Genesis tells us that God created the earth in 6 days (and rested on the 7th). Part of Gen. 1:16 says, "He also made the stars." Most SDA Christians believe that this means that God created the stars at the same time as He created the earth, but this is not correct.

Most Christians know that the angels were created before the earth's inhabitants and of course they had to live someplace. Ellen White backs this up saying, "The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both. About the throne gathered the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng--"ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Revelation 5:11.), the most exalted angels, as ministers and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the presence of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God's plan, but would exalt the Father's glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love. {PP 36.2}

Why do we as SDAs not hear much about this? Many Adventists believe that the entire universe was created on day 4 of creation week. Is it because when reading Genesis 1 quickly it seems to indicate that this is what happened, even though the rest of the Bible supports creation of the universe long before? Aren't we here to teach the Gospel? Doesn't that include the origin of sin and where it came from? Are we afraid of what our other Christian friends might think?

Good question, Lineman. You might get more response to it by re-posting it in the Origins forum, though.

Yes, I believe you're right about the stars and the rest of the universe being made earlier. Gen. 1: 16 says "the stars also," (the words, "he made" being added by the translator) and according to Jewish SDA scholar, Jacques Doukhan, it reads like it was intended to be an afterthought or parenthesis. He said it was something like, "By the way, He also made the stars."

On the other hand, if those words are telling us that all of the stars came into existence during the creation week, it would mean that the universe was empty space until that week. That seems highly unlikely.

However, Moses' main point here is that Yahweh is the one who created the whole universe. I doubt he was concerned with all the detail that we are concerned with today. If he was, I'm sure he would have written it differently. Some of us wish he had.

I have certainly seen a lot of non-SDAs take that position - but I have not seen many SDAs do it -- if any.

As I like to point out -- The Bible says that on day four God made TWO GREAT LIGHTS -- not "a zillion and two".

Bob

What was holding the earth in orbit prior to day 4? mel

Orbit around what? Earth did not "need" the sun for anything until Day 3 and with that light source of day 1 - did not even need the Sun then.

The fact that water was covering the face of the deep in vs 2 may mean that we had some geothermal activity on earth prior to the Sun being created.

In Gen 1 we have "rotation" of the earth with "evening and morning" and so we have a single sided light source of some kind (light on one side of the earth) and the planet in rotation.

But we have no indication that the earth was at that point (before day 4) orbiting a star or that we had any planets at all in this solar system.

Indeed -- look at the planet "X" scenario.

in Christ,

Bob

No indication except.........common sense! We do not know how Moses received the extremely abreviated version of the creation events. Was he reporting verbatim what he was told or was he reporting something that he was shown as video and how it appeared to him? I suppose God could have kept the water from freezing solid without the sun but why would he do it that way? Mostly we see "nature" as following certain rules and we can predict even invisible objects and their orbits because of their effects on other objects. I believe God uses practical "natural" physical laws in his creation and we should not assume that he did otherwise in the creation of Earth. mel

well according to Peter -

Moses got his information this way -

2 Peter 1 –

20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,[/b]
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but [b]men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God




According to Paul - Moses got his information this way -
2 Tim 3:

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work



According to God - Moses got his information this way --

Numbers 12:


6 He said, ""Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.
7 ""Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household;
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?''




We already know that geothermal activity alone can heat a planet's surface.

We already know that God can make a planet.

We already know that God claims that Moses' information comes from Him.

I don't see how the fact that humans still do not know exactly how to create a planet -- detracts from what God says He did -- since for now, He is the only one that actually does it.




"Natural Laws" like "He spoke and IT WAS.. He commanded and it stood fast"?

Psalm 33:9
For He spoke, and it was done;He commanded, and it stood fast.

Is that how natural laws are described by Darwinists?

In fact -- wouldn't Darwinists claim that this is the OPPOSITE of the naturalist explanation?

http://www.wingclips.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16679&category_id=778


Why not simply observe that the "SIX days you shall labor..FOR IN SIX DAYS the LORD MADE..." language is nothing remotely like "a natural law" nor is it anything like the way Darwinists claim all of life on earth came to be.

in Christ,

Bob

It was passed down by word of mouth from Adam to Moses.

I follow the theory that the earth did rotate around the sun like other planets rotate around their suns. It was like Venus. There was no sun or moon, according to earth's perspective because of a thick atmosphere.

And it's about perspective. What perspective do we have in the creation account?

Gen. 1:2 And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The perspective is where the Spirit of God is, upon the face of the waters.

On the 4th day, God said let there be lights in the firmament.

Gen. 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

The firmament is the upper atmosphere. Are those lights actually in the firmament? No. They are in outer space. But from our perspective they are in the firmament. That's where we see them.

The sun is in the sky.

According to our perspective.

But, before the 4th day, it wasn't in the sky. Because the sky was dark. This dark material would have been removed on that day. Formerly, it served to keep the water on the earth.

Those lights where not for signs, seasons, days, and years. Because we couldn't see them. It may have also taken some adjustment for these bodies to keep track of time. God would have fine tuned the Solar System, to be like a big clock.

Gen. 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.

So, let them be in the sky. And let them be rulers. God made the Sun ruler of the day and the Moon ruler of the night, in the same way God made Saul king of Israel. God made him ruler. But God didn't bring Saul into existence the day He made him king.

Gen. 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.

God made the lights to appear in the sky, and He made them rulers, and he made them to keep track of signs and seasons, days, months, and years.

If the planet and the water weren't created during this time, but where already here before the Lord began creating, then we can also assume those other things would also have been here.

This is just my theory. I've heard of others teaching something similar. If it's wrong, the good Lord be merciful to us. To me, it's the only thing that makes sense.

I am with you here. That is the way it appears to me. God spoke and it was done but obviously that was the short version. mel