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"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Genesis 1:2).

If one visit’s a natural history museum or a dinosaur exhibition, much of the information will indicate that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and that the earth is somewhere between four and thirteen billion years old. In the movie, Expelled, Ben Stein reports similar numbers as fact. These figures have caused debate between evolutionists and those who believe in the Bible that the earth is relatively young. Most of us not being scientists often are left bewildered about the whole thing.

There are several views of the universe. The first is that of Darwinian evolutionists who see matter as eternal, that there is no God, and that time has been consistent for billions of years. They do not see any catastrophic events on earth or in the universe that could have changed this consistency (1). The second is the theistic evolutionist. He is one who believes that God started everything and that evolution was the means leading to humankind over a period of billions of years. A third view is that of intelligent design. These people believe in an intelligent designer though not all believe in God. They still see the evidence that the universe is billions of years old. The critics of this view see this a Christian creationism or as a means of getting God taught in science and schools. The final view is that of creationism. These people are Bible believers and take Genesis one literally, see the universe as young, and have nothing to do with any idea of evolution. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Many of us hold this view.

We must understand some things and define some words. One, God created the universe and wrote the Book (the Bible). As such, we as humans interpret both, which means that we might or might not be right in our interpretation. Scientists and Biblical scholars have been known to have made mistakes or misinterpretations. Two, in the above categories, there are Bible believers in the last three groups who are honest in their research. There is no need for us to denigrate them for their views. Remember, we are all interpreting both the universe and the Bible. Third, there are two basic types of evolution. One is that evolution happens among a species. Humans have evolved over the centuries, for instance in living longer with better health and concepts of various operations like DNA. The second meaning of evolution is that somewhere a billions years ago a blob started and developed in different stages leading eventually to a fish, then to mammal, and finally to us; and that we are headed toward some "higher" plane (2). Another aspect of this is that once we go beyond about 3,000 B.C., confirmation of evidence from archaeology and other sources cannot be established. For example, if a piece of pottery is found, the area it was found in can give archeologists an idea of the time frame. Past 3,000 B.C. there is a greater difficulty in such confirmation (3).

Thrown into all of this is such studies as geology, astronomy, and biology. Going very deep into this confuses us. Except for creationism, all agree that the earth is billions of years old. Are they wrong? They could be. This leads me to something I read recently, another view that has been around for sometime. Let me say here that this view is a hypothesis, and those who have expressed it consider it such. But it is interesting and it takes into account a dimension that few consider. I’m am presenting it in a very basic form. It does not mean that I accept or reject it, only that I find it interesting and worth considering.

I first read about this from a theologian named Greg Boyd (4). The idea is that God began the universe some four to thirteen billion years ago, the Big Bang Theory in science. The purpose was that God was preparing the universe for humanity to live. He was using His heavenly beings; angels, etc; to prepare the universe. Now I know that some of us would think that God could just speak and it was. That is the view I have held. This long term process might be difficult for us to accept though it appears that geology has interpreted the age of the earth beyond six thousand years or so.

Then some 500 million years ago there was what scientists call the Cambrian explosion, though what all was involved is just conjecture. This is where Mr. Boyd adds a dimension that few consider. He thinks, and he is following Ralph Winter in this, that at this time dinosaurs came into being. Why? It was at this time in the hypothesis that Satan rebelled against God and began a war with God by duplicating what God was trying to do, however with violence. In the book of Revelation, we see Satan doing just that with the resurrection of the beast and doing miracles to lead people away from God.

After several hundred million years, the earth was struck by objects from space; meteors or comets. He shows that there are some forty or so strikes where craters and rocks have been found. This was the end of the dinosaurs, killed off in mass extinctions. Some time around 130,000 B.C. came the Neanderthals that we often call cavemen. Who developed them and why is questionable.

Finally, we get to Genesis one, somewhere around 10,000 B.C. God created a Garden we call Eden. Keep in mind that this was not a world wide garden but was in a certain location on earth. What was beyond the Garden? It could be that the predatory life from the previous era still existed (5). One thing that Mr. Winter’s looks at is the definition of formless and void in Genesis 1. He states that it could also mean destroyed and desolate. What he than says is that God is putting it all back together to reclaim the heavens and the Earth.

But this did not end the warfare. Satan enters the Garden, Adam and Eve sin and are cast from the Garden into a hostile environment. Now in my understanding of this, God’s purpose was to cultivate and grow the Garden to the point that it would cover the Earth, reclaiming God’s original intention. At this time however, with humans expelled from the Garden, they enter a hostile environment with other humanlike characters. This might explain to some extent the meaning of the sons of God marrying the daughters of the earth, they being descendants from the cavemen (see Genesis 6:1-8). Then there is the Nephilim in the same chapter. Who are they? Descendants of cavemen as well?

There is much more to this but it certainly is interesting, at least to me. It is a view that takes into account evil, which in scripture already is present in the snake in the Garden (6). It gives a plausible explanation of Genesis six, which is much debated in theological circles. It helps explain the age of the earth and universe in billions of years. However when all is said and done, it is only a hypothesis.

Negatively, how we have often interpreted Genesis 1 means that God spoke and it occurred. Many of the Biblical writers make an appeal to this idea. It is a view that I have some difficulty in giving up. I do understand that time is an interesting concept, at least from God’s perspective. A thousand years is as a day in God’s sight and a day as a thousand years. Genesis six also has some difficulties with it. If we all came from a common ancestor, Adam and Eve, then what could be is the idea of intermarriage where physical problems known today would not have been a problem back then. The corruption was not as great then as it is now.

You might or might not be interested in this, but I thought that I present this very basic overview of it because I found it fascinating. Mr. Boyd is expanding on this in the near future in which his material will be part of a book. I look forward to that. Mr. Winter has an interesting story about this view. He is almost eighty now and up until a few years ago did not know anything about this particular view. He discovered that it is not a new view and that some professors at Wheaton College in Chicago held this view in the 1950s. Among them was one Merrill Unger who has written several books used in Biblical studies. Mr. Winter states that he wants to hold to the trustworthiness of the Bible, to make a serious attempt to take the Bible literally and yet to believe in both a young earth and old earth perspective, and that rather than blame God for evil, Satan is more than a bystander in this world, especially as seen in mission work. He believes then that disease, violence and corruption comes not from God but from the Evil One. Atheist blame God for evil and Christians often attempt to acknowledge that God allows evil, but neither looks at the Evil One much as the source of evil. While there is much more to this debate, I agree with him that we need to understand the devil’s activity in this world and the evil he brings.

George B. Mearns

(1) One Immanuel Velikowsky came up in the 1950s with the theory that catastrophic events have occurred, such as the flood. He was mocked for such views and basically ignored by the scientific community. However, recently I read somewhere that some still consider him a good source.

(2) There certainly is more to both of these views but going any deeper is not in my field of study.

(3) This comes from my friend, Wayne Pitard, a professor of archaeology and Hebrew, from a lecture at the University of Illinois in 1984.

(4) see Greg Boyd, Evolution as Cosmic Warfare (4/10/08), More on Evolution as Cosmic Warfare (4/17/08), and Ralph Winter’s Modified "Gap Theory" (7/30/07) at http://gregboyd.blogspot.com

(5) Ralph D. Winter, The Unfinished Epic in Five Acts, published in July 2007; and Planetary Events and the Mission of the Church, three lectures presented at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 10/3-4/05. He sent the lecture to me at my request and I have a copy of it.

(6) Mr. Winter is a scholar in missions and he, along with others, takes more seriously the idea of Satan’s activity than most of us do in our modernistic age and views. Interestingly, Randy Harris of Abilene Christian University, in a review of Philip Jenkins book on the growth of Christianity in South America, Africa, and Asia, makes mention of this very thing; the activity of demons and Satan in those areas, and wonders if we are missing something in the northern part of the planet. See Restoration Quarterly, volume 50, number 2, p. 107ff.