If god created the sun and moon on the fourth day, what was the "light" in Gen 1:3?

Question

God created day and night on the first day, but how did he do that without the sun?

Also, why did god create the plants on the 3rd day before he created the sun on the fourth day?

The stars were the fourth day too.

How can "god" be the light, he created the light. Are you suggesting that god had a moment of creation, and created himself?

Peanut butter cup, I didn't write it. Read your Bible, it CLEARLY says that god created light on the first day, but light producing objects are created on the fourth day. (sun and stars, the moon is created the fourth day too, but it doesn't produce light).

Muse ~ you dizzy me with mental acrobatics to make your point.

Answer 1

Lol. I was just reading that about five minutes ago and wondered the same thing.

Answer 2

Different groups will interpet 1:3 in different ways. Some say it was a creation of good/evil, while other sects say the 'light' was the SPIRIT being formed.

But, yes, since the earth wasn't created until the 3rd day and the sun on the 4th day, the text is obviously NOT talking about an 'earth 24hr day'. Then the quesiton becomes how long is a day to an 'infinite being'. One clue can be found in
2 Peter 3:8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (though another apt translation here for 'thousand' is a 'thousand TIMES a thousand years'.)

Another 'good' one is why in Gen 1:26 does it say man and woman were created on the 6th day, but in Gen 2:4 it makes the correction that the 'adam/eve' creation was on the 4th day?!? Thoug h if one reads the Book of Adam and Eve---a text not in the biblical collection. It states that Adam had 2 wives. Lilith was created on the 6th day, at the same time as Adam in the same matter-so they were equals. When Lilith wouldn't 'submit' to Adam, she left him. Adam became sad, so god made eve--thus being the subserviant wife adam wanted.

Hhehee though the later authors didn't like 'loose ends' or a woman being 'equal' to a man, so they made Lilith into a demon....heheheeee.

In the gnostic texts, "mary magdolin' was a 'wife' and/or 'disciple' to "Jesus", but alter authers couldn't have that, so they protrayed her as a prostitue in later translations.

Answer 3

Haha, its written that way because its NOT a mistake. To have the light created after the stars would have been a mistake. This reversal that on the surface looks logical would have made the Bible a fraud, but its not as we shall see.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

Light is made up in its basic element of particles of photons. Photons make up all light, infrared, visible, radiation, ultra-violet, and other electromagnetic radiation that help make stars all manner of light throughout the universe possible.

When God created light he created photons.

Without photons the sun the stars would not be possible.

Thats why the Bible mentions the light before the stars and the sun because they wouldn't be possible without the light which were the photons.

Imagine how an ancient book like the Bible got this order right. If it was the other way around it would have been wrong. Thats why this is so funny, people who want to discredit the Bible think the order of the creation of light is wrong but its actually scientifically right.

How did the Bible get this right, ages before any of the ideas or particles that make up of our universes were even discussed ...hmmmm I wonder.


After God created the photons he separated them from the dark, it does not mention what form they took thats why the vegetation was possible, only after did God see fit to arrange them into massive balls of fire.

Answer 4

True, Science shows that the universe (and most likely the earth) have existed for Billions of years. The Bible does not dispute that since EONS probably elapsed between the time frame Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2 covers. However, the period of time Gen. 1:2 and on describes the FORMING of the earth AFTER Billions of years elapsed from the actual creation of it.

Gen. 1:3

"And God proceeded to say: "Let light come to be." Then there came light."

Before, there was darkness. The darkness likely resulted from the forming of the primeval earth due to cosmic bombardments. From these, endless amounts of dust, ash and water vapor spewed into earth’s upper atmosphere blocking out all sunlight from the surface of the earth.

So because God already created the stars and therefore earth’s sun in Gen. 1:1, it would be reasonable to conclude that the "light that came to be" APPEARED AS THOUGH OBSERVED THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVE FROM EARTH'S SURFACE.

So after that, the sources that contributed to the darkening of the atmosphere ceased and the heaviest elements that were encircling the globe began to fall back onto the surface of the waters. As a result, light gradually began to filter through thus completing another stage of God’s ultimate plan when He set things in motion with the Big Bang billions of years prior.

The "days" mentioned in Genesis could not have been events that took place in a literal 24 hour period.

Genesis says that before the earth started forming, the earth was covered with water. But Gen. 1:9-13 tells us that dry land appeared WITHIN the third creative "day" or stage.

For a decent comparison, the islands of Hawaii used to be all under the ocean's surface an extremely long time ago. But it took much longer than a single day for this land to emerge.

Also, it is hard to imagine that grass can shoot forth, vegetation can bear seed and fruit trees yield fruit in just one single LITERAL 24 hour day. (Gen. 1:11-13)

Scientists regard the Genesis account as fiction precisely because the scientific evidence shows them that the earth could not have formed in 6 literal days. Therefore, if it can be shown to them that the "day" here is not a literal 24 hour period, but rather a FIGURATIVE period of time, then the Genesis account is lended more credibility to all.

The words "morning", "evening", and "day" all have definitions other than the literal rendition.

DAY: "A period of time in history; an era".-The American Heritage Dictionary

So it is possible that the creative "day"s can be an expression of a fairly long unknown period of time.

Answer 5

I see some answers include thousands of years. A day for a year is being used but this applies to prophesy, creation was not a prophesy. God left no room for doubt concerning the giving of the commandments (Mt Sinai) and the bible is littered with keeping the Sabbath (old and new) yet an unbelievable amount believe it was done away with. Would God have tampered/changed His own Law in such an obscure way. The commandments are not a little thing, salvation hangs upon the observance of them so surely a little common sense would say God would have made it abundantly clear as to the new observance of the Sabbath.

Answer 6

Well for starters, God is God. He can do ANYTHING He wishes. Whether that makes sense to us, or it is beyond our thinking.
Secondly, to answer your first question,
Gen 1:3 ''And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.'' 4, ''God saw that the light was good, and (listen to this) He 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-the first day.''

and then it says on the fourth day, Gen 1:14, ''And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to SEPARATE THE DAY FROM THE NIGHT...''

So there was just a light. It doesn't say what light. and then He created the sun only to separate the day from the night. thus, the day is the sun, and the night, the moon and stars.

Thirdly, if there was already a light, then the sun was not needed for plants. and even if the sun werent there, duh, its GOD. He doesnt need the sun to grow plants.

hope that helped you understand a little better. but only The Lord can open your heart to understand.
Love in Christ
Rachel

Answer 7

Evolution could have taken place quite rapidly when conditions were right. Also I read information that the dating methods are based on a lot of questionable assumptions and that the whole solar system may be only ten thousand years old. For instance, the amount of spacedust falling on the moon only turned out to be three eights of an inch instead of the feet they expected. The speed the sun is shrinking it would have been half way to earth in the millions of years they are talking about. Gravity changes with time and in over ten thousands years it would not be possible for us to have a moon. And so on, on that score. As far as dating fossils, there are many questionable assumptions. The amount of helium in the air suggests different breakdown times than anticipated and the assimilation of elements by animals don't match with what they are supposed to be. Do we really think we know it all now? Not a scientific approach in any manner. Theoretically science starts an investigation with no assumptions and science is now studying spirituality and indirectly religion. Soon I suspect an all out and direct investigation on scriptures. Since science is where the money is they should get better results than, say, historians. And in verse one it says the heaven and earth where created, so there's your stars. They weren't called stars until they were in their place as stars and apparently the closest ones were on one side of the earth. We are not just on the edge of our galaxy. Quantum Physics is beginning to indicate that miracles follow rules too. God is not the author of confusion.

The left brain is made to ask questions, and seeks answers. The right brain, accessed throught intuition, is made to answer questions and seeks information and questions to answer. The new mind shift is to the right brain. If we only seek information to support a belief, then it's lopsided and subjective. The right brain starts from scratch with each new bit of data, without bias, and recalculates every belief system and the whole shebang along with it. Hold on. We don't have a unified field theory or a theory of everything, you just have to stay tuned. Human knowledge in doubleing every three and a half months. Seventy four hours is predicted relatively soon.

Answer 8

God was the light - He didn't need the sun. In Revelation, it's said that:

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=21&version=31&context=chapter

What if He created plants by seed - then they would have needed sunlight/water to start to grow. As a seed - they didn't require much maintenance.

In my opinion

God Bless

Marianne

Answer 9

Not revealed. Just like God did not reveal the actual creation of the earth. The revelation starts with the earth already created and covered with a profound depth of water and total darkness.

Answer 10

Read "A Brief History of Time" by Steven Hawking. The 'light' was the 'cosmic egg' that formed when God said, Let there be Light. As to the planets, do you know how solar systems are formed? Do you know at what point stars ignite in their stellar nurseries? Do you have ANY idea how long a 'day' is to God? Especially before the sun was ignited???

Answer 11

Stars?