The Two Gaps

Written by Jimmy D shade tree PHD

” In the beginning God ”, and so begins the struggle of our time .

The middle 1800’s brings us the enlightenment and the nobleman’s quest, to kill God. The weapon of choice is natural science. Defending the God of the Bible has been mainly the literalist within the Christian community. The battle rages on with no end in sight. The problem is not with any scientific theory or any passage of the Bible . The problem on the kill God side and the defend God side is the same. Both fighting a war, not searching for truth.

If I find overwhelming evidence I’m wrong I’ll chunk this Christian thang farther than a July 4^th cow chip. I leave the possibility I’m wrong . I attempt to understand the weakness of my position. I look to understand the strength of the opposition.

On the kill God side.

Evolution is riddled with holes but it has done much for our understanding of life.

On the defend God side.

It is not the Bible’s fault man reads into scripture things that are not there.

For an example read my upcoming article on suicide.

Why are we so stuck on the 6000 year interpretation of Bible history? I have never seen the need to hold to this interpretation of scripture . Man’s ideas are not scripture. The same people who set our dates from Christ’s birth are the same people that gave us the 6000 year chronology. We all accept the 3 to 6 year mistake in our calendar. Why not accept the misinterpretation of the 6000 years. They were scholars from a different time with incomplete knowledge. Now we are scholars from this time ,with more, yet still incomplete knowledge. Should not our understanding advance? Our understanding of the creation story is lacking in every detail. Why do we fail to entertain alternate interpretations of creation? I explain it this way . When we were children we heard the creation story told to children in a fairytale manner. Sowing up the story into a neat package that will fit onto a story board. This was to keep the interest of the listener .Keep it simple stupid. Then as we grow we never revised our fairytale to take into account the gaps in our tale. Our fairy tale takes the place of scripture. I don’t want to change scripture I want to outgrow the fairytale. Move on to deeper understanding of the scripture. The fairytale serves us as babies milk but, fails as meat.

I can see two gaps in the creation story. Places where the whole story is not given to us . Holes where time can be inserted nicely into the Genesis account.

Why do we fail to entertain alternate interpretations of creation?

The two holes are.

1: after Gen:2;3 before 2:4. There is a very curious wording of these verses . I have noticed many different translations of this passage. The word generations is the most interesting. But the first hole could fit here . Notice I don’t say does fit here. How long does God rest? There are many things we are not told in the bible. This is one . When you get to heaven you can complain that the bible was not big enough but I think it is big enough, thank you. This hole is there and can be used as building material for a bridge.

The second hole fits between Gen. 2:25, and 3:1. After creation of Adam and Eve ,and before the 1^st sin. Prior to sin man was immortal ,therefore those years may not be included in the lifeline of Adam. We are not told how long Adam and Eve live ,not knowing they are naked. Could it be 1 day? I think it’s longer than 1 day. These two holes could be 1 day or a million’s of years. A farmer was in the field holding a pig up to a oak tree to allow the pig to eat acorns. I asked the farmer if it wouldn’t be faster to shake the tree and let the pig eat off the ground. He said “the pig is not in a hurry. Perspective is needed by humans to understand Gods time clock and we can’t gain that in this lifetime . I leave this time option open .

Why are we so stuck on the traditional understanding of the creation stories when it has holes as big as Texas in it . Holes you say , “like a horse with blinders on I can’t see the holes.” Yes holes . As a person in search of truth I must recognize the problems. The problems are there because we try to fit scripture to the fairytale. Problem #1: Two different timelines in Gen. 1,2&3. Problem #2 land of Nod . God marks Cain so that he will not be killed by who. Lions can’t read nor do they care if I have an “I love MoM “ tattoo on my chest . problem3,4,5 would cripple my typing hand and your ability to finish this article, besides I have more ranting to do. Let us understand Genesis in a way that accounts for the holes or say that we don’t know . Lets be dogmatic about what we can know and admit what we don’t.

God performs 2 kinds of miracles, supernatural, and timing. Water from wine, supernatural. The walls of Jericho, timing. The creation miracle could be a combination of these two types. The Genesis account of creation is not a scientific treatise and should not be treated like one. It is the introduction of God to all peoples for all times. It is broad and generalized. It does this without crossing any known scientific laws. There are many difficult passages as we continue through the bible.