I'm sure this has been brought up before, but I'd like to give my opinion and hear others. There is the idea that there was a gap of time between the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the beginning of the development and creation of order and life on the planet.
The bible says "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". Then it goes to "And the earth was (not "became" like some people like to think) without form, and void. And darkness fell upon the face of the deep". "God said, "let there be light". Could this be seen as "if a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? If there is nothing to see or absorb the light, is the light there? Perhaps the light was there, given the heavens had already been created, but there was nothing to see it. Is the biblical "light", even light as we think of it? Maybe the stars were "unlit" and nuclear fusion wasnt taking place yet.
Then proceed the "creation" events.
It seems like the first day of "creation" is just another word used to describe the first day of organization and development. Why is it impossible to imagine a huge gap of time between the formation of the earth, and the development of it? The bible simply says that the earth was created "in the beginning". Then it obviously expresses that the heavens (the universe) and the earth were sitting there, totally undeveloped. Dark, uninhabited and lifeless. No different than say, the moon. Basically null and "void". The bible doesnt say that God blew on the earth and cooled it down and started developing it on the first day. The bible doesnt say "On the first day, God created the heavens and the earth". It just says "in the beginning". There is no telling when that was, or how much time had passed.
I would think that if the writers intended to convey that the heavens and the earth were created on the first day, they would have used the words, "the first day". There is no doubt that the writers of genesis knew what a literal day was. It says that the sun was given to light the day, and the moon to light the night. It says "the evening and the morning were the first day." So when the writers of Genesis use the word "day" for the first day of creation, its pretty obvious they mean 1 literal day as we would see it. But as for the gap of time between the creation of the universe, and the first day of development, there is really no clue to how much time had passed. Its pretty clear to me.
The order of events during the creation: Would they coincide with the ToE? The way evolution decribes the gradual development of life on the earth? First you had oceans and seas, then life developing in the oceans and seas. Then life developing on land. The beasts of the field. Then humans being the most recent development. It almost sounds like a synopsis of the development of the earth.
Does anyone out there think that this could have been a re-development of life on the earth? That maybe life had been wiped out (as science suggests...meteors, etc.), and God waited till the dust settled and he started with a whole new creation or plan, and that perhaps the bible really did say originally, that the earth "became" void?
This message has been edited by SantaClaus, 04-11-2006 08:39 PM
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