Quest 1 - Views of Creation/Beginnings

Section: Atheistic Evolution

Atheistic Evolution

Evolution without God involved

Atoms, motion, chance combine accidentally to form the universe

Theory begun by Charles Darwin

Scopes Trial (1925) People

William Jennings Bryan - for creationism

Clarence Darrow - defend Scopes

John T. Scopes - on trial for teaching evolutionism

Scopes Trial (1925) Interpretation

Creationism is foolish

Evolution is view of intellectual elite

What are the implications of accepting an evolutionary theory of the world?

There is no God and man is not accountable to God regarding any moral structure

There are no moral absolutes other than society’s morals

Moral absolutes are determined by society

Man is responsible to himself for his own survival

There is some ancestral link between man and animals

Humanism

Worships man

Man is the highest order of being on the globe and must determine his own fate

Pantheism

Everything (pan) is god (theism)

Worships the earth

The world produced man and life is still evolving

Section: Theistic Evolution/Framework Evolution

Theistic Evolution/Framework Evolution

God created the first “molecule” and then started the evolutionary process

Genesis accounts are allegories of man’s need of God - The Bible does state that God created the world, but not how he created it

Response to Theistic Evolution/Framework Evolution

If chance, this view struggles to explain:

• man bearing the image of God

• The first sin - did pre-Adamic creatures not sin?

• Death by sin before man’s existence and fall

We reject Genesis 1-3 as allegory or parable. It is a historical narrative

Sabbath commandment is based on the creation account in Gen. 1

Inconsistency between natural and supernatural

The problem of Eve’s origin - evolving at the same rate?

How many passages other than Genesis 1-3 does Chafer claim talk about creationism?

About 75 passages

Section: Day Age Theory/Progressive Creationism/Concordist

Day Age Theory/Progressive Creationism/Concordist

Each day is not a 24-hour day, but a long period of time

Hebrew word “yom”

Can refer to a day or a period

Joel 2:30-32 - uses as a period of time

Sun and moon were not created until day 4

They cannot be used as measurements of time

Measuring role - begins day 4

Days 1-3 are not solar days

The appeal to similarity, not equality

The use of the 4th commandment to define length of day is not valid

Evening and Morning

Can be understood figuratively

Evening and morning = night not a complete day

Too many events on 6th day to fit 24 hours

Genesis 2:23 - “now” = “at last”

Implies Adam waited a long time for Eve

Proponents of Day Age Theory/Progressive Creationism/Concordist

Millard Erickson

William Jennings Bryan

Response to Day Age Theory/Progressive Creationism/Concordist

Exodus 20:10-11 - Rest on 7th day as God rested on 7th day

Adam’s cry, “at last,” can still be true as he spent the whole day naming the animals

Genesis 1:3-2:3

Response - Exodus 20:10-11

Appeal to equality, not similarity

Day means 24-hour period of time

Changes the significance of the word day in the middle of the passage if you do this

Making “yom” a long period of time breaks the parallel

Response - Genesis 1:3-2:3

“Yom” is numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)

Evening and morning - refer to the whole day

Section: The Ideal-Time Theory

The Ideal-Time Theory

Earth’s age - young

Earth’s appearance - old

Adam on his first day - 1 day old; looks older

Response to Ideal-Time Theory

Why would God deceive mankind to think that He used evolution to make the universe?

World has appearance of age - yes
World appears to be billions of years old - no

Section: Gap Theory

Gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2

• Verse 1 - God created world

• [Satan came down and introduced sin - result of judgment]

• [God destroyed creation but not planet - world left “without form and void”]

• Verse 2 - God recreates the world

Tohu Wawohu

“without form and void”

Has the idea of judgment

Jeremiah 4:23-26; Isaiah 24:1; 45:18

“Pre-Gap Theory”

Verse 1 - God’s recreation

Verse 2 - what happened before God’s recreation

Verse 3 - picks up the narrative of verse 1

No “gap” - everything occurred before verse 1

Response to Gap Theory

“Tohu wawohu” - can mean “unformed and unfilled”

Exodus 20:10-11 - God created the world in 6 days, not 12

Adam is the first man (Romans 5:12); No pre-Adamic race

Grammar of Genesis 1:1-2

Response: Grammar of Genesis 1:1-2

God created the heavens and the earth (independent clause)

• Earth was without form and void (dependent clause)

• Darkness over the face of the deep (dependent clause)

• Spirit of God was hovering (dependent clause)

Section: Literary Framework/Pictoral Day

Literary Framework/Pictoral Day

Genesis 1 does not document age of earth, but that God created it

God’s concerns: not chronology of creation, but theme of creation

The earth was disorderly and inhabitable. God brought order to the planet

Creation narrative is a “literary framework”

Days 1-3 are parallels to Days 4-6

Each set of days presents God’s answer to the earth’s disorderly condition

Response to Literary Framework/Pictoral Day

The correlation of the days faces challenges

Genesis 1 is a chronological recording of events

The Sabbath Day Command supports a chronological understanding of the events

Response: The correlation of the days faces challenges

Firmament was created on day 2 - so day 4 does not correlate well with day 1

Fish and birds inhabit the water in the land on day 5 - works better with day 3 since land and sea were created at that time

Section: Fiat Creationism/Literal Twenty-Four-Hour-Days

Fiat Creationism/Literal Twenty-Four-Hour-Days

God created everything in the original creation contra coming into existence through some process

God created the earth one time, in six days, with each day being a twenty-four-hour period

“Evening and morning” and Exodus 20:10, 11 demonstrate a creation day is 24 hours

Everything was created with the appearance of age and had maturity

Everything that could reproduce did so “after its kind” (Genesis 1:11, 12, etc.)

At the end of the creation week, God pronounced it perfect - no sin or death

Fiat

God created universe by decree. He spoke everything into existence