Creation Compromises

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Creation Compromises

Gap Theory, Theistic Evolution, Progressive Creation

www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/compromise.asp

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What is the gap theory?
The gap theory is an attempt by some Christian theologians to make Genesis fit the popular belief that the universe is exceedingly old. Gappists believe in a literal Genesis, but accept an extremely long age (undefined) for the earth. To reconcile these views, they fit the geological ages between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1. However, they are opposed to evolution.

According to Weston W. Fields, author of the definitive anti-gap book Unformed and Unfilled, the traditional or classical gap theory can be summarized as follows: ‘In the far distant dateless past God created a perfect heaven and perfect earth. Satan was ruler of the earth which was peopled by a race of ‘men’ without any souls. Eventually, Satan, who dwelled in a garden of Eden composed of minerals (Ezekiel 28), rebelled by desiring to become like God (Isaiah 14). Because of Satan’s fall, sin entered the universe and brought on the earth God’s judgment in the form of a flood (indicated by the water of 1:2), and then a global Ice Age when the light and heat from the sun were somehow removed. All the plant, animal, and human fossils upon the earth today date from this ‘Lucifer’s flood’ and do not bear any genetic relationship with the plants, animals and fossils living upon the earth today ...’ (Ref. 6, p. 7). Today’s creatures are a result of a 6-day recreation.

Note, however, that recently a new type of gap theory has surfaced in which there is no ruin or reconstruction; proponents just postulate a lengthy time gap only, with either ancient stars, an ancient earth, or both.

More...
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i2/beginning.asp

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Exodus 20:11 says, ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is …’ This is the definitive verse outside Genesis concerning the time frame of creation. It states categorically that God created everything in six days. There is just no allowance for a gap.6

Romans 5:12 states, ‘… by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin …’ Adam was created on Day Six, but the classical gap theory says there was death during the gap before Day One. Not so, according to the Apostle Paul! This verse plainly says that death entered the world because of (and so after) Adam’s sin. There is nothing to restrict this verse to human death; on the contrary, Romans 8:20 says that the whole creation was made ‘subject to vanity’. Death could not therefore have been in the world (with fossils killed in the alleged ‘Lucifer’s flood’) before Adam sinned. Gappists must therefore say that Romans 5:12 and Genesis 3:3 refer only to spiritual death. This is not so. Adam began to die physically (Hebrew: ‘dying you will die’, that is, the process of dying would begin—Genesis 3:19, completed in Genesis 5:5), and he also died spiritually.7 Jesus experienced both physical death and spiritual death (Matthew 27:46) for us on the cross. See also 1 Corinthians 15:21–22.

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Since God made the plants on Day 3 of Creation and The Sun on Day 4, if the gap theory were true and each creation day were long periods of time, this would leave plants to fend for themselves without the sun for millions of years. We know that plants cannot live without the sun.

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The Days of Creation were literally 24 hour time periods. The definition of the Hebrew word for "day" is YOM-evening and morning or 24 hours. Whenever the word "yom" is used in scripture, it means 24 hours. Yom was used 359 times outside the book of Genesis to mean a 24 hour time period too. There is no doubt that the Creation week was each day a 24 hour event. God even set up the 24 hour day for us as a refernce to time. God is of course outside of time.

Note:
The Hebrew word for day
(yom) is used 2301 times in the Old Testament.

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Answers for Kids
by Dan Lietha and Stacia Byers

Six Days

Exodus 20:11 says, 'For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day … .' From this verse, it seems clear that God created all things in just six normal-length days, doesn't it? And yet, there are many who say that God created over millions of years, or that He used the process of evolution to bring about the universe we see today.

So, why do we believe that, according to Genesis 1, God created in six normal-length days? To understand the answer to this, we need to learn some Hebrew—the language Moses used to compile the book we call 'Genesis', under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is important that we understand what Moses originally wrote, because those are the words God inspired.

The Hebrew word for 'day' is <wy (pronounced 'yom'). This word can have many meanings—a period of daylight, time, a specific point in time, a year, or a period of 24 hours (actually, much like the word 'day' in English). Yom is the word used in Genesis 1 when God describes what He created on each day.

So, how do we know which definition of yom Moses meant in Genesis 1? The meaning depends on the context—the words surrounding yom. When the phrase 'evening and morning' or a number is used with yom, throughout the Old Testament, it refers to a 'period of 24 hours'—a normal-length day, not 'time' in general, or a 'year', or 'millions of years'.

Both 'evening and morning' and a number are used with yom in Genesis 1 (look up verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), so we know it refers to a day of regular length. It is as if God wanted to remove any doubt, so he defined the word yom all six times He used it.

Because of the words of Scripture, we can be confident that God didn't take millions of years, or use evolution, but created the universe in six real days, and rested on the seventh.

So how old is the Earth?
By carefully studying the genealogies (lines of descent) given in the Bible (see Genesis 5 and 11, for example) and a few other carefully chosen Bible dates, we discover that the universe is around 6,000 years old—not 'billions of years'!

more here
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i1/kids.asp