GINOLJC. not saying that those who promote the gap theory is right or wrong, I just I don't support this theory. I must abide in the truth of the scriptures. A. the earth itself is over several thousands, or even billions of years. I came to this conclusion from the bible itself. understand, the bible only records the fallen state of mankind into sin. it's a record of fallen man. but on the other hand it tells us much more information that what we actually see on the pages. A day in the bible is not based on a 24 hr system. a Day in the bible could be thousands or billions of years. example, Genesis 1:3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. verse 4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. verse 5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day". ok, right here, God himself defines for us what a "day" is. in his creation account. God calls a "day" light, re-read verse 5. now tell me how long a time is "LIGHT"?. But I warn you, Light here have nothing to do with physical or natural time, as in a 24hr day. another clue to a day in creation comes in Genesis 2:4 "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens". my first question how long is a "CREATION, GENERATION DAY?" here, a generation, the word alone means a history. a history means the study of past events, particularly in human affairs. so a day in creation is an event that God did in creation, not a time. so no one can put a time limited on any of the "EVENTS" in the creation account. so giving the benefit of the doubt on all sides, an event that God did in creation could happen over a period of what we call time. that time could be thousand, billions, or God could create in a instance, in a nanosecond. we just don't know. but based on what the bible do say it was a process of events. because if not, we wouldn't have events after event 1-6 & 7. I reject the gap theory for the very word they used to support the theory, H8414 תֹּהוּ tohuw (to'-hoo), and H922 בֹּהוּ bohuw (bo'-hoo). these words are also found in Jeremiah 4:23 which they try to prove their point. but if they would just research out all the meaning of the word "EARTH" there in Jeremiah 4:23 it would reveal the truth here in Jeremiah 4:23 and the two prior hebrews words used there. it also means "Land", especially a local land. example, H776 ’eres. first usage, can be “EARTH”. but usage #2, of this same word can be translated as LAND, and does not only denote the entire terrestrial planet, but is also used of some of the earth's component parts. English words like land, country, ground, and soil transfer its meaning into our language. example, "the LAND of Egypt," "the LAND of the Philistines," "the LAND of Israel," "the LAND of Benjamin," and so on. So we can clearly see from the above scripture and definitions that Jeremiah was talking only about a certain LAND on the EARTH, and not the entire planet. As definition #2 states, “it refers to an area occupied by a nation or tribe”, in this case Judah. Because verse 23 states, “The whole LAND shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end”. The LAND was Judah, and not the entire planet, just read the total context of the chapter.
so we really don't know how old the earth really is. but again I base my facts on the bible. this record, our bible is only a record of our several thousand of years in sin. now the big question, "how long wevolved from anas Adam and Eve having children in the garden without sin, before they had Cain and Abel outside the garden in sin". how long?, a thousand, even millions, or billions. now the bible clearly states that man was "formed" before the animals. read that statement again. and if animals have been here, according to science, billions then man have been here longer. this destroys any gap theory.
I believe in the bible totally. but science is supporting the bible completely. it's just our understanding, or the lack of understand the bible is the problem.
and last, believing that man was "FORMED" before the animals, this eliminates Darwin theory of evolution that man evolved from animals. no man was here before any animals, or any gras, or any herb, or before any fruit tree. source of supportive scripture, Genesis 1:9-13, and Genesis 2:4-7.
P.S. Remember man was here before the Garden of Eden.