The Ice Age & Dinosaurs
As we talk about Pre-Adamic Earth (see blog on subject) an interesting point in Genesis 1:2 is that the word for waters is a Hebrew word that means “Ice.” There are three forms of water as we know it; gas, solid, and liquid. The word in Hebrew here is actually, technically, the word “ice.” Here is the ice age spoken of by scientists and archeologists.
Scientists know there were a number of ice ages so it is possible that some of these ice ages probably happened before, during and after the dinosaur age. Generally it is believed by paleontologists that dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago with the latest ice age occurring about 10 thousand years ago.
So the question arises, when does the Bible teach the ice age occurred? We know from genealogy that there have been to date approximately 6000 years of human history from the creation of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis to the present time. Nowhere does the Bible teach an ice age occurred during this period.
To understand when the ice age occurred we must go right to Genesis 1:1 and read that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Now that’s very interesting because He created the heavens and the earth and we know when God creates something it is good. God doesn’t create junk.
But notice once again verse 2. “And the earth was waste and void.” Some translations read “it was formless and empty,” “the earth was formless and desolate.” Literally in verse 2 the Hebrew says “and the earth was becoming without form.” It is a verb that shows the action is continuing “and the earth was becoming without form and void.”
Verse 2 is just the opposite of verse 1. Verse 1 says He created the heavens and the earth, but verse 2 says the earth was becoming formless and void.
“Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over (notice) the waters,” and that’s very important. In fact the word for “waters” in the Hebrew is a very interesting word because it means “ice.” Here we have the age of the ice age, the glacier movement. We know from science there was an ice age.
In a very real sense Genesis 1:2 is saying that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the icy waters, or water that had turned to ice. Scholars call this the gap theory. In the very beginning in Genesis 1:1 God had created everything just like He wanted it. But something happened. And verse 2 has God beginning the process again.
I am not trying to throw a problem into anyone’s theology, but we need to realize that something happened between verse 1 and verse 2. Theologians generally believe that the rebellion and fall of Lucifer in the dateless past is what caused the earth to become waste and void since he was given the earth by God as his domain.
Conclusion: We know from science there was an ice age. Scientists tell us that the dinosaurs became extinct during one of the ice ages. Further, we know that no ice age has occurred during the present 6000 years of
Science and the Bible
Any time science can accurately prove something it will always harmonize with Scripture. Always! When science tries to disprove Scripture one of two things will happen: 1) either science has not found the truth or, 2) it has not linked with the truth. In other words if the Bible says “x” then “x” is going to be true. If science on the other hand says “k” then one of two things exists if it contradicts Scripture, either “k” is wrong or they have not found something that will make “k” true. For instance the Bible says in Leviticus 11:6 that the rabbit or hare is a cud chewing animal. “The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof, it is unclean to you”. Science says it is not. So who should we believe? Is the rabbit a cud chewing animal or not? To chew the cud means it re-chews its food. The rabbit discharges two kinds of pellets. One pellet he turns around and eats because it is his food, the other pellet is his discharge which he leaves alone, therefore making the rabbit a cud chewing animal. See also Deuteronomy 14:7.
We have to allow Scripture to be what it is. The Bible is not a science or history book, it’s God’s Word. However, every time it talks in terms of science or history it is correct. The Bible will bring a lot of eye opening things to light such as the ice age and here in Genesis 1:2 is the ice age.
