(ThyBlackMan.com) Another branch of current creationism is what is called “Day/Age” or Progressive Creationism. If you what to look it up, they have what is called the Day-Age view, the Analogical-Day view, and the Intermittent-Day view. Each view basically says that the days revealed to Moses were long periods of time, perhaps millions of years long with possible intermittent intervals between. You may have heard the phrase “God’s days are not our days”. They are playing with the Hebrew word for “day” which is “yom”, suggesting that it could mean one 24-hr day, or a massive period of time such as “age” or “era”.
Well, that explanation “will not fly”. When Yehovah told Joshua to march around Jericho for seven days, did God mean something other than 168 hours? Was Yehovah trying to deceive Israel with the following verse?
Exodus 20:11
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
This branch tries to explain the Fourth Day by saying that what Moses saw were clouds being dispersed and the cosmos then coming into view.
Genesis 1:14-15
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Up until the Fourth Day of Creation Week, the Earth was the only celestial object in the universe. God says “Let there be”, and (only) then there is, because there wasn’t beforehand.
You also have to consider the length of time each vision took that was shown to Moses. At Mt. Sinai on Sunday morning June 15, 1598 BC, Yehovah revealed Himself to the children of Israel, giving them the new language of Hebrew. That following Saturday, Moses walked halfway up the mountain into a cloud to meet God. It was that evening that God began to show Moses six days that had occurred in the distant past. Moses did not make any of it up. Each vision given to him was twelve hours long, beginning in the evening, and ending the next morning. That is why Moses uses the terms “evening and morning”. It is ridiculous to think that God was showing Moses hundreds of millions of years in each twelve-hour period.
The final branch that we will mention is known as the Gap Theory, or the Ruin and Restoration theory. They consider Genesis 1:1 to be a perfect creation that existed in the unknown distant past, and an event happened that resulted in God having to restore the Earth. You may have heard of the phrase “order out of chaos”. That is how they try to explain the scenario in Genesis 1:2, being that there was darkness, and the Earth was covered with water.
That is almost a “fair” attempt to explain the text, but it still fails the reality test. Again, as with the Day/Age branch, they have a big problem with the Fourth Day. They are either saying that overcast clouds were removed for Moses to see the heavens, or that our universe did not have any other celestial bodies during that previous creation.
It is because of the false and foolish teachings of current creationist branches, which are grasping for straws, that the secular world does not believe what Yehovah showed Moses, and what Moses later wrote down. I can almost forgive the ignorance of gentile theologians, because Yehovah revealed Himself to the Jews, not to the gentiles.
What does that say about Jewish rabbis? For the moment, lets allow the “YEC” believing rabbis a stay of execution. But I find it detestable that a Jewish rabbi, outside of those that are atheists, would be so bewildered by the first chapter of Bereshit (Genesis), that they would succumb to any belief in evolution. Not only is there Exodus 20:11, but there is also the following.
Exodus 31:16-17
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
All right, we have the seven days that Moses observed while on Mt. Sinai. Looking at the “first day”, could that be the first day of Creation Week? Does Yehovah think that was the first day of Creation Week? Something is missing. So, what is the truth of Genesis? Let us go back to the first day in order to convey its true meaning.
Genesis 1:2
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.
Now, let us paraphrase that verse and see what we can come up with.
The dry ground (continents) could not be seen, because the world was completely covered with water. The Sun was turned off, and darkness was upon the deep waters. Then the Spirit of God descended over the surface of the planet.
Does that seem like the first day of Creation week? Before Yehovah said “Let there be light”, the Earth already existed, how be it let’s say, in a chaotic state. The Ruin and Restorationists might clap their hands at this point. But not so fast. This “first day” does not belong to Creation Week, but the Fourth Day does. So how do we proceed?
First, let us accept the reality that Moses received his information directly from Yehovah. If you read the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus, you will see that Moses was called half way up the mountain into a cloud, and stayed for six days. This is when God showed the six visions to Moses. Moses was only told of the seventh day (no evening and morning), and afterwards walked up the rest of the way on Mt. Sinai and stayed for forty days.
So what did those seven days mean? Were they linear?
End of Part Two
Staff Writer; Herman Cummings
You may also purchase this writer book which is entitled; Moses Didn’t Write About Creation.
Note: Recently Herman published a new book which is entitled; The Sabbath That Assassinated Atheism – Christian Faith Publishing.