There are several theories about beginnings within Christendom. One is called theistic evolution. This is usually held and believed by the liberal denominations and their theologians. They believe that God used evolution and then just lied to us in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 as well as many other passages in the Bible. These same people deny all miracles and many historical facts of the Bible.
Another theory held with in Christendom is the day/age theory. In this they say that each day mentioned in Genesis 1&2 represents a long period of time, thousands or even millions of years. This means that somehow plant life would have to survive for up to millions of years without the benefit of sun rays: The process of photosynthesis, which forms carbohydrates in living plants from water and carbon dioxide, by the action of sunlight on chlorophyll. Try putting your house plant in a closet, close the door, then check on it a month later. The people who hold to this really want to believe God, but their faith in man is just too strong to wholly believe God's Word.
Another theory is the gap theory. This theory is held by otherwise Bible believing fundamentalist. They believe there is a long gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. From verse 3 on they believe literally. There are 3 points upon which they base this theory. The first is that the Hebrew word translated "was" in the KJV can also be translated to "become." I am not a Hebrew scholar, but the translator of our KJV were excellent Hebrew scholars. I believe they got it right. The second point is there had to be time for Lucifer to fall (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28: 12-18). We don't know how old Adam and Eve were when they fell. All that is necessary is that Satan fell first. Extended time is not needed. Their third point is since there are stars that are many light years away, the universe has to be that old. Remember from verse 3 on they believe the same as we do.
Several years ago, I was invited to preach in the Sunday morning service of an Independent Baptist Church. I was not asked to teach the adult Sunday school class. As is my custom, I attended the class. The teacher was teaching the gap theory based on this last point. I asked a question, "The day after
creation, how old were Adam and Eve?' He him hawed a bit then said, they were one day old. I asked "Did God create two little suckling babes with no one to suck from? If God created two adult human beings with all of their intricate, integral, and interrelated parts fully functioning, could not that same omnipotent God create an adult universe?" I believe Adam and Eve appeared to be 30 years old. That seems to be the age the Hebrews considered a person be mature. Hence the time that Jesus began his ministry.
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