How Old Is The Universe? - Theories From The Bible
Posted: Friday, January 01, 2010
by David Pekrul
As I sit at my computer this morning, a new year has dawned. It is known as the year 2010, the end of the first decade of the 21st century. This will be another year of debate as to just how old the universe really is. Many will say that it is millions of years old. Some will even claim it to be billions of years old. Others will say that it can be no older than 6,000 to 8,000 years, and to prove their case, will point to Biblical genealogy. I am no expert on Biblical genealogy, so will leave that argument up to Biblical scholars.
Before going on, I will emphatically state that I believe God created the universe and the earth, or as scripture states, “the heavens and the earth". The book of Genesis gives great description regarding His creation, but what the Bible doesn’t say speaks louder than what it does say, and the silent parts of scripture give rise to theories. These are known as Biblical Theories.
The verses in question are Genesis 1: 1-3. Verse 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Verse 2, “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters." Verse 3, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light."
The first theory is that all three verses run together in a complete time frame. God created the heavens and earth and the process started with the earth being a dark place filled with water. Then God immediately went on to the next step of separating the water from the dry land, filling the earth with vegetation, animals and man. This was all done in six literal days. If we then combine this short event with the genealogy of the inhabitants of earth, as shown in the Bible, one can easily conclude that the universe, including the Earth is a very young creation.
The second theory is one that is known as “The Gap Theory". This theory states that the action in verse one is complete in itself, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." They say that at this point the creation was complete. But there was a large gap in time between the creation being completed in verse one and the dark, water-filled earth, as described in verse two. It is believed, according to this theory, that this is the time when Satan was thrown out of heaven because of his rebellion, and was cast to the earth, destroying God’s creation. They use Revelation 12:7-9, “Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world – was thrown down to the earth with all his angels."
The belief in “The Gap Theory" is that God’s creation in Genesis, verse one, was complete, with an earth of vegetation and animals, and some would even go as far as to say humans. How else can they account for the part of the above scripture that says, “the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world"? Without humans in the first creation, what or who was being deceived? It is also felt that the dinosaurs existed during this first creation, which were instantly destroyed when Satan fell to the earth.
The Gap Theory certainly allows for the belief that the universe could indeed be millions or even billions of years old. How long the earth could have sat formless, empty and dark, filled with water (v.2) could be anybody’s guess.
The third theory, (and this is one of my own making), is that the time gap existed, not between verses one and two, but between verses two and three. In my theory, God created the universe and the earth (heavens and the earth), and simply made the earth a dark place, filled with water, the same as he made some planets dry and barren, others surrounded by lethal gases and others very, very cold or extremely hot and some with violent storms. Later on, maybe thousands, millions or billions of years later He decided to continue with His creation, by making the earth into a living place, complete with vegetation, animals and mankind. Remember, verse two says, “The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters". God obviously had a great interest in this place called ‘Earth’, even in the early beginnings.
So there you have it: three theories as to when the earth and universe came into being. Some say that God created the earth in six literal days: some say the six days were actually six periods of time, some extending billions of years. That can be a discussion for another time, suffice it to say that “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years like a day." (2 Peter 3:8.)
Theories are interesting, though not proven. They give rise to great discussions, even arguments, but nonetheless they are still theories. One thing I will not argue, however, is the truth of the first verse in Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". The Bible does not go on to try to prove the existence of God or go into great scientific detail of how or when the universe came into existence. It simply says, “In the beginning God created", and leaves it at that. And so will I.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Yes, David there are several theories on how or who created the universe. I have some theories of my own. But like you say I cannot prove my theories. I find your theory interesting just as I believe many of the scientific theories interesting. We being God's children do not live solely by our biological nature such as animals. We have the privilege to think on our own, not only except what has been taught to us as being real or the truth. "good article"Thanks for your comments, David. I believe the Bible was written to show God's relationship with his creation, and how we can come to know Him. It was not written as a scientific thesis, so there are many details left out, which causes us to theorize.
Great article and more food for thought. Thanks for sharing. Linda D
Thankyou for a well researched, written and presented article.I am somewhat unclear as to why exactly the evolutionist theory and creationist theory are incompatible. Why could it not be acceptable to conclude that the scientific data regarding evolution cannot with any reason be disputed, but this theory does not address who the designer was as it is surely too remarkable to have got there all by itself or by accident. Why then could God not be the designer, who continually worked on his creation over a time period consistent with the theory of evolution. I hope that you can clear this one up for me.I hope that you do not mind sharing my own understanding of this phenomenon;' The beginning of creation was, as you understand, carefully planned and orchestrated by God and his divine helpers. Everything was made to fit perfectly in its place, like a perfect jigsaw puzzle; each atom and and had interconnectedness and fitted beside, beyond and within that next to it; nothing was left to chance....You wanted to mark your own identity on earth and so you have.... but you did not assess how all the other pieces or elements of life would fit into this equation, so the beautiful picture puzzle fragmented and broke apart, damaging all concerned in the process.......Of course no human soul was created in a day or any such thing; it was just a pleasant story you might tell to a child using simplistic symbols that became warped with time......'I channeled this from spirit and have no intention of deliberately undermining anyone's beliefs, but I do have a responsibility to present the information given to me for everyone's consideration, irrespective of beliefs or religion; it is a responsibility that ways very heavily on me at present.Surely if we all develop some true intellectual open mindedness and flexibility it will be possible to work together to accommodate elements of all beliefs into one universal theory. Anyway, I mean no offence.
Great article. Well done.A well written piece that I enjoyed reading. However, for me and proper scientists there is no controversy. The young earth creationists are simply barking mad and can't look at clear scientific evidence. The earth is 4.6 billion years old and that is not a theory in the sense of not yet been proven - it's fact.The biblical account of Genesis is utterly preposterous. Evolution is not merely a theory it is a fact.You could say the theory of gravity. Evolution and the old earth are facts. There is no controversy only fact and fiction.Sorry to be blunt but that is the way scientist have to look at it. Evolution and old earth has evidence so needs no belief. Creationism and young earth have no evidence so need belief. Scientist don't do belief.
Hey, I love your poems but you can definitely write "other stuff" too - GO David! Enjoyed this and your fiction piece very much!!! Marijo
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