The Full Spectrum of Christian Belief on Origins - where are you?

[HarleyER]

1 Peter 2:21-23
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
"Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

Very nice but completely out of context with our conversation. The verse states "Christ suffered for us" and THIS is our example. We have been called to suffer for others and face persecution, that is, if we wish to live a godly life.

 

[KevinT]

There is currently a spectrum of belief regarding origins, ...

4. Gap Theorists (a form of Old Earth Creationism) - Believe that the earth and universe were created at the time science says, but that God created Man and all the animals at the "young earth" time frame. Some believe this is a "recreation", God having scrapped an earlier version (dinosaurs, etc).

I'd like to add a variant of Gap Theory. It would have an old universe (the universe was created at the time science says), and an old creation of the earth (the matter of our planet could be billions of years old). And then a special creation by God, in 7 literal days, that occurred many millions of years in the past, terraforming a planet that was "formless and void". Mankind lived on the earth for a long time BEFORE Adam and Eve sinned. Adam's age was counted starting from the time he became mortal. All the other sinless people living on the earth at the time Adam and Eve sinned were taken away, similar to when Enoch was taken away.

The "Adam" that was first created by God could be a title, something like "First Man". God made First Man, and he was fruitful and multiplied with "First Woman" and all his descendants inhabited the earth. At some time later, "Adam" sinned. This could be the same person, or perhaps it was another "First Man" -- i.e. the Adam/father of the entire sinful race that followed. So when Adam died at the age of "930", this was 930 yrs after he sinned, not 930 years after the earth was created. OR, it could be that the Adam/First Man that sinned was born millions of years after creation, and was still young when he sinned.

I think this theory is better than Gap Theory because it allows for fossils of fish etc to be millions of years old. I guess in the description of Gap Theory there was mention of our current world being a "Version 2", and all the fossils are from "Version 1". But that seems even more of a stretch.

The downside of this view would be to allow for things to die prior to the sinning of Adam & Eve. I.e. it is dead fish that we find as fossils with old ages. Paul talks about death being introduced through Adam. But perhaps it was only humans that did not die. Even a pre-sin Adam, if his body worked like ours does, would have had skin cells sloughing off and "dying." We wouldn't really count that as death. And thus perhaps a cycle of life, birth, death, and natural selection was a normal part of God's perfect creation, for animals -- and also not considered as death.

I have never heard of anyone else mention such a theory. Has anyone heard of this before? And what do you think of my theory? Is it compatible with Christian Biblical thinking?

 

[davetaff]

So where did we come from according to Gods word we all originated from Noah his three sons and their wives who originated from all those who lived before the flood.

Love and Peace
Dave

 

[KevinT]

So where did we come from according to Gods word we all originated from Noah his three sons and their wives who originated from all those who lived before the flood.

Love and Peace
Dave

If you were responding to my post, I would set the timeline like this:

1) Human civilization exists for millennia on earth in non-sinful state
2) Adam and Eve rebel and become the mother and father of all on earth. The non-rebellious people on earth are removed, similar to Enoch's removal.
3) The flood hits the earth, leaving only Noah and his family as survivors
4) Everyone descends from them.

Best wishes,

Kevin

 

[davetaff]

Hi Kevin thank you for your reply you will need scripture to back up what you say you are most probably right about mankind being on the earth for millennia can be estimated from the ages of the people mentioned

2) Adam and Eve rebel and become the mother and father of all on earth. The non-rebellious people on earth are removed, similar to Enoch's removal.

Can't find anything in scripture to support this the first Adam was created in the image of God in the same way as the last Adam Jesus Christ he would have been the head of the body which would have been a great multitude which was contaminated by the angles that cohabited with the human women and produced giants not part of Gods plan so the first Adam was destroyed in the flood and a new creation began with Noah his sons and their wives

 

[KevinT]

Hi Kevin thank you for your reply you will need scripture to back up what you say you are most probably right about mankind being on the earth for millennia can be estimated from the ages of the people mentioned

2) Adam and Eve rebel and become the mother and father of all on earth. The non-rebellious people on earth are removed, similar to Enoch's removal.

Can't find anything in scripture to support this the first Adam was created in the image of God in the same way as the last Adam Jesus Christ he would have been the head of the body which would have been a great multitude which was contaminated by the angles that cohabited with the human women and produced giants not part of Gods plan so the first Adam was destroyed in the flood and a new creation began with Noah his sons and their wives

"Can't find anything in scripture to support this" --> I agree. I think if scriptures laid it out, then people would have discussed this long ago. I was more trying to think of a plausible back story that was NOT provided, but yet is not contradictory to scripture while also agreeing with physical evidence from the world around us. My plausible back story is probably wrong, but if we can consider that the Bible was trying to teach some important points (God created the world), and is not a scientific treatise that contains every possible fact of what actually happened.

Best wishes,

Kevin

P.S. it is kind of tough reading your posts when they are all one long sentence. Could I talk you into an occasional period("."), so I don't have to be creative and try to figure out where to put one?