In Genesis, how could there be plants alive before the sun was created?

Question

According to Genesis 1:11-16, this "God" creature created the sun and moon on the third day, and plants on the second day, but how is that possible? Plants need sunlight into order to grow and survive. So how could plants stay alive without sunlight?

Answer 1

Easy, God first created the heaven and earth and then light . You are assuming that the only light ever made for earth was the sun. God doesnt need a sun to make light. God is light! All this was a piece of cake for God. Thats why we love him. God is awesome ! Nothing is impossible with God!!! Cap'n Arlo

Answer 2

Well, there you go. You've hit upon the first illogical situation in the Bible without realizing it.

You see, God said "Let there be Light" in verse 3. Verse 4 and 5 says:
God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed--the first day.
Yet we are also told that in verse 16:
God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.

So, the sun and the moon were created to govern Day and Night, yet there was clearly already Light and darkness.

Vegetation would be able to grow, because there already was light for it.

It is a bit the like the Chicken and the egg. Which comes first. The Light, or the Sun. There was daylight before the sun, yet God felt the need the create the sun, to rule the day. :)

Answer 3

Read before vs 11. God created Light first. He did not create the stars of the Heavens until later. There was plenty of light for the plants.

Beside the point, even if the plants had had not light at all, they would not have died within a few days.

He truly is the God of Wonder. He proves over and over that He is the Master of Creation and not subject to it. He proves over and over that if we grow arrogant from our mortal human perspective, then we are just that arrogant as well as very ignorant.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, it seems that just like all the rest who try and sound so smart while refuting passages in the Bible, you missed something. If you are familiar with the concept of numbers, you know that the number 3 comes before the number 11. God says, "Let there be light." in Genesis 1:3-5 and then your passage isn't until 1:11-16. So, God actually created light BEFORE he created the plants...see how smart our Creator is?! Yay!! :-)

Answer 5

God created easy in Gen a million:3. "And God reported: Be easy made. and lightweight advance into made". It wasn't till Gen a million:sixteen that he gave easy a style. So easy advance into already latest beforehand the vegetation have been created. the easy famous the huge distinction of God. His observe makes happen what it pronounces and is what sustains all. 'God created on the 1st day, easy, which being moved from east to west, via its increasing and putting, made morning and night. yet on the fourth day he ordered and dispensed this easy, and made the solar, moon, and stars. The moon, nevertheless decrease than the celebs, is right here called a great easy, from its giving a a techniques better easy to the earth than any of them.' *

Answer 6

Plants were created on the third day. Sun was created on the fourth day. So you are correct this would be impossible unless it really was just one day apart. Notice what the verse at the end of each day says: So the evening and the morning were the (1-7) day. Each day ends with morning and evening, then it say which day it was. When has a day every been not 24 hours. The bible even says morning and evening.

Answer 7

The plants can live a day without sunlight. The Bible did not say a couple of days. It was the very next day that the Sun and Moon were created.

Answer 8

Many people may not be aware that although the plants they're familiar with are multi-celled, many plants are single-celled (e.g., algae). In fact, half the oxygen that we breathe is produced by phytoplankton, single-celled plants that are found throughout the world's oceans; these tiny "critters" travel about 30 - 100 feet per day, the equivalent of a 5-foot tall human walking 2000 miles a day! Plus the celstial bodies were much closer than now meaning the earth was not in pitch darkness. Many plants live in very low light ailmost darkness.

Scotobiology refers to the study of the biology of darkness, and the purpose of this report is to provide a brief overview, together with a few examples, of the ways in which plants utilize darkness in the management of their metabolism, development, and life programs.
Plants, unlike animals, cannot close their eyes or dive into a nice dark burrow to escape light pollution during the night. They have had to adapt to light pollution and learn to live with it. For this reason they are less likely to be disturbed by anthropogenic light pollution than animals. But plants do rely on darkness, and have learned to use it in many interesting ways in the regulation of their growth, development and metabolism. Because plants represent by far the greatest proportion of the world’s biomass, and because they are ultimately responsible for maintaining the world in a suitable condition for animals to live in, it is worth while to know
something about the ways in which plants use darkness and
manage light pollution. First, autotrophic plants – that is, green plants, which make up a large proportion of the plants we see – rely almost completely on light for their organic and much of their inorganic nutrition. So, for them, light is essential, and prolonged darkness is deadly. And, of course, virtually all the heterotrophic organisms in the world (fungi, bacteria, and animals) rely on autotrophic plants for their survival. So we can’t do without light – as long as it is kept in its proper place and time.

Answer 9

The sun, moon and stars were not created on the 3rd day, they were created "in the beginning". On the 3rd day relative to the earth they were made visible from the earthly point of view.

An study of the original language of the Genesis text will reveal the differences in the terms translated "created" and "made"

Answer 10

Well in Genesis 1:11-16, It describes he created plants...but did you read the lines before that properly? He already created light.