The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Observations About Creationism

Creation vs Evolution

Until the mid-19th Century, the biblical account of the creation of life and the universe was widely accepted within Christendom. In other words, Christians accepted the biblical revelation that the material world was created in six literal days about 6,000 years ago.

The Christian Surrender

But when Darwinism exploded on the scene, Christian leaders sold out quickly to the theories of scientists that the universe is billions of years old. To accommodate that supposition, Christian theologians developed the Gap Theory and the Day-Age Theory.

The Gap Theory argued that there are millions of years between the first two verses of Genesis. In other words, God created the universe and then it was despoiled by the revolt of Satan, and millions of years later, God re-created the universe.

The Day-Age Theory postulates that the creation days of Genesis were really days that lasted millions, if not billions, of years each.

The Revival of Genesis

The man who almost single-handedly revived the biblical view was Dr. Henry Morris (1918-2006). Dr. Morris graduated from Rice University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1939. Later, in 1950, he earned a doctorate in hydraulic engineering from the University of Minnesota. He then served as a professor of applied science at Southern Illinois University (1956-1957), and subsequently as professor of hydraulic engineering and civil engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), where he also served as the department chair.

In 1961, Dr. Morris teamed up with a theologian named John C. Whitcomb, and the two of them wrote The Genesis Flood, which advocated supernatural creation by God and attributed the fossil record to the Noahic Flood.

In 1963, Dr. Morris and nine others founded the Creation Research Society which was committed to reaffirming the biblical story of creation. In 1972, he established the Institute for Creation Research, which produces scientific studies that affirm a young earth and refute the Theory of Evolution.

The Situation Today

In recent years, many other Creation ministries have been established and the number of scientists speaking out against evolution and in behalf of a young earth has steadily increased.

The time is long overdue for Christian leaders to join that chorus of voices. Unfortunately, most of those leaders today are either silent about Creation, or else they continue to try to conform the biblical revelation about the Creation to the opinions of scientists.

The fact of the matter is that a belief in the biblical story of Creation is very important theologically. A belief in Creationism is not something limited to a few “Fundamentalist preachers.” Rather, the concept of a young earth (together with a refutation of evolution) has been embraced by many with advanced degrees in science.

The fact of the matter is that the Theory of Evolution is on the ropes, and its advocates are scurrying around like mad trying to find an alternative theory.

In my opinion, the Theory of Evolution and its assumption of a Creation that is millions of years old is the greatest fantasy ever conceived by the depraved mind of Mankind.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

29 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Yeshua said “the Torah (law) prophesied (Mat 11:13) In Exodus the Passover lamb was held for four days. In Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 a day is representative of 1000 years. Yeshua was crucified on the day of Passover 4000 years after creation, not four billion years.
    Yeshua is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.: (Rev 13:8)

  • I refer you to Dr. Gerald Schroeder’s article on this matter. The universe and thus Earth were in fact created in 5 24hr days. Adam was created in the middle of the sixth day, when time reckoning changed to human. Because at the beginning the universe was 900 billion times smaller than it is now time/space was different. From the current state of universe and earthly perspectives ONLY, is the universe 14.6 billion years old. Not on Yom Echad, or day one when the universe was created.

  • For me, the single most compelling argument against evolution is genetic entropy. Every generation since Adam has added roughly 100 genetic mutations to the genome that they inherited and passed those mutations to their children. All harmful; none of the mutations have been found to be good. Were it not for genetic renewal when Christ returns we would “devolve” into extension in short order.

    For me, a plasma beginning is how God created the universe. Science has determined that 99% of the matter in the universe is plasma. Of that 99%, roughly one-third is oxygen and two-thirds is hydrogen; maybe this is the “waters” in Genesis.

    Genesis 2: “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

    Under the right electro-magnetic conditions, plasma can be turned into the universe as we know in in a matter of days. Interestingly, during the “z-pinch” (creating our solar system) light would come before the sun, and the earth would come before the completion and lighting of the sun.

  • Genesis means beginnings or origin, and unfolds the beginnings, and it unfolds the record of the beginning of the world, of human history, family, of civilization, and salvation. Genesis sets the stage for the entire bible. It reveals the purpose and nature of God, Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Redeemer, created in a marvelous display of power and purpose.

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light, and there was light. Genesis 1 is the creation of every living thing in the Universe as well as the planets and solar system.

    Genesis teaches us that the earth is well made and good. Mankind is special to God and unique. God creates and sustains all life. Genesis also explains why men are evil, they choose to do wrong. Even the Bible heroes failed God and disobeyed.

    Living God’s way makes life productive and fulfilling. God kept his promises then and he keeps them now. He promises to love us, accept us, and forgive us. The way to enjoy the benefits of God’s promises is to obey him.

  • The true interpretation of Genesis 1-11 opens up many powerful theological arguments. For instance, if no death in the original creation the physical bodies of Adam and Eve were not mortal in the sense that they would be destined to die of old age. This makes very likely the possibility that the physical body of Jesus, born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit and himself without sin, was in the same manner not mortal, though he could be killed. Consider how this deepens the meaning of Satan’s temptation in Luke 4 where Jesus was promised all the kingdoms of the world if He would but worship Satan. If Jesus was mortal in His flesh the temptation loses much of its power for even if Satan granted the kingdoms of the world Jesus would eventually die and the kingdoms would revert to Satan. But! If Jesus needed not to die then the temptation would seem the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Messiah’s eternal Kingdom. Likewise the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane takes on deeper meaning for the same reason. “Not my will….” Jesus could see the path of glory leading to a glorious palace, but He was asked to walk the path of shame and forfeit a life that was otherwise not destined for death.

    • Jesus was born without the sin that entered the world through Adam. He was born Holy, just as Adam was created sinless. In contrast to Adam, who disobeyed God, Jesus obeyed God and was thus able to face sin’s consequences in our place and make us acceptable to God. Romans 5:14-19.

      Jesus is God’s son and had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to all other human beings by Adam. Because Jesus was born of a woman, he was a human being, but as the Son of God, Jesus was born without any trace of human sin.

      Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. Because Jesus lived as a man, human beings know that he fully understands their experiences and struggles. Hebrews 4:15.

      Because he is God, he has the power and authority to deliver people from sin. Colossians 2:13. People can tell Jesus all their thoughts, feelings, and needs. He has been where they are, and he has the ability to help. Thats why he is fully man, and fully God, to be a savior of mankind, and understand the feelings and troubles of man.

  • I find it interesting and am just amazed that someone/anyone believes they have creation totally contained in a neat little box and have a complete understanding of GODS HANDIWORK called creation. I do not believe we have such understanding and it is troublesome to me that there are those who present a my way or the highway approach. The fact is that we do not have a good understanding of the creation story. We just are not given enough information about it so we are told to have faith that the six day account is all we need to know. Well, I totally reject that hypothesis. I am not at any level a believer in evolution. That man in some mysterious series of events evolved out of the ooze of the primarodial whatever existed and that voila we have man. That is such a preposterous hypothesis that I won’t even discuss it with anyone. We forget how powerful satan is and how he uses that power to deceive the world. Evolution may be his biggest victory since he was thrown out of Heaven. The truth is that there is no conflict between the so called gap theory and creation. It is a fact that God created what we experience as our earth today in six days. Just a fact but so what. One cannot read the first two chapters of Genesis and not come away with a lot of questions for which there is no definitive scripturally based answer. Here is one thing I know for certain and that is T Rex was not running around the garden of Eden with Adam. Would not have gone well for Adam if he were.

      • Thats right. Genesis 1:31 says God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. The evil was not there until Satan tempted Eve and she tempted Adam. God created no evil, the animals and humans lived in peace in the beginning of creation.

  • I believe in creation, but the gap theory would fit for the fall of Satan. God created the world in six days after Satan soiled it with sin. Somewhere before Adam and Eve satin was cast out. The gap theory could explain when.

    • Roger, the problem with the Gap Theory conclusion is that there’s no biblical evidence for it whatsoever. Since everything was created good, according to the Genesis account, then Satan’s fall happened sometime after the Creation. Satan could have fallen and tempted Adam and Eve decades if not a century or so after they were created.

      • I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t discount bible teachers like J Vernon McGee offhandedly. He presented an argument for the gap theory, and whether he was parroting someone else’s views I can’t say. One thing for sure, J Vernon gave no credibility to evolution whatsoever.

      • Nathan, Our bible teacher said not to read anything into the scriptures that isn’t there. God’s word is truth the way it was written.

        Genesis 2:24 says That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
        25. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

        Next The Fall…Chapter 3. Satan enters the picture, after God created Adam and Eve, to tempt mankind to sin.
        Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

        Satan is the tempter to get us to live his kind of life and give up on God’s kind of life. He tempted Eve after he had made Adam and Eve and succeeded in getting her to sin, He even tempted Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, But Jesus did not sin!

        Adam and Eve got what they wanted, an intimate knowledge of both good and evil. But they got it by doing evil, and the results were disastrous for mankind. The key is to never listen to Satan’s temptations and lies.

      • I’m sorry but that article doesn’t cut it.
        You’re contention that the earth is only 6,000 years old is not supported by Bible scriptures. Genesis 1 says that God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.
        So the earth existed before any concept of time, which occurs in Genesis 1:3.

      • To Robert: If I may chime in …

        The phrase, “In the beginning …,” within the context of Genesis 1:1 is a reference to time. The concept of time, therefore, is first discussed here, not in verse 3. The light of the first morning on the first day is what is discussed in verse 3. Verse 2 discusses the darkness of the first evening on the first day. Verse 5 then sums up the entire first day – the first evening (v.2) followed by the first morning (v.3) after He separated them (v.4):

        Genesis 1:1-5
        1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
        3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.
        NIV

        We can reason that God didn’t create the heavens and the earth before the first day – before time began – because Exodus 20:11 tells us that He created everything within the confines of six days; … during a literal six-day period:

        Exodus 20:11
        11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
        NIV

        Even though God, Himself, existed before the beginning of time, …

        Psalms 90:2
        2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
        NIV

        … He didn’t actually start creating the heavens and the earth until after the first day got started; … in the beginning.

        I believe God created the earth with the appearance of age (say, billions of years), all within a period of six days, as anyone normally would understand how long six days would take. Is anything too hard for God? Please read my comment below (a couple of comments down), which explains why I believe this.

  • I agree that evolutionary theory that purports that one species evolved into another is unproven and contrary to scripture. However, we should be careful with our terminology. “Evolution” is too broad a term and is not always false. Darwin’s original observations regarded micro-evolution about smaller adaptations within a species (such as beak size changing in a subset of birds). His original work got promoted beyond the evidence in the form of macro-evolution that claims one species evolved into another species. This is unsupported by empirical evidence and scripture.

    I also respectfully disagree with the characterization that Christians who question the young-earth theory are “sell-outs.” There is astronomical evidence and other data that lends credence to the universe being billions of years old. Many ‘evangelical’ gospel-sharing scientists (such as Dr. Hugh Ross and his team at reasons.org and John Clayton at doesgodexist.org) show that there is no contradiction between scientific evidence of an ’old Earth’ and scripture. Where there seems to be disagreement, we usually find either false science and/or false theology. God is the creator of both natural science and scripture, so both agree when they are properly understood.

  • From what I read in Genesis, on the first day of Adam’s life, he had the appearance of an adult. He effectively was 1 day old and, say, 18 years old … at the same time. He had the appearance of being older than he actually was. Had a doctor somehow been able to examine Adam back then, he correctly would have determined his age to be 18 years old. God didn’t try to fool anybody here, either. He told us what He did. If God created this paradox with Adam, and later with Eve, why couldn’t or wouldn’t He do this with the earth, itself? God is always separating the wheat from the chaff; testing to determine if we “see” His handiwork by faith or if we insist on trusting only in what we actually can see with our earthly eyes and often creatively “prove/explain” (not by faith.) Not to be flippant here, but, I believe Adam and Eve each had a belly button, yet they had no earthly mother. Also, which came first: the chicken or the egg? I believe – by faith – it was the chicken, again from what I read in Genesis. God created the first crop of animals – mid-life cycle – with age, just as if they had matured from initial conception. Finally, before the first leaf dropped from a tree, etc., could the soil have tested positive for decayed foliage? Faith. Let’s all reexamine what it actually is and what it’s for; and let’s certainly not leave Earth without it.

    • I have considered this topic for many years and I have read extensively. I do believe that Genesis plainly read gives the basis for understanding what has happened.

      In the beginning (whenever that was). God created the heavens and the earth. Then at some point it became formless and void. Something dramatic happened to spoil God’s perfect creation.

      After some period of time God reformed, mended, the earth to make it habitable for mankind and when He had completed that process He said it was very good.

      Isaiah 48 clearly talks about the time related to Genesis 1 verses 1 and 2.
      Job 38 also confirms this consideration.

      Many years ago the early church Fathers had this same view.

      There are quite a number of extremely well-researched scholars who have made this quite clear – AND they seldom refer to millions or billions of years because God has not told us how long ago He created all things.

      Scripture is quite clear about the period of time from Adam and Eve to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We can fairly confidently say that the time period is about 4000 years and until today is another 2018 years. Therefore as the ”Age of mankind”; is declared to be 7000 years we are soon to encounter the Great Tribulation followed by the Millennium Kingdom period.

      You make the claim ;
      ”But when Darwinism exploded on the scene, Christian leaders sold out quickly to the theories of scientists that the universe is billions of years old. To accommodate that supposition, Christian theologians developed the Gap Theory and the Day-Age Theory.”

      Some of the people that I have considered were around well before Darwin postulated Evolution and therefore their considerations are most definitely NOT a reaction to this diabolic theory. NOR do these people maintain that the world is billions of years old they simply refer to eternity past and this is because the scripture identify that time began when our Creator God set the evening and the morning of the first day Genesis chapter 1 verse 5.

      My references are The Bible and;
      The Gap is not a theory by Jack Langford,
      Earths earliest ages by George H Pember,
      Judgment of the Nephilim by Ryan Pitterson
      Dispensational Truth or God’s plan and Purpose in the ages by Clarence Larkin

      It has been a common accusation by certain Young-Earth-Creationists that the idea of a gap in Genesis 1:1-3 is new and only came as a result of the arrival of the theory of evolution and an old earth. However, this is totally false. A Canadian Scholar and Christian gave extensive documentation as to the long antiquity of the Gap understanding in Genesis 1–Without Form And Void, published in 1970.

  • [This is a resubmission that removes special characters] From what I read in Genesis, on the first day of Adam’s life, he had the appearance of an adult. He effectively was 1 day old and, say, 18 years old … at the same time. He had the appearance of being older than he actually was. Had a doctor somehow been able to examine Adam back then, he correctly would have determined his age to be 18 years old. God didn’t try to fool anybody here, either. He told us what He did. If God created this paradox with Adam, and later with Eve, why couldn’t or wouldn’t He do this with the earth, itself? God is always separating the wheat from the chaff; testing to determine if we “see” His handiwork by faith or if we trust only in what we actually can see with our earthly eyes and then often creatively “prove/explain” (not by faith.)

    Not to be flippant here, but, I believe Adam and Eve each had a belly button, yet they had no earthly mother. Also, which came first: the chicken or the egg? I believe — by faith — it was the chicken, again from what I read in Genesis. God created the first crop of animals — mid-life cycle — with age, just as if they had matured from initial conception. Finally, before the first leaf dropped from a tree, etc., could the soil have tested positive for decayed foliage? Faith. Let’s all reexamine what it actually is and what it’s for, and let’s certainly not leave Earth without it.

  • Please for give this mundane analogy- it helps visualize God’s Creation “showing age”

    My neighbor had a model train layout showing the Southern Pacific Colfax train yard circa 1948. On the tracks were Diesel and steam locomotives; a brand new (1948) GM Diesel was next to the snow shed fire engine #2252 (1896), and buildings in the model town ranged in age from the 1870’s to late 1940’s.

    The model builder, “creator” of this scene, had made a scene in a tiny time span, even though the oldest and newest equipment and buildings, respectively, were separated by many decades according to their appearance.

    Pastors seldom mention DNA, which by definition, shows a perfect origin and was complete with all markers of a given species, allowing for the multitude of variations in individuals (of a respective species) born through the ages. Please expand on DNA in this series… The Flood was a “refresher” for the planet, emplacing gravel beds for water tables, for openers… Old era vegetation and fauna was stored for modern generation use as fuels, lubricants etc. Noah’s Flood is a crucial monument to God’s Creation updated!

  • We have teaching issues in the church. Poor teaching. The sexual ideas of the society have crept in to capture leaders, therefore those committed to let the pastor get it also fall. Rice disproved the original error in the claim of DNA as cause of deviation. Subsequently identical twin studies completely disproved foundation of sexual preference from DNA i.e Genetics. The matter, however, due to the poorest of teaching moved along with New York Times, over trusting the Bible. Its a mess now and I am glad I have no accountability toward it.
    Same here the evolutionists made headway with education and the church (meaning the leadership … nearly across the board) went along featuring, hosting and approving the intelligent design evolutionary ideas. As a mechanical engineer, I understand the strongest evidence is from chemistry and geology. Way to mush Helium in them rocks to sign as Old Earth.

    Further, the assumptions made by the dating originators was a stable ration between carbon 12 and carbon 14 the dating regimen based on that assumption. Is the ratio stable. They’ll treat you like Galileo if you even ask a question.

    My own personal quandary involves Bible Prophecy and God’s clear instructions there. I set out having some small understanding, as an engineer and mathematician to see if other time pins in the Bible would yield result. THEY DO! DROPPING EVENTS Prophesied very specifically from Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation and Jesus right on the timeline of history sometimes correlating from Old and New Testament.

  • It has been a common accusation by certain Young-Earth-Creationists that the idea of a gap in Genesis 1:1-3 is new and only came as a result of the arrival of the theory of evolution and an old earth. However, this is totally false. A Canadian Scholar and Christian gave extensive documentation as to the long antiquity of the Gap understanding in Genesis 1–Without Form And Void, published in 1970.

    Here are a few of the older writers before Darwin:
    1847, J Harris, of London wrote about the Pre-Adamic Earth;
    William Bucklin, Bible teacher, wrote of it in 1836;
    Tomas Chalmers wrote extensively in 1814, and even earlier in 1804;
    Johann August Dath of Germany wrote a six volume commentary between 1763 and 1781 wherein he explained the GAP;
    Pereius wrote a commentary on Genesis in 1570 wherein he explained the Gap;
    Dionysius Petavius, between 1583 and 1652, explained the same;
    Thomas Aquinus, 1226-1274 believed in a Gap.
    Hugo St. Victor, 1097-1141, spoke about the long state of time before the six-days;
    Caedmon, an English poet and singer, elaborated greatly on the subject-650;
    Origen, 185-254, spoke about the destruction of Genesis 1:2;
    It was also spoken of in Jewish writings from before Christ until 400 years after Christ– The Legends of The Jews, The Zohar (or Book of Lights), etc.

  • the Bible does not say how long these time periods were. The real question is not how long God took, but how he did it. God created the earth in an orderly fashion, he did not make plants before light, and he created men and women as unique beings capable of communication with him. No other part of creation can make that claim that remarkable privilege.

    It is not important how long it took God to create the world, whether a few days or a few billion years, but that he created it just the way he wanted it, and it is a miraculous creation.

  • The Bible does not discuss the subject of evolution. Rather, its worldview assumes God created the World. The biblical view of creation is not in conflict with science; rather it is in conflict with any world view that starts without a Creator.

    Genesis 1:1. In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

    To say that the universe “just happened” or “evolved” requires more faith than to believe that God is behind these amazing statistics. God truly created a wonderful universe.

    Only the Bible shows One Supreme God creating the earth out of his great love and giving all people a special place in it, this fact alone gives worth and dignity to all people.

    God is that infinite being who has always been and who was created by no one. We must not limit the infinite God by our infinite understanding.

    The statement “the earth was formless and empty” provides the setting for the creation narrative that follows. During the 2nd and 3rd days of creation, God gave form to the Universe.

  • God. Thats where Genesis begins. All at once we see him creating the world in a majestic display of power and purpose, culminating with a man and a woman made like himself, Genesis 1:26.

    But before long, sin entered the world, and Satan was unmasked. Bathed in innocence, creation was shattered by the fall (the willful disobedience of Adam and Eve.). Fellowship with God was broken, and evil began weaving its destructive web.

    In rapid succession, we read how Adam and Eve were expelled from the beautiful garden, their first son turned murderer, and evil bred evil until God finally destroyed everyone on earth except a small family led by Noah, the only Godly person left.

    Genesis 1:1- 2:3 shows how God created earth and everything in it, and made humans like himself. Its clear that God created all life. This shows not only God’s authority over humanity, but his deep love for all people.

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