What If ... Earth Version 2.0

Neil at play on Earth v1.0

In a previous post, concerning the inconsistencies between the two accounts of creation in the book of Genesis, I touched on the gap theory which suggests there is an undetermined period of time between the two accounts.

It is a theory. But there is, according to proponents, biblical support for the theory:

• The word "was" in Genesis 1:2 is more accurately translated "became". Such a word choice makes the gap interpretation easier to see in modern English.
• God is perfect and everything he does is perfect, so a newly created earth from the hand of God should not have been without form and void and shrouded in darkness. Deuteronomy 32:4, Isaiah 45:18 1 John 1:5
• The Holy Spirit was "renewing" the face of the earth as he hovered over the face of the waters. Psalms 104:30
• Angels already existed in a state of grace when God "laid the foundations of the Earth", so there had been at least one creative act of God before the six days of Genesis. Job 38:4-7
• Satan had fallen from grace "in the beginning" which, since the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, had to have occurred before the Fall of man. Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:11-19, John 8:44
• Space, time, water, and the rock which constitutes the main body of the earth, existed before the period of six days began in Genesis 1:3

Not the most compelling evidence by any means but it does at least give plausibility to the theory.

But, and this is a really big but of Kim Kardashian proportions, what if there are two accounts simply because God messed up the first time?

There is absolutely nothing to support such an idea. Or is there? Well, no, not really. But hypothetically there is evidence to suggest that God created Earth v1.0, realized a major flaw and to cover his ass scrapped version one and we are now living on Earth v2.0.

Biblical scholars suggest that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Depending on who you listen to depends on how old the earth is. James Ussher puts the start of creation at 4004BC, Saint Bede suggests 3952BC as the start of creation, John Lightfoot says the start of creation was 3929BC, and Johannes Kepler puts his money on 3992BC as the start of creation.

Yet reports from the archaeological world suggest there was a dinosaur called Nyasasaurus parringtoni (or Neil to his friends) roaming Africa some 230,000,000 years ago. If the biblical scholars are correct the beginning, according to the Bible, happened some 229,995,996 after Neil had been roaming around Africa.

Six days is all it took to create everything - from nothing to man - and on the seventh day God rested. An eternal God needs to rest after just 6 days of work? Unlikely, but after 230 million years and 6 days he might.

It makes more sense. Earth v1.0 is created, as in Genesis 1:1-31, and then along come the dinosaurs. These beasts eat everything - trees, bushes, small animals, and finally man and woman. Basically anything that is edible and not nailed down got devoured by the dinosaurs.

God is sitting up in Heaven and sees what the dinosaurs have done and gets pissed off. So without even blinking an eye he decides to get rid of the dinosaurs. But he can't drown them, they are too tall. It is not like when he drowned mankind in the flood of Noah's time. Dinosaurs are too tall to be drowned. So he decides to kill them all and bury the evidence. Millions of dinosaurs buried takes up a lot of room and by the time he is finished the whole earth is just a big lump of dirt.

So instead of just giving up, he decides he'll start again and create Earth v2.0 and this time not put any dinosaurs on it. Thus, Genesis 2:4-25 is in actual fact the second creation of earth using the remnants of Earth v1.0 as a starting point. And the reason the second description is 11 verses shorter? Because he already did it once - no point repeating himself and telling you something you already know. The description for Earth v2.0 doesn't need the same level of detail.

As I said, there is absolutely very little to prove the idea of an Earth v2.0, but the dinosaurs were around millions of years before the biblical scholars suggest that creation happened. Something has to have occurred in the time between the two.