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Notes taken from page 547-551 "In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood
9th edition, (c) 2019 by Walt Brown. All rights reserved." - View
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THEISTIC EVOLUTION |
THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT |
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Creation required few, if any, miracles. Science can now
explain how everything evolved.
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Creation was a miracle. Evolution, if true, would require many miracles. A miracle is a departure from physical laws.
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| 2
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Genesis 1-11 is either allegory, poetry, or myth. It is not
literally true.
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Genesis 1-11 is accurate history involving real people and major events. Jesus
Christ and every New Testament writer cited these foundational events that
shaped human culture.
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| 3
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Genesis contains two conflicting creation accounts,
Gen 1:1-2:3 and Gen 2:4-2:25. Obviously, both
cannot be correct—or taken literally.
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Genesis contains two descriptions of creation. The first is chronological, while
the second is from man's perspective. A close study of the Hebrew words shows
no conflict. Christ, who in a single sentence mentioned both descriptions, knew
they referred to the same creation event. (Matt 19:4-5)
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| 4
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Natural processes (or "Mother Nature") can explain the
formation of the heavenly bodies, Earth, and life. Matter
preceded mind.
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The Creator, with purpose and supernatural power, brought forth the heavenly
bodies, Earth, and life. Mind preceded matter. (Gen 1:1-2:25, Ps 19:1, Ps 33:6)
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| 5
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Space, time, and matter are eternal. Time existed before
things were created.
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God who is eternal, created space, time, and matter. The creation came out of
nothing. There was a beginning. Time began at the creation. (Gen 1:1, Matt 24:21,
Mark 13:19, John 1:1, Col 1:16, Heb 11:3)
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| 6
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The universe began with a big bang and blinding light.
Then the universe expanded trillions of billions of times
faster than the speed of light. Ten-billion years later, the
Earth slowly formed in the presence of sunlight.
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On Day 1, the Earth was formed in darkness. (Gen 1:2) Soon afterward, but before
the Sun and stars were made, blinding light appeared. (Gen 1:3)
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The big bang was the basic creation event. It occurred
during a fraction of a second.
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A series of creative acts occurred during the creation week. (Gen 1) God stretched
out the heavens.
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| 8
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Hydrogen, helium, and some lithium formed millions of
years before all the other 100+ chemical elements.
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Almost all chemical elements came into existence during the creation week.
(Gen 2:2, Ex 20:11)
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| 9
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Since the big bang, the average temperature of the universe
has continually decreased. Eventually, the Sun will exhaust
its fuel and the Earth will lose its heat and freeze solid.
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The Earth began in a relatively cool state (see #12 below). Eventually, intense
heat will destroy the heavens and the Earth. (II Peter 3:7,10,12)
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| 10
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The Sun and most stars formed billions of years before
Earth. Stars are still forming.
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Earth was created three days before the Sun and stars. Today, stars are dying, not
being created. (Gen 1:2, 1:16; Ex 20:11)
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| 11
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During the fourth creation period (not the fourth day),
the Sun, Moon, and stars were "made to appear" on a
previously cloud-covered Earth.
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On the fourth creation day, the Sun, Moon, and stars were made. (Gen 1:14-19)
If the word "day" in Genesis 1:14 means a long period, what do the words "year"
or "night" mean in those verses?
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| 12
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The Earth initially had a hot, molten surface. Millions of
years later, water oozed out of Earth's interior.
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On the first day, the Earth had a liquid water surface. Therefore, the Earth was
relatively cool at the beginning. (Gen 1:2)
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| 13
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The Earth slowly coalesced from meteoritic impacts that
melted the Earth's surface and vaporized all surface water.
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The Earth formed quickly. After the second day, its solid surface -Earth's crust-
was spread out above the liquid subterranean waters. (Ps 24:2, 104:3, 136:6)
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| 14
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Land formed before oceans.
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A global ocean existed before the surface waters were gathered into one place and
dry land first appeared. (Gen 1:2, 1:9)
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| 15
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Evolution occurred over billions of years, not in six literal
days. The word "day" in the Bible can, in rare cases, mean
an indefinite period of time. The six creation "days" may
have been six ages, so each creation age had millions of
evenings and mornings. Another possibility is that God
created in six literal days, but each day was separated by
millions of years.
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Creation occurred in six literal, consecutive days. (Gen 1, Ex 20:11) The Hebrew
word for day, yom, always means literal, consecutive days when modified by a
plural number. Yom was defined as a literal day when it was first used.
(Gen 1:4,5) Each creation day had only one "evening and morning."
To survive, plants need the Sun and animals-especially insects. All were created
within three literal days of each other. (Gen 1:11-23) Had it taken much longer,
plants could not have survived.10 (Gen 1:5, Gen 1:8, Gen 1:13, Gen 1:19, Gen 1:23, Gen 1:31)
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In the Bible, a day can be a long time. For example,
Psalm 90:4 and II Peter 3:8 say that "a day is like a
thousand years."
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Those verses do not refer specifically to the six creation days. Instead, they say
that God is outside of time; He sees the intimate details and the big picture.
Besides, no evolutionist believes creation took 6,000 years.
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Since the Earth began, natural disasters have occurred:
earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning
strikes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, droughts, blizzards,
and impacts by meteorites, asteroids, and comets.
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These calamities were not part of God's "very good" creation. Later, man's sin
destroyed that tranquility. Man's wickedness became so bad that God chose to
destroy almost all men and air breathing land animals in a global flood. (Gen 1:31,
6:5-7) Part II of this book explains why most natural disasters, including
radiation damage, are a consequence of the global flood.
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The present is the key to the past; that is, presently
observable natural processes explain all past events.
(This principle, called uniformitarianism, underlies
much of geology.)
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The present is not always the key to the past. God sometimes works suddenly,
as He did during the creation, the fall, and the flood. (Gen 1-3, 6-8) No natural
process on Earth approaches the flood in its power, destructiveness, or extent.
(II Peter 3:3-6)
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There have been no worldwide floods-only brief, local
floods. "Noah's flood," if it happened, was only a local, or
regional, flood. God’s promise, in Genesis 9:11, not to
again flood the Earth cannot be taken literally.
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A catastrophic, worldwide flood covered all the Earth's preflood mountains
after 150 days. (Gen 7:19-20, 7:24; Ps 104:6-9) This year-long flood (Gen 7:11,
8:14) destroyed almost all humans and air-breathing land animals. (Gen 6:13,
6:17, 7:4, 7:21-23, 8:21, 9:11; Lk 17:27; I Pet 3:20; II Pet 2:5, 3:6)
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The first sea life was a small blob of complex chemicals.
It took a billion years for other sea life to form.
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On the fifth day, sea life was created, and the waters swarmed with all the various
kinds of sea creatures. (Gen 1:20-22)
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The original atmosphere consisted of methane, ammonia,
and other poisonous gases. Over billions of years, the
atmosphere evolved into what it is today.
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The atmosphere was created quickly and has since supported all living things.
(Gen 1:6-8)
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Rain began as the Earth's atmosphere evolved.
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Rain did not occur before the flood.
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Plant life helped our atmosphere evolve.
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The atmosphere was created before plant life. (Gen 1:6-12)
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Plants evolved over a long period of time. Flowering
plants evolved 220-million years after all other plants.
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All major categories of plants, including their seeds and fruit, were created on
the third day. (Gen 1:11-12)
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The Sun evolved several billion years before plant life.
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The Sun was made one day after plant life. (Gen 1:12-16)
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Various forms of plant and animal life evolved during each
of four sequential, geological eras: Precambrian, Paleozoic,
Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. These eras were of unequal length.
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Life was created during only three of the six creation days-3rd day: plant life,
5th day: sea life and birds, and the 6th day: other land animals and man. (Gen 1)
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Since the Earth began, new forms of life have continued
to evolve within each of the major categories: plants, sea
creatures, birds, and land animals.
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All plants were created first, then all sea creatures and birds, then all land
animals. Finally, man was created-Adam first, then Eve. (Gen 1, 2:21-22)
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There is continuity among all forms of life. All organisms
have a common ancestor. Therefore, there were continuous
transitions among all plants and among all animals. The
millions of species are not fixed and not distinct.
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There are permanent discontinuities between the many different "kinds" of life.
In fact, the Bible states 10 times that each "kind" will reproduce after itself. (Gen 1)
The kinds are fixed and distinct. (I Cor 15:39)
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Sea life preceded land life by hundreds of millions of years.
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Sea life was created two days after the first land life. (Gen 1:11-13, 1:20-23)
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Adam could not have named all the animals in one day,
because there were too many. Besides, most animals and
plants became extinct before man evolved.
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The Bible does not say that Adam named all the animals. On Day 6, he named "all
the cattle," "the birds of the sky," and "every beast of the field" (domesticated
animals). Adam did not name, for example, sea creatures, creeping things
(insects), and the beasts of the Earth (wild animals). (Gen 2:20) All animal
kinds have lived contemporaneously with man—even dinosaurs. (Gen 1:20-30)
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Insects evolved millions of years before birds and
flowering plants. We don't know the origin of insects.
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All birds and plants were created before 'creeping things.' (Gen 1:20-24)
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Either reptiles or dinosaurs evolved into birds. More than
100-million years later, 60-million years after the
dinosaurs became extinct, man evolved.
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Birds were created before dinosaurs, reptiles, and other beasts of the Earth.
(Gen 1:20-25) Man saw and wrote about dinosaurs and giant marine reptiles.
(Job 40:15-41:34)
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Fish evolved hundreds of millions of years before birds
and fruit trees. The first fish and birds came from eggs.
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Fruit trees were created before fish. Fish and birds were created on the same day.
Fish were created swimming, and birds were created flying. (Gen 1:11, 21-22)
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It is uncertain which came first, the chicken or the egg.
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Eggs were within the first chickens, so both came together. All animals were
created fully formed and functional.
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The first animals were microscopic sea creatures. Much
later, fish evolved, then amphibians, and finally mammals.
The last mammals to evolve included whales.
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The first animals created included highly developed mammals, such as the
great whales. The next day, many other creatures, including so-called "lower
forms" were created. (Gen 1:20-21, 1:24)
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For hundreds of millions of years before man evolved,
many animals were carnivores (meat eaters).
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Early animals were herbivores (plant eaters). After either the fall or the flood,
some became carnivores. (Gen 1:30)
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Macroevolution continues today, so creation is a long
process.
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Creation was a distinct event. (Ps 148:5) God finished "all His work" in six days.
(Gen 2:1-3; Ex 20:11, 31:17; Heb 4:1-11)
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Everything in nature, from protons to planets to people,
evolved by slow, continuous processes.
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Everything in nature was created in discrete steps. (Ps 33:6-9) Five times Genesis
states that "God said … and it was so." (Gen 1:6-7, 1:9, 1:11, 1:14-15, 1:24) All the
Bible's miracles occurred quickly, including the biggest and first miracle-creation.
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Evolution works, in part, through a process called
"survival of the fittest." Violence, pain, and death were
necessary for animals to become more complex. Suffering,
cruelty, and death are natural results of the evolutionary
process. In this sense, death produced man.
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God is all-powerful and does not need to use violence, pain, or death to create.
God did not author evil, suffering, disease, or calamity. Several attributes of our
Creator are love, peace, and joy. Right after the creation, everything was "very
good." (Gen 1:31) Suffering and cruelty entered the world when Adam sinned.
(Gen 3) In this sense, man produced death. (Gen 2:17, Rom 5:12, I Cor 15:21)
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Females evolved before males.
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Males and females within a "kind" were created on the same day. (Gen 1:20-25)
The first human male came before the first human female. (Gen 2:22)
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Man evolved from a lower animal.
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Adam was formed from dust. (Gen 2:7)
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Man is a product of nature. Man is controlled and shaped
by his environment. In fact, the environment largely
determined how man evolved.
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God told man to control his environment—to care for the Earth and have
dominion over every living thing that moves on the Earth. (Gen 1:26, 1:28-30)
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Man is an animal that has evolved a little higher than the
apes.
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Man, who was given dominion over all animals, was created in the image of God.
(Gen 1:26-27, 1:30, 5:1) Man was made "a little lower than God." (Ps 8:5)
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Man has existed during only the past 1,000th of the Earth's
history-13,000,000,000 years after the universe began
and 4,500,000,000 years after the Earth evolved.
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Man has existed since the creation week. (Matt 19:4; Mark 10:6, 13:19; Luke 11:50-51a;
John 8:44; Rom 1:20)
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There really was no one individual we can call "Adam";
the term refers to "mankind" or a race of primitive men.
Adam and Eve may be mythical characters in a saga
explaining how evil originated-or characters in a
timeless myth representing the sinful choices we all make.
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Inspired writers of both Testaments spoke of Adam as an individual, not as a
race of people. (Gen 5:3; I Chron 1:1; Lk 3:38; Acts 17:26; Rom 5:12; I Cor 15:21-
22, 15:45-47) Eve was also a unique person. (I Cor 11:8-9, I Tim 2:13-14)
Regardless of skin color or where we live on this planet, we are all descended
from Adam and Eve. (Gen 3:20)
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Almost all fossils formed before man appeared on Earth.
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Man was created before any fossils formed.
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Man's genealogy includes many apelike animals. It spans
more than a hundred thousand generations. Adam had
millions of years’ worth of ancestors.
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Man's genealogy begins with Adam and Eve and involves only a few hundred
generations. The Bible gives the line of descent from Adam to Noah and even
up to historical times. (Gen 5, I Chron 1, Luke 3:23-38) Christ never mentioned
any ancestors of Adam; Adam had none. (Matt 19:4)
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Although apes, man's closest relatives, have no difficulty or
pain in giving birth, human childbirth is painful and can
be dangerous for mother and child. Natural selection
should have eliminated women with narrow birth canals.
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Humans are a special creation; they did not descend from apes or any ancestor
of apes. Pain in human birth greatly increased as a result of the fall. (Gen 3:16)
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God breathed a spirit into an apelike creature. It became
man.
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God breathed the breath of life into a lifeless human body. He became man.
(Gen 2:7)
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The earliest people were meat eaters. The first animals
that could be considered human were hunters. Hundreds
of thousands of years later, man began farming.
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The earliest people were vegetarians. (Gen 1:29) The first man, Adam, was a
gardener. (Gen 2:15) Later, Adam became a farmer; his son, Abel, was a herdsman.
(Gen 4:2) Less than 10 generations later, man began hunting. (Gen 9:3)
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Because man evolved from the animals, there is very little
difference in the psychological makeup and behavior of
animals and man.
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Man was created distinct from the animals and in the image of God. (Gen 1:26-27,
5:1) Adam did not find any animal that was physically and emotionally compatible
with him. Only another human, Eve, was a satisfactory counterpart. (Gen 2:20)
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The first man came from a woman. Woman, like man, evolved
from animals. The story of Eve being formed by "divine
surgery" from Adam's side is nonsense. Eve had a mother.
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The first woman came from a man. (Acts 17:26, I Cor 11:8) Eve was specially
created-taken from the side of Adam. (Gen 2:21-23) Eve had no mother.
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Marriage, a cultural convention, evolved from human
experience. Marriage therefore changes as culture evolves.
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Marriage is a permanent bond instituted by God. (Gen 2:24)
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Man slowly developed our basic units of time: a day, a
week, a month, and a year.
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Genesis 1, not man, explains the origin of our basic units of time.
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No one established the seven-day week. It was culturally
derived. Surprisingly, almost all known cultures throughout
history have had a seven-day week.
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God established the seven-day week for man's benefit. (Mark 2:27) It reminds us
of His activity and rest during the creation week. (Gen 1, Ex 20:8-11)
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The Garden of Eden is a myth.
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Eden was a literal place. (Isa 51:3; Ezek 28:13, 36:35; Joel 2:3)
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People have rarely lived beyond 100 years, especially in
the primitive past.
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Before the flood, conditions were such that at least the people listed in chapter 5
of Genesis lived to be about 900 years old.
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Lunar months may have been mistakenly called "years" by
the early Hebrews. Thus, the patriarchal ages (typically 900
"years") in Genesis 5 could be much younger in true years.
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Two patriarchs were 65 years old when their sons were born. (Gen 5:15, 5:21)
If those "years" were lunar months, then they had children when they were 5
years old!
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Language evolved slowly; it began with grunts and signs of
emotion. (Most linguists admit they do not know how
languages multiplied. Today, languages are rapidly
becoming extinct.)
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Adam, who was created with a large vocabulary, conducted intelligent
conversations from the beginning. He named many, but not all, land animals on
the day he was created. (Gen 2:18-24) Languages multiplied suddenly at Babel.
(Gen 11:1-9)
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Early man was quite primitive and technologically
immature.
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Within only a few hundred years after the creation, man built musical instruments
and refined alloys. (Gen 4:21-22) Early man also had the technology to build
Noah's Ark (Gen 6:14-16) and the Tower of Babel. (Gen 11:3-6)
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The genealogies listed from Adam to Joseph contain many
gaps. Each gap may span centuries. The first humans
evolved from some apelike animal about 6,000,000 years
ago.
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The genealogies from Adam to Joseph are tightly linked, because each patriarch's
age is given when the next named patriarch was born. Therefore,
more time cannot be inserted between patriarchs. Besides, placing several centuries
between each patriarch would push back Adam's creation less than 100,000 years.
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Cain, Adam and Eve's first son, was banished to a distant
land and would not have had a wife, unless he married a
subhuman primate or another evolved human.
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Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. (Gen 5:4) Cain probably married
a sister or a niece.
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For a billion years, millions of species have slowly improved
and become more complex. This is still happening. New
forms of life are always evolving.
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God did not need a billion years or a bloody, cruel, inefficient process like
evolution (consisting primarily of mistakes) to create. Right after the creation,
God saw all that He had made, and it was "very good." (Gen 1:31) After the fall,
things deteriorated (Gen 3:16-19, Rom 8:18-22) and diversified. We have never
seen a new kind of life evolve. (Exod 20:11)
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Death entered the world just after the simplest form of life
evolved-a billion years before man evolved.
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Death entered the world after Adam was created and sinned. (Rom 5:12)
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Death preceded the activities that some people call sin.
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Sin preceded death. (Gen 2:17, 3:1-24; Rom 5:12, 6:23, I Cor 15:21)
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Adam's fall had only spiritual consequences.
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Adam's fall had both spiritual and physical consequences. (Gen 2:17, 3:14-24;
Rom 8:18-22; I Cor 15:21-22)
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Ever since plants evolved, some have been poisonous.
This enhanced their survivability.
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Before the fall, every green plant was edible. (Gen 1:29-30)
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Thorns and thistles evolved along with plants.
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Adam's sin caused thorns and thistles. (Gen 3:17-18)
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Man's wickedness is a result of his animal nature.
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Since the fall, man's wickedness is a result of his fallen nature.
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God gave Adam a spirit, so Adam was the first primate
who could be called human. He died physically as did his
primate ancestors, but not as a penalty for disobedience.
Adam's penalty for disobedience was only spiritual
death—separation from God.
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The first Adam brought physical and spiritual death into the world for humans.
The last Adam (Jesus Christ) brings spiritual life and physical resurrection from
the dead. If Adam's body evolved from an animal, this profound theological
correspondence is broken, along with the "plan of redemption". Both "Adams"
had miraculously created bodies, but both could die as a penalty for human
disobedience. (Rom 5:14-15, I Cor 15:45)
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Struggle and death preceded man's arrival on Earth.
This struggle has continued ever since.
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The completed creation, which included man, was "very good." (Gen 1:31) There
was no struggle and death. Later, man (by his willful disobedience) fell from this
universal paradise, causing struggle and death to enter the world. Someday, this
paradise will be restored as a "new heaven and a new Earth." (Isa 11:6-9, Rev 22:2-3)
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Man is continually improving-physically, mentally,
socially, morally, and spiritually.
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Since early times, man has advanced technologically. (Gen 4:21-22) This was
largely inevitable. (Gen 11:6) However, man has regressed physically and
spiritually. (Gen 3, 5, 11)
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Because man culminates billions of years of upward
progress, his well-being and continued improvement
must be our greatest concern.
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Because God created man (and everything else), God should be our greatest
concern. Man, who was made in the image of God, was given dominion over all
other creatures. (Gen 1:26) Man must exercise great care and concern for the
creation, especially for his fellow man. However, humans are special creatures
who have sinned and, therefore, need a Savior. (John 3:16)
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People living in biblical times did not have the scientific
knowledge to understand how the universe, Earth, and
all life evolved. Therefore, Jesus did not try to clarify the
allegorical statements and misleading history presented
in the scriptures (especially Genesis 1-11).
All New Testament and many Old Testament writers were
equally misinformed. From our scientific vantage point
today, we must seek the real intent behind Christ's words
and not take the Bible literally.
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Jesus always spoke the truth; in fact, He said He was the truth (John 14:6), and
scripture is the truth (John 17:17). Certainly, Jesus knew the truth, because He was
there in the beginning, and all things came into being through Him. (John 1:3)
To say that Jesus knew the Bible contained false history, but didn't want to tell
people the truth, belies who Jesus was. He didn't hide false ideas; He exposed
them. He called the Old Testament writers, including Moses, who compiled
Genesis 1-11, prophets. (John 5:46-47) By definition, prophets, when speaking
God's message, always spoke the truth. False prophets were stoned to death.
Jesus was not constrained by culture, tradition, or concern of misunderstandings
(Matt 5:1-12, John 6:53). Nor did He avoid subjects that were hard for listeners to
understand, such as: end-times (Matt 24), the new birth (John 3:1-12), His crucifixion
(Matt 12:40, Mark 8:31), or what follows death (Matt 25:32-46, John 14:2). As explained
in Table 32 on page 556, Jesus specifically referred to accounts in each of the
first seven chapters of Genesis, something He would not have done if He knew
they were not historical events. If we replace Jesus' words with our ideas and
claim they were "His real intent," we can seemingly justify almost anything.
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