The expand upon a related, but larger crack in Churchianity’s foundation this post will deviate slightly from the issue directly addressed in the below statement of faith to address the bigger issue, creation.  As the scriptures exhort, be as those in Berea, test the spirits and see if I write on my own authority or Another’s.  Nothing is true because I have written it, but if it is true, it is the Lord who speaks.

Much of Mainstream Churchianity Says:

“C.  Angels, Fallen and Unfallen

We believe that angels are created beings, neither human or divine and

that Satan, the Devil; was created by God as an angel but through pride and

rebellion became the enemy of his Creator; that he became the unholy god of

this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness and is destined to the

judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.

1. Angels are created spirit beings, neither human nor divine.

2. Some angels, including Lucifer, rebelled in pride against God. Isaiah 14:12-17

3. Lucifer thus became Satan, the enemy of God and His people.”

But the truth is:

Many affirm the creation and existence of angels.  Many of the same also affirm a literal 6-day creation account.  In the 6 days of Genesis 1, where do the angels fit?  They don’t.  It is  a deeply ingrained false teaching that creation took place over the course of 6 days.  Though it is true that those 6 days were literal “evening mornings” and thus roughly 24 hours in duration (especially by the time the sun and moon were set in place), it is not true that all of creation happened during that span of time.  Those 6 days were days of renovation (jazzing up the old stuff and adding some new) because the creation of many things had already taken place a long time before.  The angels are one of those many things.  Job has our insight.

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.  Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell Me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements?  Surely you know!   Or who stretched the line upon it?  To what were its foundations fastened?  Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  Job 38:1-7

The sons of God shouted for joy at the laying of the earth’s foundations.  Certainly these sons referred to are not men as the place of man’s dwelling is at the time under construction.  The angels were present to witness the creation of the world.  So again, where do they fit?  They fit in Genesis 1:1.  They were a part of the creation, “IN THE BEGINNING” and were certainly created with the heavens, before the earth.  Creation started a long time before the 6 days.  There is more evidence to indicate this in the Genesis 1 account.

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  Genesis 1:2 (emphasis mine)

The highlighted word in the above passage is ‘hayah’ in the Hebrew.  It means ‘be’ and has several shades of meaning.  It can be used in a static sense and mean “to exist” or it can be used in a dynamic sense and mean “to become”.  Because of their own theological bias, translators often times choose how to render a shaded word to fit their presuppositions rather than taking a holistic view and letting the larger context inform their translation. This is what may have happened here.  Most translations indicate that the earth was without form (tohu – Strong’s H8414) and void (bohu).  There is, however, scripture that indicates something else could have been the case.

For thus says the LORD,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“ I am the LORD, and there is no other.”  Isaiah 45:18

In the Isaiah passage, ‘in vain’, is the same ‘tohu’ that we find in Genesis 1:2.  I like to think that in speaking of the creation of the earth here, God plainly tells us that He did not create it in tohu; that it is not the case that it was created in tohu, but that it became tohu.  Regardless of which rendering of tohu is proper is really of no consequence as it remains clear that things were created before Day 1.  Allowing the greater context to inform our understanding, it should be seen and taught that the earth was created by God in the beginning after the creation of the heavens and their host, and that for whatever reason (either God, yet intending to make the earth habitable, had not yet given it its present form or it had a definite form that was devastated), it was existing without form and empty prior to Day 1.  The creation of animal and human life on the earth happened during the 6 days of renovating at some indeterminate period of time after the initial creation and possible desolation of the earth.  For this reason, we see in Genesis 1:2 the existence of water and darkness before the creation of “light” on Day 1.  That there existed things before Day 1 should certainly tell us that creation began before Day 1.  It does not end there though.  A careful read of Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13) will also indicated that nothing was even created or made on that day, but that preexisting things were called forth.  The earth and even the seeds of plants in it were not created, but called forth from under the waters.  Certainly much more can, and perhaps should, be said in light of these things but I believe that the point is made for now.  If within Churchianity even the first page of scripture is misunderstood to the effect that false things are taught as true, just imagine what they do with the rest of scripture in favor of their own bias and traditions…

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