Ruin and Reconstruction:
Were there millions of years BEFORE the first day with a race of people before Adam?

Question:
Couldn't there be millions to billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 ?
1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
2 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Answer:
This only serves to satisfy “old earth” ideas, but still preserve special creation. Remember: old earth was proposed by Charles Lyell first, and thereafter as a way to provide TIME for evolution of man.

1) Some proponents of this theory claim that “The earth became formless and empty. They propose that during this time, there was evolution, with death of many species. Then God caused the world to become formless and empty and he started over and created all we see in six days. The purpose of this position is to try to be orthodox in a literal 6 day creation, and yet still have an old earth.

This is called “Ruin and Reconstruction” theory.
Answer:
Romans 5:12 says; “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…”
I Corinthians 15:21; “For since death came through a man…” This shows there was one man who then sinned, and THEN death came into the world. So there could be no death on the planet before Adam’s sin.
We cannot have it both ways, DID MAN COME FROM DEATH, OR DID DEATH COME FROM MAN?

Romans 8:20 says, “Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it…” If Creation was subjected to frustration, there had to be a time when it wasn’t frustrated! And the context of Romans 5-8 is that SIN is the reason for Creation being subject to frustration.
USE THIS ARGUMENT TO SHOW THAT THERE WAS NO DEATH BEFORE ADAM, AND NOTE THAT GENESIS 1 SHOWS ONLY 5 DAYS OF EARTH WITHOUT MAN, SO DINOSAURS WERE ON THE EARTH WITH MANKIND
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Question:
Didn't the earth become formless and empty? Something must have been going on then before the creation week.

Answer:
Gen 1:2; “The earth WAS formless and empty…” WAS [hayah{haw-yah}] comes from the root “to exist” and its primary meaning is that the earth’s existence at that time was that it was formless and empty.
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Question:
Couldn't the earth still somehow be old and the Bible still be right?

Answer:
1) Matthew 19:4 “At the beginning the Creator made them male and female.” [NIV] If there were millions of years before the first day, then it would read "in the beginning there was made the heavens and the earth, with people coming along billions of years later!"
2) There are only 4 ways the earth can be old and the Bible still hold some validity in your mind.

1) Millions of years before the first day
2) Millions of years during each "day"
3) Millions of years between each day
4) Millions of years after creation.---NOTE: This theory is never advanced by those who believe in an old earth since that would put mankind on earth for millions of years, which even they would not believe. Plus, the detailed genaeologies of the Old Testament show that there has been approximately 6,000 years since Adam
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Question:
Wasn't the earth formless and empty, but it lay there for billions of years empty, until God began to create life on the earth?

Answer:
This would satisfy those who desire an old earth, therefore. The same phrase “And God said” is found between each day and this shows a continuous, smooth transition. Gen 1:1 – 1:5 is a unit, such that at the end of the 1st day there was Time, Force, Action, Space, Matter, and Light. Herbert Spencer, Father of Sociology, and evolutionist, who died in 1903, announced before his death that there are only five "manifestations of the unknowable" in existence - time, force, action, space, and matter. This was hailed as a great announcement. See Genesis 1:1.
Exodus 20:11; “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.”

So creation of everything happened in 6 days, NOT 6 days + billions of years!!!

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