Archive for June, 2011

Genesis 1:9-10, Land on Day 3

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , , , on June 28, 2011 by paulthepoke

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.

Another day and another difference, evolutionary science says that dry land was first, then the oceans appeared. From the evolution perspective, matter has always been.

God says the sea was first, then dry land appeared. Matter did not exist until God created. The idea of water first and land out of water is noted in the New Testament in 2 Peter 3:5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water…

Observation: God said for the waters to be gathered in one place. The waters have a name, “seas”. Initially, water covered the entire surface, a literal water world. Next land appeared. The land has a name, “earth” or “erets” in the Hebrew.

There are creation scientists who argue for the original land mass being large and single. Some of these creation scientists include researchers at the Institute for Creation Research (www.icr.org), Ken Hamm (www.answersingenesis.org).  Names for this land mass and its configuration include Rodinia and Pangea. Think about our planet today. We have land masses or continents, not a single land or super continent. The creationist argument for seven continents and the current land configuration is due to the events of Noah’s Flood. That is a discussion for another day.

God could have and may have made the land masses in their current configuration just as well. We don’t know for sure.  Science does not know definitively either. We were not there.

and God saw that it was good.

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Genesis 1:6-8 Water First, Day 2

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , on June 12, 2011 by paulthepoke

Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Science is at odds with the Bible, imagine that? Science says that the Earth was molten rock billions of years ago. Eventually all of this molten rock cooled. Science has the order of rock first then water later.

God has things a bit different. There was water first. Then sky (day 2) and land (day 3) were separated from the water. This concept of water first is noted throughout the Bible. This is not a Genesis phenomenon. Look at Psalm 148. This Psalm has the reminder that God spoke this into existence. It was created out of nothing by the power of His word.

Psalm 148:4-5 Praise Him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created.

Jeremiah and Isaiah speak specifically of the heavens. They both note that it was God who “stretches” and “spreads” the heavens. The Isaiah passage also has another hidden gem. Note where God is sitting, it is above the circle of the earth. Isaiah tells us the earth is round! Isaiah was written approximately 2700 years ago. This was way before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Fifteenth Century man was convinced the earth was flat. Yet, a Jewish prophet 700 years before Christ tells us the earth is round. Fast forward to the 21st century, scientific man is telling us that the earth came before water. God says water was first. Has man been wrong before? What should you believe?

Jeremiah 10:12 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

The Hebrew word for “expanse” is aqiya`. Defined (Strong’s Concordance) it can mean the follow:

expanse, platform, sky extended surface (solid)

expanse (flat as base, support)

firmament (of vault of heaven supporting waters above)

considered by Hebrews as solid and supporting ‘waters’ above

This “expanse” separated and divided the waters. There was water below and above the expanse after God finished His work. God named this expanse. The Hebrew name of the expanse is shamayim. The word is typically translated “sky” or “heaven” in English Bibles. It can mean the following as noted by Strong’s Concordance.

heaven, heavens, sky

visible heavens, as abode of the stars

as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc

Heaven (as the abode of God)

The evening came first with darkness. Then light, not sunlight because it is still a couple of days away on day four, came in the morning. And that was the second day.

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Genesis 1:5b One Day

Posted in Creation with tags , , on June 5, 2011 by paulthepoke

Genesis 1:5b And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Come on now, did God really make everything in six days? How many times has that question been posed? Why not? He can do whatever He wants, He is God. Time is irrelevant. God created time as noted in the discussion below. In addition, God is outside of time and space as we know it. God is omnipotent. Psalm 135:5-6 For I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

A challenge to the culture and the critic, open your mind to an alternative perspective. Free your mind to the possibilities of what God can do. Don’t be so narrow-minded and intolerant to what God says. Do you really know what the Bible says, not likely. Read it and make an informed decision, enough of the ignorance.

Here is how God defines a day. The Hebrew word for day is “yom”. Two things are required to make a “yom” or day, an evening and a morning. The Hebrew word for evening is “ereb”. It means an evening, night, or sunset. The Hebrew word for morning is “boqer”. It means morning, break of light, end of night, or dawn. One evening plus one morning equals one day.

This pattern (evening + morning = day) is repeated with each of the six days of creation. See Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 “The Hebrew word for day “yom” is used some 3,000 times in the Hebrew Bible, and is almost always used to mean an ordinary 24-hour day-night cycle. Whenever it is used with an ordinal (1, 2, 1st, 2nd, etc.), it always means a specific day, an ordinary 24-hour day”. (Creation Was 24/6 and Recent, http://www.icr.org).

Let’s look at the context of the word “day” and how it is used in the Bible. The context determines the meaning of the word.  Here are some observations and questions made by scholars who take the Bible seriously and believe that God means what he says.  Here are two examples.

Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Days? by Ken Ham September 27, 2007

  • A classic, well-respected Hebrew-English lexicon (a dictionary) has seven headings and many subheadings for the meaning of “yom”—but it defines the creation days of Genesis 1 as ordinary days under the heading “day as defined by evening and morning.”
  • Outside Genesis 1, “yom” is used with a number 359 times, and each time it means an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception?
  • Outside Genesis 1, “yom” is used with the word “evening” or “morning” 23 times. “Evening” and “morning” appear in association, but without “yom”, 38 times. All 61 times the text refers to an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception?
  • In Genesis 1:5 , “yom” occurs in context with the word “night.” Outside of Genesis 1, “night” is used with “yom” 53 times, and each time it means an ordinary day. Why would Genesis 1 be the exception? Even the usage of the word “light” with “yom” in this passage determines the meaning as ordinary day.
  • “Yom” is singular.

James Stambaugh, M.DIV., Librarian at the Institute for Creation Research.

  • The meaning of the term “day” must be seen in conjunction with the use of “evening” and “morning.” The Old Testament records 38 times when these two words are used in the same verse. Each time they occur, the meaning must be that of a normal day.
  • This combination occurs 357 times outside of Genesis 1. But each time it is used, it must mean 24-hour periods of time.
  • God frequently issued commands that the people were to do or not to do certain things on a given day. This use occurs 162 times.
  • Why did God use the word “day” and not the more generic term, “time”?
  • Did God deceive us by using the word “day,” when it really was a long period of time?
  • If deception is needed, why should we believe any of the Bible?
  • If God lies in the beginning, why should we believe any thing else?

Even the critic understands the magnitude and relevance of the meaning of the word “day”.

Dr. James Barr, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, does not believe Genesis is history.

  • “So far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience”.

Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

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