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What Torah[1] Says
About
Creation and the History
of Mankind
I believe and teach that the creation account and the fall of mankind into depravity as described in the first three chapters of B'resheet (Genesis) is to be accepted as factual, historical, and perspicuous. All things in the universe were spoken into existence from nothing by God in the six days of special creation. Since the Scripture specifically refers to “the evening and morning” of each day, I must assume that literal days are intended. God was the only witness to creation, and through His prophet Moshe (Moses) He has given us the historical account of the creation of all things in six literal 24-hour days. Since He has declared that He rested on the seventh day and pronounced it as holy for our benefit, then we are to accept the seventh day of the week, the Shabbat (Sabbath), as our Holy Day of rest and fellowship with the Almighty.
I believe and teach that any theory of random spontaneous creation and the evolution of species should be rejected as not only unbiblical but also intellectually untenable. Design demands a Designer. As these theories are diametrically opposed to the known universal laws of thermodynamics, they simply cannot be accepted by any credible scientist, and are not true science, but are only among the ttenets of the religion of Secular Humanism.
I believe and teach that God uniquely created each of the various “kinds” of all living things, from the simplest one-celled organisms to the most complex mammals, and that what we know as “species” are but natural variations within those original “kinds” due to loss of genetic materials over time, environmental factors, and mutation since the Deluge (Great Flood). At no time has any “kind” changed into a different “kind.”
I believe and teach that God uniquely created the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Havah (Eve), and that all mankind has descended from this first couple. Therefore the Secular Humanist tenet of different races of humanity based upon variations in skin pigmentation is not only intellectually untenable, but thoroughly evil, as we are clearly all of one race, the human (or Adamic) race, and that we all have but varying shades of just one color — brown — depending primarily upon the amount of melanin in the skin.[2]/a> (See also: “Human Sexuality” and “The Sanctity of Life”)
I believe and teach there was a literal global cataclysm and that a part of that cataclysm was a literal world-wide flood that covered all the lands of earth. I believe it was at that time the original continent we know as “Pangea” was divided into our present continental land masses. I believe that the sediment layers we call the “gelogic column” are a direct result of that flood and its immediate aftermath. I believe and teach that all land-dwelling life on the planet, including all humans, perished in that flood except for the eight members of Noah’s family and the various “kinds” of animals that were on the ark with them.
Torah presents the ages men lived in the genealogies provided in Genesis as literally true. From them we may accurately calculate the age of the earth as about 6,000 years.
A correct understanding of the origin of all things is foundational to the understanding of every fact and phenomenon in the created universe. What is important is that God said it, and we therefore accept it as Truth without having to fully understand it. As popular astrophysicist and teacher Neil deGrasse Tyson (a self-avowed atheist)[3] is fond of saying, “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” The same is true of the “mysteries” that we find in God’s Torah. Yehovahיְהוָֹה, YHVH, yud-heh-vav-heh [GN] Eloheinuאֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ, our God says: “As high as the sky is above the earth are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9) The human mind is simply not capable of understanding all the things of God; we can comprehend only those heavenly mysteries that He chooses to reveal to us in terms that we can understand.
The Secular Humanist View
Some self-proclaimed “Christians” teach that the six days of creation only refer to the beginning and ending of each phase of creation. God, Who is the Creator and Author of Scripture, exists outside the dimensions of time and space, and mankind has no way of knowing what “six days” means from God’s perspective. They claim to believe the Bible, but disregard the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Attempting to bring Darwinist evolution into the Bible, they have adopted the current understanding of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which holds that time as we know it is relative to the position and circumstances of the observer. Nuclear physicist Gerald L. Schroeder, Ph.D., has demonstrated in The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth (May 9, 2002) how, by using Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, he has calculated that when viewed from the point of creation looking outward (God’s perspective) the Bible’s six days of creation are identical to the 14 billion years since the “Big Bang” as viewed from earth looking back toward the center of the universe.
“We look at the universe, and say, ‘How old is the universe? Looking back in time, the universe is approximately 14 billion years old.’ That’s our view of time and those years went by. But what is the Bible’s view of those billions of years looking forward from the beginning? How does it see time? …
“We look back in time, and measure the universe to be 14 billion years old. But as every scientist knows, when we say the universe is 14 billion years old, there’s another half of the sentence that we rarely bother to state. The universe is 14 billion years old as measured from the time-space coordinates of the earth, that is, from our current position in the universe.
“The key is that from the creation of the universe to the creation of the soul of Adam, the Bible looks forward in time, from time-space coordinates when the universe was vastly smaller than it is today. Since then, the universe has expanded out. Space stretches, and that stretching of space totally changes the perception of time.”
The calculations are explained on his website.
Media Disclaimer: Presence of video or audio recordings on this website does not
necessarily indicate agreement with all (or any) of the speaker’s theological position.
Why Believing in Evolution Is More Dangerous Than You Think
Answers in Genesis
One Jewish Perspective
Although I do not accept extra-biblical sources as authoritative, it is interesting that the Gemara[4] teaches that “seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and repentance, and the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, and the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of Messiah.”
Here is an interesting discussion of one Jewish opinion of the topic of “Six Days.”
How EXACTLY Is the 6 Days of Creation Relevant?
Jewish Learning Institute
A Pre-Adamic Earth?
Here is an excellent article from Dr. Larry Ollison on “The World Before Adam and Eve.” As I have said elsewhere, I taught the “Gap Theory” (also known as “the Old Earth Model”) for a very long time using many of the same arguments he presents. Although I am now convinced that the universe is only about 6,000 years old based on a literal interpretation of the timelines contained in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, my “flesh” argues that the “Gap Theory” and the “Old Earth” models fit better with current “science.” But I don’t hold a very high regard for most “science” and even less for most “scientists.” You must make up your own mind whether you believe the first 11 chapters of Genesis to be literally true. But I warn you, if you do not believe those chapters to be literally true, how can you possibly believe that John 3:16 is literally true?
The World Before Adam and Eve - Dr. Larry Ollison
1. I am here using the term “Torah” in its widest sense, meaning the entire body of Scripture. [BACK]
2. Skin color variations are caused by the amount and type of pigment melanin produced by special cells called melanocytes. Melanin is influenced by genetics, exposure to the sun, and natural selection. Skin color can also change due to blood flow, which is affected by oxygen, hemoglobin, and blood vessels. Some diseases, disorders, conditions, and treatments can alter skin color by affecting melanin, blood flow, or the skin itself.
Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one’s biological parents and or individual gene alleles), exposure to the sun, natural and sexual selection. The actual skin color of different humans is affected by many substances, although the single most important substance is the pigment melanin. Melanin is produced within the skin in cells called melanocytes and it is the main determinant of the skin color of darker-skin humans. The skin color of people with light skin is determined mainly by the bluish-white connective tissue under the dermis and by the hemoglobin circulating in the veins of the dermis. [Source: wikipedia, “Human Skin Color”] [BACK]
3. I do not believe that a true atheist exists.
“For ever since the creation of the universe His invisible qualities — both His eternal power and His divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what He has made. Therefore, they have no excuse; because, although they know who God is, they do not glorify Him as God or thank Him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened.” (Rom. 1:20-21)
I believe and teach that a person who says that he (or she) does not believe in God because His existence cannot be scientifically proven to that person’s satisfaction is actually an agnostic, one “without knowledge” of God, though God says they have no excuse. The remainder of those who claim to be atheists, I believe, fall into one of two categories. Either (a) they know that God exists but He has allowed something to happen that the person did not want to happen, so that person is actually angry at God for failing to bend to that person’s desires; or (b) the person knows that God exists, but because of pride refuses to acknowledge His authority over his/her life (as the archangel Lucifer did), and since judgment is certain, the person simply defines God out of existence.
“Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God…” (Psalm 14:1) [BACK]
4. The Gemara is a commentary on the Mishnah forming the second part of the Talmud. [BACK]
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ANXIOUSLY WATCHING FOR MASHIACH’S RETURN,
SPEEDILY AND IN OUR DAY. MARANA, TA!
