Session 3 - Day Age Theory & Progressive Creation

1. Session 3 - Day Age Theory & Progressive Creation While there are several variations of this view, we will look at many of the common beliefs held by this view Beliefs promoted by the view: The big-bang origin of the universe occurred about 13–15 billion years ago. The days of creation were overlapping periods of millions and billions of years. Over millions of years, God created new species as others kept going extinct.

2. Over millions of years, God created new species as others kept going extinct. The record of nature is just as reliable as the Word of God. Death, bloodshed, and disease existed before Adam and Eve. Manlike creatures that looked and behaved much like us (and painted on cave walls) existed before Adam and Eve but did not have a spirit that was made in the image of God, and thus had no hope of salvation. The Genesis Flood was a local event. While there is some variation, these are the common core views held by those who subscribe to this view

3. The Bible and the Book of nature? Dr. HughRoss of Reasons to believe has stated: “Not everyone has been exposed to the sixty-six books of the Bible, but everyone on planet Earth has been exposed to the sixty seventh book—the book that God has written upon the heavens for everyone to read. And the Bible tells us it’s impossible for God to lie, so the record of nature must be just as perfect, and reliable and truthful as the sixty-six books of the Bible that is part of the Word of God. . . . And so when astronomers tell us [their attempts to measure distance in space] . . . it’s part of the truth that God has revealed to us. It actually encompasses part of the Word of God. “

4. Does the Bible agree with this view? Romans 8:18-22: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” The only way this comparison would work, is if the Word of God is cursed just as nature is cursed

5. Is it possible to view the days of Creation as long periods of time? Those who support this view will point out that the word day in Genesis 1 (Yom) can mean three different things: 1 - A normal 24 hour day 2 - The daylight portion of a day (Roughly 12 hours) 3 - A long period of time (Example: In the days of my father) When does the word “Yom” mean a literal day? We have to look at the context of the word in order to figure that out!

6. Uses of ‘Day’ outside of Genesis chapter 1 ‘Day’ + Number is used 410 times (in plural or singular) ‘Evening’ & ‘Morning’ together without ‘Day’ is used 38 times ‘Evening’ or ‘morning’ with ‘Day’ is used 23 times each ‘Night’ with ‘Day’ is used 52 times

7. Uses of ‘Day’ outside of Genesis chapter 1 ‘Day’ + Number is used 410 times (in plural or singular) Always means a literal day (One debated use) ‘Evening’ & ‘Morning’ together without ‘Day’ is used 38 times ‘Evening’ or ‘morning’ with ‘Day’ is used 23 times each ‘Night’ with ‘Day’ is used 52 times

8. Uses of ‘Day’ outside of Genesis chapter 1 ‘Day’ + Number is used 410 times (in plural or singular) ‘Evening’ & ‘Morning’ together without ‘Day’ is used 38 times Always means a literal day ‘Evening’ or ‘morning’ with ‘Day’ is used 23 times each ‘Night’ with ‘Day’ is used 52 times

9. Uses of ‘Day’ outside of Genesis chapter 1 ‘Day’ + Number is used 410 times (in plural or singular) ‘Evening’ & ‘Morning’ together without ‘Day’ is used 38 times ‘Evening’ or ‘morning’ with ‘Day’ is used 23 times each Always means a literal day ‘Night’ with ‘Day’ is used 52 times

10. Uses of ‘Day’ outside of Genesis chapter 1 ‘Day’ + Number is used 410 times (in plural or singular) ‘Evening’ & ‘Morning’ together without ‘Day’ is used 38 times ‘Evening’ or ‘morning’ with ‘Day’ is used 23 times each ‘Night’ with ‘Day’ is used 52 times Always means a literal day

11. Genesis Chapter One in context Day 1 (vs.5) – And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the eveningand the morningwere the firstday. Day 2 (vs.8b) – And the eveningand the morningwere the secondday. Day 3 (vs.13) – And the eveningand the morningwere thethirdday. Day 4 (vs.19) – And the evening and the morning were the fourthday. Day 5 (vs.23) – And the evening and the morning were the fifthday. Day 6 (vs.31b) – And the evening and the morning were the sixthday.

12. Day Agers will claim that they have an example of a verse that proves us wrong Hosea 6:2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Doesn’t this use numbers with the word day and show that it is not always literal?

13. How about that one debated passage? this verse is set in a very specific sort of poetic synonymous parallelism. It is a common Semitic device, which takes the form X//X+1, i.e. one number followed by the next one, but where the numbers are not meant to be taken literally because they refer to the same thing in different ways. Other OT examples that illustrate the synonymity are: Job 5:19: ‘From six calamities he will rescue you, from seven no harm will befall you.’ Prov. 6:16: ‘There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:’

14. Prov. 30:15: ‘There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, “Enough!” Prov. 30:18: ‘There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand.’ Amos 1:3: ‘This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath…” Hosea 6:2 is likewise this specific Semitic figure of speech, so must be interpreted accordingly. So the use of ‘two days’ and ‘three days’ are not intended to give literal numbers, but to communicate that the restoration of Israel mentioned in the previous verse will happen quickly and surely. When hermeneutics are properly applied, this passage doesn’t help the Day Age theory

15. Common claim: The sun was not created until day four, so we can’t know the exact length of the first three days Problems: 1 – Light was created on day one, the sun didn’t provide anything new 1 John 1:5 – This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 2 – The measurement of a day has nothing to do with the sun, it has to do with the earth rotating on its axis

16. What do non-Christian experts say? “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 Gen. 1–11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience.” (James Barr, Oriel Professor of the interpretation of the Holy Scripture, Oxford University, England, in a letter to David C.C. Watson, 23 April 1984.) “If, for example, the word “day” in these chapters does not mean a period of twenty-four hours, the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless.” (M. Dods, Expositor’s Bible, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1888, 4, as cited by D. Kelly, Creation and Change, Christian Focus Publications, Fearn, Scotland, 1997, 112.)

17. Why do people only question the meaning of the word “Yom” in Genesis chapter 1? Why not question it in other areas? How many days did Joshua march around Jericho?

18. Timeline problems with Day Age creation 1 – Plants are made a day before the sun is made 2 – Insects are not made until two days after the plants are created The Day Age theory is not supported by scripture!

19. Does the seventh day show that the days are long periods of time? “According to this passage [Hebrews 4:4–11], the seventh day of the creation week carries on through the centuries … the seventh day of Genesis 1 and 2 represents a minimum of several thousand years and a maximum that is open ended (but finite). It seems reasonable to conclude then, given the parallelism of the Genesis creation account, that the first six days may also have been long time periods.” – Hugh Ross Does scripture support this? Three problems with this view

20. God’s present rest does not logically imply a long seventh day. Let’s see what Hebrews 4:3–4 really says: “For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, ‘I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. “For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested the seventh day from all His works.” Hebrews 4:1–11 teaches that the seventh day of Creation Week was a parallel to the spiritual rest found through Christ alone. Only those who have believed in Christ enter this rest. If the Bible was speaking of an actual continuation of the seventh day of rest, then all would already be in this rest. 

21. 2. God’s rest on the seventh day is always spoken of in the past tense. An important point here is that the Hebrew word shabat (rest, or cease—God never tires, of course) in Genesis 2:3 is in the perfect form meaning action finished in the past. Certainly God is still “resting” from the work of creation, because this has finished (see above). But Scripture never says that God is “resting on the seventh day.” Rather, Scripture teaches that God’s seventh-day rest is completed. This is contrary to what we would expect if the seventh day were still continuing.

22. 3. It makes no sense of Exodus 20:9–11. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work. “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work … “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.” The six days of creation and day of rest are exactly the same as those of the command to work six ordinary days and rest on the seventh. The passage is certainly not teaching an eternal weekend. The Jews were not supported to work six days and then take the rest of their life off!

23. Two verses commonly brought up Psalm 90:4, which reads “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” and the next is 2 Peter 3:8 “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The context has nothing to do with the days of creation. The correct understanding is derived from the context—the Apostle Peter’s readers should not lose heart because God seems slow at fulfilling His promises because He is patient, and also because He is not bound by time as we are. The text says ‘one day is like [or as] a thousand years’—the word ‘like’ (or ‘as’) shows that it is a figure of speech, called a simile, to teach that God is outside of time (because He is the Creator of time itself).

24. These views don’t only present textual problems, but also theological problems These views both put animal death before Adam and Eve sinned.

26. Thorns and thistles before the fall? Genesis 3:17-18 – “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of they wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of they life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field” The Bible says the animals were vegetarians? Genesis 1:30 - “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”

27. Why is this happening if everything is vegetarian? These interpretations don’t fit the Bible text

28. God killed the first animal in the Garden and shed blood because of sin. If there were death, bloodshed, disease, and suffering before sin, then the basis for the atonement is destroyed. Christ suffered death because death was the penalty for sin. There will be no death or suffering in the perfect “restoration”—so why can’t we accept the same in a perfect (“very good”) creation before sin?

29. Why believe in progressive creation and the day age theory They are trying to fit naturalistic science into the Bible The Big Bang Nebular Theory The Age of the earth The Geologic column (Including Humanoid fossils) Since evolutionary radiometric dating methods have dated certain humanlike fossils as older than Ross’s date for modern humans (approx. 40,000 years), he and other progressive creationists insist that these are fossils of pre-Adamic creatures that had no spirit, and thus no salvation.

30. Are the Neanderthals Humans like us? Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” (NKJV). There is nothing in the Bible that mentions or even hints at there being “Soulless human like creatures” It would make no sense if Adam named all the animals There are many scientific reasons to believe Neaderthals were fully humans, but we will cover that in a different class Biblically, Neaderthals are post-flood humans that lived early on (In caves) after the flood in Europe

31. Differences between the Genesis account and what modern naturalistic science says Evolution view Genesis account Sun before earth <----> Earth before sun Dry land before sea <----> Seabeforedryland Atmosphere before sea <----> Seabeforeatmosphere Sun before light on earth <----> Lightonearthbeforesun Stars before earth <----> Earthbeforestars Earth at same time as planets <----> Earthbeforeotherplanets Sea creatures before land plants <----> Landplantsbeforeseacreatures Earthworms before starfish <----> Starfishbeforeearthworms Land animals before trees <----> Treesbeforelandanimals Death before man <----> Manbeforedeath Thorns and thistles before man <----> Manbeforethornsandthistles TB pathogens & cancer before man <----> Man before TB pathogens and cancer Reptiles before birds <----> Birds before reptiles Land mammals before whales <----> Whales before land animals Land mammals before bats <----> Bats before land animals Dinosaurs before bird <----> Birds before dinosaurs Insects before flowering plants <----> Flowering plants before insects Sun before plants <----> Plants before sun

32. There is no scriptural reason to believe in the Day Age theory and Progressive Creationism There are many textual, and theological problems with the view and should not be promoted for the sole purpose of “agreeing” with naturalistic science Memory verse: Genesis 1:30 - “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”