It has always been understood by Christadelphians that the sun, moon, stars, and the earth have been in existence for millions of years and that the events of Gen. 1:3 refer to a re-organisation following a state of chaos which the Creation had brought about.
Thus in Elpis Israel, chapter 2, Dr. Thomas 128 years ago wrote, concerning the account in Genesis 1:-
“To an observer on the earth this was the order of their appearance, and in relation to him a primary creation, though absolutely pre-existent for millions of ages before the Adamic era.”
Note: not merely millions of years, but millions of ages!
Further on, Bro. Thomas admitted the possibility that human-like beings had lived on the earth long before Adam.
“Tohu And Bow”‘
There we might point out that the Hebrew words translated “without-form” and “void” are respectively “Tohu” and “Bohu”.
In Isa. 45:18 we are specifically told that God did not create the earth “Tohu” — he formed it to be inhabited.
Science teaches, and Christadelphians have long believed, that the earth had existed for ages and had been reduced to a state of Tohu or chaos some time before the re-organisation of Genesis 1:3.
We have seen what Dr. Thomas believed “millions of ages” — and this understanding has been repeated time after time in Christadelphian writings.
There are some examples — (from the “Christadelphian”) Nov. 1876; p.505: “The Bible and Prehistoric Man”:-
“The Bible account begins about 6,000 years ago … Now, supposing it could be shown that, ages before then the earth had been habitable and was, in fact, by a race of whom nothing but their existence was known, would it disprove that, at the period 6,000 years ago, the said race had perished and the earth engulfed in a physical catastrophe in which it had lain for an unspecified time before the re-organisation described in Genesis?”
Oct. 1880, p.442 –
“Stepping back again to the chaos, you may have observed that the materials out of which this splendid domain (Eden — H.H.) was to be fabricated were already in existence, having been called into being at some earlier period styled ‘the beginning’. This allows for ,the earth the antiquity claimed for it by geologists. As to what state of things preceded the Adamic, we have no direct information.”
1883 — Bro. Roberts published his book “The Trial” — in the course of which he asserts the Bible does not contradict the possibility of men having lived on the earth before Adam.
March 1898, p.124 — a lengthy article entitled “Pre-Adamite Remains”. After discussing the claims of geologists that human remains were of great antiquity, Bro. Smallwood refers to the evidence of some catastrophe, like the Flood, before Adam. He says, “The Bible necessitates some such idea, for it not only allows for the pre-Adamite existence of the earth during the long period required by geological science, but also contains hints of a pre-Adamite race”. (In this respect, Dr. Thomas agrees.)
March 1900, p.109 — “The Builder of All Things” by Bro. C. Meakin. Referring to Genesis 1:1, he comments, “We are not informed when the beginning commenced, neither as to the process by which the heavens and earth had been evolved, or the time occupied in their evolution. All we contend for is that they were in existence long’ previous to the work of the six days”.
July-August 1910 — Several articles, by Bro. C. C. Walker, entitled “Genesis”, uphold the foregoing views as to pre-Adamite earth and people. For example, Aug. 1910, p.362, Bro. Walker writes: “The coal measures contain evidences of the existence of ferns and other vegetation in pre-Adamite times, but instruction concerning this is not the aim of the Mosaic account of Creation”.
Jan. 1921, p.14 — A long article over the name of W. Minnerley explaining how it has taken millions of years for the formation of coal. (We have not checked through the maga-, zines later than the above date.)
Theories Of Creation
There are three theories of the origin of the earth and the universe to be considered.
Evolution: That there is no God, but during the countless ages forms of life slowly evolved, so that man is one of the final products to date.
Divine Development: In comparatively recent times, knowledge has been increased and God has allowed men to discover much about His universe: The earth, and indeed all creation, was created by ages at the beginning, since when the Deity has been gradually developing His plan for the ultimate population of the earth by a race of immortal beings. With the Lord, a thousand years is but a day, so to us humans the age of the earth, which God has allowed geologists to glimpse, seems fantastically antique.
Details of how God developed the earth are interesting, but not essential to salvation.
The Young Earth Theory: Although God has always existed, He remained inactive until about 6,000 years ago, when He first created this planet, and after it the sun, moon and other stars. In the course of the creation of the earth, the various layers of rock as visible to the geologists, were all put in place — with fossils, etc. planted in appropriate places.
This theory was popular in the days of the’ Spanish Inquisition when men were tortured to death for denying it. At the same time (say 500 years ago) men were tortured and burnt alive for saying that the earth was round, whereas Scripture taught it was flat with four corners. At the very time that King James’ men were translating the Bible into English, Galileo, the inventor of the telescope, was being tortured for saying that the earth moved around the sun, thus contradicting the Scriptures, which (Eccles. 1) “Teach” that the sun moves around the earth.
This “young earth” theory has been revived among the brethren in recent years. Apparently, these brethren do not realise that “Divine development” has been the Christadelphian understanding for 11 centuries, and they say that if one does not accept the Young Earth theory one must be an evolutionist.
Six Thousand Years?
Most brethren assume that somewhere the Bible teaches that the events of the first chapters of Genesis took place about 6,000 years ago.
The fact is that nowhere in the Bible is that theory enunciated. There is a popular belief (unsupported by Scripture) that the Millenium will be established as the seventh thousand year period since “Creation”.
Over 300 years ago, Archbishop Ussher produced a chronology which placed the Creation at 4004 B.C. If that were correct, the Millenium should start about 1996. He gave the date of the Exodus as 1491 B.C.
Dr. Thomas has the Creation at 4089 B.C. and the Exodus at 1626 B.C. (“Chronikon Hebraikon”).
We have at present before us a calculation, emanating from New Zealand, which gives the Exodus at 1494 B.C. and the start of the Millenium in 1986.
Our commentaries favour 1290 B.C. as the date of the Exodus.
If we turn up Young’s Concordance at the word “Creation”, we find reference to no less than 120 different computations of the date of the Biblical Creation, and of these he quotes 35, varying from B.C. 3616 to B.C. 6984.
It is common to quote Hebrews 3 and 4, referring to God’s “rest”, as being the Millenium; and then it is assumed that this must be a seventh period of 1,000 years. But Scripture does not say so: this is mere speculation: if we read the chapters carefully we may doubt the common application.
We are told that because of their disobedience, Israel, at the Exodus, was not allowed to enter God’s “rest”. Does not this suggest that the 6,000 years (if such were the divine plan) should have ended at the Exodus? As the N.E.B. puts it (Heb. 4:7) “God fixes another day”. Therefore the “day” to which we are looking forward is not the “day” God originally planned.
If this surmise is correct, and assuming 1300 B.C. as the approximate date of the Exodus, the date of the Creation must have been about 7,300 B.C. — something like 9,270 years ago!
But does it really matter?
In Bro. Clementson’s article, under the heading “Protesting About Evolution” we would point out some of the following:
Most of the article is aimed at proving that a method of estimating the age of igneous rocks — i.e. rocks which were originally molten — is erroneous. This is admitted by Bro. Clementson to have been established “comparatively recently”. It therefore does not upset Dr. Thomas’ acceptance of the age of the earth as being not merely millions of years, but millions of ages.
Under his heading “Synopsis” he refers to “fossils trapped in the rock layer”. But this method is applied to igneous rocks, which cannot contain fossils!
Then he refers to the Geological Column. He says that as the complete column does not appear anywhere on the earth, it is therefore a theoretical concept.
We might well say that the idea of the earth being 6,000 years old is nowhere tabulated century by century in the Scriptures, therefore it is only theoretical and we can forget about it. Again, the doctrines contained in the B.A.S.F. are nowhere set out in the Scriptures in that order, therefore it is entirely theoretical, and can be ignored as false.
The present writer studied geology as a Civil Engineering student in 1920, and since that date as a practising civil engineer and surveyor, has had ample opportunity to satisfy ‘himself as to the factual existence of the geological column. It is a case of “here a little,there a little” and a mind trained to marvel at the mighty works executed by the Creator during millions of ages.
Brethren and sisters should beware of those who would fail to give glory to the wonders of God’s creative work.
One final comment — the article in the “Believer” is headed “Protesting About Evolution”, but in fact it has nothing to do with evolution, only with geology and then none of it affects our concept of the earth being the subject of God’s creative activity during millions of ages.
Brethren should realise that there are two types of “evolution” — one is that man is descended from a long line of creatures (as indeed is all life according to theory) by gradual changes, without any God being concerned. The other is that small changes are continually but slowly taking place, which, however, do not justify the major evolutionary claims. They are nevertheless God’s work.
For example, all humans are descended from Noah. Why then are some black, some white, some yellow? English, Irish, French, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysians, Jews and Australian Aborigines all look different and their children always have the racial characteristics of their ancestors. Why?
Red Indians of America are smooth faced — no beards — Why?
If we say that evolution takes place to even the slightest degree, we are saying Noah could not have been the ancestor of all the earth’s present population.
Again, our scientists are continually producing new varieties of plants.
For example, look on the back of a two dollar note and you will see a number of ears of wheat depicted. Do you know why?
A hundred years ago wheat in Australia (and elsewhere) could not be harvested by machinery. The ears of grain all grew to varying heights above the ground, and also they matured and ripened at different dates.
Farrer, whose picture appears on the note, experimented with wheat and produced an entirely new strain (after many years) which had the virtue of all growing to the same height, of ripening at the same time, and being drought resistant, and could be gathered by a harvesting machine.
This was a controlled form of mini-evolution. Again, 200 years ago, the Australian sheep (or cattle) dog did not exist. It has been bred by a process of controlled evolution. And so we could go on. But we would not fall into the trap, as the evolutionists have done, of saying that God had nothing to do with it.
Evaluating other texts about Creation