by Dr. Ken Ham (Lecture 6 of 10)

When we take the account of Genesis literally, and go out in the world and look at the evidence, it all fits.

The world and fossils and plants exist in the present. We’re trying to understand what happened in the past based on the processes we view in the present. Scientists often assume that present processes of death and struggle, fossilization and sedimentation point to millions of years of gradual history. But that is not the only way to explain the evidence.

Having a reliable witness from the past is the most sure way to know what happened in the past. We do have such a Witness (God) through the Bible. This revelation from Someone truthful and reliable who was there in the beginning and who knows everything is the key to understanding the present.

Let’s see if what God tells us about the past and see if it connects to the present. The creation began with God making the heavens, the earth, and time. Genesis tells of the creation, the disobedience of man, then the great world-wide flood, the tower of Babel, and the beginning of the people of Israel. This is the key to understanding the world, philosophy, geography, geology, biology, and all other disciplines.

Are there gaps of millions of years in the creation record? We must answer no. There is no reliable scientific method to find out the age of the earth. However, there is lots of evidence for a young earth. For example, the accumulation of dust on the moon is only a few inches deep, but if the earth were millions of years old, we would expect it to be many feet deep. Methods of dating the earth’s age are unreliable. Tests on uranium rocks yield results ranging from zero years to millions of years.

The days of creation must be understood as 24 hour literal days. Genesis 1 uses the best way to express ordinary days that is available in the Hebrew language. The argument in Exodus 20:11 is based on ordinary days. The Hebrew word translated “day” can mean an indefinite period of time, but it cannot mean a thousand years. The verses saying that a day is like 1000 years are comparing a known time period (day) with a long period of time to show that God is not bound by time the way men are (Psalm 90:4). Exodus 20:11 disproves any gap theory because God says he created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six ordinary days.

Many Christians have thought they must believe in the gap theory or some form of “theistic evolution.” At one time there seemed to be overwhelming scientific evidence against creation. But based on the scientific evidence we now possess there is no reason to accept such compromised positions. When we find something which appears to contradict the Bible, we must not give up the Bible. The contradiction appears in our minds because we can’t know everything.

On day one God created light. He created the Sun on day four. Light can exist independent of a light source. Light and life are dependent on God, not the sun.

On day two God created a great canopy (a layer of water) over the earth. This layer of vapour would help to maintain a moderate climate. It would also act as a shield against harmful cosmic radiation which causes mutations.

Scientists can produce chemicals similar to those found in life. Though they claim that they may be able to start life in a test tube one day, they are really only changing existing life forms. But, even if they could produce something living from scratch, all they are proving is that intelligence and lots of complex work can produce life, which is far from supporting evolution. A single cell is more complex than a working 747 Jet Plane. It is absurd to believe that a chance accident formed simple creatures.

On day three God created plants to be food for animals and man. Before man’s disobedience when God cursed the earth, there was no death among animals and humans. God could sustain living creatures indefinitely if he so chose, as he did with the clothing of the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness.

The Bible states that God created animals and plants according to their kinds. We see variations within a kind, but we do not find intermediate forms of life. There is a mosaic pattern of similar creative designs among the varieties of living creatures.