Quick question for Creationists / believers in the LITERAL 7-24hr days of creation....

reply to post by Poveglia

Im still waiting to hear a response back to me on your thread about the NWO where i asked you to relate what you saw that made you question the paranormal. Unless its posted somewhere and Im not finding it. Please let me know, thank you

Originally posted by Foundryman
Couldn't God create it all in one step? He is all-powerful right?

Indeed. And why did he have to create everything in the first place? If he was omnipotent he would know how things would play out anyway, and thus had no need to do it.

My question is simple. A 24 hour day is measured by the earth rotating in relation to the sun. My question is, if the earth was created in 7 literal days, then what was the unit of measurement used to measure a day, if God didnt create the sun, moon, and stars until the 4th day of creation? In layman's terms, if there is no sun until day four, then how can you say days 1-3 were a "literal" day?

reply to post by Poveglia


Poveglia

Good question for Jews and Gentiles alike.

There are several camps on this subject and it can get very involved. We don't really know where Moses got his information nor do we know exactly how he got his information. I guess we can assume a lot of things as fact but in reality all any of us are doing is believing Moses by faith. So in order to voice any opinion I guess all of us must assume Moses' account to be fact. Otherwise we have no base to refer to.

It is written that some ancients believed that the Creator created everything visible and invisible in one burst of energy. Now by everything is meant the universe as well as this earth and its heaven. There are some that insist that this world was created long after the universe and that Moses does not say the universe was created in one day but only that this world was created in one day within the universe. Now it also could mean that the universe was empty and that the invisible element could also be Dark Matter or Dark Energy. We don't really know any of this to be a fact but more of a theory.

According to one account, the Creator created the visible elements in one command and then placed them in order within the seven day account. That is the Creator created the universe as a container first. Then the Creator put the visible element inside the universe in the order that Moses wrote in Genesis. At the onset of this placement of the planets and stars and this world and its heaven, there was a primeval light which was the light that stood in place of the star which we call the sun. This celestial light stood for the first three days of the placement of the visible elements of the universe and this world. After the artificial light (sun) was placed the primeval light was reduced seven fold. This primeval light was the light that was needed for the plants, trees etc to be brought forth from the earth before the sun was placed in the heaven.

Now that would somewhat explain how some of the ancients thought. But we can't really take that to the bank, so to speak, because we actually do not know if that is true or not true. There are some who contest this as to say "Why would the Creator go to all of that trouble when all He had to do was put the sun up there first and save all of this primeval light thing." That is a good point to consider also. Then again these same ancients relate that the reason the Creator did not put the sun in the heaven first was to show the creation that it was He, the Creator, that must be worshiped and not the sun. That also is another good point for you to consider.

There are also some who believe that the entire universe and all of its containment were created in billions of evolutionary steps which took billions of years to accomplish Each day was an era or light. Each era of creation may have been millions of years and differed one from another in time. This idea is the most preferred by our modern day science.

We also have a big bang theory and now we have another theory of a lot of big bangs. Each day was a big bang and there were six big bangs. Each bang differs one from the other in time and could also involve millions of years between bangs. We are now in the seventh bang which is the era that the Creator is resting. How long will the seventh bang last? We don't have any idea so science tells us.

There are many more accepted theories out there but actually we really don't have a clue from either the scientific world or the religious world. Neither can prove their belief so I guess we all have to sort it out for ourselves. As the world grows more secular we shall see Moses' account kind of dry up. That will probably be the eventual end of the matter for the majority of people. People are content to have their toys and gadgets and most don't want to get involved in this matter at all.

I found it fascinating to exercise my opinions even though I don't really know any more than the next guy out there. Thanks for letting me bend your ear.

Originally posted by Poveglia
First off, my father is a Fundamentalist Christian. If you tell him Christianity is a religion, he will firmly deny that it is a religion, because religions are man-made, his beliefs come from God. Anyways, he believe (like many others) in the 7 literal 24 hour days of creation, as told verbatim in the Bible, so he says.

My question is simple. A 24 hour day is measured by the earth rotating in relation to the sun. My question is, if the earth was created in 7 literal days, then what was the unit of measurement used to measure a day, if God didnt create the sun, moon, and stars until the 4th day of creation?
In layman's terms, if there is no sun until day four, then how can you say days 1-3 were a "literal" day?

The light that God created on the first day was sufficient to light one side of the earth in order to have day and night. Looking at the original hebrew word for day, which is yom, any hebrew scholar will tell you when the yom is used with a number it can only mean a 24 hour literal day. Take the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, same thing here, it can only mean a literal 24 hour day. To further reinforce a literal day, even evening and morning is mentioned. Also later on in the Bible in many places it brings up that God worked six days and rested on the seventh, a model for the week that man should keep as well.

Originally posted by Poveglia

I also brought up the verse (in Hebrews I believe) which points out that 1000 years is as a day to God, and a day is like 1000 years. Now, they really didn't use modern day mathematics back then (at least commoners didn't), so I'm assuming that the 1000 years is not a literal "1000 yrs+ 1 day to God". I'm assuming it meant that God has no perception of time since he is eternal, and a 1000 yrs is simply used because it represents a "big" number for those times.

So, if my assumptions are correct, then why can this not lead Christians to also subscribe to evolution and it's "millions of years" processes?

This place in the Bible of the 1000 years like a day is an analogy. It is not an equation to plug in everywhere in the Bible where the word day is used. Instead it is telling us about the patience of God, and how God is not constrained by time, but the master of it. In other words, God isn't limited by time and has all the time He wishes to have.

Originally posted by TC Mike

The light that God created on the first day was sufficient to light one side of the earth in order to have day and night. Looking at the original hebrew word for day, which is yom, any hebrew scholar will tell you when the yom is used with a number it can only mean a 24 hour literal day. Take the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, same thing here, it can only mean a literal 24 hour day. To further reinforce a literal day, even evening and morning is mentioned. Also later on in the Bible in many places it brings up that God worked six days and rested on the seventh, a model for the week that man should keep as well.

This place in the Bible of the 1000 years like a day is an analogy. It is not an equation to plug in everywhere in the Bible where the word day is used. Instead it is telling us about the patience of God, and how God is not constrained by time, but the master of it. In other words, God isn't limited by time and has all the time He wishes to have.

Excellent Reply! Your Dad was right op, even if he couldn't explain why. This poster has explained it well.