Non-24 hr. creation view --> Gospel

[Christusregnat]

How in your opinion is the Gospel at stake with a non-24 hr. creation view?

Andrew,

The gospel is God's power unto salvation; it is theological, it is historical, it is eschatological, it is practical, etc.

German Higher Criticism and the old pagan systems of though in the Roman world caused "scholars" now and then to be afraid of reading the Bible as it is written.

The Bible doesn't need to bow before any pseudo-science ("that which is falsely called Gnosis" or "scientia" in Latin). Old pseudo-science caused some ancient interpreters to alter their reading of Genesis (e.g. Philo, Augustine, etc.). Science proves nothing; it is an educated guess at best. Therefore, only a fool would take what he may know certainly (God created the world in the space of six days, and rested on the seventh), and compare it with what cannot be know (man's depraved speculation about rocks, or the age of the univers). Gordon Clark has written an excellent book proving as much called "The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God".

Anywho, epistemologically, this way of reading the bible in the light of depraved speculations does destroy the gospel, if said beastly method is applied to the particular historical facts about the life of Jesus. Something which German Rationalists were willing to do, but (thank God) some "Reformed" folk are as-of-yet unwilling to do. It's a matter of time, however, and we can trace the development of full fledged apostasy with such depraved speculations being accepted at, say, Princeton. Nothing in the narrative requires a non-calendar "evening and morning". A day may be as a thousand years, but it is not a thousand years.

Godspeed,

 

[Tim]

We are off topic. The OP asked if the gospel is affected by one's view of "day".

 

[nicnap]

One also needs to distinguish between the biocreation and the rest. One view which is attractive to me holds that Genesis 1:1-2 is not a summary of what follows but preceeds what follows. In other words the substance of the galaxies was created at some remote period, perhaps billions of "years" ago and then, within six 24-hour periods, from the point of view of some hypothetical person located on this planet (maybe Moses had a vision?), the light, earth, seas, and all of life came into being. This accounts for the light years between our location and some of the stars while taking the creation account literally and providing for a young earth as regards the biosphere. The historical basis of the sabbath, the fall, and the rest are intact.

Or, it could be (which I find more likely), that God creates things mature, fully functioning, with and appearance of history that they never had. The trees that Adam ate from...they were mature and appeared to have history. Adam was not an infant, but mature and fully functioning and appeared to have a history. So, the stars, likewise, have an appearance of history...that they are showing light to us now doesn't mean it took millions of years, but that God created them with an appearance of history also.

Just a thought, humbly submitted. (This is submitted before reading the rest of the thread--so if this addressed by someone else, sorry.)