Creation Question (Earth Creation, not evolution vs creationism)?

Question

It says in the Bible and that God created the world in 7 days...is it possible that the first "day" was actually billions of yeas as the Earth formed and then God worked with it from there?

Answer 1

For the first 18 centuries of church history, the almost universal belief of Christians was that God created the world in six literal days less than 10,000 years ago. But about 200 years ago, however, some scientists started developing new theories of earth history saying the earth and the universe are millions and billions of years old. And so, over the past 200 years (as the idea became popularized), Christians started saying, “How are we going to fit millions and billions of years into the Bible?” and they started making various attempts to do so.

Although it is constantly being revised, many secular scientists today say the age of the universe is between 11 and 20 billion years old (I believe the current favorite is 13.7 billion) and the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. If the earth and universe are really that ancient, where in the biblical record can the time be placed—if you want to fit billions of years into the Bible, where can you attempt to do so?

How about after the creation week? As you know, the Bible follows the seed line down to Jesus. Now there may be some gaps in the genealogies (with a generation skipped here and there), but you can’t fit millions of years into the “begets” (that would destroy the genealogies), so it has to be before Adam.

One way people try, is before the creation week—there is the “gap theory.” This is the belief that there is a gap of indeterminate time between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2. This view suggests that the universe and life were formed millions of years ago by God and wiped out somehow as the result of Satan’s rebellion against God. Then God recreated life as He said in the rest of Gen. 1 (of course you can find some differences from person to person).

Another way people try, is during the creation week—there is the “day-age theory.” This view suggests that the days of Genesis 1 were not literal, 24-hour days, but rather lengthy periods or eons of time. This, of course, can cause some problems with the order of creation—especially if you are trying to link it up with the big bang and the Neo Darwinian Theory of evolution (e.g., the earth before the sun).

You will find things like the framework hypothesis, theistic evolution, and progressive creation that all overlap with each other and with these. They have had to invent long, complicated, and imaginative theories in order to marry billions of years with the Bible. As it has been said, these views definitely require some mental gymnastics.

One thing you will find, is that they love to point out that the word used for day in Gen. 1 (yom) can be used to mean something other than an ordinary day.

It’s interesting that the word yom is found over 2,300 times in the Old Testament and the only place where it is questioned what it means is in Gen. 1. You don’t hear arguments over how long did Joshua march around Jericho, or how long was Jonah was in the fish? Why is Genesis 1 the only place they argue about the word yom?

It is true that the word in the Hebrew for day (yom), as in other languages, is used with a variety of meanings, depending on the context. For instance, the English word “day” can have quite a few meanings. Here is what Ken Ham likes to say, “Back in my father’s day, it took ten days to drive across the Australian Outback during the day.” First it means “time” (“back in my father’s day”), then it means an ordinary 24 hour day (“it took ten days”), and then it means the daylight portion of a day (“during the day”).

As in any languages, context is critical in determining exactly what the word means in any given instance. To understand the meaning of “day” in Genesis 1, we need to look at the context. In the vast majority of the times it is used in the Old Testament, yom means a literal day, and where it does not, the context makes this clear.

First, what do we find outside of Gen. 1? Let’s just shave off Gen. 1 for a moment.
-Outside of Gen. 1, yom is used with a number 410 times and each time it means an ordinary day.
-Outside of Gen. 1, “evening” and “morning” are used together without yom 38 times, and every time the text refers to an ordinary day.
-Outside of Gen. 1, yom is used with the word “evening” or “morning” 23 times, and every time the text refers to an ordinary day.
-Outside of Gen. 1, yom is used with “night” 52 times and each time it means an ordinary day.

Let’s look at the context now to see if there is any hint as to what the word “day” can mean. Night, evening, morning, number, day—evening, morning, number, day—evening, morning, number, day. Are you getting a strong hint? It’s almost overemphasized. Night—it’s an ordinary day. Evening—If you don’t get it, it’s an ordinary day. Morning—if you are really thick, it’s an ordinary day. Number—if you are seriously intellectually challenged, it’s an ordinary day.

If the author of Genesis wanted to instruct his readers on the fact that all things had been created in six literal days, what words might he have used to convey such a thought? What else could God say to convey the idea that the days of creation were literal days?

What about a gap then? A number of times in the Old Testament, the biblical writers will give a short summary statement at the beginning of a section and then go into more detail. We have Gen. 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then, the writer goes on to say exactly how He did that. To say that there must be a gap in there is clearly forcing the text to say something it never intended to say.

Also, Exodus 20:11 blocks all attempts to fit millions of years into Genesis 1. Being an infinite Creator, God could have created the universe in no time at all, in six seconds, in six minutes, in six hours, and so forth. So the real question is: “Why did God take so long?” The reason just might be found in Exodus 20:8-11 (and by the way, yom is the word that is used here, in both parts of this commandment): “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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.”

God set an example for man—there were to be six literal days of work, followed by one literal day of rest, just as God worked for six literal days and rested for one. God’s explicit command to the Israelites was to work six days and rest on the seventh, just as He had done. If He worked for 6 billion years or 6 undetermined periods of time, and then rested for one, that would be a very interesting and difficult pattern to follow.

Also, do you realize that the seven-day week has no basis outside of Scripture. Think about it, a day is one rotation of the earth on its axis; a month comes from the relationship between the earth and the moon; a year comes from the relationship between the earth and the sun. Where does the seven day week come from? Ex. 20:11—it comes from the creation week. These are literal days—the day-age theory and framework hypothesis cannot work.

Also notice that it says, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them...” If everything was made within those six days, then nothing was created prior to those six days. The gap theory cannot work.

Now, without a doubt, you are going to find someone who says, “But 2 Pet. 3:8 says, ‘...that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years...’ therefore, the days of creation could be long periods of time.

But all you have to do is read the rest of the verse: “...and a thousand years as one day.” That just cancels that one right out doesn’t it?

And the passage is not speaking about the creation. The context is the second coming of Christ. What may seem like a long time to us (like waiting for the Second Coming) is nothing to God. The passing of time does not, in any way, effect the performance of God’s promises.

And I also find it interesting that they only apply it to Genesis 1. Is this how we are to interpret “day” in the Bible? Again, did Joshua have to march around Jericho for 7 thousand years? Was Jonah in the belly of the fish three thousand years? And Jesus has not yet risen from the dead—He’s got 1000 more years? And besides, an extra 6,000 years is not going to help you when you want millions and billions.

Also, without a doubt, you are going to find someone who says, “Insisting on six solar days for creation limits God.” I am not limiting God—I’m limiting myself to believe what God said He did in His Word. You are actually limiting God by saying that He needs huge amounts of time to create things. God can do what He wants, but what matters is what He said He did.

Answer 2

Well dude, I could tell you to look at the Hebrew translation and see what meaning of the word day was used, but you really don't have to do that. If you read the Bible, and what it says at the end of each of the days of creation "So the evening and the morning were the first day" and so on and so forth, you can see plainly from critical reading that it was 1 literal 24 hour period type of day.

Answer 3

Although "yom", the Hebrew word for day, can mean various things, the context is clear, that God created everything in 6 days, then rested on the seventh.

God repeats himself in Exodus 20, to say the Sabbath rest of 1 day is an instruction to rest 1 day because that's what God did.

Answer 4

Yes it is very possible. Somewhere in the bible, I forget where, it says that a day is like 1000 years to God. I think that means that God's idea of time is very different than ours. There are many fundamental christians who are aware of this but still insist the world was created in six literal days, so beware.

Answer 5

Yes. The Seven Days of Creation were Seven Eras of Evolution.

Answer 6

Actually, it says that God created everything-that-exists in six days, and rested on the seventh.
How long, exactly, is a "day"? It is not logical to assume that a "day" here means a 24 hour diurnal unit of time. A "day" isn't even the same length of time everywhere on this one planet. How long is a "day", for instance, if you happen to live in Greenland, or Alaska?
And that doesn't even begin to deal with the rest of the universe...
A "day" to God could very well be the length of time it takes the entire universe to revolve once, for all we know!

Let's not use bits of the Bible that could very well be metaphoric in nature, and use them to engender silly arguments, would be my advice...

Answer 7

Problem with that. First off, it's 6 days (7th was for rest). The Hebrew word for day ('yom') when coupled with an ordered number (i.e. first day, second day, etc.) is ALWAYS translated in the bible as a literal 24 hour day. Never as anything else.

Answer 8

In real life (as opposed to the bible) the earth was formed about nine billion years after the big bang; make of that what you will.

Answer 9

appropriate. Your professor does not look to comprehend evolution ok. to start off with, you could circulate extra lower back then single celled organisms. there is greater straight forward forms of life. and you're appropriate that the scientific commencing place of life is abiogenesis, no longer evolution. And the huge Bang is thoroughly off subject count to evolution. according to danger you're able to write the paper with the huge Bang, abiogenesis, and evolution. And leave a huge area of your paper to describe why those are separate theories that basically combine whilst attacked by potential of creationists. additionally, none of those theories say issues "lined up" to assist life. it rather is like asserting water molecules basically "line up" to create a crystalline shape whilst frozen.

Answer 10

Maybe the people that wrote the Bible were idiots. I'm not saying God was. Just the people who wrote it.

Answer 11

No. The original Hebrew word clearly means 24 hours. This time twisting is relatively recent, invented by old earth creationists.