Creation or Evolution?
First, Christians like to claim that the earth is 6000 years old. No, it ain't. It's one hell of a lot older than that. Millions of years, just as scientists are finding. Remember, I firmly believe science proves God, not invalidates Him.
So what is this 6000 years figure? It is our best estimate about the amount of time that has passed since Adam. It's relatively close to being accurate.
But wasn't Adam created when the world was created? Sort of, but not at the beginning. Let me explain using scripture.
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Pretty straight forward. This verse establishes God as the CREATOR. He wasn't some alien that sat back and watched the earth from from a ball of dust. The "big bang" was the Word of God speaking and forming the world. We all agree what this verse means.
Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Now, our eyes all just glaze over here, but this is super important. In fact, it is one of the most important verses in Genesis, and God purposely inspired it to say something specific. Don't just skim over this verse because you think it doesn't mean much. God inspired this verse for a reason. Quick quiz you are guaranteed to fail: How much time passes between verse 1 and 2? Answer: none? Why, because of the "and" at the beginning of verse 2? BZZZT! Wrong!
"And" is often used to show a very separate topic/subject that is simply joined to the narrative. Let me illustrate in English with an analogy. Bill 1:1"In the beginning of our nation, 1776, we declared independence." Bill 1:2 "And George Bush was re-elected as the 43rd president of an independent nation." Did they happen at the same time? Of course not. Let me continue with the Bible.
Verse 2 says the earth was without form, and void (empty). Note, the earth exists, already. "Without form" does not mean "clean slate" ready for God to start making stuff. The Hebrew word there is tohuw which means a number of things and is translated as follows: confusion, 3; empty place, 1; nothing, 1; nought, 2; vain, 4; vanity, 4; waste, 1; wilderness, 2; without form, 2; The aggregate meaning is one of chaos. Vain and vanity fit perfectly into a place that has failed as a functioning society, in the context of tohuw. Rather than "clean slate" as we tend to think this passage means, the earth was in chaos and empty. Yes, I have further proof of that particular flavor of translation. But let me continue a minute with verse 2.
"...And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Well, your eyes have glazed over again. Stop it and pay attention. Note that the earth cannot be a "clean slate" completely empty and ready for God to paint... there were waters there. But an even bigger question poses for those who can pay attention. This is only verse 2, and Chrisitans can't seem to get this. The big question is: what was God doing "moving" on the face of the waters? Wrong answer: He was creating the earth. BZZZZT! Wrong! Wrong! And more wrong!
God already made the earth in verse 1. Verse 2 is a completely separate event that has nothing to do with creation. NOTHING. Except that it is a "pre-event" condition to the "creation" account that follows in verses 3 and on.
TEASER: Genesis 1:3 "And God said, Let there be light: And there was light." Now we all know this means God made the sun, right? BZZZZZZT! WRONG AGAIN! You blew it! 3rd strike, you're outta here! Go hit the showers, you're being relieved from thinking. "But but but..." you sputter. Nah, too bad. You fell for the typical Christian Sunday Quick-Sermon about creation, and it is simply - quite simply - wrong.
That was a teaser. We need to back up to verse 2, okay? Follow along and I'll illustrate something that all Christians can see for themselves. Verse 2 is so vitally important, and God gave us a message in it unique to any other verse in the entire Bible, except one - and for a reason. Are you ready to listen to God? Forget about me - listen to God's word. "And the earth was without form, and void;..." God inspired those exact words for a very specific reason. They are used only one other place in the bible, and God inspired that particular usage for a reason. God isn't stupid, and neither do we need to be. If we have the Spirit of Christ, then we have the mind of Christ. Jesus is the Word. 1 Corinthians 2:16 - For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ. So, we don't need to be stupid when it comes to God. Okay, here we go....
"The earth was without form and void..." Where else do we see that verse? Where else did God inspire those exact words to be written? In relation to a vision Jeremiah had. Let's read it. Jeremiah 4:23-26 "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger." Jeremiah saw the earth without form and void, just like Genesis 1:2. He also saw the heavens had no light, just as in the implications of Genesis 1:3. But he sees the earth as desolate, in chaos, quaking and trembling just as the Hebrew word tohuw of Genesis 1:2 can be translated. Jeremiah is seeing in a vision the actual events of Genesis 1:2. I dare you to tell me that God inspired these two verses with only this particular usage nowhere else in the bible because He was befuddled or something. GOD HAS A PURPOSE IN WHAT HE DOES.
Jeremiah sees the earth of Genesis 1:2. What does he say? "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man..." You might say that of course there was no man because God hadn't created man yet. Not so fast there, bucko. Jeremiah keeps talking and also says, "...and all the cities thereof were broken down..." Whoa! Hold on a minute! God inspires Genesis 1:2 to be written using a peculiar description, then inspires only one other usage of it where a prophet has a vision and there are "cities of men!?" Yep. Now it's time to look at this all in context. Jeremiah is seeing an example of the Lord's wrath. He doesn't see Sodom and Gomorrah. He could easily have been given a vision of that. But no, it's of a condition that only exists in Genesis 1:2. Jeremiah provides the answer to the burning question of Gen 1:2. What was God doing there? God was pissed! God was hovering over the face of the waters because He had just gotten done delivering His wrath!
What was He angry over? We aren't told. But I can surmise that man had angered God in some way, and He came to end it.
Now wait just a minute! We're only in verse 2 and God has destroyed man He hasn't even made yet? BZZZT. Relax a minute. Just take a second to digest the implications of verse 2 and Jeremiah seeing it. Let me explain verse 3 in light of what was just revealed and then I'll head on over to Adam. God was pissed and was just finished destroying everything when verse 2 is delivered. That is why he hovers over the face of the waters. His destruction caused mountains to tremble - volcanos? You can be sure that when God destroys something, it's going to make a mess. Probably included a lot of atmospheric smoke and ash. Verse 3 has God saying "let there be light..." Atmospheric smoke and ash make for a very dark daytime. God could have simply spoke to clear some of the smoke away so that light was able to shine forth. Verse 3 does not say he made the sun. "Let there be..." is all one Hebrew word: hayah. Know what that word means in Hebrew? to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass or more specifically:
- to come about, come to pass
- to come into being, become
- to arise, appear, come
- to become
- to become
- to become like
- to be instituted, be established
- to be
- to exist, be in existence
- to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)
- to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)
- to accompany, be with
Do you see anywhere in there a creation verb? No, you don't, do you? The implication there is that the light already existed, and God is simply calling for its illumination to show. The entire "creation" account of Genesis 1 becomes a RE-CREATION. More on that in a minute.
Okay, on to Adam. How can God destroy man in Genesis 1:2 when He hasn't even made him yet? Because, silly, there was man before Adam. Jeremiah says so - under the direct inspiration of God. "No! Never! Adam was the first man!" Uh uh, wrong, sort of. When Christians say that Adam was the first man, they are only partly correct.
"Huh?"
We've already seen God getting finished destroying man before Adam in Jeremiah's vision ("all the cities thereof were broken down...") So then comes a recreation of the earth. God then makes man in His own image..... The implication then, is that man before this verse 26 decision to create man was not in God's image. But there's more. Genesis 2:7 explains in detail: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul..." Breath in the Hebrew there is neshamah. It is used to mean the Spirit of God in other verses and the spirit of mankind. Note: it is consistently used in the translation of things of the spirit. Next is that God never really names Adam, and there's a reason. However, God brings Adam all sorts of creatures for Adam to name but Adam already has a name?
No, he doesn't. We might think of "Adam" as a name, but Adam is a label. The Hebrew word for Adam is 'adam, which means first man. But if there was man before Adam, then how can Adam be the first man? Easy answer here. Adam was the first spirit-man made in God's image. All the scripture backs it up.
The creation account is a recreation. God destroys whatever pissed Him off and scatters man. I do not believe all flesh was destroyed in Gensis 1:2. No scriptural proof of my gut instinct, but when Cain takes a wife, you have to wonder where she came from. My instinct tells me that Cain took a wife of the remnant that remained after god's wrath, a non-spirit woman, but they produce Enoch, a spirit offspring. Something to back up that instinct: Look at Genesis 1:28: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..." God tells Adam and Eve to REPLENISH the earth. You only replenish something that had something in it before. The Hebrew word male' can be translated as fill, also, but seems to stick as "replenish" in certain types of passages.
What does this do to the traditional creation account? Well, the traditional creation account is a bunch of BS. It has NO scriptural foundation and smacks of primitive instruction to ignorant and primitive people. God is neither.
What does this do to the evolution theory? Evolution is still a theory, no matter what anti-religionistas tell you. It hasn't been proven yet and not a single link has been discovered between species. Further, it violates the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. That Law is constantly denied application to life because the evolutionists claim that earth is not a closed system. That is technically true if you look at only the earth. We take energy from the sun. However, there is no size limit to a system, according to the Law. If the boundaries encompass all factors, ie; earth, sun, moons, planets, solar system, galaxy, etc, then the system can be considered closed and entropy must increase. That which is order must tend to disorder. Evolution bucks that Law.
HOWEVER, I would not discount evolution as a matter of faith. Why could not God use evolution to advance whatever life was here on earth before Adam? Was there some atheist hanging around God to say that God couldn't wave His hand and provide the energy to negate the 2nd Law and evolve species? It is exactly that idea that sticks in my mind - that God used evolution to advance species until He came to ADAM, and then ADAM became the first spirit-man, formed directly by God.
Whether or not evolution happened before Adam really doesn't matter to me, but it makes sense. If evolution is proven, some day, it won't make God fall off His throne. Some energy source had to be there to negate the 2nd Law - to start the species-line where the links are missing. Could it be we'll never find the links because God continually re-created the lines as time passed? Possible.
I will say this without any reservation: evolution without God is as much BS as God making the earth 6000 years ago.