HOW OUR WORLD BEGAN

Origin Theories

 

 

1.     Evolution (Educational) The world and that which is in it began and developed by means of natural processes. New species of more complex and intricate forms have developed out of simpler forms over billions of years. Basic elements in the theory are: fossils, mutations, natural selection and great amounts of time.

2.     Theistic Evolution (Catholic) This theory teaches that Adam's body was simply that of an animal which was the result of millions of years of evolutionary development. Several hundred thousand years ago, God placed an eternal soul into this ape-like biped. This act is that which sets animals and man apart. Some hold to the view that God, on numerous occasions, stepped into the evolutionary process to perform special creative acts.

3.     Creationism (Biblical) The Almighty God supernaturally created the heavens and the earth and all things in them by specific acts of creation. Creation was out of nothing and was instantaneous-employing no evolutionary process. Within creationism there are several basic viewpoints.

·          Day-age The days of creation in Genesis 1 were not literal 24 hour days, but rather long periods of time of an indefinite duration. A less popular view within this position is that the days of Genesis are 24 hour days, but that these days are separated by great periods of time of an indefinite duration.

·          Ruin-reconstruction Theory In the dateless past, God created a heaven and an earth that was perfect. But then Lucifer {Satan} fell into sin and with him many of the angelic beings. Sin, therefore, entered the universe and God destroyed the original earth, leaving it "waste and void." After vast ages of time God recreated the heavens and the earth. It is this recreation that is described in Gen. 1:3-31.

·          Literal Day View The days of Gen. 1:2-31 are literal 24 hr. days. These are the days of the original creation: that creation which we observe today, though marred by sin.