unspecified amount to of time.)

As far as how many hours, or millenia this took before God finally separated things is up in the air. But, something other than a natural cataclysmic event happened to make the earth void. The context of the Hebrew words used imply a non-spontaneous event happened to make the earth desolate (not to mention their use without the colloquial requirements, like a sun for day.)

It is unfortunate this isn't explored more, or treated as fringe, because the Hebrew alone gives insight on why the world is like it is today, as well as unexplained phenomena and actions taken by both God, and man.

 

[jhwatts]

More biblical evidence for an ancient earth. Ezekiel 31 is an interesting scripture that points to an early earth. Ezekiel is comparing the greatness Pharaoh and his kingdom to the kingdom of Babylon. As you read the scripture you begin to realize the focus is on Assyrian empire. The scripture places the Assyrian empire in the garden of Eden. Verse 15 is a discussion concerning the fall of Lucifer and how he is dealt with by God. It also states that the day he fell God covered the deep. This event obviously was an event that predates Genesis 1:2 in Eden and is similar language as shown in Genesis 1:2, Psalms 104:6, and Job 38. This could not be Noahs flood. If this is Noahs flood it would be due to Lucifers fall. These events would have to predate Genesis 1 in Eden. There are several things have already been created prior to what is the classical creation story and therefore points to an extended time period prior to Genesis 1:2. Does this also explain why Adam was instructed to replenish the earth? Not only does this take place early in Eden, we see prior to the covering of the deep it contained people, beast, fowls and nations of beings. These nations (see Ezekiel 32(17:30)) could have existed for eons before Lucifers fall. What is so fascinating is that the early Babylon and the Assyrian empire is really the oldest known civilization on earth. This only fits that it would be situated in the what is defined as the Eden or the Garden of God.

In the last few verses we see the that Lucifer is cast down to Hell and other beings are taken down into what is called the pit. If we venture to the end of the Bible in Revelation 9 we see what was put in the pit by God. When the top is took off, they are a huge number of beings that are scorpion men or better yet something like the ancient Assyrian creature of the aqrabuamelu or girtablilu.

This also helps to shed light on the connection of Babylon to some of the things in Revelation.

This really helps to reinforce the Biblical validity of a large time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.