The GapTheory






















                                     In the beginning...?


If we want to learn more about Babylon, if we want to discover more of
these obscure sides of biblical history, we need to start at the beginning. So
many of us were taught that God created the world in six days, and rested
on the seventh. For centuries, many of us who believe the Bible have
accepted this time frame as absolute truth. We trusted those men who
translated our Bible into English, that they made no mistakes in their
methods of translation. Probably, the best way to truly understand the
Bible is to look at it in its original Hebrew. What if the original language of
the Bible could, perhaps, say something different than what most of these
modern English translators assumed?

The translators authorized by King James (the 1611 King James Version)
were, no doubt, under the assumption the world was created in six days.
This was probably something they, and those before them, were always
taught. Words of the Hebrew language - as in many languages - can have a
variety of meanings. The translators of the King James (our first major
English translation) could have easily used English words to "fit" in with
their traditional assumptions of creation, as well as other biblical stories.
Take these verses, for example:


In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 (KJV)


The next verse states:


And the earth was without form, and void...

Genesis 1:2 (KJV)


According to C.I. Scofield, Thomas Chalmers, and other biblical scholars,
something dramatic may have occurred between the time of the first and
second verses. Were the King James translators accurate in their
translation, or was it based on assumption? As stated earlier, Hebrew
words could have more than one meaning. With that in hand, let's see if
these early translators indeed translated the words correctly, or did they try
to make the words "fit in" to what they always assumed.

In Genesis 1:2, the use of the word was (from the Hebrew hayah)
indicates that something may have occurred beyond what King James
Translators believed. According to Strong's Concordance - a great guide to
Hebrew words - this word means "to be," "to come to pass," "to come
about," and "fall out."(1) Did the earth begin the way Genesis 1:2 stated, or
did it become that way?

The words without form, in the above verse, were translated from the
Hebrew tohuw, which can mean "to lie waste," "that which is wasted," "a
place of chaos," and "confusion."(2) The Hebrew word for void is bohuw,
which can mean "a state of waste" and "emptiness."(3) If we use these
other meanings, we have another verse:


And the earth came to be a place of chaos, and waste.

                            -or-

And the earth had fallen from its original form, and became a
place of chaos and waste.


The question remains: was the earth created "without form and void" or
did something happen to bring it to that way? If we look at the verse in
these way we could surmise there was something of great importance
which occurred between the first and second verses of the Bible.

We read in Genesis 1:1 that God created the heaven and the earth
(interestingly enough, the word heaven in the original Hebrew is singular).
When we look at the end of the Six-Day Creation, we read "the heavens
and earth were finished, and all the host of them" (Genesis 2:1). Now, this
word is in the plural. Why? Could the first heaven have been created at the
time of Genesis 1:1 and another heaven - possibly one of many - have
been created at the end of the Six-Day Creation? Is it possible there was
more than one heaven created by God - each created, and subsequently
destroyed, over time?

In Genesis 1, we also read that God created new lights in the sky (our sun
and moon). Could some parts of our earth and sky need reworking, while
other parts needed to be created, again? Could these new lights in the sky
have been part of God's brand new "heaven," here?

As we continue to look deeper into this, why would God create a world
formless and void, anyway? Isn't creation considered a finished product?


For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that
formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not
in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; I am the LORD; and there is
none else.

Isaiah 45:18 (KJV)


Many people believe the Bible never contradicts itself. Therefore, Isaiah 45:
18 tells us that God made the earth "not in vain." Could there have been a
previously established "world" that God needed to destroy (for whatever
reason)? Like the heaven, did God establish another organized cosmos - a
new world - to replace the former?

The Gap Theory agrees the planet earth, in the wording of Genesis 1:1,
was created by God. There was an organized, harmonious order to the
earth - known as the world - which was created at this same time.
According to this original Hebrew, God may not have been satisfied with
this previous world, and destroyed it; only to remake it into something else.
The physical planet remained, however. This creation-destruction process
may have occurred more than once.

Our current world, the world we see in front of us, was reworked from the
ashes of a former world's indistinguishable ruin; the process noted as our
"Six-Day Creation." The earth has always stayed the same, its just the
harmonized arrangements - the worlds - that were fashioned and re-
fashioned by God.

The following verses of the Bible seem to reinforce this multiple-world
theory:


Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds…

Hebrews 1:2 (KJV)


Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of
God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear.

Hebrews 11:3 (KJV)


Although the Bible could refer to other planets, here, it seems unlikely. II
Peter 3 seems to reinforces the above:


II Peter (KJV)
3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished.
3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same
word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.


Many scholars assumed these verses refer to only Noah and his flood.
Could they actually refer to the world that existed before our present? We
notice other verses which seem to argue against these as being of the Flood
of Noah:


II Samuel (KJV)
22:2 And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my
deliverer;
22:3 … thou savest me from violence.
22:5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of
ungodly men made me afraid;
22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven
moved and shook, because he was wroth.
22:10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness
was under his feet.
22:12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters,
and thick clouds of the skies.
22:15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; and
discomfited them.
22:16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations
of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD.


Psalms (KJV)
18:1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
18:4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly
men made me afraid.
18:7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of
the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
18:9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness
was under his feet.
18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about
him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
18:12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,
hail stones and coals of fire.
18:13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest
gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
18:14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he
shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
18:15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations
of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD.


In the flood of Noah, we do not have account of the earth shaking and
trembling; no hail stones. There was only 40 days and nights of rain. Also,
as we notice, both of these verses state the foundations of a new world
were, soon after, discovered! Why? Could this have represented another
destruction?



















In the words of Genesis 1:2, we recall:


And the earth was without form, and void...


Considering the Gap Theory, couldn't Genesis 1:2 seem to describe a
planet that became "without form and void," rather than one newly
formed? Why would a Creator create something already demolished?
Could our current world truly be the reformulation of some extinct world
of the past?

As we'll see, this first reinterpretation of biblical Scripture could set the
stage for so many more interpretations of these early chapters of Genesis.
This allows them to be further reinterpreted, or viewed, in different ways.

This could give a whole new view of early history, as well as our world,
today. On the other side of the coin, could there be those out there who
want to, for whatever reason, dilute - even cover up - the possibility of
these other interpretations? To go deeper, Untold Garden of Eden could
tell us a whole lot more, as well as begin to unravel this answer.

There is also much more to be found in the book The Rise of Mystery
Babylon.



                                   Footnotes:
(1) Strong’s H1961 – hayah, http://www.blueletterbible.
org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1961&t=KJV.html (accessed Dec.
23, 2009).
(2) Strong’s H8414 - tohuw, http://www.blueletterbible.
org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8414&t=KJV.html (accessed Dec.
23, 2009).
(3) Strongs’s H922 - bohuw, http://www.blueletterbible.
org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H922&t=KJV.html (accessed Dec.
23, 2009).


Copyright 2012, Brett T., All Rights Reserved
"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God..."
                                                     Hebrews 11:3