One version of “old earth
creationism” is the Gap Theory. It is quite widely held to, and is something I feel I should address.
This is the theory that there is a
“gap” of millions or even billions of years between Genesis 1:1
and the second verse.
“(1)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
-Gen
1:1-2
According to this theory (This is very
brief, and there are variations), God created the heavens and the
earth in 1:1, and all the animals, etc. Some variations even hold
that there was a race of men without souls in this first world. All
these creatures lived for millions of years, creating all the fossils
we see today. Satan then fell, and the earth was obliterated with a
global flood (not “Noah's”). Then verse two picks up with “The
earth was without form, and void...”. The proponents of this theory
say that the word normally translated “was” here (hebrew,
“hayah”) could also be translated “became” (While this is
true, context is everything here. In this context, there is no way
that it could be translated became). This would now say that the
earth became void and without form. God then proceeded to recreate
the world, the one we know now.
The only reason for this theory is to
try to fit man's idea of evolution into the God's Word. A careful
reading of Genesis, and the rest of the Bible, for that matter, gives
no evidence for this theory.
There are several problems with this
theory. First, it requires death and suffering before the fall, and
the Bible states that “...sin
came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned...” I think everyone
would agree that that “one man” refers to Adam. The Bible makes
it clear in this passage, and others, that death and disease were
punishment for sin. How, then, could there be millions of years of
death, decay, and suffering before sin? This, in my opinion, is the
biggest problem with this theory.
Exodus
20:11 says that the Lord made the heavens and the earth in six days.
According to the gap theory, the Lord made the heavens and the earth
in one day, then millions of years, then six more days. Since the
days in that verse refer to six 24-hour days, there is not much room
for millions of years there.
1
Cor. 15:45 states that Adam was the first man. This discredits any
theories of a race of men in this “gap world”.
Another
problem is that if the fossil record was laid down during this gap
period and its accompanying flood, it leaves no room for the flood of
Genesis 6-9 to leave any traces. According to them, this “second”
worldwide, catastrophic flood left no trace. Odd.
And
lastly, as I argued in a previous post, there is just a lot of
evidence for a young earth, and not for an old one. This is evidence
against the gap theory.
In
conclusion, I would advise anyone holding to this theory to seriously
reconsider it, weighing it with the Bible, letting the Bible be the
authority, not man's opinions. If a theory contradicts the Bible, it
is the theory that is in the wrong. You may think that this is not a
big deal, but it is. Undermining the origin of sin is undermining the
very reason for salvation. Think about it.
