The topic on Science and Faith has inevitably led to responses about verses 1-2 of Genesis 1. Was there a gap of time between the verses? Did the Earth exist in some previously ordered form that was destroyed by the angelic rebellion, as some suggest?
My problems with this view are:
God is capable of communicating clear meaning. When He does communicate something simple and clear, we tread dangerously to start wondering if it means something other than what it simply says. If the Earth existed in some other orderly form, then the angelic rebellion destroyed it (the most common notion), then why didn’t God simply say that?
The other problems I have with this idea are that the Bible implies nor states any gaps of time between verse one and two. If there was a long gap, why didn’t God simply say that. Genesis is a
concise, factual account. That conciseness would beg an addition of clarification between verse one and two if one was needed.
Also, the EARTH was without form and void. If it existed before in some orderly form, did it do so without the sun and stars, or day and night? Or did God RE-create, or create for the SECOND time all these things? Or were all those original things destroyed never to exist again? How long were they around? What was the purpose? Why would God not tell us they existed? Why would God not include in the account "and then the Earth BECAME void and without form because the angels rebelled".
The natural reading of Genesis 1 shows an immediate succession of events. All the pertinent facts of Creation are clearly stated. If the Earth existed in orderly form between verses one and two, that's singular ommission of fact that changes the whole account and calls into question.
No matter what, the real problem is that Long Agers use any notion of the Earth existing in orderly form before the Creation Event in Genesis as a way to crack the validity of Scripture, or at least introduce extra-Biblical ideas. This is a greasy path towards uniformitarianism and evolution.
Now, if someone wants to believe the Earth existed WITH FORM between verses 1 and 2, BUT... all that was destroyed and has nothing to do with our fossil record, or the universe we now exist in, then that would be palatable, but still extra-Biblical.
That is why I do not publicly espouse a belief in what the Earth MIGHT HAVE BEEN before it was “void and without form” even if I did believe there was a gap of time between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis 1.
Which I don’t.
Brent Riggs - Author, teacher, mentor, online business expert
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