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Gap theory, and why it does not work with the word of God.
The gap theory is man's way of discrediting God's six day creation. In the Gap theory, it is said there is a Gap in time between verses one and two in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 1
| In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. |
| 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. |
Because verse 2 starts off with the earth being without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, it is thought that the earth had been destroyed and replenished. They also say that the wording in Genesis 1:28 supports this.
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And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and "replenish" the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. |
All that the Gap theory hinges on, is these three verses. No where else in God's word is there made any reference to any of time frame before or after the creation in Genesis. Before words became many in number, with many definitions. A lot of words meant different things than they do now. The word "replenish" as used in Genesis, meant to fill, not to refill. This is where the notion for the Gap theory got started. It was also an attempt, by man, to try and explain why science was finding things older than the Bible time-line. Being that science would not present false information.
The words form, void and darkness hold the key to the answer to the Gap theory.
We will start with darkness first. Darkness is in God's word 143 times. And is often used to describe something without light. But there is another meaning that is a spiritual meaning.
| Let "darkness" and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the "blackness" of the day terrify it. |
| As for that "night", let "darkness" seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. |
| Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; |
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A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. |
| They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. |
| If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. |
| He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. |
| When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. |
| For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. |
| Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; |
From all the illustrations above (I did not use all there was), we can see that darkness can have several meanings. In Job 3:5, we see that darkness and the shadow of death are put together. In Job 3:6, we see that night can be separate from darkness. In Job 10:21, we see darkness as a place that has death connected to it. In Job 10:22, we see a more description of this place, as hell would be described. In Job 17:12, we see that darkness can affect the light of day. In Job 17:13, we see darkness with another reference to death, a grave. In Job 18:18, we see darkness as a place out of this world. In Job 30:26, we see good being referred to as light, and evil being referred to as darkness. In Psalms 18:28, we see darkness as a state of confusion. In Proverbs 2:13, we see that to leave the ways of uprightness, is to walk into darkness.
Then we have the word void.
Void is used to express something worthless. But a description of something, besides the earth, is also used else where in God's word.
| And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a "void" place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. |
| In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. |
In Kings 22:10, we see a "place" that is made a reference to, as being void. In Proverbs 10:13, we see that void is being referred to as being confused or uneducated.
Then we have the word form.
Form is used, in the word of God, to describe some thing's shape. Or a "completed work" such as creation.
Good vs evil?
Now a question. Can good exist without evil when not in Heaven? Nope. When Satan was cast out of Heaven, God had to cast Satan somewhere, right? So if evil is referred to as darkness (spiritual). And God had to move His spirit across the waters before He could say: "Let there be light". What was God doing? Spirit is not mentioned anywhere else in the creation except Genesis 1:2, 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. God was putting Satan and his angels in their place before He could complete His creation. So the darkness referred to is Satan. The light referred to is God taking care of business (warring or having strife) with Satan so He could complete his creation. God used His spirit as an example of this in Genesis 6:3, And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Here we see God saying that He uses his spirit to strife. So when God's spirit moved across the waters of darkness, He was at strife with darkness (Satan). God's light separated good from evil (light from darkness, good from evil) such as Genesis 1:4, And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Opinion:
The reason I say that Genesis 1:1-2, is a spiritual battle, is that God has not created anything physical to produce any light yet. And since God is light, And God used His spirit in this part, but no other part of creation. Then he must be warring with Satan to separate the spiritual light from the spiritual darkness so that His creation can dwell upon the earth.
The Gap Theory part 2
First I'm going to list the verses.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 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.
Now the answer to this is simple. For there to be a separation, God would have voiced it in some manner. But, what does verse 2 start off with? The word "and". "And" connects verses 1 and 2 together. It's like you "and" me reading this web page. "And", means we are together as much as those two verses.
But, what would have God said if there was to be a separate? The word "but". Put "but" in the place of "and", and see. Or just not use the word "and".
In fact the word "but" is never used in the whole first chapter of Genesis. It is first mentioned in Genesis chapter 2:6. Why was "but" left out of the creation? Because God wanted to show that it all went together and that His creation was all connected into 6 days and He rested on the seventh.
In fact, the word "and" starts every verse in Genesis chapter 1 except 2 verses. It's not mentioned in verse one because there's nothing before 1 to connect to. And in verse 27, God was creating man. A creation that was different from everything He had created before. So He was illustrating this, by not using "and" when He created man. To do so would have made man on the same level as the animals He just got finished creating in the 2 previous verses. Would you want to be on the same level as an animal in the eyes of God?
So we see the importance of the word "and". We also see that there was no difference in what God created until He created man. The only thing that was created with a soul.
"And" is mentioned 99 times in the first chapter of Genesis. Sounds like a bunch of connecting going on during creation. Remember, there's "ands" but no "buts" in God's creation.
1co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
When we try to make God's word fit into what science would have us do, we make God's word look foolish, and make ourselves foolish. For to do so, when we know better, we allow ourselves to be confused by it. And as we search for the truth of god's word, we are amazed that we cannot find it. For it is because God's word does not work through science to explain how things were done. For God's word works through His Divine ways that no man knoweth but is welcome to find if he will only trust in God and forget the foolish things of this world.
Changing God's word affects the past, present and future?
As time goes on, new information is always found. Such as science saying the earth is older than what God's word says. We can find all kinds of things to support this. Which does not take much faith because what is there can been seen. It only takes faith in what is seen, and the information that comes from what is seen, as being correct. This is where faith is now being put more towards an object, than the word of God. All objects (evidence) tells a story. But only if someone witnessed the events. This is where faith in an object overrides the word of God in the minds of men. Man has to determine what he "thinks" happened with the object spoke of, according to what he sees and observes. Plus some testing. But does this bring enough evidence to override what is written?
To say that it does, does a couple of things to change the reality of God's word. For believers, it makes them doubt all that they have been taught. Doubt and faith do not go together very well. For those who believe in God's word in a literal sense, it destroys their faith also. For how can we believe in something or someone, if we can't do it totally and undenying?
Science is study to find out more about the things around us, and to discover new things. The things around us were all created by God. So why study them unless your looking to do something beyond the word. Something to disprove what God did. Has science gone in the direction to God, or away from God?
But what does new information do to believers from the past? Let's go back 500 years. Most Bible believing children of God believed in God's word totally. Believed six day creation totally. Now new information, says that this is wrong. If it is wrong, and there can be only one truth, what does this do to all before this new information came out? For if God's word was not true, from the creation, then a lie was believed and taught by everyone before the new information (the earth is old) came out. In other words, they believed a lie, and taught a lie.
So when someone mocks God in this manner (making His word lie, which in turn makes God a liar), how are they forgiven? They cannot repent of a sin that they know not of, so they don't. But they have also taught this lie in front of many, and have convinced many to believe it. So in others words, everyone before the new evidence were lying about the creation as it is written in the word of God. So, is our faith strong enough in this new evidence (the earth is old) to say this thing about all believers before the new evidence? For there can be only one truth, which makes everyone else a liar, right?
I don't have enough faith, in science, to look back through history and call everyone who believed that God created in days a liar. This also means that through out history, Satan has already won. Why? He was able to hide the truth to deceive everyone, before truth was made known (the new evidence), to believe the lie of creation in days.
So to break this down:
If the old earth theory is correct: Everyone who believes in creation of days believes in a lie. Everyone who teaches creation in days is teaching lies. And everyone who has ever taught creation in days, from past history, also lied and taught lies. And because of this lie being taught, it makes the Devil look more superior to God for being able to deceive all of God's people for so long.
If the creation in days is correct: Everyone from the past and present who taught days of creation where correct ( a lot of people). Which makes God more superior than Satan, because Satan did not decieve God's people all these years. And this only makes the new evidence untrue, and not everyone through past history a liar about the word of God.
So to believe one or the other, is calling everyone else a liar. When only one can be true. And there's only one that makes everything look in favor of the enemy. And the other in favor of God.
Changing what has always been, in the word of God, also changes what has already happened. For when truth is redefined, even with new evidence, we not only change the direction of the word of God (what truth is), but we also change it's out come (the ending). For what we change the word of God with, would also have to be included on judgement day (if it is deemed to be true in the eyes of God). For if all new evidence is true, then all from the past sinned and will be judged on that sin. For what they believed to be true.
This is why God said: I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (past, present, future).
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