I do not fit into any of the 4 “categories” either; I simply asked you to state your position and why you believe it, not rave senselessly about subjects that do not say anything.
I would imagine you would find it hard to fit in with most Christians due to your belief in a “billions of years creation” (just as Evolutionist believe), and your belief in an ancient civilization before Adam (see 6 Days Of 15 Billion Years?). While you claim to stick to the bible and follow orthodoxy; you hold to fringe beliefs that are heretical.
I focused on who the seven Churches represent and who those seven Messages were for today, which is what you asked. But you claim that was some senseless rave?
You'd be surprised at how many Christian Pastors that are studied in God's Word understand the Gap idea that's written in Genesis 1. Lot of them simply do not cover it to their congregations. It's a strong meat teaching; not a milk teaching that most believers are on.
And it has absolutely nothing... to do with the theories of evolution; doesn't even propose any ideas of evolution. What it does propose is how God once destroyed the surface of this earth before, a time Apostle Peter called "the world that then was" which perished (2 Pet.3). Without understanding it, Paul's teaching in Romans 8 of how God placed His creation in a state of "bondage of corruption" for this present world will not be understood.
But, nice try to paint me as an evolutionist in order to try and group me with those who disagree with God's creation, something I'm not a part of, nor have I ever been.
The view you believe in, since you were unwilling to state it yourself, is
Gap Creationism. Gap creationism was popularized by Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847). I asked this question about “category” for simplification. Obviously you fit into a different category, and you simply could have said so. I also asked the question because the readers have a right to know whether or not you are teaching a form of heresy. I believe you are teaching heresy.
What I see as heresy taught from Genesis 1 is how some force a creation of "dry land" into the Scripture where it does not belong, when the Scripture is simply describing existing waters being moved upon the earth to make dry land appear that was already underneath those waters, created back at Gen.1:1. God even said in Isaiah 45:18 that He did not create the earth in "vain" (
tohuw), which is the same Hebrew word mistranslated to "without form" in the KJV of Gen.1:2. Jeremiah 4:23-28 is a comparative Scripture that
tohuw is not pointing to some nothingness state of water vapor gas like you and many others try to insert into the Scripture, just so you can follow your own tradition.
As a matter of fact, it's a lot of scientists and evolutionists that DO... tend to agree with your nothingness gas vapor state interpretation of Gen.1:2. So you're a lot closer to men's theories of evolution by that than you probably realize.
I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia …to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings.” (1 Timothy 1:3)
“If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes.” (1 Timothy 6:3)
“These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit – twice dead, uprooted; wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.” (Jude 1:12)
You have yet to prove Biblically what I stated about the Genesis creation being false, and have already let loose your own judgments, misusing God's Word to do that.
I believe that the Genesis Gap Theory is a heresy. I do not wish to debate heresy. It opens up the flood gates for evolutionist, and creates doubt in our creator. It also promotes doctrines of Alien Civilisations. Certain ones creep into Christian love feasts in order to spread their heretical teachings amongst those who are unaware. Like the other Seventh Day Adventists that I have encountered here, false teachers conspire among themselves to join in and hide their true agendas. They do this so that they can spread their lies without being detected. Heretics have this in common. Although I believe in multi-denominations, I also believe Christians need to repent of their heresies, agendas and "
the teachings of the Nicolaitans", which Christ hates (Rev 2:6, 15).
Steve
The Gap idea that's in Genesis 1 is not a heresy, nor is it against God's Holy Writ. I could just as well use those Scriptures above towards you for wrongly believing the Genesis 1:2 verse is about some ether vapor state of nothingness hanging in outer space. Instead per the Hebrew, Gen.1:2 is about the earth in a state of vanity and waste. But you won't address the Hebrew of that Scripture, nor comparative Scripture that God gave about it in other places like Jer.4, because you'd obviously rather hold to the old tradition that the creation is only around 6,000 years old.
The 6,000 year-old Young Earth earth theory (which you've preached on another thread) actually shot off the strongest with Ussher's 17th century Bible chronology. He couldn't go any farther back in history than Adam, and placed God's creation of Adam at 4004 B.C. And later many in the Church began 'assuming' it meant that's also when God created the earth. The early Church didn't know about the fossil record. So that tradition just kept going. And thus Young Earth creationists try to include eveyone else into the same group of evolutionists and such, including those who are 'given' to understand about the Gap idea in Genesis.
What is really ironic is how Young Earth creationists try to put God's creation of dinosaurs within that 6,000 years time-span, with some of them even trying to prove that dinosaurs STILL EXIST AMONG US TODAY! Both those and evolution theorists represent extremism and are heeding heritical doctrines of men, and not what God's Word states as written.