You are on page 1of 10

1

Genesis 1:1-31
- Age of the Earth
o Scientific America- a journal by mainstream scientists ages
the earth to be about 4.5 billion years old
o The Bible, by adding up people's ages and such states that
the earth is around 6000 years old
o some of you may not think the earth's age matters, but I will
tell you that it is very important
o Evolutionists and Naturalists (people who believe the
universe came to be by natural causes) need the earth to be
OLD
- 2 types of science
o Observational science: what can be seen and reproduced
this includes technology, biology, mathematics,
physics, etc.
o Historical Science, man's best guesses about the past and
things that cannot be reproduced
this includes origins of the earth (big bang theory),
evolution, etc.
- 2 types of evolution
o Micro-evolution also known as Natural selection
which the Bible has nothing against this

o Macro-evolution: the molecule to man idea that over time a


species will evolve into an entirely different species
which clearly contradicts the Bible as it proclaims in
Genesis 1 that all living things will reproduce
"according to its own kind"
o We have witnessed in our own life-times, Natural selection at
work, it can be tested, it can be reproduced
o However, all recorded history, no sign of MACRO-evolution
has ever been witnessed
- Billion Year Earth is necessary for Macro-evolution
o without an earth that has existed for millions/billions of years,
scientists cannot even THEORIZE that species evolved from
other species which all began from a single cell organism.
o that is why in the late 1700's and early 1800's we have the
first real proclaimation by some that the earth is actually
Millions/Billions years old
o this theory was started by Naturalists and Evolutionists so
that they could have grounds for their theory that it all came
about without a creator
- 2 Thoughts
o 1. The Earth is billions of years old and the Bible is false
o 2. The Earth is about 6000 years old and evolution is false
- I Believe you all have a fair understanding of what "science" says
about Evolution and such, so we will not spend a great deal tonight
on that topic, but we will begin with studying the Biblical view of
Creation

ILLUSTRATION: "young frankenstein: give my creation... life"


#1 CREATION DAYS
- God's Method of Creation was that He spoke and it WAS
- V1-5: Day 1
o God created the Heavens, Earth, Water, Light
o Evening, Morning 1st day
- V6-8: Day 2
o God created the skies to separate the Earth from the
Heavens
o Evening, Morning, 2nd day
- V9-13: Day 3
o God created dry land that separated the seas, and he
created plants
o Evening, Morning, 3rd day
- V14-19: Day 4
o God created the sun, moon, and stars to Govern Time,
seasons, navigation, etc.
o Evening, Morning, 4th day
- V20-23: Day 5
o God Created Water Creatures and Birds
o Evening, Morning, 5th Day
- V24-27,31: Day 6
o God Created Land Animals and Mankind
o Specific Difference between the two
God made Man/Adam in God's Image
o Evening, Morning, 6th Day

ILLUSTRATION:
#2 COMPOMISE DUDS
- Ever since the idea that the earth is billions of years old was
popularized, some Christians have tried to compromise and fit
Billions/Millions of years into the Bible
o where can they squeeze it in? Not after Genesis 1 because
the Bible is specific about the ages of men/women in the
Bible so that we can know how old the earth is after Genesis
1
o They absolutely must, if they try to, place the Billions of
years into Genesis chapter 1
- Eisegesis- the misinterpretation of Scripture by reading into it
one's own ideas
o since an Earth that is billions of years old is found nowhere
in the Bible, but only in man's theories, for us to insert it in
would be a misinterpretation of the Bible, Right?
o Would that not be Eisegesis?
o Would that not directly contradict Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every
word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar."?

- Common Compromise Duds


- GAP THEORY
o Gensis 1:1-2
This theory is that there is a gap of billions of years
that take place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2
many ideas have been proposed for what took place in
that gap, but they are not important to our argument
o What causes the Gap Theory to crumble is a single,
grammatical device in Genesis 1:2
the VAV-DISJUNCTIVE
this grammatical device is used when a sentence is
describing the actions from the sentence immediately
before
EXAMPLE: Last night, Craig played basketball. He
played poorly the whole game, but made the last
second shot for the win.
no one would try to say that these two sentences
are separated by any amount of time
sentence 2 is elaborating upon sentence 1
in Hebrew this is shown by the use of the VAVDISJUNCTIVE
"And the earth was formless and void" is describing
how God created the Earth in verse 1.
Therefore, there is no "Gap" between these
verses for someone to place Billions of years into

I still want to present this information to you


because during your lives you may come across
people in church/college/elsewhere that are
FOOLISH enough to believe in the Gap theory. If
only they would have done their research into the
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
that is why my current professor says that "reading the
OT in English is like kissing your new Bride through
her veil", its just not what it could be.
- DAY-AGE THEORY
o People who hold the DAY-AGE theory skip over Genesis 1:1
and 1:2 and question the meaning of the word "day" at the
end of each period of creation
Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, and so on
o The Traditional Christian view has always been that 6 days
is exactly that, 6 days; the DAY-AGE theorists believe that
each of those days were hundreds of millions of years
they believe the word "day" or "YOM" in Hebrew could
be interpreted as an indefinite amount of time
o They used Scripture to question what "day" means
Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in your sight are but
as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the
night."
2 Peter 3:8 "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day."

- Failure of the DAY-AGE THEORY


o However, THEY FAIL to notice that neither occurrence of the
Word day is talking about CREATION
plus the passage in 2 Peter is written in Greek and
therefore is not representation of the Hebrew word
"YOM"
o Also, every time the word "YOM" is used along with any term
such as evening/night/morning/a number it is being used in a
LITERAL SENSE OF 1 day (a morning and night)
o Plus, even if one day was a thousand years as those two
verses note, then that only accounts for an extra 6000 years,
not 4.5 Billion
o Another argument is that Moses, the human author of
GENESIS viewed the 6 days of creation as LITERAL days
EXODUS 20:11 "For in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
EXODUS 31:15-17 "15 Work shall be done for six days,
but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.
Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of
Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations as a perpetual
covenant. 17 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.

o Finally, No one ever questions the length of any other days


throughout the Bible
you never hear anyone say, "well, we dont know Jonah
was in the belly of the Big Fish for 3 days, it may have
been 3000 years"
or "what if God had Joshua and the Israelites march
around the walls of Jericho for 7000 years instead of
just 7 days?"
- FRAMEWORK HYPOTHESIS
o this is something that many of you will likely face in the
future
it is sadly being taught as many of our Christian
Universities as TRUTH, even though it is in no way
that
o This Theory is that Genesis 1 is not to be read as
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE (a history book) which then would
leave any number of years to be the actual way Earth came
to be
they say that the genre of Genesis 1 is different than
the rest of the book and that it is POETRY that simply
reveals that God created everything and man was
created in His image
their basis for this is that the days of creation flow and
blend with each other in a way that reflects POETRY

they say:
Day 1: light, darkness
o Day 4: sun/moon/stars
Day 2: heavens, water
o Day 5: birds, water animals
Day 3: seas, land, vegetation
o Day 6: land animals and man
o Failure of the Framework Hypothesis
1. the Grammar of Genesis 1 is clearly HISTORICAL
NARRATIVE
The use of another Grammatical device, the
VAV-CONSECUTIVE leads us to understand it is
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
o this grammatical device is used to show
something to have happened in literal past
o it takes an action and addresses it as
completed "or in past tense"
The VAV-CONSECUTIVE is only used in
HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
2. Their Days of Creation for a "POETIC Reading" is
off
water was not created on day 2 as they state
o water was created on day 1
o day 2 the skies were created to separate
the waters of earth from the heavens
also, heavenly light bearers (day four) were
placed in the heavens (day two)
- Last Thoughts
o some may not care about how old the earth is, but it is
significant because it is a "the Bible is true, or it is not type of
deal".

10

o These Christians that try to COMPROMISE with different


theories of how the earth is actually OLD don't realize what
they are doing
If Christians are willing to COMPROMISE on the age
of the earth and try to "make it fit" in the Bible
then why would ANY Non-Christian turn to the
Bible for truth? for Salvation?
o As Christians Compromise, they actually deter people from
-

the Gospel of Jesus Christ


Next Week, we look at Carbon Dating, Macro-evolution, and
Scripture

You might also like