Post by John on Jul 2, 2009 16:52:21 GMT -5
on Anochria's forum, i was asked to explain the gap theroy. since i have been wanting to introduce the concept here, i will simply repost what i said on the other forum.
Now, this will be taught in a series of posts, as i post with anochria. if no one responds to this post, i will simple edit the thread starter. if someone does though, i will post the second part to the lesson after the post, so that each person can see the new material.
the first post on anochrias forum: (Quoted)
the gap theory states that there was an earth Before Gen 1:2 and Gen 1:2 is describing the destructin of this earth by a flood apart from noahs.
here is the evidence, and evaluation of it. later i will connect the dots as the theory calls for it:
Genesis 1:1-2
In the Beggining God created the heavens and the earth. 2. and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep...
now here i want to point out that the first verse is an act of creation, the second and act of destruction. first, let us review the hebrew:
bereshit bara elohim et ha shamayim v'et ha eretz. 2. v'ha aretz hayah tohu vah bohu; ...
now, the first word is 'bereshit'. this derives from the root 'rosh' meaning 'head' or 'beggining.' it includes the prefix 'bah' meaning 'in' or 'in the.'
so the word means 'in the beggning.' now this 'rosh' means 'dateless past'.. so 'in the dateless past...' it is an indefinate point in time.
the next word is 'bara' meaning 'create'. this word differs from the word 'asah' translated 'made.' bara means to form something from nothing, while asah suggests something being formed from already existing material.
the next word is 'elohim.' there is much debate over this one word, but it is not relevent to the gap theory, so we will ignore this wrod for the most part.
et ha shamayim vet ha aretz this is translated: the heavens and the earth. now, this word aretz means dry land, not flooded land. this is an important fact. it is interesting als to not that shamyim is masculine PLURAL. there is more than one heaven implied here which suggests that these 'heavens' refer to heavenly bodies like the sun moon and stars.
now, verse two:
v'ha aretz hayah tohu vah bohu
v'ha aretz means simply 'and the earth.'
hayah this is the most important word in the gap theory. this word in the hebrew can mean either 'was' or 'became.' it is translated became 67 times (gen 2:7; 19:26; 20:12; 24:67; becamest in 1 chr 17:22; ez 16:18); came cand came to pass 505 times (gen 14:1; 6:1,4; 11:12, 5; etc); become 66 times (gen 3:22; 18:18; 48:19; etc); etc, etc.
in other words, this word is not 'was' but became. the importance of this will be stresssed later.
next, tohu vah bohu. this means 'waste and empty.' this is another very important detail. we will metion it later.
after this, there is a mentionof darkness and the face of the deep, also refered to as the face of the waters.
in other words, now the dry land created in v1 is formless, empty, and dark, as well as wet. some act had to have been involved. we also realize that the earth became this way when we look at the hebrew hayah.
i hope i have captured your attention so far. more to come in the next post.
shalom
john
(end quote). this is the end of the first part. now, i need to go eat now (KFC- yumm). so ill post later. hope you like the material- john
Now, this will be taught in a series of posts, as i post with anochria. if no one responds to this post, i will simple edit the thread starter. if someone does though, i will post the second part to the lesson after the post, so that each person can see the new material.
the first post on anochrias forum: (Quoted)
the gap theory states that there was an earth Before Gen 1:2 and Gen 1:2 is describing the destructin of this earth by a flood apart from noahs.
here is the evidence, and evaluation of it. later i will connect the dots as the theory calls for it:
Genesis 1:1-2
In the Beggining God created the heavens and the earth. 2. and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep...
now here i want to point out that the first verse is an act of creation, the second and act of destruction. first, let us review the hebrew:
bereshit bara elohim et ha shamayim v'et ha eretz. 2. v'ha aretz hayah tohu vah bohu; ...
now, the first word is 'bereshit'. this derives from the root 'rosh' meaning 'head' or 'beggining.' it includes the prefix 'bah' meaning 'in' or 'in the.'
so the word means 'in the beggning.' now this 'rosh' means 'dateless past'.. so 'in the dateless past...' it is an indefinate point in time.
the next word is 'bara' meaning 'create'. this word differs from the word 'asah' translated 'made.' bara means to form something from nothing, while asah suggests something being formed from already existing material.
the next word is 'elohim.' there is much debate over this one word, but it is not relevent to the gap theory, so we will ignore this wrod for the most part.
et ha shamayim vet ha aretz this is translated: the heavens and the earth. now, this word aretz means dry land, not flooded land. this is an important fact. it is interesting als to not that shamyim is masculine PLURAL. there is more than one heaven implied here which suggests that these 'heavens' refer to heavenly bodies like the sun moon and stars.
now, verse two:
v'ha aretz hayah tohu vah bohu
v'ha aretz means simply 'and the earth.'
hayah this is the most important word in the gap theory. this word in the hebrew can mean either 'was' or 'became.' it is translated became 67 times (gen 2:7; 19:26; 20:12; 24:67; becamest in 1 chr 17:22; ez 16:18); came cand came to pass 505 times (gen 14:1; 6:1,4; 11:12, 5; etc); become 66 times (gen 3:22; 18:18; 48:19; etc); etc, etc.
in other words, this word is not 'was' but became. the importance of this will be stresssed later.
next, tohu vah bohu. this means 'waste and empty.' this is another very important detail. we will metion it later.
after this, there is a mentionof darkness and the face of the deep, also refered to as the face of the waters.
in other words, now the dry land created in v1 is formless, empty, and dark, as well as wet. some act had to have been involved. we also realize that the earth became this way when we look at the hebrew hayah.
i hope i have captured your attention so far. more to come in the next post.
shalom
john
(end quote). this is the end of the first part. now, i need to go eat now (KFC- yumm). so ill post later. hope you like the material- john