The Record of Creation

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 23

The Third Day continued.

Now we turn to the ring and canopy theory which has been able to assign clear and logical causes to some of earth’s “mysteries” to see if it can shed any light on this perplexing problem. Again, let us start with the carbon atom and see what pure philosophy would require. We found that very probably carbon was formed from nitrogen during the process of fission and fusion which must have attended the early period of the formation of earth’s materials. We find that carbon is one of the common elements in earth’s crust (the 15th most abundant element), and is included in some form in the deposits of every age, although in bulk it comprises a very small percent of the deposited material, being grouped in with all others that make up 1%. However, in keeping with the law of arrangement of materials according to weight, we would expect the heavier, denser carbons to be deposited first and the lightest carbon last. We would expect the greater deposits in every age to be toward the Polar Regions, and that such deposits would indicate that they were water-laid.

As the collapse of the canopies brought down earth materials on both sea and land, that which was dropped on water would be separated according to specific gravity, and the heavier carbon crystals would sink before the lighter ones, and the lighter ones would move with the currents and the tides further than the heavier ones, but finally come to rest, water-laid. The heavier carbon crystals sinking faster than particles of clay or other material would have less extraneous matter deposited with them than the lighter carbons. Being laid in water, they might well take down with them small organisms or floating vegetation.

Thus, on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. we should find the denser coal with less ash content (anthracite) farther east, and the lighter coal, with more ash content (bituminous) further inland, and these beds should diminish in both thickness and quality from their eastern to their western limits. This area was the continental shelf, and under the waters of the Atlantic Ocean during the carboniferous period, and carbon falling into the sea would have been carried by tidal action toward the shores. Note the coal measures still under the sea around the south of the British Isles. East of the Appalachian Range the coal should have been laid down with marine (salt water) fossils, but nearer to the land we would expect refuse from the land vegetation washed down to the sea, and saturated with water, it should have sank to the bottom where the carbon was. Somewhere we would expect in view of the glacial period following the rupturing of a canopy, to find *loess mixed with the carbon, like mud.

This condition should be found in the great central basin with its fairly quiet waters (The North American Inland Sea shown below) rather than in the restless churning waters of the ocean. Along the east side of the Rocky Mountains we would expect to find some anthracite coal and west of that bituminous coal. But whatever anthracite is found, it would not be beyond our expectations to find it where bituminous coal predominates. Since even on the interior of the continents, coal was water-laid during periods of glacial movement, we would expect this period to be of violence and mountain making. These processes involve not only North America, but the whole earth at the same time. Note: The great central basin is in actually comprised of five individual basins.

*Loess is a sedimentary deposit composed largely of silt-size grains that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 24

The Third Day continued.

Let us visualize a canopy formed overhead, with no blue sky appearing. The underside of the canopy is beyond 20,000 miles above us, and with sunlight filtering through; it reveals many shades of grey as well as colors of brighter hues. This liquid mass forming in the carboniferous age must contain carbon as the base for the coal beds, and it must also have bitumen, and other materials that are attracted to carbon. Otherwise the coal would not have formed but would have been graphite.

Coal contains many elements besides carbon. The carbon might be present in various forms beside black crystals, as gas in carbon dioxide probably in water solution, as a white substance in combination with calcium, eventually to become limestone, and other possible combinations. Along with the carbon we would expect to find other earth materials such as silica, sodium, alumina, and of course ample water. As the canopy moves poleward, some of the heavier spots may leave the rest and plunge eastward, but the greater mass awaits the breaking at the equator, and then over a matter of days all of that canopy comes to earth, the liquid parts in polar regions as ice and snow mixed with earth material, in the equatorial regions as rain mixed with other matter. Do you see now why the larger beds of coal are toward the poles? How coal can be water-laid between layers of glacial drift? Why coal seams are intercalated by deposits of water-laid rock? Why on the Atlantic Seaboard we would expect anthracite deposits farther east, and the lighter bituminous farther inland, where the seashore or bays once were?

As we had stated before the three primary elements necessary to the production of coal according to the vegetation theory are, heat, pressure, and time, Time being the essential element.

“Since the beginning of man’s history, he has always acknowledged some divinity greater than himself. In man’s original conception this divinity was an all-wise, all-powerful creative being. Later, man divided up his conceptions of the attributes of divinity into polytheism, endowing each of his gods with certain powers, prerogatives, and duties. Among the Greeks and Romans there was a rather inferior god who was seldom mentioned, but to whom was assigned certain important duties. To the Greeks, he was Chronos, to the Romans, Tempus.

When the scientists of the present age rejected the thought of an intelligent creator-god, they bowed down before the altar of Chronos, for here was a god, while not intelligent, was at least mathematical, and since he was the personification of Time, here was a god who could supply all the time necessary to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Having at his disposal infinite time, Chronos could produce beds of material out of older material in which the newly deposited material had never existed. How? Time! Chronos could take primeval carbon and carrying it through the hydro-carbons of plant life, could convert it into fuel carbon in our coal beds. (That is He could in the Polar Regions, even if He failed to do it in the tropics.) How? Why, Time!

There is one thing about the Ring and Canopy theory as regards time that seems to be in its favor? It is not predicated upon any length of time. While naturally it rejects the theory of Bishop Usher (and the thought of literal 24-hour days of creation), it can also reject just as strongly the sacred cows of the cult of Chronos (who ascribe hundreds of millions of years to creation, note we refer not to the creation of the earth itself, but to the preparation of the earth for the arrival of man). The older concepts of evolution and vegetable coal among others saw the inherent weaknesses and their great need for this old-new god with vast periods of time in order to permit time to perform miracles without being miraculous. But the Ring and Canopy theory requires only such time as will permit the operations of natural law. Since either a short or a long period of time will fit in the frame work of this theory, depending on facts, we can take a very natural view of the controversy, and make our inquiry only with a desire to ascertain the real facts, and not to fit the various guesses offered as theories.

Did you ever stop to think that Time as such is non-existent except here on earth? (Amongst finite beings) We measure time by the events of the earth, its rotation on its axis, the phases of the moon, the swing of the earth around the sun, and the gradual movement of the sun through the various signs of the zodiac at the time of the spring equinox, all of these very short periods of eternity. As we move out into space such time ceases, and we are literally in a timeless universe.

For a more in debt examination of the much of what we have presented, please see “Rings and Canopies, Biblical Geology and the Vailian Theory” By F. L. Parsons

In our next post we will move on to the forth “day” or epoch.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 25

A recap to bring us up to speed:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We are told that the qualifying “the” does not appear in the Hebrew, and that hence a more accurate translation would be “a beginning.”

“Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” At first the earth was a mass or molten ball of energy, and as an earth it was as yet, unformed, and as far as life was concerned, empty-void. Then we saw that the water and gaseous matters were thrown away from the center core by the great heat generated from this newly forming world, forming a great cloud, or deep, around that core. Since there would be too much earthly material in this deep for the sun’s rays to penetrate to the surface of the core, it would have been true that “darkness was upon the [inside] face of the deep,” even though the sun shown upon the outside, even as it now does upon the planets which still have their canopies.

By this time the waters upon the earth, a boiling steaming mass would have completely cover the surface of the earth at a depth that would have conceal any light generated from under sea volcanoes and or rifts in the earth’s crust.

“And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.” Whatever may be the theological view of this matter, you will note that the outer surface of the canopy and the rings, largely composed of water, would have been in the bright sunshine, while great masses of earth material was suspended for a time because of the heat rather than rotation, in the space between the core and the lowest canopy, a space roughly 22,000 miles in depth.. Here the word “spirit” is used in the sense of power, and the sun’s rays have had a powerful effect on the events that were to prepare earth for a habitation.

You will note that in this picture we have not shown any rings about the planet, the reason is because there is much debate as to whether or not the earth ever had any such rings, although we believe that it was possible, there are still many variables to consider, first and foremost would be how far within the Roche limit any rings developed.

The Roche limit or radius, is the distance within which a celestial body, held together only by its own gravity, will disintegrate due to a second celestial body’s tidal forces exceeding the first body’s gravitational self-attraction. Inside the Roche limit, orbiting material disperses and forms rings whereas outside the limit material tends to coalesce. (The belief is that after Theia’s collision with the earth most of the material ejected from the impact was forced outside the Roche limit thus eventually coalescing into our moon).

Now as to those “rings” which were supposedly circling above the canopy these would have been the results of the expansion of earthly materials when the earth was at white heat, these materials having been reduced to a gaseous state would have expanded and rose high into the atmosphere, the effect then upon a mass of vapors revolving around the earth would be to throw the outer vapors into rings above the equator.

Although it is true that most currently known transiting extrasolar planets are too close to their parent stars to support icy rings it is nevertheless believed that a significant fraction of them could harbor ring particles made of rock or silicates. Silicates constitute the majority of Earth’s crust, precisely what was turned to a gaseous state and revolving around the earth at the time.

But what could have caused these rings to descend upon the earth? Does not natural law say that a body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force? So what force could have caused the decline of these rings? There are several.

“Orbital decay can be caused by a multitude of mechanical, gravitational, and electromagnetic effects. For bodies in a low Earth orbit, the most significant effect is the atmospheric drag.” (Atmospheric drag, is the lowest altitude above the Earth at which an object in a circular orbit can complete at least one full revolution without propulsion, this is estimated at 150 km or 90 miles above the surface).

“An orbit can also decay by tidal effects when the orbiting body is large enough to raise a significant tidal bulge on the body it is orbiting and is either in a retrograde orbit (reverse orbit) or is below the synchronous orbit (geosynchronous orbit or GEO). The resulting tidal interaction saps momentum from the orbiting body and transfers it to the primary’s rotation, lowering the orbit’s altitude until frictional effects come into play.” (Orbital decay: Orbital decay - Wikipedia)

Tidal forces between the earth and the moon could likewise have had an effect, remember the moon was once much closer to the earth than it is now, but as it slowly moved away the tidal forces of the earth would far outweigh those of the moon and thus emit a far greater effect upon the rings, possibly destabilizing their orbit leading to orbital decay.

And then there is the, Poynting-Robertson drag. This is not as much a concern to the gas giants and their ring systems which reside far from the sun, but it is expected to be significant factor on any ring system revolving around an extrasolar planet. Poynting-Robertson drag has the effect of causing the orbit of a ring particle to decay.

“Orbital debris will be acted upon by radiation forces (photon thrust) as well as by gravitation. Solar radiation pressure and the Poynting–Robertson effect are the best known of all the radiation forces. Poynting–Robertson is a V/c effect (where V is the speed and c is the speed of light); it causes orbit decay for dust or ice particles orbiting a luminous body.

The Poynting–Robertson effect is most commonly applied to small particles orbiting the Sun, but it also applies to particles orbiting planets as well as moons, comets, and asteroids, since these all reflect visible light and emit in the infrared.”

As stated there are many variables to be considered, and since none of us were there we can only speculate.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 26

And on the first day, the Lord said, “Let there be light,’ and there was light.” The first falls of material were the heavy massive deposits of the Azoic Age, and with these materials out of the atmosphere, the light could penetrate through the canopies which had formed far out from the core, and of course the rings (?) shadowed only the equatorial regions.

“And God called the light day,’ and the darkness He called night,’ and there was evening and there was morning, one day.” In this text, the first use of the word “day” appears, and since Bishop Usher insisted that all “days” mentioned in Genesis were 24-hour days, we note that in its first use, only the light of a period is described as “day,” and the “dark” is not included. So we go to the Hebrew to see just what Moses intended in translating this passage. We find that both of the words “day” in the above passage are from the Hebrew “yom” or “yome.” This word is translated into English as “age, ever, everlasting, always, continually, evermore, life, as long as, perpetually, day, season, year, space, process of time,” etc. (See Strong’s Concordance or Scott and Liddell’s Lexicon.)

In other words, it refers to any period of time, the length of that period to be determined from the context, or simply as an “indefinite period.” We use the word day in English much the same way. A “day” of work may be six, eight or ten hours. The “day” (daylight) varies in length with the latitude. Every “calendar day” is on earth 48 hours. Hitler’s “day” was not as long as Victoria’s “day.”

Now why in the text above does it mention “evening” first?

Because as was stated in the second verse there was darkness to begin with (“…and darkness was upon the face of the deep”), and with the fall of the Azoic material during that first “yom,” it became lighter and that period was termed morning. The Jews to this day commence their yom of 24 hours as at sunset, so that evening comes first and the morning as the second half, perhaps an unwitting, but nevertheless, a constant commemoration of the ring and canopy system.

This first yom makes no mention of life, and there was none in the Azoic Age, and even in the next yom, the Paleozoic Age, life was so unimportant, that it is not mentioned in the Genesis account (This however does not imply that there was none). Of this second yom the write stated, “Let there be a firmament [an expanse or separation] in the midst of the water.” That is, “Let there be a space with atmosphere between the waters.”

“And let it [the atmosphere] divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters that were under the firmament [the waters already on the surface of the earth] from the waters which are above the firmament [in the canopies and rings], and it was so.” And we will agree that it was so. Surely by the close of the Paleozoic Age all the atmosphere was cleared of water and earth material and the residue was held in the rings and canopies, creating a vast space of separation. “And there was evening and there was morning, a second yome.”

Again, we see that with the additional falls of earth material in the Paleozoic Age that the light would be less in the beginning of the age than in the close, especially in view of the fact that that age closed with a heavy downfall of ice, and a glaciated period, which indicates the rupture and fall of one of the heavier canopies.

From the ninth to the thirteenth verse is sketched the work of the Carboniferous Age, during which insects appeared on land, and the trilobites in the seas. The Genesis account assigns the formation of the continents to the third yom, or period, and certainly they must have been formed before life of any kind could be established there. We do not know just where the writer of Genesis begins or ends his “yoms,” and even our modern geologists are rather vague about the exact endings, for from another view it was one continual operation. So it seems sufficient to note that in general the Genesis account agrees with *the seven divisions of time, and the work of each yom coincides closely with the accomplishments of each Age.

We note that the grasses and herbs “yielded their seed,” so at least one full season would be required, and not a single 24-hour day, nor is there anything to preclude that this “indefinite period of time” was thousands of years. The choice of the word “yom” seems to be very appropriate; it is still an indefinite period of time. We also note that the law of fixity of species is mentioned with the first mention of life, and nothing has ever been found to disprove that statement.

In our next post we will take a quick look at the “seven divisions of time” previously mentioned.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 27

THE SEVEN DIVISIONS OF TIME

Although science has renamed several of these as well as having divided them into more specific groups nevertheless the basic lists is as follows.

Day 1: the Azoic Age presently referred to as the Archean or Archeozoic era (age without life) the earth formless and void (of life).

Day 2: the Paleozoic Age divided by modern science into six geologic periods (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian) According to science this age opened with the “Cambrian Explosion,” a period which saw the arrival of some of the earliest forms of sea life, specifically invertebrates (animals having an exoskeleton or external skeleton), trilobites, inarticulate brachiopods, monoplacophoran molluscs, hyolithids, archaeocyathids (sponge-like reef builders) shell-fish and etc..

With the foregoing we are not in disagreement as the scriptures are silent on when exactly the earliest forms of life first appeared. Reason dictates that the earliest forms of life would begin first in the sea with various forms of bacteria such as Cyanobacteria (the first oxygen producers), sponges, seaweed, and algae which would naturally precede the arrival of the higher forms of sea life both invertebrate (the before mentioned) and vertebrates such as fish. Not only was it necessary that the seas first become oxygenated, but likewise that a well-established food chain should be fully established before the arrival of such higher forms of life.

Day 3: the Carboniferous Age. You will note that modern science puts the Devonian age prior to the Carboniferous age; however as Christians we believe that the Word of God supersedes the wisdom of man, and so we will go with the Word of the Lord on this one. Actually putting the Carboniferous age before the Devonian age in no way interferes with what was believed to have transpired during these different periods.

It was during the third day that land first appeared from the waters, and having done so the Lord called the dry land earth, and the waters he called seas. Now take note of the next verse, Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth tender sprout-age, the herb yielding seed after its kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, upon the earth…” No mention is made of letting the seas bring forth any such plant life, and yet we know that the seas likewise contain plant life, specifically Phytoplankton, algae’s, seaweed, kelp and etc. In fact Phytoplankton, including diatoms and algae, are not only the most numerous plants in the ocean, but also one of the most numerous organisms in the world. Since no mention is made of sea plants we can rightly conclude that such already existed prior to day three.

It is believed that insects first appeared during the carboniferous age that they evolved from a group of crustaceans. Crustaceans form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, woodlice and barnacles.

Day 4: the Devonian Age (likewise known as the age of fish). Although the scriptures seem to imply that it was during the next day or period in which the waters were to abound with an abundance of living creatures, this is not necessarily a restrictive statement, the likelihood that the earliest predecessors to the fish we have today cartilaginous fish and bony-fish may have had their beginnings here. It was during this age too that the first amphibians appeared (frogs, toads, salamanders and etc.).

Day 5: the Reptilian Age. Here the oceans saw their most abundance of life, fish and every other sea creature. Reptiles and birds likewise appeared. The statement, “Let the waters bring forth…” like that of Verse 11, “Let the earth bring forth”, abundantly according to their kind does not preclude a measure of evolution in respects to these lower forms of life under divine supervision. “Possibly an evolutionary process by which the lower creation developed up to the point where they reached fixity of class, nature, genera as divinely intended.”

Each kind could evolve as necessary to the environment in which it existed, but in no way could it change its kind from one kind to another kind. A mackerel cannot turn into a shark no more than a palm tree turn into a pine tree, or a sparrow into an eagle, the law of fixity of species prevents this.

This was likewise the age of Dinosaurs, which we will elaborate upon further in our post on the Fifth Day of Creation.

Day 6: the Age of Mammals also considered as the Cenozoic Era. Early in the Cenozoic, the planet was dominated by relatively small fauna (animals of a particular region or period, considered as a group), including small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. From a geological perspective, it did not take long for mammals and birds to greatly diversify in the absence of the dinosaurs that had dominated during the Mesozoic.

Day 7: the Age of Man also known as the Anthropocene.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 28

And so we reach THE FORTH DAY (The Year of the World 25,128 B.C.)

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years: and let them be for lights in the expanse to give light upon the earth; and it was so. God made [or caused to shine–a different verb not meaning created] two great lights; the greater light for the rule of the day [to indicate the time of day] and the lesser light, the night; the stars also. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth … and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the Fourth Day.” (Gen 1:14–19)

Note: The “firmament” or “heavens” referred to here could apply equally well to both the first and the second literal heavens. Although we know in fact that the lights we see in the heavens are in truth located beyond our atmosphere (in the second literal heavens, the expanse of space), nevertheless because the atmosphere is transparent from our perspective they appear to be in the atmosphere (the first literal heavens, the expanse of the sky).

The achievements of one epoch-day were carried over into the next, and thus we are justified in supposing that the light of the first day became more and more distinct during the next two, as ring after ring of the enveloping canopy came down from the waters above the firmament to the waters below it, until by the fourth epoch-day the sun and moon and stars could be seen; not so clearly as we now see them on a bright day, no not until after Noah’s flood, when the last of these “rings” would fall would it be that clear; but even yet (by the close of the fourth day) they were clearly discernible, even though viewed through a translucent veil of waters (viz. the waters above, Gen 1:7)

It is only natural that the canopy of water would begin to thin first over the equator regions as slowly the gravitational pull of the earth’s magnetic poles began to pull the waters further and further north and south in preparation for the final deluge which would later come in the days of Noah (Gen 6:17) thus it is that the sun, moon, and stars would first become visible in these regions, particularly clearer over that region known to be the “cradle of our race”

The scene might be similar to what might be seen now on a misty day or night. The Sun, moon and stars had long since been shining on the outer veil of the earth, but now the time had come to allow these lights in the firmament to be seen; to let the days–previously marked by a dull, grayish light, such as we see some rainy mornings when the sun, moon and stars are invisible for clouds–become more distinct, so that the orb of day might by its course mark time for man and beast when created, and during the meantime begin to speed up the oxygenation of the air, thus to prepare it for breathing animals.

Later on during this same 7,000-year day, the moon and stars would also appeared—the moon to influence the tides and to be ready to mark time in the night for man’s convenience, and the stars for “signs and seasons”.

“In the 14th to 19th verses it mentions that the sun and moon became visible, as well as some stars. This indicates that the canopies which formed in the fourth or Devonian Age did not carry as much earth material as previous ones. This we saw was a requirement of natural law, and corroborated by the strata of earth. In this age, sometimes termed the age of fishes, no additional life is mentioned in the Genesis account, but the principal event was the increase light from the sun and the moon. Evidently by this time the moon had receded from the earth a sufficient distance to permit the sun to shine at times, upon the face toward the earth, even as it does now. If there had been any person on earth at that time, he could have seen the reflected light of the sun.

The term “and God made two great lights,” does not imply that they were created at that time, and had not been in existence previously, but that they, their outlines becoming visible through the canopy, “were made, the greater to rule the day, and the lesser to rule the night.” Here the Hebrew word “memshalah” is translated “rule,” in the sense of having power, or dominion. And certainly we know that the sun dominates the daylight, and the moon, the night.

Suppose the writer of Genesis had said that the sun and moon were visible in the first yom or age. We would know at once that he was wrong, but he put the visibility of the sun as in the fourth day.

Why did he take the trouble to point that out?

Was he not trying to tell us that [up until this time something was obstructing the sun, moon and stars from view] that the canopies, the waters that were above the firmament, were so dense that during those first three periods that the light could not have come through to earth with sufficient brightness that the direct outline of the sun and moon could have been seen, although light filtered through and was diffused. Now by the time man was upon earth and could write the account which appears in Genesis, he had words for both the sun and the moon. But in the account of the fourth day the writer does not make use of those words, but instead uses a word referring to “bearers of diffused light.” Yet at the time of writing he knew the sun both as a light bearer and as a heater! But the writer did use the term “stars.”

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 29

THE FORTH DAY continued.

In the illustration above the “rings”, if there were any would have resided within the Roche limit and by this time be experiencing orbital decay one following another over time.

We noted that the rings began their spreading out, or declension, at the equatorial regions to form the canopies, and the collapse of the canopy would probably leave the polar skies clear, until another canopy formed. The sun and moon would not have been visible in equatorial regions as they would be obscured by the rings. Is it not strong proof that the ring and canopy theory is at least the most reasonable of ancient of concepts, when it is the only theory by which the statements of Genesis can be explained?.”

The shadow of the rings cast near the equatorial regions would tend to fluctuate a bit north and south according to the axis of the planet as it rotated around the sun. This can be readily seen in the shadows cast by the rings of Saturn below.

In this last picture you can see just how dark a shadow the rings can cast upon the surface of the planet.

Despite what some naïve Christians believe the Sun, Moon, and Stars were not created on the fourth day, they had existed all along, long before that, they were merely obscured by the immense canopy of clouds and gases which enveloped the earth, or as the Lord himself makes reference to in Job 38:9,

“Where were you, when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band.”

The Hebrew word “asah” (as found in Gen 1:16), translated “made” in the King James Version, does not mean “to create,” but here signifies “to appoint” (as in Job 14:5; Psa 104:19). God was merely giving a new appointment or function to the sun, etc., to dominate or “rule” in the heavens, which was lacking in the previous Carboniferous Period.

The increased solar radiation brought about dramatic changes in climate in this period and the process of photosynthesis so basic to the cycle of all life on earth was tremulously increased due to the emergence of the sun once obscured by the canopy. It marked the end of the primary era known as the Paleozoic and opened the secondary or Mesozoic Era, with its sweeping changes in life forms adapting to the new hot and dry conditions.

We are not to suppose that the development of plant life ceased during the fourth day, but rather that it progressed –the increased influence of sun and moon serving to bring forward still other varieties of grass and shrubs and trees. Geology shows advances, too, at this period–insects, snails, crabs, etc. Fish-bones and scales are found in coal seams, too; but this does not disturb the order; for the formation of coal-beds evidently continued even after the third day (howbeit not in the traditional sense, that is not according to the vegetation theory)–thus running into the Reptilian period. This “day” corresponds most closely with what geology designates the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.

It is important to remember that although we as Christians can agree with the terms of developments which took place during these various periods or eras designated by Scientist, we do not however view their assumptions as to when or how long these periods lasted (i.e. 65 million years, 245 million years or what have you) as actual proven facts, but merely as speculative in nature. We prefer to accept the divine testimony that these periods are of a far more recent time.

Evening and morning–Day Four of seven thousand years, or 28,000 years from the starting of this work (25,128 B.C.) closed, witnessing great progress in the earth’s preparation for man.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 30

As can readily be seen by now WE ARE NOT “Young Earth Creationist”, that is those who adhere to a strict and literal interpretation of the Genesis account, who believe that the earth was created roughly 6000 to 10,000 years ago, that according to their interpretation of Verses 14-19 the earth was created prior to the creation of the sun, moon and stars, and that the creative day’s them self were literal 24-hour days. Most fundamentalist Christians to one degree or another are of this persuasion, the pendulum in their case having swung much too far to right.

In contrast there are “Old Earth Creationist” whose pendulum has likewise swung too far, but in this instance to far to the left. Such ascribe not only billions of years to the formation of the universe, earth, sun, moon and stars, but likewise tend to hold to the evolutionary theory as put forth by modern science concerning the creative days that each of these epochs or eras was composed of untold millions of years in length.

We prefer to take the middle ground, the more logical and scriptural one. It is our belief that the earth, the sun and the moon along with all the rest of the universe is indeed many billions of years old, however it is our contention that creation, that is the process in which life was brought to this world is just a little less than 50,000 years old, with each creative “day” consisting not of 24 literal hours per day nor of untold millions of years, but of equal epochs or periods of time consisting of 7000 years in duration each. This we believe allows ample time for the various geological eras to accomplish their work in preparation for the final era in which we live, one which shall shortly see, howbeit with great turmoil the completion of the work begun almost 50,000 years ago resulting in the perfection of the earth.

Another point which needs to be addressed here, it is stated that the sun, the moon, and stars were appointed not only to divide the day from the night, but likewise that they would be for “signs” to mark the seasons, days and years, however one should not jump to any hasty conclusions as is evident from many sources on the internet which I have visited that this signified that there were marked seasonal changes taking place during this time, these seasonal changes would eventually come, but not until after the collapse of the final surrounding canopy which would bring about the great flood of Noah’s day, until such a time the canopy would insured that the temperature was maintained within a reasonable degree so as not to cause any disturbances in the atmosphere.

Remember storms are generally the results of confrontations between cold fronts and warm fronts, if however the temperature were maintain throughout the globe at roughly the same temperature there would be no catalyst to promote such storms, thus we can see why it was that prior to the flood it had never rained upon the earth Gen 2:5, 6. That is to say it had never rained since mankind’s arrival on earth; it most surely would have rained during the collapse of the various canopies up unto this time, ice and snow in the Polar Regions, rain in the equatorial regions.

We include the following excerpts as taken from “The Days of Creation: A Closer Look at Scripture”, by Jon W. Greene for further reference.

Young-Earth View

Young-earth creationist’s claim God created the Sun, Moon, and stars in an instant.

Old-Earth View

Old-earth creationists contend the Sun, Moon, and stars were created “in the beginning” as part of the “heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). On the fourth day, God caused the atmosphere to clear so these heavenly bodies became visible for the first time from the surface of the Earth to mark signs, seasons, days and years.

Exegetical Support

While English translations can make it sound as though God created the Sun, Moon and stars that instant, the Hebrew text indicates otherwise.

1) The text states God “made” (‛āśāh) the lights, not that He “created” (bārā’) them. Asah expresses the idea of producing something from pre-existing material, not the idea of bringing something into existence that did not exist before (bārā’). Also, the verb asah does not specify when God created the heavenly bodies, only that he completed the action.

2) The Hebrew “Let there be...” does not imply the creation of the heavenly bodies in the sense of their coming into existence. “Let there be” is completed with the purpose clause “to separate.” Thus, the narrative focuses on the function of the lights rather than their origin.

3) The Hebrew “and it was so” denotes a completed action that the sun and moon had performed the functions God commanded, serving as signs for years, seasons and days. This could not be accomplished in a 24-hour period. All of these things argue against an instantaneous creation of the Sun, Moon and stars.

It is also important to remember that the Hebrew phrase “the heavens and the earth” (hashamayim we ha erets) in Gen 1:1 encompasses everything in the physical universe. As previously discussed, this interpretation is supported by the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vine and Grudem. Bruce Waltke also confirms that hashamayim we ha erets refers to the totality of the physical universe, all matter and energy and whatever else it contains. Thus, the Hebrew text clearly states the Sun, Moon and stars were created “in the beginning” and not on the fourth day.

For these reasons, many Bible scholars believe Gen 1:16 is more accurately interpreted as meaning God had made the heavenly bodies prior to the fourth day. Gleason Archer states: “The Hebrew verb wayya`as’ in verse 16 should better be rendered, “Now [God] had made the two great luminaries...” Wayne Grudem states: “had made can be taken as perfects indicating what God had done before... This view would imply that God had made the sun, moon, and stars earlier... or allowed them to be seen from the earth on Day 4.”

Harris, Archer, and Waltke state: “Verse 16 should not be understood as indicating the creation of the heavenly bodies for the first time on the fourth creative day; rather it informs us that the sun, moon, and stars were created on Day 1.” And, James Montgomery Boice states: “It is not said that these [sun, moon, and stars] were created on the fourth day; they were created in the initial creative work of God referred to in Genesis 1:1.”

We shall examine the Fifth Day of Creation with our next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 31

THE FIFTH DAY (The Year of the World 18,128 B.C.)

“And God said: Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures [living souls], and let winged things wing above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. And God created the great monsters, and every living creature that glided swiftly, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged thing after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let winged things multiply in the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the Fifth Day.’’ (Gen 1: 20–23)

How the warm oceans of the earth swarmed with living creatures, from the jellyfish to the whale, may be judged by the profusion of life in the warm southern seas at the present time. Reptiles, living partly in the water and partly on the land (amphibious) belong also to this period, during which present continents and islands were gradually rising and again subsiding, at one time deluged by larger or smaller rings coming down, and at another washed by tidal waves. No wonder the remains of shellfish, etc., are found in the highest mountains. And no wonder the immense beds of limestone in all parts of the world are sometimes called “shellfish cemeteries,” because composed almost exclusively of conglomerate shells. What a swarming there must have been when those untellable trillions of little creatures were born and, dying dropped one by one their little shells! We read that–God blessed them in multiplying. Yes, even so lowly an existence and for so brief a time is a favor, a blessing.

All glory and honor to our loving Father who grants his favor even to the lowliest of creatures, Amen

“Scientists have found fossils of whales and other marine animals in mountain sediments in the Andes, indicating that the South American mountain chain rose very rapidly from the sea. The rare assemblage of fossils, recovered on an expedition by the American Museum of Natural History to a remote plateau in southern Chile, is expected not only to illuminate an obscure epoch of animal evolution but also to document the rise of the Andes Mountains in the past 15 million years.

Among the fossils the scientists reported bringing back were the bones of whales and other marine animals found at altitudes of more than 5,000 feet. When these animals died from 15 million to 20 million years ago (?), their carcasses settled to the ocean floor and were embedded in submarine sediments. But since then, the violent up-thrusting of the Andean chain has carried the sediments to the tops of mountains. In geological terms, the time the fossils took to rise from ocean floor to mountain top was relatively brief (Actually a lot briefer than they could imagine, in other words the process was accomplished in thousands of years not millions).”
​

​

Although it is possible that many of these marine fossils could have been deposited high into the mountains following the flood of Noah’s day nevertheless for the most part we are inclined to believe as stated in the article that these marine fossils arrived there following the rise of the Andes. It’s only natural that the remains of shells and other sea life would have washed up along the coastline over the centuries and then following several deluges in which the sea bed was depressed the mountains would rise carrying with them the remains of these dead sea creatures.

(Whale fossils high in Andes show how mountains rose from sea, by Malcolm W. Browne Article Published: March 12, 1987 in The New York Times)

Our great God is depicted here as one who delights in creating — bringing forth multitudinous varieties of life under the widest possible range of conditions. Biologists identify some 9,000 species of fish, 6,000 of reptiles, 9,000 of birds and 700,000 species of insects, not to mention a wide variety of modern plants brought forth in this epoch. Each displays contrasts in size, shape, texture, color and structure; and all are part of the breathtakingly beautiful environment, which the Divine Architect planned for the enjoyment of his highest earthly creation — man himself.

Let us not contend for more than the Scripture record demands. The Bible does not assert that God created separately and individually the myriad kinds of fish and reptiles; but merely that divine influence, or spirit, brooded, and by divine purpose the sea brought forth its creatures of various kinds. Thus it may be that a measure of evolution took place in the bringing forth of these various creatures, however even this under divine supervision. The processes are not declared, no man knows, and it is unwise to be dogmatic.

It is not for us to dispute that even the protoplasm of the Paleozoic slime may not have come into existence through chemical action of the highly mineralized waters of those seas. What we do claim is that all came about as results of divine intention and arrangement, and, hence, were divine creations; whatever were the channels and agencies. And we claim that this is shown by the facts of nature no less than by the words of Genesis; that however the creatures of the sea were produced, they were brought to the condition in which each is, of its own kind–where the lines of species cannot be overridden. This is God’s work, by whatever means brought about.

“We note also, there must have been time within this “day” to permit the arrival of successive generations of the various animals, and while these were practically all egg-laying, it still required time considerably in excess of twenty-four hours to produce even one generation, not to speak of “filling the waters of the seas,” and producing merely one generation would hardly be “multiplying in the earth.” Hence the context indicated that the writer did not have in mind a literal 24-hour day, but rather “an indefinite period of time.”

Continued with next post.​

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 32

THE FIFTH DAY continued

The King James “whales” is better translated “monsters,” which allows for great land animals as well as sea creatures. This fifth day was the Reptilian Age, the age of the dinosaurs, meaning “terrible lizards,” and although the ring and canopy theory does not require millions of years, the various strata laid down during this period indicate a lapse of time of several thousands of years (specifically 7000 years).

As stated in the King James Version we read the word “whales” in place of the word “sea-monsters.” The Hebrew word used here could likewise imply “land and marine monsters,” and what better description could we use for the giant saurians, lizards, of the Reptilian Age? The translators of the King James Version, had never heard of a dinosaur, never knew they had even existed, much less know of their habits and habitats. The largest monster of which they knew was a whale, hence the translation. But whales are mammals and did not make their appearance on the earthly scene until the next age or “yom.” Again, this passage insists upon the operation of the law of the fixity of species.

Two of the better translations of this verse are found in the following versions,

“And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teamed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that it is good.” Gen 1:21 Young’s Literal Translation

“And God created the great dragons and every living soul that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their nature and every winged fowl after its nature; and God saw that it was good.” Gen 1:21 Jubilee Bible 2000 Version

They were of great variety in size, some reaching 40 tons in weight. One of the largest and longest animals ever found to walk on earth was the Diplodocus, — 16 feet tall and 85 feet from head to tip of tail! Since that time fossil remains have been found suggesting even lager behemoths once walked the earth, such as the (Titanosaur) Argentinosaurus and the Mamenchissaurus the largest of which may have reached 35 m (115 ft.) in length and possibly weighed 50 to 75 tons.

Modern birds and plants now also appeared in all their color, beauty and high degree of specialization. Every flowering plant has its own special seed and pollen and an extraordinary intricacy of design. Their sudden arrival on the scene, as with the various reptilian species, without any gradual development in preceding fossil ages, remains an unsolved puzzle to the evolutionist.

This day, or epoch, corresponds very well to the Reptilian age or what geology designates as the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, evening and morning–Day Five– 35,000 years from the commencement of the work of ordering the earth as man’s home and kingdom.

But questions still remain, why? Why Dinosaurs? What was their purpose? If all God’s works are perfect, why create such creatures only to do away with them after a short time?

Despite our misgivings concerning this issue we can be assured that God is to wise to err, that he who knew the end from the beginning knew exactly what he was doing and as such we are satisfied. Nevertheless we can still speculate.

First let us allow our evolutionist friends attempt to answer our questions.

Why Dinosaurs, what was their purpose?

There was no purpose, “They’re the result of random chance and accumulated change.”

Dinosaurs existed because they fit well within their ecological niches; that is to say they were perfectly adaptable to the environment in which they appeared.

“Everything alive today is the result of random mutations that happened to benefit everything that came before us.”

“Evolution has no necessities and no plan to reach some end destination that requires a specific path.”

“Evolution is a completely random process.”

“If you want to bring God into it and why he might have made them, my answer when a kid at Sunday school asked about dinosaurs was that they are God’s way of making birds.”

“What they contributed to the future were birds. Birds *are* dinosaurs.”

So then are dinosaurs simply a result of random chance? What saith the Lord who created all things?

“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18

If one takes the time to ponder the situation it seems only right that the Lord should introduce dinosaurs at this particular time in the creation process, for by this time vegetation, trees, plants, and scrubs having run rank for well over 14,000 years would most likely by this time covered the entire land surface of the world, this in accordance with the divine intention would have speedily aided in purifying the atmosphere in preparation for oxygen breathing animals. Now however the time had come to “mow the lawn” to cut back on the foliage which had over taken the earth, and what better way to accomplish this task then to introduce some of the largest vegetarians (herbivores) ever known to walk the face of the earth.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 33

THE FIFTH DAY continued

But what of the carnivores do not the Scriptures imply that prior to the flood both man and beasts were all vegetarians?

Ah! Yes a very astute observation,

The scriptural account is that prior to the flood neither man nor beast were carnivorous (flesh eaters).

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. AND to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.” Gen 1:29, 30

The notable exception here is the living creatures which dwell within the sea.

Accordingly both man and beast alike were vegetarians up until the flood, and then something dramatic occurred which brought about a change in all this, for following the departure of Noah and his sons from the Ark the LORD forthwith exclaimed,

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” Gen 9:2, 3

We understand the reason for the addition of meat as a food source, was that conditions had so changed after the flood as not only to shorten life, but also to greatly impair human (AND animal) strength, making necessary the nerve strength obtainable from animal food.

“The fact that for beast and for fowl the Lord originally provided the same vegetarian diet, is in perfect accord with some of the prophetic statements which seem to imply that under the new conditions of the Kingdom even the lower animals will return to a vegetarian diet, viz.

“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (the very microbes of disease and pestilence shall be restrained), saith the LORD.” Isa 65:25

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox… they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” (Isa 11:6, 7)

Thus we learn that those animals which at present are carnivorous (flesh-eaters) are not now in their original condition, but have been sharers with mankind in the results of the catastrophe which came upon our earth following the flood; likewise that they will be sharers with man, their king, in the great uplift (“restoration of all things” Acts 3:19-21), which will come to him and to all nature when God’s Kingdom, in the hands of the Sons of God, shall be established, and shall bless the groaning creation.” (Rom 8:19-22) R 2837

Does this imply that dinosaurs were subject to the same restraints? No we can’t say for sure as stated there is some speculation that the great “monsters” mentioned as created on the fifth day Gen 1:21 refer not only to sea monsters but to land monsters as well and as such could allow for an “exception” to the rule in the case of dinosaurs as possibly they too are classified with the rest of the living creatures which dwell or came forth from the sea, to which as stated nothing was said that they were under the same restraints as that of the rest of the creation prior to the flood, of course this is only conjecture on our part, as always it is best not to go beyond what is written. If the Lord does not specifically state the facts then we can reasonably conclude that it is not of prime importance, and so whether one chooses to believe one way or another is not of any importance, in the end it’s up to the individual.

Perhaps meat eaters were introduced in order to keep the population of this particular species under control, otherwise they could have very well have eaten their way out of house and home (perhaps even this was the true reason for their demise, the lack of food). In the end it seems apparent that these creatures were of divine intention, design with a specific purpose in mind one which when accomplished their presence would no longer be required and so they were removed from the surface of the earth. Nevertheless as was said in regards to the lowly shell fish so too in regards to these great creatures, we read that–God blessed them in multiplying, and even though they remained upon the earth for but a short time (short in the overall scheme of things) nevertheless life in any form and for any amount of time is a blessing.

Now as to the assertion that birds are dinosaurs, we tend to disagree, the Scriptures are pretty clear,

“So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Here a distinction is made between the sea creatures and every living thing that moves (presumably those things which came forth from the sea to dwell upon the earth), each according to its kind, AND every winged bird likewise according to its kind.

Sea creatures are one kind and every winged bird another kind. Though birds may share some similarities with dinosaurs (specifically in their bone structure) that does not imply that they are of the same kind no more than the fact that apes and humans share similarities prove that they are one in the same kind.

A popular article often referred to, to contradict the thought of fixity of species is that involving the sockeye salmon introduced into Lake Washington, between 1937 and 1945 in a study it had been shown that these had split into two reproductively isolated populations (i.e., two separate species) in fewer than 13 generations (a maximum of 56 years). Andrew P. Hendry et al., “Rapid Evolution of Reproductive Isolation in the Wild: Evidence from Introduced Salmon,” Science 290 (2000): 516–518, this however does not imply a change of “kind”, these two so-called new species were still of the same kind or genera (genus: a class, group, or kind with common attributes, believed to share the same ancestry), i.e. they were still FISH, they did not evolve into another “kind”, into birds, animals or what have you.

The same applies to reptiles although they may consist of many species within their genus they are nevertheless still of one kind and cannot evolve into another kind. The Lord has set boundaries which cannot be crossed.

We will continue with the Sixth Day of Creation with our next post.

 

[Dave L]

Thanks for these valuable posts. I hope it's OK to copy them for my notes?

 

[Harvest 1874]

Thanks for these valuable posts. I hope it's OK to copy them for my notes?

Not a problem, as the Lord has freely given to us we freely give to others.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 34

THE SIXTH DAY (The Year of the World 11,128 B.C.)

“And God said: Let the Earth bring forth living soul after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind: and it was so … and God saw that it was good. And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God CREATED MAN in his own image, in the image of God CREATED HE HIM; male and female CREATED HE THEM. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it … And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the Sixth Day.” (Gen 1:24–31)

Modern land animals (mammals) now were created, including both the wild beasts of the field and domesticated types. These are the highest form of animal life, with some 5,000 species recognized. They vary in size from the tiny bat to the giant land elephant. The major difference between these and those living creatures, which preceded them in the age before is that their young are all brought forth by live birth, rather than hatching from eggs like birds and fish and all the various reptiles, dinosaurs and etc. It is a most miraculous process involving conception, gestation, birth and growth to maturity.

The phrase “after its kind” used to describe the propagation of the new life in each era is of special note. This represents a basic and profound biological principle, which the Creator has embedded in the core of every living thing. It means simply that every form of life was designed to reproduce only within a limited family grouping, to insure the integrity of the various orders. This principle of fixed species is the very opposite of evolution and absolutely forbids the gradual changing of one kind into another. A thorough study of the fossil record has never uncovered a crossing over of major kinds of life, going all the way back to Cambrian times!

We need not quarrel needlessly with Evolutionists. We will concede that, if God chose, he could have brought all the different species of animal life into being by a development of one from the other, or he could have developed each species separately from the original protozoan slime. We know not what method he adopted, for it is revealed neither in the Bible nor in the rocks. It is, however, clearly revealed that in whatever way God chose to accomplish it, he has fixed animal species, each “after his kind” in such a manner that they do not change; in such a manner that even the ingenuity of the human mind has not succeeded in assisting them to change.

Here is the stamp of the intelligent Creator upon his handiwork; for had “Nature” or “blind force” been the creator, we would still see it plodding blindly on, at times evolving and at times retrograding; we would see no such fixity of species as we behold all about us in nature.

Toward the close of the Sixth Day came God’s crowning work — the creation of man. “God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). Thus MAN WAS CREATED DIRECTLY BY GOD, in his very own image (We are not to understand this “image” to be one of nature, i.e. physical shape or bodily form as depicted in the photo above; but, rather, a moral and intellectual image of the Great Spirit, fashioned appropriately to his earthly conditions and nature.): this implies mental faculties of reason, judgment and will, moral qualities of love and justice, and the propensity to worship his Creator. Man was created as an EARTHLY representative of his SPIRITUAL Creator. Thus was God manifested in the FLESH of Adam, and as king of nature’s realm, he was given responsible dominion over the earth and the animal kingdom, and told to be fruitful and multiply, under conditions of Endemic bliss.

In view of our remarks, foregoing, that the Scripture language does not forbid the possibility of the plants, water-creatures and land-creatures being more or less developed, or evolved, in their various kinds, it may be well for us to note the wide difference in the language used when referring to man’s creation. The latter is a specific declaration of the direct exercise of divine creative power, while the others are not, but rather imply a development:

“And the earth brought forth grass,” etc.

“Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature,” etc.

“Let the earth bring forth living creature after his kind, cattle,” etc.

Here is where every believer in the Bible must take his stand. The wording is clear; there is no possibility of mistake. Man is not the end product of a long chain of evolution that began somewhere in the unknown past. The inspired record states plainly that man was CREATED BY GOD in his own image and that he began immediately thereafter to function as an intelligent human being. There is no support whatsoever for the “caveman” notion or similar concepts of “fossil man” — part human and part animal (ape or what have you) — as taught by evolutionists today. Such a God-dishonoring theory is not a product of valid intelligent thought, but of “Science falsely so called.” (See Romans 1:18–32.)

Here is the battlefield between God’s Word and so-called Modern Science, to which the whole world, especially the learned–including the leaders of thought in all the various theological seminaries, and the ministers in all the prominent pulpits, are bowing down–worshiping the scientific God called “Evolution,” (likewise known by the Greeks as Chronos the God of Time). The two theories are squarely at issue: if the Evolution theory were true, the Bible is false from Genesis to Revelation.

If the Bible be true, as we hold, then the Evolution theory is utterly false in all its deductions AS RESPECTS MAN.

In contrast the possibility that an evolutionary process by which the lower creation developed up to the point of fixity of class, nature or genera under divine supervision is nevertheless a distinct possibly.

It is not alone the Genesis account of man’s creation in the divine image that must determine the matter, strong as are the declarations of the Word: the entire theory of the Bible supports the Genesis record, and stands or falls with it. For, if man was created otherwise than pure and perfect and mentally well endowed, he could not, truthfully, have been called an image of God; nor could his Creator have placed him on trial in Eden to test his fitness for everlasting life; nor could his disobedience in the eating of the forbidden fruit have been accounted sin and punishable, as it was, by a death sentence; nor would it have been necessary to have redeemed him from that sentence.

Moreover, “the man Christ Jesus” is declared to have been the “anti-lutron,“ the ransom-price (an equivalent or corresponding price) for this first man’s guilt, thus he must have been considered a sample, or illustration, of what the first man was, before he sinned and passed under the divine condemnation of death.

We will continue with our next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 35

THE SIXTH DAY continued.

We again include the following excerpt on the sixth day as taken from “The Days of Creation: A Closer Look at Scripture”, by Jon W. Greene for further review.

Once again we need to make it abundantly clear that we (Bible Students in general) are not “Young Earth Creationist” nor are we “Old Earth Creationist”, we don’t believe either of the two following views are in harmony with the teachings of the scriptures.

In respects to both views we believe the pendulum has swung a bit too far to the right and then again to far to the left. We neither hold the literal 24 hour day view nor the idea that the creative days encompassed millions of years as our evolutionist friends would have us believe.

Young-Earth View

Young-earth creationists contend God created all land animals and the first humans, Adam and Eve, in a 24-hour period. MacArthur states this position clearly: “Bear in mind that the creation of Adam occurred on the same day all other land animals were created. All of this occurred in one twenty-four hour period one revolution of the earth.”

In their view, Neanderthals and other ancient hominids were human beings that descended from Adam and Eve.

This last is a bit hard to imagine, but not altogether impossible. Let me explain, as you know following the fall of Adam although mankind was no longer (perfect) in the image of his creator as he was originally created, nevertheless he still retained much of the original qualities of life and vigor which were first instilled in him, thus it took nearly a 1000 years for Adam to succumb to the ravishes of the death sentence. It would be difficult to imagine that even in this less than perfect condition that any of his posterity would be born in such a (physically) degraded condition as to render them mere Neanderthals.

In fact the scriptures to the contrary inform us that the daughters of men were beautiful (Gen 6:2). Are we to believe that the sons of men were any less?

So then where could these inferior specimens have come from, we know they existed; we have the evidence in their remains?

Once again the scriptures provide the answer. We understand that the fallen spirits took to themselves the daughters of men for wives, and as such produced children, the Nephilim. These as we are informed were giants (both in stature and in mental capabilities), and as such were men of renown (well known), but what if they likewise produced other offspring not so renown and thus not particularly mentioned.

Could it be possible that these retro-graded and deformed beings were the direct results of the fallen spirits illicit comingling with the daughters of men, one of the grossest violations of God’s order, the mixing of natures? It seems a distinct possibility.

Old-Earth View

Old-earth creationists contend God created land animals on the sixth day. These were created progressively, over long ages of time, beginning several hundred million years ago. God created the first humans, Adam and Eve, much later, around 50 thousand years ago.

In their view, the hominids, such as Homo erectus and the Neanderthals, are not human beings and preceded God’s creation of Adam and Eve.

The Scriptures are quite clear that Adam was the first man; no humanoid of any kind preceded him. The mere suggestion of this implies that God didn’t know what he was doing and that he attempted several times to get it right.

However the scriptures contradict this thought altogether when they state that all his works are perfect, and “Known unto the Lord are all His works from before the foundation of the world”.

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 36

THE SIXTH DAY continued.

Continuing with our excerpt from “The Days of Creation: A Closer Look at Scripture”, by Jon W. Greene.

Exegetical Support

The narrative speaks of three types of land animals: livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals. The Hebrew word for livestock (behema) refers to large four-footed mammals that are easy to domesticate. The Hebrew word for creatures that move along the ground (remes) refers to the locomotion of small creatures, small rodents and possibly small reptiles. The Hebrew word for wild animals (chay) means wild or alive and comes from the root haya that conveys living life to the fullest. Because this requires the attributes of mind, will and emotion; chay seems to refer to wild mammals. As a result, it is evident the text does not describe the creation of all land creatures, only certain mammals and perhaps some small reptiles. Thus, we can only speculate as to when large reptiles, dinosaurs, amphibians, insects and a host of other land creatures were created.

Some readers of Gen 1:24 take the phrases, “And God said... And it was so,” to mean immediate action on God’s part. However, these statements simply mean God’s commanded action was completed at some point in the past. It conveys no information about how long ago the action took place or how long it took to complete. Thus, there is no textual requirement that these activities were completed within the confines of a 24-hour day. A number of Bible scholars also note the extreme improbability that the events of the sixth “day” could have been accomplished in 24 hours. Gleason Archer comments:

“There it is stated that on the sixth day (apparently toward the end of the day, after all the animals had been fashioned and placed on the earth, therefore not long before sundown at the end of the same day), God created man in His own image; He created them male and female.’ This can only mean that Eve was created in the closing hour of Day Six, along with Adam.

As we turn to Gen 2, however, we find that a considerable interval of time must have intervened between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve... the LORD God put Adam in the Garden of Eden... to cultivate and keep [the garden]... God then gave Adam a major assignment... he was to classify every species of animals and bird ... the garden must have had hundreds of species of mammal, reptile, insect, and bird... It must have required some years, or, at the very least, a considerable number of months to complete this comprehensive inventory of all the birds, beasts and insects that populated the Garden of Eden... [It is] very apparent that Gen 1 was never intended to teach that the sixth creative day, when Adam and Eve were both created, lasted a mere twenty-four hours... it would seem to border on sheer irrationality to insist that all of Adam’s experiences in Gen 2:15-22 could have been crowded into the last hour or two of a literal twenty-four hour day.”

Similarly, Wayne Grudem notes:

“An additional argument for a long period of time in these, days’ is the fact that the sixth day includes so many events that it must have been longer than twenty-four hours... [It] includes the creation of animals... God’s creation of Adam, God’s putting Adam in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it, and giving Adam directions regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his bringing all the animals to man for them to be named, finding no helper fit for Adam ... creating Eve... The finite nature of man and the incredibly large number of animals created by God would by itself seem to require that a much longer period of time than part of one day would be needed to include so many events...”

C. John Collins, Norman Geisler and Hugh Ross express similar doubts that the events of the sixth “day” could be accomplished within the confines of a 24-hour day. Ross points out that it is useful to note Adam’s exclamation upon seeing Eve for the first time. His remark in Gen 2:23 is happa’am, usually translated “now at length.” This is equivalent to our expression “at last!” Clearly, this would be an odd statement for Adam to make if he had only waited a few hours for God to create his helpmate, Eve.

Young-earth creationists dispute the fact that hominids existed on the Earth before Adam and Eve were created. However, it is clear that a great number of hominids preceded the appearance of modern man on the Earth, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and the Neanderthals.

Here we must agree with our Young-earth creationist friends and dispute the erroneous idea that any humanoid was created prior to Adam.

These were creatures God created that walked upright, had limited intelligence and later went extinct. The pinnacle of God’s creation, human beings, came later, marked by the appearance of Cro-Magnon Man (Homo sapiens sapiens) about 50 thousand years ago. Unlike the hominids, Cro-Magnon Man is identical to modern man anatomically and exhibits all of the same behaviors, including a spiritual dimension.

Once again the scriptures are quite adamant in that Adam was the first man, the first human; no others preceded him, nor was he created 50 thousand years ago. The date of Adam’s creation (4128 B.C.) can be accurately devised through the genealogy provided in the Scriptures.

The young-earth claim that hominids were human and descended from Adam has no scientific support. For example, recent DNA studies cast a dark shadow on any connection between Neanderthal and modern man. Researchers at the University of Stockholm, University of Glasgow, and the Max Planck Institute studied Neanderthal DNA and concluded, “The cumulative weight of evidence appears to decisively sever the link between Neanderthals and humans.”

Here we must agree with our Old-earth creationist friends and dispute the erroneous idea that hominids were human and descended from Adam.

It should be noted that the genetic fingerprint of modern man, found in the mitochondrial DNA of females and the Y-chromosomal DNA of males, traces back to a single male and a single female. This lends amazing credibility to the Genesis account of humanity arising from one man and one woman. It also negates the claim of evolutionary connections between modern man and Neanderthals and other ancient hominids.”

We will move on to the Seventh Day of Creation in our next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 37

THE SEVENTH DAY (The Year of the World 4128 B.C.)

“Thus were finished the heavens and the earth and their entire host. And by the Seventh Day God had finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the Seventh Day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the Seventh Day, and hallowed it … These are the geneses [historical accounts] of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Gen 2:1–4)

Evening and morning, Day Six, closes, 42,000 years after “work” had begun, finding the earth ready for man to subdue it, but yet still, as a whole, unfit for him. Knowing in advance of his creature’s disobedience (and of his entire plan connected with his sentence of death, his redemption and the ultimate recovery from sin and death of all rightly exercised by their experiences), God did not wait to create man until after the whole earth was completely ready for him, but rather merely prepared a specific area, a Paradise, a garden in Eden–perfecting it in every way for the brief trial of the perfect pair, this would be all that was necessary at that moment as God in his foreknowledge knew that due to their lack of experience with evil, the perfect pair would fell the test.

Thus the earth left in its unfinished condition would serve both as a blessing and as a curse –leaving to mankind, as convict laborers, the work of “subduing” it and at the same time gaining thereby valuable lessons and experiences.

Thus we read:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake” or we could say, “Blessed is the ground for your sake” (Gen 3:17)

The earth is in its present imperfect condition for your profit and experience even though you may not esteem it so, See Eccl 1:13; 3:10, 18

God saw best to permit his creature Adam (i.e. mankind) to exercise his free will and fall under temptation into sin and its legitimate penalty, death–including a long period, 6,000 years of dying and battling, as a convict, in an evil environment. God saw best to permit him thus as a convict to do a part of the subduing of the earth; that to bring it as a whole toward its foretold Paradisiacal condition would be profitable to man under the circumstances; that it would be expedient that man realize the principles underlying divine righteousness and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and be thus prepared for the grace to be brought to the world in due time.

God’s resting on this day “from all his work” was not from tiredness, since we are told that “the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary” (Isa 40:28).

One of the chief reasons for Jehovah’s cessation of the creative work undoubtedly was that it might be accomplished by another–by his only Begotten–in a manner that would not only glorify the Son, but glorify the Father also, by displaying the perfections of the Divine attributes as no other course could do. This was by the giving of his Son to be man’s redeemer–an exhibition not only of Divine Justice, which could by no means violate the decree that “the wages of sin is death,” but which simultaneously illustrated Divine Love- compassion for his fallen creatures to the extent of the death of his Son on man’s behalf. Divine Wisdom and Divine Power (pictured by the two cherubs upon the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant) will also ultimately be exhibited in every feature of the arrangement when completed.

God beheld the ruin and fall of his noblest earthly creation through sin, yet put forth no power to stay the course of the death sentence and started no restitutional procedures. Indeed, by the law, which he himself imposed, he precluded any opportunity for His exercise of mercy and clemency toward Adam and his race, except through a ransomer.

The penalty being death, and that without limit—thus styled everlasting death, “everlasting destruction” and it being impossible for God to lie, impossible for the Supreme Judge of the universe to reverse his own righteous decree, for he changes not, it was thus rendered impossible for the Creator to become directly the restorer of the race, or in any sense or degree to continue his creative work in the condemned man or in his estate, the earth. Thus did Jehovah God manifest his confidence in his own great plan of the ages, and in his Only Begotten Son to whom he has committed its full execution. God rested by placing in the hands of another, i.e. his son Jesus — the responsibility for perfecting the human creation.

Note closely that the expression “evening and morning,” regularly used to describe the first six days, is significantly lacking here, and suggesting that the Seventh Day is yet still in progress.

At the start of each epoch a certain amount of confusion and uncertainty prevailed, termed “evening” or darkness. (The uncertainty here was not on the part of God who knows the end from the beginning, but rather on those not privy to his foresight, such as the angelic host) However by the close of each period, it became abundantly evident what God had intended to accomplish, hence described as “morning” or light. (For a similar principle see Zech 14:6, 7) Thus, not until the end of the Seventh Day, when the messianic kingdom rule will have restored mankind to harmony with God and the earthly creation is completed, will it be appropriate to say, “And there was evening and morning, the Seventh Day.”

Continued with next post.

 

[Harvest 1874]

The Record of Creation, Part 38

THE SEVENTH DAY continued

If our Creator’s resting, or desisting from coming promptly to the relief of his fallen creatures, has in any degree the appearance of indifference or neglect, it was not really so, but merely the outworking of the wisest and best means for man’s assistance–through a Mediator. If it is suggested that the restitution work should have commenced sooner, we reply that the period of the reign of Sin and Death, 6,000 years, has been none too long for the bringing forth by births of a race sufficient in number to “fill the earth“; none too long to give all a lesson in the “exceeding sinfulness of sin” and the severe wages it pays; none too long to let men try their own devices for their own uplift and note their futility.

The coming of our Lord at his first advent to redeem (purchase) the world so that he would have a just, equitable right to come again to bless, uplift and restore all who will accept his grace, although it was more than 4,000 years after the blight of sin and death entered, is, nevertheless, declared in Scripture to have been in God’s due time: “In due time God sent forth his Son.” Indeed, we see that it would not even then have been due time, except that it was the divine intention and purpose to call, gather and polish and make ready the elect Church to share with the Redeemer in the great Millennial work of blessing the world. God who foresaw that it would require this entire Gospel age (a little over 2000 years thus far) for this election sent forth his Son for the redemptive work just long enough in advance to accomplish it.

How long has it been since Jehovah ceased, or rested in, his creative work? We reply that it is now a little more than six thousand years (6144+ years now according to the true Bible Chronology). How long will his rest, or cessation, continue? It will continue throughout the Millennium–the thousand years of the reign of the great Mediator, effecting “the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21)

Will the confidence of Jehovah in the outworking of his plan, which led him thus to rest it all in the care of Jesus prove to have been fully justified? Will the conclusion be satisfactory? Jehovah God, who knows the end from the beginning, assures us that it will, and that the Son, at whose cost the plan is being executed, “shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” (Isa 53:11)

Yea, all believers who are resting by faith in their Redeemer’s work–past and to come–may have full assurance of faith that “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath in reservation for those who love him,” specially for the Church; but also the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of love and mercy and restitutional blessings, for all those of the non-elect world, who in their Millennial day of grace shall heartily accept the wonderful divine provisions on the divine terms.

Six thousand years past and one thousand years future, seven thousand years total of Jehovah’s “rest,” will carry us to the time when the Son’s Millennial reign shall cease because of having accomplished its design–the restitution of the willing and obedient of mankind to the divine image, and the subjugation of the earth under man, as his estate, his kingdom, then the Mediatorial throne and reign having served their purpose, and all corrupters of the earth having been destroyed, “the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father”-by delivering it to mankind for whom it was originally designed, as it is written. (1 Cor 15:24-28) “Then shall the King say unto them…Come, ye blessed [approved] of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world“—mundane creation. Matt 25:31-34

It is the length of this Seventh Epoch-Day, so distinctly marked by history and prophecy that furnishes us the clue to the length of all the other epoch-days of the creative Week. And the whole period of seven times seven thousand years, or forty-nine thousand years, when complete, will lead up to and introduce the great Fiftieth, as is so prominent in the Scriptures, as marking grand climaxes in the divine plan; Israel’s day Sabbaths culminating in 7 x 7 equals 49, leading to and introducing the fiftieth, or Pentecost, with its rest of faith; their year Sabbaths 7 x 7 equals 49, introducing the fiftieth, or Jubilee, year; the still larger cycle of 50 x 50, marking the Millennium as Earth’s great Jubilee.
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And now, finally, we find the Sabbath, or seven-day system, on a still larger scale measuring earth’s creation, from its inception to its perfection, to be 7 times 7,000 years equals 49,000 years, ushering in the grand epoch when there shall be no more sighing, no more crying, no more pain and no more dying, because God’s work of creation shall then have been completed, perfected so far as this earth is concerned. No wonder that, that date should be marked as a Jubilee date! (For more insight on the Jubilee, please see our blog post, "God's Great Sabbath Day")​

Here we have presented what we believe is a more reasonable (or logical) view of the creative days one which appears to harmonize the scientific account (geology) with the Scriptural account given us in Genesis, as in contrast with that suggested by many naïve Christians who insist in the literal 24-hour day theory, one which only serves to discredit the testimony of the Holy Scriptures before the eyes of the world and the skeptic.

 

[101G]

thanks for the history lession, but there are a few things out of order. most of this I have already hear, but I beg to differ with your assessment of Day three.

Man was formed on day three and not day six. the sexes was created on day six. which means man was here before the animals. which means the bible clearly rejects evolution.

for all things was made by the Lord JESUS, who is Spirit, and nothing was made without him, see John 1:3, and on top of that no one was with him when he created everything, see Isaiah 44:24.

if you like to discuss the third day, I'm game.