Page 25 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

This problem ripples through to the New Testament in Romans 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:21. The gap
theory creates supposed contradictions in Scripture which only exist when extra-Biblical information is
trying to be accommodated within the text of the Bible. The best solution is to remove the Gap Theory
and read the text as it is most naturally read, and conclude the chronology from Scripture rather than
extra-Biblical sources.

What Matter did God use to create the Universe?
When it says in verse 1, "In the beginning, God created," it uses the word bara. Bara, when used in
the...what's called the cowl-stem of Hebrew, is used in Scripture only with reference to the divine
work of God. It means that the infinite, eternal, personal, triune God of the universe brought things
xi
into existence from that which was not in existence before this moment. The Latin term is
ex nihilo, out of nothing. That is, there was no pre-existing material.

Hebrews 11:3 says, "Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so
that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." The things that we see in the
created universe were not made from something else. They were made from nothing, ex nihilo,
without pre-existing material. It's a way of saying everything around us, your body, the bench you're
sitting on and the building you're in, the streets around us, the trees, the flowers, the city, the state,
the nation, the continent, the world all of it, the stars, the moon, everything, everything you can see,
everything you can't see, protozoa, amoeba, or sheer dust, any arrangement of matter at all came into
existence instantaneously out of no pre-existing material. It didn't come from things that already
were; it came from nothing. Genesis is our only source of creation information.

How did God create the Universe?
How did God do this? What was His method? He spoke...He spoke...He spoke it into existence out of
nothing. Psalm 33:6 and 9, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them
by the breath of his mouth for He spoke and it was done, He commanded, and it was established." That
is the psalmist's affirmation of the Genesis account of creation. God said, "Let there be...let there
be...let there be..." and every time He said it, there was. This is what we call fiat creation; He willed it
and spoke it into existence. Psalm 148:5 says, "He spoke, and they were created."

When God made everything, He made everything full-grown. People will ask, "What came first, the
chicken or the egg?" What is the answer? The chickens were fully grown. God didn't just throw seeds
in every direction. He created an absolutely and completely full-grown, fully matured creation capable
of reproducing itself and sustaining its life. He created the stars and the light traveling from them so
that the Earth could see them on the fourth day of creation. Adam and Eve were fully mature adults
capable of reproduction. The trees bore fruit. The universe was fully mature and had the appearance
of age, the second after God concluded creating.

How long did it take God to create the Universe?

As we read the account of creation, we notice that God numbered the days of
creation. He spoke it into existence, and He did it in six days. People ask,
"Well, what about the word day? Can't it mean an eon of time?" It's the plain
old Hebrew word yom; it means day. It's used in the Bible to indicate a 24-hour
normal solar day or sometimes to refer to the daylight portion of a day. You
might say, "I'll be gone four days," and you mean four days, both day and night.

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