Spurgeon was a Old Earth Creationist
June 13th, 2007 by Carl Thomas.Can I be honest? I am not convinced that the earth is only 6,000 years old.
WAIT! Put down the stones! I am a creationist! Evolution is a lie. To believe in evolution is to believe that we did not evolve from a monkey but a rock. This is complete nonsense. However, I am still not sure that the earth was part of the six day creation story.
Genesis 1:11:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth has been around since the beginning. Nevertheless, I can see how many believe that time began with the creation of the earth.
I was doing a little research yesterday when I ran across a Spureon sermon titled “The Power of the Holy Ghost.”
In the 2d verse of the first chapter of Genesis, we read, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We know not how remote the period of the creation of this globe may be€”certainly many millions of years before the time of Adam. Our planet has passed through various stages of existence, and different kinds of creatures have lived on its surface, all of which have been fashioned by God. But before that era came, wherein man should be its principal tenant and monarch, the Creator gave up the world to confusion. He allowed the inward fires to burst up from beneath, and melt all the solid matter, so that all kinds of substances were commingled in one vast mass of disorder. The only name you could give to the world, then, was that it was a chaotic mass of matter; what it should be, you could not guess or define. It was entirely “without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The Spirit came, and stretching his broad wings, bade the darkness disperse, and as he moved over it, all the different portions of matter came into their places, and it was no longer “without form, and void;” but became round, like its sister planets, and moved, singing the high praises of God€”not discordantly, as it had done before, but as one great note in the vast scale of creation. Milton very beautifully describes this work of the Spirit, in thus bringing order out of confusion, when the King of Glory, in his powerful Word and Spirit, came to create new worlds:€”
“On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore
They viewed the vast, immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains, to assault
Heaven’s height, and with the centre mix the pole.“Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace,
Said then the Omnific Word; your discord end.
Then on the watery calm,
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass.”This you see, then, is the power of the Spirit. Could we have seen that earth all in confusion, we should have said, “Who can make a world out of this?” The answer would have been, “The power of the Spirit can do it. By the simple spreading of his dove-like wings, he can make all the things come together. Upon that there shall be order where there was naught but confusion.”
Possibly Related Posts
- Off to the Uttermost Parts of the Earth - with 3 comments
- New Wine Testimony - with 0 comments
- Cane River Tent Revival - with 7 comments
The problem with all this: death.
If creatures lived and died before Adam’s fall what fueled their death apart from sin?
Young earth or old earth what ever happened it was God’s plan and He did it.
I have never been fully invested in either perspective. I usually lean in the direction of the last book I read.
What about the 6 days? My God is big enough to do it all in 24 hrs. or in ‘the twinkling of an eye’ if he wanted too.
Note:
Many experts in the Hebrew language point out that the word used in Genesis-’yom’ can mean ‘day’,'time’, or ‘period’. However, since evening and morning is also mentioned, it has traditionally been translated in context as ‘day’.
@slw Did the fall of man result in the death of animals? Or did it just bring the curse upon the earth into those int he garden?
@michael I am with you. This is not a big thing for me. I am not convinced about the age of the earth one way or another. I just thought it was interesting that someone like spurgeon was pretty decided in a way that would have him ridiculed today.
Carl,
I believe the general teaching of scripture is that sin was the causative agent that brought death to humans and to the creation. I don’t believe anything died before sin came into the world, but everything dies now as the result of sin. Which is why it all must be remade incorruptible in order to be in it’s eternal state.
Romans 5:12-17, 6:23, 8:19-21;
James 1:15; I Corinthians 15:50;
Isaiah 11:6-7, 65:25
That is all quite logical. But didn’t Satan sin before Adam?
I guess it depends on what one believes concerning Lucifer’s fall from grace (Isaiah 14:12-15 & Luke 10:18?). Regardless, he is not corporeal but a fallen ministering spirit. Since angels are not physical, they cannot experience death between their fall and ultimate judgment. Even if the Devil fell millions of years before the appearance of Adam (and I don’t believe he did), it would not follow that his fall would produce death in the physical realm. We, of Adam’s race, are corporeal and only experience death as we know it, because there is a historical span stretching from Adam’s fall until the Great White Throne Judgment. During that time everything made up of the physical universe (the realm of which we’re part) is subject to death.