Many people including many pastors and theologians deny the true creationism by God as mentioned in Genesis. Many deny the power of God or minimize his involvement in creationism. Many eliminate God altogether and push the false evolutionism created by Satan to deceive people. There are two main theories believed in by professing Christians that we will look at along with a few others briefly. Some deny that the time period mentioned in Genesis is literal 24 hour days. All promote an old earth which goes against the young earth as taught in scripture and proven by true science. By allowing long ages for the earth and death prior to man, this negates the gospel. If sin did not get passed along to man by Adam and all mankind is born with a sin nature, then we have no need of a Saviour and the death of Jesus on the cross was for nought. Note that not everyone who believes in any of these false theories believes the exact same thing.
The first is the Gap theory also known as the ruin-restoration theory. This theory was first popularized by Thomas Chalmers in 1814. He claimed it was first proposed by Simon Episcopius, an Arminian theologian in the 17th century. Arminian theology is wrong just as Calvinism is as well. Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish minister. This is his words describing it, “My own opinion, as published in 1814, is that it forms no part of the first day but refers to a period of indefinite antiquity when God created the worlds out of nothing. The commencement of the first day’s work I hold to be the moving of God’s Spirit upon the face of the waters. We can allow geology the amplest time … without infringing even on the literalities of the Mosaic record.” He clearly shows he believes in an old earth and has no problem compromising scripture. The Gap theory really took off for a while when it was pushed by Cyrus I. Scofield in his Scofield Reference Bible published in 1917. The Gap theory said that there were two creations. The first was far in time past and then there was a gap of a long indeterminate time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Then they say God recreated or restored the ruined earth and then created everything in six literal 24 hour days. They say scripture says the earth was without form and void and thus had to have been destroyed. This is taken out of context as the original Hebrew as understood by the Jews was this just means it was not finished. Not all who believe in the Gap theory believe everything exactly alike. They say that when Lucifer and one third of the angels that rebelled with him against God, then they were thrown out of heaven to the earth and this is where Satan and his angels lived and they controlled it. Some say he ruled with a throne here before his fall. Views vary. Some even say there was a pre-Adamic race. This is unscriptural and again promotes evolutionary belief that man was a cave man and evolved into modern man.
The Gap theory believed by many allows for the long ages of science and evolution. True science has shown that the earth is young. The scientists of the Institute of Creation Research (ICR) have done great work on this. The book The Genesis Flood by John C. Whitcomb and Henry Morris is a great work on this showing how the flood was responsible for the many things we see such as the Grand Canyon. It also explains the Ice Age of which there was only one, not many as secular scientists believe. Dr. Kent Hovind’s great Creation Seminar Series also proves a young earth. This theory also puts doubts into scripture about dinosaurs. They are mentioned in scripture as dragons and one is behemoth, which was the largest sauropod to ever live as well as the largest land animal to ever live. False bibles try to deny dinosaurs were with man and say behemoth was a hippopotamus. The description is clearly something much larger. (Job 40:15-24 15 ¶ Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.)
Some of the reasons people say the Gap theory is true is because it says in Genesis 1:2 that the earth was without form and void. This was explained early that God was not finished with his creation. This is just like a potter who takes a lump of clay and makes something beautiful out of it. It starts out without form. (Genesis 1:1-2 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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.) The first act by God was to let there be light. Another issue is they say Satan rebelled prior to creation and him and the angels were created before the six days of creation. They are wrong on both accounts. Scripture does not give a clear answer on what day angels were created other than they were their watching God create at the foundations of the earth. There is disagreement on exactly what moment that it speaks of. Some say angels including Satan were created on day four when the stars where made as angels are often associated with stars in scripture. Whenever they were created, it was during the six days of creation because we are told everything was made in six days. Angels are everything. (Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?) (Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.) This verse also shows the earth could not have existed for billions of years before. Another complaint is that Satan and his angels rebelled prior to the six days of creation. We have shown that they were all created at some point on one of the six days. The reason Satan rebelled was because man was made in the image of God and given authority over the earth. In his pride he rebelled as he wanted to be God. We are told God said all was very good at the end of his creation. If Lucifer was already Satan and had rebelled, God would not say all was very good. (Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.)
The Gap theory has led to progressive creationism and to today’s theistic evolution. Progressive creationism says that God created new forms of life gradually over a period of hundreds of millions of years. They say this explains the fossil record. My God is powerful enough to create everything at once just as it is told in scripture. This minimizes Jesus who is the Creator.
Theistic evolution says God created everything by the Big Bang or something and then all of the rest of creation was by evolution. Just as in secular evolution which denies a God, theistic evolution promotes billions of years and all of the false so called science that evolution pushes such as death existed for millions of years long before man came out and survival of the fittest. This is not what scripture teaches. As I said death came about because of Adam’s sin and it is not every man for himself as pushed by the belief of evolution, secular or theistic evolution. As I said, if death was here before Adam, we do not have a sin nature and need of a Saviour and the death of Jesus on the cross was pointless. We would still die in sin and go to hell and the lake of fire. (Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:) This verse clearly shows there was no death before Adam.
Another newer break-off of these is called Intelligent Design. These people acknowledge the ridiculousness and stupidity of evolution. They admit that there are designs and patterns in creation and that there had to be a designer, they just do not see the designer is God. They just push it off, so it could be aliens or even Satan. This is dangerous thinking and will still land you in hell.
Another belief among professing Christians is the day age theory. This theory was pushed by the Scottish lawyer and geologist Charles Lyell around 1833. This man was a friend of Charles Darwin and influenced him and his evolution theory. This theory says the days in Genesis are not literal 24 hour days but are thousands, millions or billions of years depending on one’s beliefs. Just as in the Gap theory, not all agree on everything. The day age theory is an attempt by professing Christians to believe in God and still believe in evolution just as is done in theistic evolution or progressive creationism. Again as I mentioned above, my God is able to create quickly and not takes billions of years to create. This theory also promotes death before Adam denying the work done by Jesus for our salvation. Christians need to stop trying to compromise with the world and just believe what God said in the scriptures. Once you start compromising on one part of scripture, it never ends. It will lead to compromise in other areas of scripture. The Hebrew word for day used in the Genesis creation story just as in the rest of scripture always means a literal 24 hour period and has always been understood by the Jews in this way. There are cases in scripture where day can be different from 24 hours, but it is clearly seen in the verses, such as the daytime of a day is still called day. We do that ourselves even today, but people know what we are referring to. This theory says each day matches an age given by scientists such as the Cambrian Age, the Devonian Age (Age of Fish) or the Mezosoic Age (Age of Reptiles when dinosaurs supposedly lived.) By saying dinosaurs where not around with man again denies what scripture says. Some bibles such as the RSV (Revised Standard Version) actually promote this theory by changing in Genesis 1 from “the first day’ or “the second day”, etc. to “one day” or “a second day”. This denies they are literal 24 hour days and again the superiority of the King James Bible as God’s word.
Scripture clearly shows in Genesis that the earth is a little less than 6,000 years old. One can easily count up the ages of the patriarchs from Adam to Abraham seen in Genesis 5. We know when Abraham lived. There is a disagreement by a couple of hundred years when he lived, but it still is around 6,000 years. This is a big difference between 13.7 billion years for the universe and 4.6 billion years for the earth as promoted by evolution and some of these old earth creation theories. Scripture says the earth was created for man, not Satan and his angels. (Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.) We also know all of creation is to glorify God and was not before the earth. The sun and other stars and the moon were all created after the earth. They were made on day four as almost an after thought. (Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.) We also clearly see God made man and everything else. It did not evolve. (Genesis 5:1-2 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.) Scripture clearly teaches Jesus is our Creator. (Ecclessiastes 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;) (Isaiah 40:28 ¶ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.) We see in Ephesians and Colossians that Jesus created everything. (Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:) (Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:) For almost all of Christianity, believers and not believers believed in a young created world by God. Only in the last few hundred years has inroads been made to change this. True science has proven the young earth. We are warned in scripture about false science so widely seen today. (I Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:)
Scriptures clearly teaches God (Jesus) created everything about 6,000 years ago. The theories presented deny scripture that it is God’s word because they go against what is written. They lead to believing in evolution, deny need for salvation, and ultimately no need for God. Most of these theories agree with evolution in the order of things coming about. They say the sun was here before the plants. Scripture says plants were created on day three and the sun on day four. They say animals evolved or changed into higher animals. God’s word says animals reproduce after their own kind. They do not become another animal. Young earth creationism is a fact, not a theory. Christians just need to believe what God said in his word. For true Christians that promote these theories, we need to love them as a brother or sister in Christ, but rebuke them.
