The Gap

or no gap

What about the gap theory which suggests that the world in which dinosaurs, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lived, either seperately or in overlapping time periods, occured between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Stated simply,the gap theory claims that Genesis 1:1 only tells us that "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth" with no references made as to when that took place. Genesis 1:2 states (King James Bible) that "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters".
Gap theoriest claim that the same "Masoretic Hebrew" word translated as "was" in Genesis 1:2 (and the earth WAS) was translated as "became" in Genesis 19:26 (But his wife looked back from behind him, and she BECAME a pillar of salt". If that be true then Genesis 1:2 could have been translated as "And the world became without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep". Continueing on with that theory would seem to indicate that God didn't create the earth without form and void but that something happened to bring that about.

Herbert W. Armstrong was born 31 July 1892 and died 16 January 1986 at the age of 93 years and almost 6 months of age. He founded the "Worldwide Church of God - Seventh Day Adventist" and his ministry lasted 52 years. He wrote "Mystery of the Ages" which was copyrighted in 1985 and 2007. Part of two paragraph are copied and credited here: "The original Hebrew for "without form, and void" is tohu and bohu - meaning "waste, desolation, deteriorated". The word "was" is also translated "became".Thus possibly after millions of years, all had come to be oceanic surface - and light had been by Angelic lawlessness turned into darkness".
From another paragraph - "Notice carefully what is revealed in II Peter 2:4-5:"For if God spared not the Angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgement; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly".
(Note) "And spared not the old world" - Is this in reference to the world of dinosaurs, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and cave painters?

Anti-gap theroiest say that nothing inportant happened between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 or "God would have told us so. God would not have left us to speculate in ignorance about such important events". (copyright 2002-2010 by "got questions Ministries") But they have not, at this time, adequately explained when dinosaurs lived and where do you find information, in the Bible, about "The Great Egyptian Pyramids". Wikipedia Encyclopedia states that the Pyramid of Cheops (Egyptian Pharaoh) was built between 2630 and 2611 BCE (Before the Common Era) so that would place the time somewhat before the flood (Noah).
The gap theory is that Genesis 1:2 refers to the fall of satan as described in Isaiah and Revelation and the war that ensued. That brings to mind a short poem from the Safari book, therefore it finds a place here.

That was the Day

Lightning flashing, it dances and hums / thunder rolling like demons playing drums /black clouds boiling, heavy with rain / winds blowing gales like a hurricane / tidal waves crashing all along the shore / water getting deeper, still it's raining more / spirits doing battle to see who's supreme / caught in the middle were all earthly things.

Yes that was the day everything was destroyed / that was the day the earth became void / that was the day God created Hell / for that was the day Lucifer fell.

These last few postings were not put together in an attempt to convince anyone to embrace either viewpoint but only as a feeble attempt to present both sides of this on going argument. There is much, much more to be said on both side and more may be written later but until then, thanks and stay tuned, - William