There were over 4 pages of good discussion and I admit I didn't get past page 1. Please forgive me in advance for any duplication of information.
These 7 days divide the believing community. These 7 days are also championed as a reason not to believe in the reliability of the biblical text.
How one lands on this view can impact their confidence in the biblical account and how one views the Bible can be an indicator of how one views God.
Is it possible to remove this obstacle? For this next section I want to do less talking and point out basic observations.
"Day"
Gen 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Gen. 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
Observations:
In the first 2 chapters of Genesis we have 3 different uses for the word "day"
It can mean daylight hours - opposite of night
It can mean a 24 hour period - 1 rotation of the earth
It can mean an nonspecific time as in chapter 2. Modern day equation: remember back in the day when we played football - for me this was over a 6 year period and not a 12 or 14 hour period.
Grammar Clues: when you see the word day with a number next to it, how many examples in literature can you think of in which its referring to something other than a 24 hour period?
How would Moses ' who wrote Genesis' understand God's interpretation of 'Day" here?
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
The Beginning
Compare these connections from the Biblical Text
Jesus who the Bible claims was with God in the beginning and created everything, claims that male and female were made in the beginning which is also when the heavens and earth were created.
If the heavens existed billions of years before male and female it's not reasonable to conclude that both are in the beginning.
The appearance of Age as an obstacle: fossils, starlight, etc.
The creation of the universe from nothing is arguable the biggest miracle in the Bible. Everything that holds atoms together, chemicals, physical laws, natural laws, planets, galaxies, time, life, etc. It's possible that God could have done it over billions of year, it's possible that God could have done it in 6 days, it's possible that God could have done it in 6 micro-seconds.
The best way to know the answer to this 'mystery' if for God to give humanity the information. That's what Genesis is. If you make observations of the Genesis account God made the starts for a purpose.
16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
When a believer says, the earth is proven to be billions of years old because we can measure starlight is equivalent to someone saying, I believe that God is all powerful and can create the earth, stars, life, and the universe but He cannot make light appear on earth in an instant.
Are these believes valuing scientific theories over the Bible or the Bible over scientific theories?
Did God create the eggs or birds? humans capable of speech or infants? trees with fruit or seeds? Teams of fish or teams of molecules? Notice a mature creation?
Challenge: Should the earth/universe with an appearance of age be a valid reason for dismissing God when He has told us He made a mature looking universe?
These 7 days divide the believing community. These 7 days are also championed as a reason not to believe in the reliability of the biblical text.
How one lands on this view can impact their confidence in the biblical account and how one views the Bible can be an indicator of how one views God.
Is it possible to remove this obstacle? For this next section I want to do less talking and point out basic observations.
"Day"
Gen 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Gen. 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
Observations:
In the first 2 chapters of Genesis we have 3 different uses for the word "day"
It can mean daylight hours - opposite of night
It can mean a 24 hour period - 1 rotation of the earth
It can mean an nonspecific time as in chapter 2. Modern day equation: remember back in the day when we played football - for me this was over a 6 year period and not a 12 or 14 hour period.
Grammar Clues: when you see the word day with a number next to it, how many examples in literature can you think of in which its referring to something other than a 24 hour period?
How would Moses ' who wrote Genesis' understand God's interpretation of 'Day" here?
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
The Beginning
Compare these connections from the Biblical Text
- 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ...God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- referring to Jesus... John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being... 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us
- And He (Jesus) answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
Jesus who the Bible claims was with God in the beginning and created everything, claims that male and female were made in the beginning which is also when the heavens and earth were created.
If the heavens existed billions of years before male and female it's not reasonable to conclude that both are in the beginning.
The appearance of Age as an obstacle: fossils, starlight, etc.
The creation of the universe from nothing is arguable the biggest miracle in the Bible. Everything that holds atoms together, chemicals, physical laws, natural laws, planets, galaxies, time, life, etc. It's possible that God could have done it over billions of year, it's possible that God could have done it in 6 days, it's possible that God could have done it in 6 micro-seconds.
The best way to know the answer to this 'mystery' if for God to give humanity the information. That's what Genesis is. If you make observations of the Genesis account God made the starts for a purpose.
16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
When a believer says, the earth is proven to be billions of years old because we can measure starlight is equivalent to someone saying, I believe that God is all powerful and can create the earth, stars, life, and the universe but He cannot make light appear on earth in an instant.
Are these believes valuing scientific theories over the Bible or the Bible over scientific theories?
Did God create the eggs or birds? humans capable of speech or infants? trees with fruit or seeds? Teams of fish or teams of molecules? Notice a mature creation?
Challenge: Should the earth/universe with an appearance of age be a valid reason for dismissing God when He has told us He made a mature looking universe?
