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How Did Things Come into Existence
There are various viewpoints concerning the origins of the universe, living organisms and human beings. Typically, each viewpoint has different versions of that viewpoint.
Because we can’t see how the universe and Earth actually came into existence and how they have changed from that time to this, there are different viewpoints about what happened.
Viewpoints Concerning the Origins of the Universe
Two popular viewpoints of how the universe came into being are 1) through what is
many times referred to as the Big Bang Theory; and 2) by God.
(Some scientists don’t believe in the Big Bang Theory, which consist of only one universe. They believe that there are more than one universe. They are looking at theories like the string theory and the superstring theory.)
An explanation of the Big Bang Theory follows. The universe came into existence -- without an act of God -- through a cosmic explosion approximately 13 to 14 billion years ago (World Book (2007) 20:206). After many random events and natural processes stars and galaxies were formed. Around 4.6 billion years ago, after more random events and natural processes, the sun (Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 16:767) and Earth (Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 17:569) were formed.
There are two popular viewpoints that say that God created the universe. According to some interpretations of the Book of Genesis and other scriptures in the Holy Bible, God created the universe about 6,000 to 15,000 years ago. This viewpoint is often referred to as Young Earth Creationism.
Another popular viewpoint says that billions of years ago the Big Bang occurred or something similar to it and God was the One Who caused it according to some interpretations of the Book of Genesis and other scriptures in the Holy Bible. This viewpoint is many times referred to as Old Earth Creationism or Day-Age Creationism.
The Holy Bible and Creation
The Young Earth Creationism and the Old Earth Creationism are based on the Bible. One of the main places that the Bible mentions the creation of the universe and the Earth is in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis.
Generally speaking, I think scientists and those who believe what the Bible says have opposing viewpoints on the origins of the universe and the origins of life. But I’m quite sure there are many scientists that believe certain interpretations of chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis. And I’m quite sure there are many people who believe what the Bible says also believe a lot of what science says on these topics.
How Long was Each Day
In chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis the word day is used. I think there are three main views
on how long each day was.
Many people think that each day was 24 hours long, especially since there was an evening and a morning in Days 1 to 6.
Other people think that each day was 1,000 years because of what 2 Peter 3:8 states (see below) [italicized word was provided for a better understanding of the verse when the Bible was translated into English].
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Old Earth Creationism
Old Earth Creationists say the word day (in most instances in Genesis 1 and 2) can mean millions or billions of years. This viewpoint is many times referred to as Old Earth Creationism.
Origins of Living Organisms
Some of the popular viewpoints on the origins of living organisms are the Theory of Evolution, Intelligent Design, Young Earth Creationism and Old Earth Creationism.
Theory of Evolution
Let’s start by looking at the Theory of Evolution. Evolution can’t be called a fact of science because no one has actually seen Evolution occur (refer to the article, “The Scientific Case Against Evolution: A Summary Part 1,” by Henry M. Morris. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research. Impact magazine No. 330. Copyright 2000. webpage: www.icr.org/article/scientific-case-against-evolution-summary-part-1/ (accessed August 11, 2009)).
An explanation of the Theory of Evolution follows. Maybe millions or billions of years after the Earth was formed, more random events (including possible mixtures of gases affected by lightning discharges or ultraviolet light) occurred that eventually caused microorganisms to come into existence (Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 22:972).
As more time passed, microorganisms evolved into more advanced organisms (such as vegetation, sea creatures, insects and animals). They evolved through adaptation, mutation and so on. Eventually, the human race evolved.
There is a viewpoint that is sometimes called Theistic Evolution. It says that God started life on Earth and through evolutionary principles, eventually, man was formed (refer to Matthew J. Slick’s article, “Theistic Evolution.” Escondido, CA: Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, 2003. webpage:
www.carm.org/evolution/evtheistic.htm (accessed September 25, 2008)).
One problem with Theistic Evolution is that it conflicts with what Genesis 2:21-22 says. These verses say that the first woman Eve was miraculously created from Adam’s rib -- not through evolutionary principles.
Some people disagree with the Theory of Evolution because of the issue concerning species of organisms evolving into more advance life forms. My understanding is that Ernst Mayr, who some consider the father of modern evolutionary biology, states that there is no hard evidence of transition from one species to a new species and other types of transitions. (Refer to "Macroevolution," CreationWiki, The encyclopedia of creation science, http://creationwiki.org/Macroevolution (accessed May 23, 2009).)
(Also refer to the article, “The Natural Limits to Biological Change, Neo-Darwinism Under Attack,” by Raymond G. Bohlin. Published by Probe Ministries International, 1994. Webpage: www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4218197/k.Fb1
/The_Natural_Limits_to_Biological_Change.htm (accessed May 22, 2009) or search their website
using keywords natural limits.)
These are some of the reasons why the Theory of Evolution seems to be wrong.
Intelligent Design
The Intelligent Design viewpoint doesn’t look at how the universe and living organism originated. This viewpoint says that the universe, living organisms and human beings didn’t happen by laws of nature. These things came into existence by pre-existing intelligence.
For example, Intelligent Design theorists don’t believe that bacterial flagellum (a group of parts that causes a bacterium to move) is the result of Evolution. The bacterial flagellum requires at least three parts to even function -- to remove just one part will cause the bacterium not to be able to move (refer to Michael J. Behe’s article, “The Bacterial Flagellum.” 1998. webpage:
http://www.arn.org/docs/mm/flagellum_all.htm (accessed September 25, 2008)).
Origins of Living Organisms - Young Earth and Old Earth
Young Earth and Old Earth creationists say that God created all species of living organisms, but differ on when they were created.
There are many views and many issues concerning the origins of the universe and the human race. One place to get information on this subject is on the Web. You can go to the major search engines and search the Web using the word creationism or the word evolution.
If you don’t want to read about other views about Creation at this time, you may skip to the heading, “Summary of Various Views on Creation.”
A Popular View of Genesis 1:1, 2
I would like to share two of the many views of Genesis 1:1-2 that people have as they attempt to interpret the Bible. The verses are presented below. |
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A popular view says that God created the Earth in Day 1. In this view, God initially created the Earth without form and void.
A Less Popular View of Genesis 1:1, 2
A view, which I think is less popular, says that God never initially creates anything without form and void. In this view, when God first created the Earth it was beautiful. The people who have this view think a lot of things happened between verses 1 and 2. They believe that the Earth became without form and void. This view is sometimes referred to as the Gap Theory or the Ruin-Reconstruction Theory.
It is important to note that Genesis 1:2-19 could be a description of what was happening to the Earth from the viewpoint of someone near the Earth’s surface.
For example, the light mentioned in Genesis 1:3 could be describing sunlight getting through the atmosphere, but the atmosphere was not clear enough to see the shape of the sun. In succeeding verses (Genesis 1:14-18), the lights mentioned are probably the sun, moon and stars, which could be seen in that later period of time because the atmosphere had cleared. (Refer to Hugh Ross’ article, “Summary of Reasons To Believe’s Testable Creation Model.” Pasadena, CA: Reason To Believe, 2000. Webpage: www.reasons.org/summary-reasons-believes-testable-creation-model (accessed May 22, 2009) or search their website using keywords summary reasons.)
Some people believe that between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1 that there was some kind of global destruction. This caused the Earth (as mentioned in verse 2) to become without form and void -- the Earth became completely covered with water. Some Bible verses that may indicate these events are Isaiah 14:4-17.
(Some who believe in this view have a certain interpretation of the phrase, “replenish the Earth,” in Genesis 1:28. The word replenish may have a meaning of refilling. They say that the verse implies the Earth was filled before Genesis 1:2 and that that the Earth had to be refilled after Genesis 1:2. [I heard it said that when the Holy Bible was translated into English in the 1600’s, the word replenish may not have necessarily meant a filling again of something. This point may be supported by a dictionary that was written somewhat near that time (1755). It was Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, A Dictionary of the English Language.])
This view says that God initially created the Earth beautiful, then something caused a lot of destruction before Genesis 1:2. In this view, God had to re-create everything on the Earth (Genesis 1:2-31). This is sometimes referred to as Re-Creation.
A Possible Scenario
What follows is a possible scenario of Creation. One of the articles that has influenced me was written by Matt Perman (“Science, the Bible, and the Promised Land: An Analysis of John Sailhamer's Genesis Unbound”) (webpage: www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8449/genesis.html (accessed September 25, 2008)). The article brings out various ideas as he analyzes John Sailhamer’s book Genesis Unbounded (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1996).
Genesis 1:1 may be a general statement of what God did and Genesis 1:2-31 discusses things, specifically, concerning the Earth.
God started to create the heaven about 13 to 14 billion years ago. It may have occurred in a way that is described in the Big Bang Theory. This caused stars and so on to be formed. About 4.6 billion years ago (the Earth's sun and moon were created by this time), the Earth was formed.
(The scenario below doesn’t take the position of the period of destruction between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1 in the Gap Theory.)
For Days 1 to 6, the length of each day could have been 24 hours, a thousand years, thousands of years, millions of years or billions of years. Also, the length of each of the six days didn't have to be the same. I think the length of each day was in the billions or hundreds of millions of years.
On Day 1 of Creation, God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was completely covered with water -- there were no landmasses. There was a very thick atmosphere, which prevented sunlight from going through it. The Spirit of God began to do something to the waters of the Earth (Genesis 1:2). Next, God said Let there be light. The atmosphere became less thick, so if someone was near the surface of the Earth and looked up, the person could see some light, but not the sun itself.
On Day 2, God created something or things (I don’t know what it was or they were) in the Earth’s atmosphere.
On Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13), God moved a lot of the water into seas. Somehow, dry land appeared. He also created vegetation.
I believe that God is so awesome that He just created all species of organisms (including vegetation). God may have instantly made them out of nothing or He may have instantly made them from the elements He previously created. He created new species in whatever order that He wanted to and when He wanted to. I realized some of these things could have happened after reading Hugh Ross’ article, “Summary of Reasons To Believe’s Testable Creation Model.”
On Day 4, God cleared the Earth’s atmosphere so that the Earth’s sun, the moon and the stars could be seen from the surface of the Earth.
On Day 5, God instantly made species of whales, creeping things, birds and sea creatures.
On Day 6, God instantly made more species of creeping things, cattle and other creatures.
I believe God instantly made the first human being, Adam, from existing material -- soil (dust of the ground) (Genesis 2:7). Adam named the animals (Genesis 2:19, 20). This could have taken days, months or years. Adam didn’t have a human companion. Next, God instantly made Eve from existing material -- one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:22). Around this time, God also made the Garden of Eden, The Tree of Life and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
This is what may have happened up to Day 6. Now let’s look at Day 7.
Some People Believe We are Still in the Seventh Day
According to Hebrews 4, some people, including myself, believe that after Day 6, Day 7 started and we are still in it. (Refer to Ray C. Stedman’s article, “The Seventh Day.” Palo Alto, CA: Discovery Publishing, 1967. Website:
www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/genesis/0310.html (accessed May 22, 2009).)
I read an article -- I don't remember where I saw it -- that stated that in Day 7 God is resting from creating new things. God still creates things but probably not new species of living organisms. I believe God still does miracles. (I believe if an eardrum, which was diseased, was removed by an operation, God could create a new eardrum for that person.) I believe the article also said that after Day 7, God will start creating again when He creates a new heaven and a new Earth (Revelation 21:1).
As others have noted, the phrase the evening and the morning was used in Days 1 to 6 in Genesis 1, but the phrase was not used when Day 7 was mentioned in Genesis 2:2-4. In other words, Day 7 hasn’t been completed yet.
How About the Dinosaurs?
It could be that the dinosaurs were created in Day 5 and Day 6. Each of those days could have been 24 hours, thousands of years, millions of years or billions of years long.
Dr. Walt Brown’s Hydroplate Theory has some interesting theories about when and how some fossils occurred. (Refer to the starting webpage on the issue www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/HydroplateOverview.html (accessed November
14, 2008).)
As you can see there are many views of what happened before there were human beings.
Summary of Various Views on Creation
Even though there are many views on Creation, I don’t believe that we must know how the universe and the human race were created. I believe that if a person believes that God (the all-powerful One) existed before the universe was made, that person could still believe in the wrong view of how the universe and how the human race was created, but still receive God’s Gift of Eternal Life, which is very important, as explained in chapter 6, “How to Find Real Meaning in Life.”
In the next section, we will look at what happened to Adam and Eve.
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