Did God Create the Earth in Six 24-hr Days?

[Hol]

Here’s the opening setup from a study that Creation Moments shared:

Christians are often portrayed as foolish and superstitious. Various writers and commentators talk about Christianity as an outdated, pre-scientific faith. Creationism has often been called pseudo or false science. But is it true that Christians are more given to superstition and pseudo-science than others in society?

A study which carefully analyzed figures gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that …

I’ll post the study results after folks respond to this poll

 

[Tall Timbers]

1) The Hebrew word "yom"​

The Hebrew word for day, yom, as in English, is used both for a literal, twenty-four-hour day and also for an indefinite period of time, such as in the expression “For the day of the Lord is at hand” (Joel 1:15). However, the word, yom, always means a twenty-four-hour literal day when it is used with a numeral—day one, day two, first day, second day, etc. There are no exceptions to this rule. In the Genesis Creation account, yom is used with a numeral, indicating that it intends the reader to understand that these are literal days of twenty-four hours.

Did creation take place in 6 literal days?

www.bibleinfo.com

I found this which I thought was interesting. I'll go with yes until God corrects me if I misunderstand.

 

[Adziílií]

the word, yom, always means a twenty-four-hour literal day when it is used with a
numeral—day one, day two, first day, second day, etc.

That rule doesn't work for me because God created human life, and all life on land,
during the sixth day, which of course would include the dinosaurs because on no
other day but the sixth were land animals created.

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that prehistoric creatures preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, the days of creation should be
taken to represent eras rather than 24-hour events.

Anyway; this "day" thing has been a stone in the shoe for just about everybody
who takes Genesis seriously. It's typically assumed that the days of creation
consisted of twenty-four hours apiece; so Bible readers end up stumped when
trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age of the earth, and
factor in the various eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and
Cretaceous etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction events.

NOTE: Chronologically, an evening and a morning represent overnight so that
maybe we should be looking at 12 hours instead of 24.
_

 

[Tall Timbers]

so Bible readers end up stumped when
trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age of the earth, and
factor in the various eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and
Cretaceous etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction events.

Many Believers aren't stumped by that as they believe the age of the earth is thousands of years old v.s. 4.5 billion years old.

 

[Cheeky200386]

That rule doesn't work for me because God created human life, and all life on land,
during the sixth day, which of course would include the dinosaurs because on no
other day but the sixth were land animals created.

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that prehistoric creatures preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, the days of creation should be
taken to represent eras rather than 24-hour events.

Anyway; this "day" thing has been a stone in the shoe for just about everybody
who takes Genesis seriously. It's typically assumed that the days of creation
consisted of twenty-four hours apiece; so Bible readers end up stumped when
trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age of the earth, and
factor in the various eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and
Cretaceous etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction events.

NOTE: Chronologically, an evening and a morning represent overnight so that
maybe we should be looking at 12 hours instead of 24.
_

I’m not stumped in the least. Earth is roughly 6,000 years old.

I wouldn’t put my faith in what the “scientists” report nor in their methodologies. There are countless sources and testimonies of scientists that have come to faith once they see how flawed the scientific methods are that they are using.

Answers in Genesis is an excellent ministry that talks all about the error of long earth and evolution. The Word of God is 100 percent accurate in the creation account. I have zero doubt of that and this is coming from me growing up being taught all of the lies up until I turned 30 and Jesus Christ found me. It was several years of research and discovering the lies in the scientific and academic communities.

I learned that the scientific, medical, research, academic communities are filled a lot of people with good intentions being led astray and a lot of money and powerful organizations actively suppressing and promoting deception at the top. Once again I realized the Bible is true in describing this world being under the sway of evil and satan being the god of this world.

 

[Kaatje]

Last week, I read in an article that scientists discovered that they were off in their estimations.
The earth's age is now "proven" to be 86 million years older than they first were sure it was.

And I had to laugh... Maybe tomorrow those "scientists" have to change their beliefs again.

Nope, I'm just going with the unfallible Bible.
We're about 6000 years after Creation, and the last 1000 of God's set time are on the horizon.

 

[Hol]

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that prehistoric creatures preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, the days of creation should be
taken to represent eras rather than 24-hour events.

Have you considered that creation had immediate appearance of age? For example, Adam & Eve were not infants, and trees were created bearing fruit?

One major hangup with typical million of years view re: geological appearance of age is the introduction of death. When Adam and Eve chose to do their own thing God gave them over to death and He cursed the ground.

There are thoughtful believing scientists who have evidence that the fossil record disproves an evolutionary view.

Fossil Discoveries Disrupt Evolutionary Timescales
Conventional geology assumes that different rock layers represent different periods of time. Paleontologists assess the age of fossilized creatures by the rock layers in which they are found. So, a fossil found in a lower rock layer is considered to have lived in a much earlier time than one found in a higher ("younger") stratum.

But frequently, fossils of the same creatures are discovered in rock layers far above or below the layers in which they were initially found. Very often, they are discovered in almost exactly the same form in both places, and they even look just like their living counterparts.1 That forces evolutionary scientists to constantly reassess the time periods assigned to fossilized life forms.

The Institute for Creation Research has reported on several fossil discoveries that have challenged conventional evolutionary timescales, including a spider web trapped in an amber deposit that was located in a rock layer supposedly 100 million years older than the time spiders were assumed to have evolved.1 And the web was just like that made by orb-weavers today.

Fossil Discoveries Disrupt Evolutionary Timescales

Conventional geology assumes that different rock layers represent different periods of time. Paleontologists assess the age of fossilized creatures by the rock layers in which they are found. So, a fossil found in a lower rock layer is considered to have lived in a much earlier time than one...

www.icr.org

 

[Batman]

I agree. Our Lord didn't have to use a skin graft and reattachment process that required long term healing of the ear that was cut off in the garden. Instant miracles, instant creation. Mature as it was commanded to be by the Triune Godhead!

 

[Adziílií]

.
Galileo believed that science and religion are allies rather than enemies-- two
different languages telling the same story. He believed that science and religion
complement each other, to wit: science answers questions that religion doesn't
bother to answer, and religion answers questions that science cannot answer.

For example: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking understood pretty well how the
cosmos works; but could never scientifically explain why it should exist at all. Well;
in my estimation, the only possible answer to the "why" is found in intelligent
design; which is a religious explanation rather than scientific. Religion's why is
satisfactory for people of faith. No doubt deep thinkers like Michio Kaku, Neil
deGrasse Tyson, Michelle Thaller, and the late Carl Sagan would prefer something a
bit more empirical.

* One of the very few things I look forward to in Heaven is the possibility of a
library where everything that can be known about the cosmos is stored. Carl Sagan
would've loved a library like that because he went to his grave with a lot of
unanswered questions. But now they'll never be answered because Carl was, at
best, an agnostic, and at worst, an atheist.
_

 

[Kaatje]

That rule doesn't work for me because God created human life, and all life on land,
during the sixth day, which of course would include the dinosaurs because on no
other day but the sixth were land animals created.

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that prehistoric creatures preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, the days of creation should be
taken to represent eras rather than 24-hour events.

Anyway; this "day" thing has been a stone in the shoe for just about everybody
who takes Genesis seriously. It's typically assumed that the days of creation
consisted of twenty-four hours apiece; so Bible readers end up stumped when
trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age of the earth, and
factor in the various eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, and
Cretaceous etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction events.

NOTE: Chronologically, an evening and a morning represent overnight so that
maybe we should be looking at 12 hours instead of 24.
_

First, Genesis was written by Moses -if you don't agree, by someone else-, but in any case someone who lived in a 24 hour day.

Moreover, when God created the sun, moon and stars, He said‭‭: Let there be lights‭ in the firmament‭ of the heaven‭ to divide‭‭ the day‭ from the night‭; and let them be for signs‭, and for seasons‭, and for ‭days‭‭, and years‭.(Gen. 1:14)

The word for "day" is everywhere the same. At daytime the sun rules, at night the moon. Every day.
So there is absolutely no reason to make it a "not to be dertermined amount of time". Let alone millions of years.

Also, God told us that He rested on the 7th day. When did He rest in the millions years of evolution?
On the 7 million years day? Or the 144th million years day? That makes no sense at all.

Btw evolution is a circle theory.
They measure the age of the earth by looking for fossils in earth layers, and they determine the age of the earthlayers by their fossils. All they do is confuse us with so-called "knowledge", while they try to persuade us they know better than God.

Like this article explains: https://www.gotquestions.org/creation-evolution.html

And re. Dinosaures, have you ever thought about how they look like?
They are ever presented with scales, or leatherlike skin. But how do they know that? They don't. There has never been found any remains of skin tissue. What they show us, is nothing more or less then an artistic rendering.

Just suppose for arguments sake, that a Tyrannosaurus had white feathers. Do you know what he would have looked like? Yes, like a great chicken!

So suppose, in the antidiluvian time, chickens grew to be almost to a thousand years old, like humans did. Then they could have easily become as big as those "ancient" and "extinct" animals....
Btw, this could even explain how Noah got them on the ark, he could easily harbor 2 chicks, and not let them go extinct because "there was no room".

Following this line of reasoning, dinosaurs never went extinct, only their lifespan was curbed, just like humans were, and they ended up to the small creatures that we know and appreciate for their meat and eggs.

You think this wacko and too far fetched? The evolution theory is worse.
They explain nothing of the beginning, and give no hope for the future.

Food for thought, anyway.

 

[Adziílií]

Also, God told us that He rested on the 7th day.

Please forgive me for going a mite off-topic with this comment but you've mentioned
something that, in my judicious estimation, is extremely important and deserves a
shout-out.

The seventh day is interesting. The previous six days are all bounded by an evening
and a morning whereas the seventh day isn't bounded at all; meaning of course
that its length is unlimited, viz: creation's seventh day is a perpetual work stoppage
because the cosmos-- all its forms of life, matter, and energy --is complete and needs
no finishing touches. In other words: God has yet to return to the work of creation and
pick up where He left off; and to my knowledge, has no intention of returning.

A rest called "His rest" and "My rest" is the focus of a portion of the letter to
Hebrews; which is a rest likened to the seventh day of God's creation endeavor.
Therefore I think we can safely assume that the rest spoken if in the letter is a
perpetual, never-ending rest.
_

 

[Margery]

grammatical consistency requires that while the 7th day doesn't have a boundary- it is a literal day as the previous 6 are.

1) The Hebrew word "yom"​

The Hebrew word for day, yom, as in English, is used both for a literal, twenty-four-hour day and also for an indefinite period of time, such as in the expression “For the day of the Lord is at hand” (Joel 1:15). However, the word, yom, always means a twenty-four-hour literal day when it is used with a numeral—day one, day two, first day, second day, etc. There are no exceptions to this rule. In the Genesis Creation account, yom is used with a numeral, indicating that it intends the reader to understand that these are literal days of twenty-four hours.

Did creation take place in 6 literal days?

www.bibleinfo.com

I found this which I thought was interesting. I'll go with yes until God corrects me if I misunderstand.

along with the previous 6 which are literal days.

There are other logic problems that an old earth view has and that is related to salvation. Who fell? If Adam and Eve were not the direct creation of God- in other words they evolved as most old earth people decide, then who fell?

The problem comes in because when Adam fell, all of humanity fell with him. Eve's seed would remain untainted by original sin that came thru the male seed. If they were part of an evolving tribe of apes, then the problem of sin coming down to the entire human race thru one man's fall disappears.

And with it, the answer in the one fully man, fully God born of a virgin man who is able to provide salvation to all humans who look to His sacrifice on the cross for their sins. Because only a perfect man born of a virgin who is both God and man in human flesh can provide the atonement for the whole human race started by Adam. The first and last Adam as Paul explains.

Another problem arises when Jesus attests to the reality of Adam and Eve (and Jonah, and the world wide flood of Noah). He also attests to Daniel as a prophet which the "scholars" ignore.

This leads us to the problem of Biblical belief. What parts of the Bible do we interpret as literal, what parts are figurative. When no hint is given (and the Bible does tell us when something is figurative- by the use of words "like" as in the kingdom of heaven is "like".

When we begin to chop up Genesis and decide that science can revise it, we are on pretty shaky ground.

If we believe God is true, and the Bible is His Word, and we trust Him in other matters, it's consistent to take that leap of faith and trust Him in Genesis too.

 

[mattfivefour]

In order for bitumen to be available in Noah's day, the organisms from whence it
was formed had to have existed on the earth several thousands of years before
him.

The bitumen argument does not work for me because the Bible explicitly and implicitly informs me that God created everything that exists and He gave mankind a fully equipped and functioning environment which mankind was to steward. But everything man would ever need was provided to him. What man did with any part of that was the result of the intelligence and creative power that God had placed within him. But the materials, the building blocks, if you like, were created.

God does not require time in which to work; He is not constrained by natural processes: He can work as quickly as He likes-- even instantly. Throughout the Bible we see blind eyes instantly opened, withered limbs instantly made strong, injured parts instantly healed, raging storms instantly stopped, dead people instantly raised. Over and over we see natural processes bypassed by God as He instantly changes things. And why not? He is God.

So, respectfully, to make a definitive statement that the creation of bitumen requires a period of time ignores two truths-- that God initially created everything that man would need; and that, regardless of the laws of nature, God can do what He likes, whenever He likes.

 

[mattfivefour]

.
Galileo believed that science and religion are allies rather than enemies-- two
different languages telling the same story. He believed that science and religion
complement each other, to wit: science answers questions that religion doesn't
bother to answer, and religion answers questions that science cannot answer.

For example: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking understood pretty well how the
cosmos works; but could never scientifically explain why it should exist at all. Well;
in my estimation, the only possible answer to the "why" is found in intelligent
design; which is a religious explanation rather than scientific. Religion's why is
satisfactory for people of faith. No doubt deep thinkers like Michio Kaku, Neil
deGrasse Tyson, Michelle Thaller, and the late Carl Sagan would prefer something a
bit more empirical.

* One of the very few things I look forward to in Heaven is the possibility of a
library where everything that can be known about the cosmos is stored. Carl Sagan
would've loved a library like that because he went to his grave with a lot of
unanswered questions. But now they'll never be answered because Carl was, at
best, an agnostic, and at worst, an atheist.
_

May I suggest to you that there is no dichotomy between God's Word and the laws and functioning of the universe. How could there be? Both were created by our Creator. Therefore true religion and true science go hand in hand.

Also, we won't require a library in heaven because the Bible reveals that in heaven we will be filled with all knowledge. "Presently, I know in part; but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12b)

 

[Hol]

Here’s the rest of the article from Post #1 (full article: Christ: The Answer to Superstition | Sermons | Creation Moments)

A study which carefully analyzed figures gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that accusations that conservative, Bible-believing Christians are more prone toward superstition are completely wrong. The truth is just the opposite. The study shows that Bible-believing Christians are, in the report’s words, “most virtuous according to scientific standards when we examine cults and pseudo-science proliferating in our culture today.” The study also found that the most prone to cults and pseudo-science were the irreligious and religious liberals.

Now, stop and think for a moment. So-called fundamentalist or Bible-believing Christians almost always accept the Genesis account of creation – yet, they are the least prone toward false science. We clearly see this principle in history. When biblical Christianity takes over among people, they have less interest in superstitions and cults. And creation is very much a part of that Christianity.

Yes, Christ and the gospel is the light of God in this dark world!

Galatians 3:1
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank You that the light of the gospel of Christ has shone in my life because of Your Word. Help me to be able to spread that light to others in this world that is rushing toward so many superstitions and cults. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.