SCRIPTURAL CREATIONISM
The Traditional belief of Creation in Six Days assumes that Genesis
1 deals with the ‘totality of all
creation’ as having taken place in six
days. In assuming as such, it
obviously fails to distinguish that Genesis
1:1actually deals with an earlier work
of an instant perfect creation, different from that of the much later additional phased work of the six days
(Genesis 1:3-31). Accordingly, traditional
six-day creationism wrongly assumes the chaotic
condition on earth described in Genesis 1:2 is essentially an activity of God’s
work of the first day. In actuality,
Genesis 1:2 is not a work of creation at all, but a later judgmental outcome on the original perfect earth.
Failure
on the part of the Traditional Six-Day
Creationists to treat Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:3-31 as two different and independent creation accounts lies behind their belief that the
heavens and earth and everything in them have been created in six days some six to ten thousand years
ago. In assuming as such, they overlook the fact that the original creation of heavens and earth
was in the dateless past, much before
the later work of the six days some six thousand years back. It is biblically inaccurate to assume that the original
creation described in Genesis 1:1 is the same as the later work of
the six days described in Genesis
1:3-31. Next, the chaotic conditions
on earth described in Genesis 1:2
are in no way a work of original creation notwithstanding the conjunction ‘waw’
joining this verse to verse 1.
In
assuming the original creation of
heavens and earth to be the same and
is as old as the later work of the six days
of some six to ten thousand years ago, traditional
six–day creationism has given rise to an ongoing conflict between the true Science and the Bible regarding the ages
of the earth and of the universe. True Scriptural
Creationism, however, gives no room for any such debate between the Bible and true Science.
At the
cost of repeating, the real battle
is not between true Science and
the Bible or its Creation Record; the
two are in perfect agreement. Any supposed conflict
is apparently based upon our misinterpretation
of either biblical or scientific facts. As such, the real battle is between
misunderstood biblical facts relating
to creation and the scientific facts
or unscientific speculations
challenging misinterpreted biblical
facts.
Next, the battle is augmented by different
views put forward, such as the ‘young-earth’
and ‘old-earth’ creationism and related positions,
all attempting to patch up and resolve the apparent
conflict between the Bible and Science. However, such an ongoing battle is
rendered meaningless in the face of clear biblical
truth relating to creation. There is no Scripture in the Bible relating to
creation or any other subject that is in conflict
with Science; or that has been proved to be false by any scientific discovery.
Objectively speaking, it is not necessary to
treat Genesis 1 and 2 and other creation accounts as ‘literary devices’ purportedly adopted by
Moses and others in keeping with the “standard
style and genre of creation epics at the time”; nor do they require any
special interpretive methods such as
‘progressive creationism’, ‘process creation’, ‘day-ages old-earth creationism’ ‘punctuational evolution’, etc. so as to ‘capitulate to the evolutionary time-scale of modern unbelieving
geologists and astronomers’.
At the other extreme, there are “thousands
of scientists who believe in a recent six-day creation. There are also
organizations of scientists who are young-earth creationists in at least ten
different countries as well as in the USA”. And, there are those
different church denominations, theologians and a large number of nominal Christians who hold on to a ‘six-day, young-earth creationism’, etc.
assuming it is purely True Biblical Creationism.
Notwithstanding the views of the theistic evolutionists, neither the original creation of the heavens and earth nor the work of the six days in any way involved the
creation of evolutionary processes by God so as for any one to presume the complex species of life have evolved from simple species in the course of billions of years. “So couldn’t God have used evolution to create? The answer
is no! A belief in millions of years
of evolution not only contradicts the clear teaching of Genesis and the rest of
the Scripture but also impugns the character of God.” (Ken Ham, Could God Really Have Created Everything in
Six Days? www.answersingenesis.org).
At the same time, God’s phased work of the 6 days doesn’t include the creation of
the original heavens and earth of Genesis 1:1, as the same were already created much earlier. As such, it is unbiblical to state that “Taking Genesis 1, at face value, without doubt it says that God created the
universe, the earth, the sun, moon and stars” during the six days of the creation week.
Obviously,
a faulty interpretation of Genesis 1:1, 1:2 and 1: 3-31 creation accounts by
the proponents of the Traditional Six-day
Creationism is the cause behind
the ongoing debate between Science
and the Bible. Next, it has further given rise to different theological
positions. However, the positions adopted by the young-earth creationists, day-ages
old-earth, and progressive creationists, etc. are not without any theological
problems, as is evidenced by the ongoing debate
amongst their proponents.
One is left wondering as to how age-related
conclusions have been drawn or even the need
to draw such conclusions has been felt at a time when the Bible is silent on issues such as the age of the earth and or of the universe. “As for the exact date of the first
creation, it may be safely affirmed that we have not yet the knowledge
sufficient to arrive at any really trustworthy conclusion.” (Alfred Edersheim, Biblical History: Old Testament, Text: Public Domain, Database
@2004, WORDsearch Corp., Vol 1, Chapter 1)
As a matter of fact, instead of interpreting the biblical creation
record by allowing the Bible to interpret it, what has been done is to
interpret the creation record in the background of one’s established but erroneous traditional belief of all creation in six-days. It is wrongly assumed by the modern Young Earth
Creationists that the creation record in the first chapter of Genesis
deals with a creation in six days, six to ten thousand years back.
An
appropriate interpretation of the Scriptures will bring to light that the very
first chapter of Genesis in fact covers two
distinct creation phases. Accordingly,
it would be certainly obvious that Genesis 1:3-31 is different from Genesis 1:1,
covering different historical periods, and that the chaotic conditions described in Genesis 1:2 are not that of
original creation.
Thus, as stated precisely by Alfred Edersheim,
“The
first verse in the book of Genesis simply states the general fact, that
"In the beginning"—whenever that may have been—"God created the
heaven and the earth." Then, in the second verse, we find earth described
as it was at the close of the last great revolution, preceding the present
state of things: "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep." An almost indefinite space of time, and many
changes, may therefore have intervened between the creation of heaven and
earth, as mentioned in verse 1, and the chaotic state of our earth, as
described in verse 2.” 1 Accordingly, it is definitely biblically inaccurate to state that Genesis 1:1 to
1:3-5 cover God’s activities of Day 1. Not at all!
Undoubtedly, Traditional Six-day Creationism differs from the True Scriptural Creationism which covers
the creation of the original universe (Genesis 1:1) and the later actual biblical six-day creationism
of Genesis 1:3-31. Most probably, such an interpretation will not be easily accepted
by the traditional six day creationists
and is likely to meet strong, if not unholy,
opposition. Nevertheless, it is necessary to do a thorough objective unbiased review of all the Scriptures relating to
creation, and for which purpose we need to consider
a few preliminary hermeneutical assumptions.
It’s only then we will be able to get and appreciate a clear picture of the True Biblical or Scriptural Creationism.
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1: Alfred Edersheim, Biblical
History: Old Testament, Text: Public Domain, Database @2004, WORDsearch Corp., Volume 1, Chapter
1
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