Programming Note: We've designated next week's program, rsr.org/gap-theory, as our main resource for that topic. So if you listen to today's program, please consider it a preview for next week's program. Thanks!
Bob Enyart and Fred Williams discuss the idea that the Bible indicates that a long period of time transpired between the first two verses of Genesis. The guys first give a quick overview of the competing Day-Age Theory and then discuss the implications of the Gap Theory.
* The Day-Age Theory Consequences: The initial presentation of Day-Age might seem reasonable, that the word "day" can mean a long age and so Genesis accommodates an old earth. What isn't always presented upfront however is that as supporters try to maintain the Day-Age theory, they not only lengthen the days but then also:
- must rearrange the order of those days (since their theory requires the existence of the Sun before the Earth; of birds after land animals, etc.)
- reject that there were no thorns before Adam (as Genesis states)
- reject that there was no death before Adam's fall (as the Bible states)
- reject the global flood (and all the evidence for it)
- reject that the languages originated at Babel
- reject the Exodus (and all the evidence for it)
- reject Jericho's fall (and all the evidence for it)
- reject Joshua's conquest of Canaan
- reject Jesus' statement that God made man at the beginning of creation
- etc.
So it turns out that making a small adjustment in Genesis 1 and overlooking that "the evening and the morning" were the first day, the second day, etc., leads to extensive rejection of other plain historical passages of scripture. What then, arises, with the adoption of the Gap Theory? Bob and Fred investigate (see below).
* RSR's Multiple Creation Site Search: This single Google-based custom creation search already has saved Bob and Fred dozens of hours in research and made us much more effective. So we invite you to check out RSR's Multiple Creation Site Search.
* Order Fast If You'd Like Some Christmas Gifts: We recommend Walt Brown's In the Beginning (or buying a case of eight as Christmas gifts for only $100 including shipping)! And, you can browse the Science Department at our store!
* God Exists; Secular Theories of Origins Do Not: As filmed on the Pepperdine Campus...
* The Gap Theory Consequences: The initial presentation of the Gap Theory might seem reasonable, that a period of time transpired between the first two verses of the Bible and so Genesis accommodates an old earth. What isn't always presented upfront however is that as supporters try to maintain the Gap Theory, they not only insert a long period of time into Genesis 1 but then also:
- reject that there were no thorns before Adam (as Genesis states)
- reject that Lucifer became man's enemy at Eve's fall (and not before)
- minimize Noah's flood (claiming the biblical and scientific evidence for it was for Lucifer's flood)
- reject the Ten Commandments statement that "in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them" (Exodus 20:11; not even the Day-Age supporters outright reject this; they just claim, erroneously and with many resulting problems listed above, that those days were of long ages)
- reject Jesus' clear statement that God made us at "the beginning of creation" (not after millions of years)
- claim that God put a wicked agent in Eden (instead of it being "very good")
- claim falsely that "replenish the Earth" means to "plenish" again (as though repent meant to "pent" again)
- claim that Lucifer fell during a first "Earth age" (instead of when he became the enemy of God and man)
- reject that the "first man [was] Adam" as even the New Testament specifically states (claiming that men existed in the first "Earth age")
- reject that the crust of the Earth is the "firmament" of Day 2 with its waters below which flooded the Earth by "the fountains of the great deep" (rsr.org/firmament; however not only Gappers but many creationists miss this also)
- claim that there was a true global flood in the first "Earth age" and that it was Lucifer's flood (while rejecting that Noah's flood was worldwide)
- claim that the race of men killed in Lucifer's flood had no souls (because Jesus only died for those who sinned since Adam, and if the pre-adamic race of men had souls, Jesus would be cruel to not die for them too)
- claim that Peter omitted Noah's flood (and was referring to Lucifer's flood) when criticizing those who "willfully forget... the world... being flooded" (2 Peter 3:5-6)
- reject the mass of scientific evidence supporting a young earth including short-lived carbon 14 everywhere it's not supposed to be (like in coal, oil, marble, diamonds, dinosaur bones, etc. as at rsr.org/14c); soft tissue including blood cells in dinosaur bones (as at rsr.org/soft); flat gap uneroded boundaries between Grand Canyon layers (and around the world, as at rsr.org/gc); transient events of the solar system (as at rsr.org/transient); and see more at our youngearth.com and RSR's List of Not So Old Things!
- Etc.