Why the Gap Theory is unacceptable

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Nov 12, 2015
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#81
As for the sun not being the first source of physical light...I don't buy it but its a thought...
 

oldhermit

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2012
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#84
But it seems to me that your thoughts on it are based on even more conjecture than mine...:)

I at least have John informing me about a light that came into the world through whom/which everything we see was created. And he even worded it as, or similar to, how the beginning of genesis is worded. This gave me a clue that he was in fact referring back to genesis when He spoke of Jesus, the Word, the light that came into the world.
John is talking about the incarnation of Jesus into the world of man. The light in Gen. 1 is light that is created by issued command, just like everything else in creation.

Do you believe that man was part of creation in the beginning?
 
Nov 12, 2015
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#86
Oh my gosh, I popped in while I took a short break and don't have time to read everyone's posts. I soooo would stay here with you guys delving into this but I have to get working again! Its an 80 degree day here in Maryland and I have to use it!

But you guys have given me something to look forward to for this evening! I'll make a cup and hurry in to see what you all come to!
 

MarcR

Senior Member
Feb 12, 2015
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#87
Everyone who is reading the text more carefuly and not just "evening and morning".

For example, there could not be real evening/morning before sun (if you believe that sun was created later than our planet).

For another example, Adam could not be created, to know and name all millions of animals (or probably billions, if you believe all animals were living in the same epoch) and to feel lonely in just one literal day.

Etc.
However, if the light in verse 3 came from a previously created but not yet discernible sun then it would have the properties of morning and evening.

On days 5 and 6, God is said to have created animal life after its kind.

The phylum Animalia is divided into class, order, family, genus and species. The Hebrew word nechem (kind) can not legitimately be interpreted less narrowly than family; but may be interpreted as narrowly as genus.

This means that all dogs could have come in all their diversity from one set of parents: hyenas, dholes, dingos, coyotes, wolves and domestic dogs. But dogs could not come from anything outside the family canidae. It is quite legitimate to interpret kind more narrowly.
 

Gabriel2020

Senior Member
May 6, 2017
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#88
scripture in genesis says the earth was void. when you make an error in typing something, and it is wrong, you void it out with white out., but it is still there and can longer be seen. after separating the waters ,only did the dry land appear. he shape up what was already there. the waters and the dry land and the expansions.
 
Nov 12, 2015
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#89
For what ever reason, the fact remains that it took and act of God to separate light from darkness.
Oh this going to be so hurried, my apologies, but I'll go you even one further than that!

God has said He creates darkness. But God is light so bright no man can approach. So the only way for brilliant light to create darkness is by turning off, sending someone to a place away from the light, or casting someone from His presence, which is light that has no darkness in it at all. It is only through a negative creation that it is possible - a negation or withholding of light.
 

oldhermit

Senior Member
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#90
Oh this going to be so hurried, my apologies, but I'll go you even one further than that!

God has said He creates darkness. But God is light so bright no man can approach. So the only way for brilliant light to create darkness is by turning off, sending someone to a place away from the light, or casting someone from His presence, which is light that has no darkness in it at all. It is only through a negative creation that it is possible - a negation or withholding of light.
The word light, like many words in scripture, are used synonymously to create a variety of ideas. Just because we see Jesus represented
as light
in John 1, and other places as well, does not mean that every time we see this word in scripture we are free to infer that it has to automatically refer to Jesus. Light is also used to symbolize truth and moral uprightness. In the same way, darkness us used to symbolize intellectual blindness and in John 1. There is no legitimate hermeneutical principle that can justify defining the light in Gen 1 as Jesus. Gen 1 is describing the creation of the material universe of which natural light was a part in verse three. It is only one's insistence that natural light cannot exist apart from the sun that would bring one to insist the light of verse three must be something other than natural light that is composed of matter and energy.
 

Dan58

Senior Member
Nov 13, 2013
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#91
IMO, that one's theology ought not to depart very far from what the words mean; otherwise one's theology might turn out to be wrong.

Very true.. People sometimes see what they want to see and imagine the words to mean something other than what they clearly say. I can't begin to tell you how many morons have told me that the numbers on this cap (710) mean something else. Even when its right there in front of their face, they deny the obvious. :)


710.jpg
 

trofimus

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2015
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#92
However, if the light in verse 3 came from a previously created but not yet discernible sun then it would have the properties of morning and evening.

On days 5 and 6, God is said to have created animal life after its kind.

The phylum Animalia is divided into class, order, family, genus and species. The Hebrew word nechem (kind) can not legitimately be interpreted less narrowly than family; but may be interpreted as narrowly as genus.

This means that all dogs could have come in all their diversity from one set of parents: hyenas, dholes, dingos, coyotes, wolves and domestic dogs. But dogs could not come from anything outside the family canidae. It is quite legitimate to interpret kind more narrowly.
Today´s number of genera is about 110,000.

A day has 86,400 seconds.

a) Even if you believe that Adam did not sleep, he would need to get to know and name more than 1 animal every second.

If you believe that all animals from the history of planet were created before Adam and lived together with Adam, it would be millions of genera.

b) How could Adam get the feeling of loneliness after one literal day with so many work to do?

c) Why Genesis 2 says that Adam was created before animals and Genesis 1 says that Adam was created after animals?

---

A literal day simply does not make any sense.
 
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Nov 12, 2015
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#93
The word light, like many words in scripture, are used synonymously to create a variety of ideas. Just because we see Jesus represented
as light
in John 1, and other places as well, does not mean that every time we see this word in scripture we are free to infer that it has to automatically refer to Jesus. Light is also used to symbolize truth and moral uprightness. In the same way, darkness us used to symbolize intellectual blindness and in John 1. There is no legitimate hermeneutical principle that can justify defining the light in Gen 1 as Jesus. Gen 1 is describing the creation of the material universe of which natural light was a part in verse three. It is only one's insistence that natural light cannot exist apart from the sun that would bring one to insist the light of verse three must be something other than natural light that is composed of matter and energy.
Another two minute break.
I'm not suggesting every instance of light in the bible is Jesus. I'm hearing john say there is a light through which everything was created and believing that light was the first because of how he seems to connect his book to genesis.

I guess you could assume there must be some physical light other than the sun but you are assuming this without scripture. At least my thought on it comes from John instead of a straight assumption. (Whether you see this in John or not, at least I base the thought on scripture.)
 
Nov 12, 2015
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#94
By the way, I've heard the word hermeneutics. What does it mean?
 
Nov 12, 2015
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#95
Are you saying God is composed of matter and energy? :confused:
No, he's not saying that. He does not believe this light that it all began with is Jesus, so he couldn't be saying that at all. :)
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
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#96
The next verses tell us that God created the morning stars(angels) and the sons of God(fallen angels). These were created before the earth. God’s creation in Genesis 1 was so beautiful that the angels and sons of God were shouting. They were not shouting about an earth that was without form and void.

Job 38:4 “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

There has to be a Gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 because we see in scripture that God does not create things “without form, and void”. An example would be Adam. God created Adam in the image of God, perfectly. God creates things instantly and perfectly, so there had to be something happened between verses 1 and 2.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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.”
 

oldhermit

Senior Member
Jul 28, 2012
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#97
Another two minute break.
I'm not suggesting every instance of light in the bible is Jesus. I'm hearing john say there is a light through which everything was created and believing that light was the first because of how he seems to connect his book to genesis.

I guess you could assume there must be some physical light other than the sun but you are assuming this without scripture. At least my thought on it comes from John instead of a straight assumption. (Whether you see this in John or not, at least I base the thought on scripture.)
John is not saying that Jesus is the light mentioned in Gen 1. What John is describing regarding Jesus and his incarnation is function and intrinsic nature. Here, light is used as a synonym for truth. This is the same way John uses the word in 1 John. The light in Gen 1 is a created product, not an eternal being. We are also told by John that God is light. This does not mean that Gen 1 is using light as a synonym for God. Clearly from the text, the two are distinguished one from the other.
 
Nov 12, 2015
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#98
John is talking about the incarnation of Jesus into the world of man. The light in Gen. 1 is light that is created by issued command, just like everything else in creation.

Do you believe that man was part of creation in the beginning?
I agree john is talking of His human incarnation, but he also talks of before that when he says everything was created through Him.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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#99
Everyone who is reading the text more carefuly and not just "evening and morning".

For example, there could not be real evening/morning before sun (if you believe that sun was created later than our planet).
You are forgetting that God created cosmic light (before the sun) and then separated the light from the darkness. So the measurement of the day was by God's reckoning, and that should suffice.
For another example, Adam could not be created, to know and name all millions of animals (or probably billions, if you believe all animals were living in the same epoch) and to feel lonely in just one literal day.
You are making an assumption about millions and billions. Since the animals and birds had not reproduced at that point, at most there would have been a few hundred. And evidently Adam had the innate capacity to immediately name them all, which he did. We do not even know if God gave him that perception so it was extremely easy and efficient. The truth is that we have not been given many details, but we do know that everything described in those first two chapters pertains to six literal 24 hour days, since the Ten Commandments confirm that.
 
Nov 12, 2015
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John is talking about the incarnation of Jesus into the world of man. The light in Gen. 1 is light that is created by issued command, just like everything else in creation.

Do you believe that man was part of creation in the beginning?
I do believe man was part of the creation. But I believe the angels existed before man. So for OUR purposes, man was created in the beginning of our story, but there were created beings, angels, before us. They are created, so their beginning started before our beginning...