when God made the earth in seven (7) days , were they 24hr. periods?

Answer 1

Actually it was six 24 hour periods. God rested on the seventh day. Some think that it was 6 periods of time, or 6,000 years but the fact is God said it was six days and that's good enough for me. My question to those who find six days hard to grasp is, do you think God is not big enough to do it in six days? I assure you he is. He could have done it in six seconds if he willed it.

To PeachDust,:
I'm unsure what biblical reference you are referring to. I would assume Psalms 90.
"For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning-
though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered. "
I would submit that it would be incorrect to interpret this psalm by Moses which is contracting the awe inspiring magnitude of God to the depravity of Man to mean that when God stated he created the entire universe in six days he was referring to his calender and not ours in some kind of unintentionally misleading statement.
If you were referring some other scripture please correct me.

Answer 2

I'm not an expert on the 7 day creation , that's my hubby's area. I have heard him talk a LOT about it and it makes wonderful sense when he is explaining it but to actually retain enough of it to relay it back, that's another matter altogether. I don't mind admitting that the science of it is so envolved that it is just over my head. I can recommend one book that he has that he has read different articles out of it to me and they are quite fascinating. It's called In Six Days : Why Fifty Scientists Choose To Believe In Creation by John Ashton (editor). I also recommend looking for it on the Alibris web site. You can get it cheaper there. You'll get a lot more detiled answer to your question by reading this book guaranteed, than if you got 100 yahoo answers. God bless!!

Answer 3

No. Mankind has misinterpreted God's time frame in this scripture. Each day really represents an era of time in evolution. They could be thousands or millions of years each not 24 hour days. Modern science will soon force religious groups to accept this as fact. Also the 1st day of Genesis is the end of the last prehistoric era of evolution and the start of the modern era of evolution which includes modern birds, cattle, etc, and human beings. The Bible doesn't take in account the many eras of prehistoric evolution.

Answer 4

Six days.

And if you accept the gap theory, the earth could have been created way before these six days, and that this was a "re" creation.

Psalms 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

It would be very difficult to make the case that these were not literal 24 hour days; or however long it took the earth to rotate on its axis then.

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Answer 5

Those who try to reconcile the ancient mythology of Genesis with modern scientific knowledge often claim the the "days" were long periods. However, to avoid confusion, the authors were nice enough to include a definition: "and the evening and the morning...".
That's as clear as it can get. Yes, the days were Earthly days.

Answer 6

Possibly our 24 hour time period to our Lord makes no since his time could have been years to our 1 day. after all He made Heaven and Earth. I don't think I could have, Do you.

Answer 7

That story was taken from Sumerian Tablets predating any written bible. They had 7 days of celebration for the creation of the earth. 500 years over the campfire, 7 days of celebration of creation became 7 days of creation.

Answer 8

The English word "day" can mean more than one thing. It can refer to the 24-hour period of time that it takes for the earth to rotate on it's axis (i.e. "there are 24-hours in a day"). It can refer to the period of daylight between dawn and dusk (i.e. "it gets pretty hot during the day but it cools down a bit at night"). And it can refer to a unspecified period of time (i.e. "back in my Grandfather's day..."). Likewise, the Hebrew word "yom" (which translates into the English "day") can mean more than one thing. It is used to refer to a 24-hour period in Genesis 7:11. It is used to refer to the period of daylight between dawn and dusk in Genesis 1:16. And it is used to refer to an unspecified period of time in Genesis 2:4. So what does it mean in Genesis 1:5-2:2 when it's used in conjunction with ordinal numbers (i.e. the "first day," the "second day," the "third day," the "forth day," the "fifth day," the "sixth day," and the "seventh day")? Are these 24-hour periods or something else? Could "yom" as it is used here mean an unspecified period of time? How can we tell?

We can determine how "yom" should be interpreted in Genesis 1:5-2:2 simply by examining the context in which we find the word used and then comparing it's context with how we see its usage elsewhere throughout scripture. By doing this we let Scripture interpret itself. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis wrote a good article on this. It's published at - http://www.answersingenesis.org/cec/study_guides/answersSG2.pdf. Mr. Ham writes, "The Hebrew word for day (yom) is used 2301 times in the Old Testament. Outside of Genesis 1: Yom + ordinal number (used 410 times) always indicates an ordinary day [i.e. a 24-hour period]. The words ‘evening’ and ‘morning’ together (38 times) always indicate an ordinary day. Yom + ‘evening’ or ‘morning’ (23 times each) always indicates an ordinary day. Yom + ‘night’ (52 times) always indicates an ordinary day."

Now let’s look at the context in which we find the word "yom" used in Genesis 1:5-2:2...

Day 1 - "And God called the light 'day' [yom] and the darkness he called 'night.' So the EVENING and the MORNING were the FIRST DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:5)

Day 2 - "So God called the firmament 'Heaven.' So the EVENING and the MORNING were the SECOND DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:8)

Day 3 - "So the EVENING and the MORNING were the THIRD DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:13)

Day 4 - "So the EVENING and the MORNING were the FOURTH DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:19)

Day 5 - "So the EVENING and the MORNING were the FIFTH DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:23)

Day 6 - "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the EVENING and the MORNING were the SIXTH DAY [yom]." (Genesis 1:31)

Day 7 - "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the SEVENTH DAY [yom] God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the SEVENTH DAY [yom] from all His work which He had done." (Genesis 2:1-2)

I think its quite clear by the context that the Author of Genesis chapter 1 meant 24-hour periods. This was the standard interpretation up until the 1800s when a paradigm shift occurred within the scientific community and the Earth's sedimentary strata layers were reinterpreted. Whereas previously the rock layers were interpreted as evidence for Noah's flood, Noah's flood was thrown out by the scientific community and the rock layers were reinterpreted as evidence for an excessively old earth. Some well meaning but terribly mistaken Christians then sought to reconcile this new anti-Flood, ant-Bible interpretation with the Genesis 1 account by reinterpreting "yom" as meaning vast unspecified periods of time. This was a mistake.

The truth is, the evidences in favor of Noah's flood and a young earth far outnumber those in favor of an old earth and many of the old earth interpretations are known to rely upon faulty assumptions. Unfortunately the scientific community is entrenched on the matter and apparently they refuse to change their minds despite the weight of evidence contrary to their currently accepted paradigm. But please don't let their stubborn refusal influence how you read your Bible! According to Exodus 20:9-11, God used six literal days to create the world in order to serve as a model for man's work week. Work six days, rest one. Rest assured, God could have created everything in an instant if He wanted to. But apparently He had us in mind even before He made us (on the sixth day) and wanted to provide an example for us to follow.

Recommended Resource: Biblical Creationism by Henry Morris.

Answer 9

Does time exist without Mankind to measure it?

I wouldn't take anything literally in the old testament. Men living 600-900 years, and the story of the Ark and how millions of animals and insects all walked to the middle east to hop on ship, burning talking bush, parting the red sea,... It just didn't happen. Some stories were even taken from other culture's mythologies.

Answer 10

He didn't even make the sun untill the Third day, so it would have been a little hard to tell.