Dr. Charles Jackson
Often my students have heard about things like “a thousand days is like a day” and/or “maybe there’s a 4 billion year gap of time between Gen 1:1 and 1:2.”
These and other ideas that are clearly rabbit trails leading away from the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, ’cause a whole host of questions to come up in the mind of the Believer.
Such questions are distractions and I’d rather they didn’t need to be dealt with, but they do. So here goes. At the same time, these questions are reasonable and they indeed do deserve an answer.
I shall try my best, being that I do not have formal training in biblical studies. However, I am experienced in the ways of logic and I have found the Bible to be flawlessly and seamlessly logical … to the Nth degree. So, I’ll give it a stab from that angle.
The big question in my mind about “did Satan’s fall occur between the first two verses of the Bible or not” is, why go there?
Why do people want to put Satan’s fall in there, in this “gap” that the Gap Theory seems to be all about? I think this is an important question.
Often, the only difference between an honest question and a dishonest one is why it is being asked. For example,
- Should we pay tribute to Caesar? or
- Should we stone her? or
- Which is the greatest commandment? or
- How can a man enter again into the womb? or
- What must I do to be saved?
could all be honest questions. But you know … the circumstances and the motivation in each of these cases. (Yeah — now I’m gettin’ to teach y’all sumpthin’ —ha!)
Isn’t the motivation behind such a question solely to somehow “find” a few billion years to help “make peace” on the earth-age issue?
Look at it this way.
The first three chapters of the Bible cover probably only 10 days. Some verses in chapter 2 only cover a few hours. The next three chapters cover nearly 1700 yrs. Clearly, the first three chapters are the “detail oriented” part!
Why—in the “detailed section”—would a huge “detail” like the fall of Satan and total destruction of the earth be just left out?
I have some logical troubles with that whole notion. Did I just prove the Gap Theory is not true? No. I did just prove that nobody has any business saying that the Bible indicates that it is true, however. And I mean, nobody. It is bogus teaching, bogus thinking, bogus logic, and—dare I say—bogus biblical interpretation.
Just based on the “logic” end of things I cannot stick this square peg in a round hole and get that the Gap Theory fits in with an honest reading and honest studying of the Bible. Isn’t it clear that people are “stretching” things a bit when they are trying to make the Bible come out with a Gap Theory meaning to it? I think it is obvious.
We need to be dogmatic where the Bible is dogmatic and clear (as in the virgin birth or the blood atonement). And yes, we need to be open to filling in the “gaps” where the Bible does not explicitly give us information (as in exactly “how” God “stretched out the heavens” or something like that).
But it should be obvious when somebody’s got an idea
and their sole motivation for interpreting some verses is to purely and only
an attempt to make the Bible
fit to their idea
rather than their thinking
to fit with the Bible.
Hey, I’m sorry. “Bible first” is a good way of looking at theology and at science, as far as I am concerned. And the “Gap Theory” leaves no room for my respect, and certainly not for my admiration. There are many attempts to fill in the gaps of our knowledge from biblical writings that are much more honest approaches for “coming to the knowledge of the truth” than this.
Well, that’s Dr. J’s “soapbox” on that one. But, students are always asking for more perspective from me and so … well, here it is. I hope it is helpful and productive.
God bless.
Your teacher, Dr. Jackson
