I am a Catholic who believes in elements of Theistic Evolution as well as Old-Earth creationism. Don't flame me for that, at least not here and now.
In Genesis 1:6-7, it says:
And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.
We know that this is not a literal "dome" or we would have crashed through it when we launched satellites and space shuttles. It's metaphorical. Therefore, if the dome isn't literal, how would we know the "days" as mentioned in Genesis are literal? Care to explain your thoughts on that?
Not at all. I appreciate sincere questions.
There is a theory that the verse refers to a water canopy present at creation that accounts for the doubled atmospheric pressure at the time, as evidenced in amber air bubbles. The canopy is thought to have fallen as rain after being disrupted by steam jets released in the tectonic chaos of the Deluge. This is a view that I accept, but the organization building the museum does not.
The question of the firmament (Genesis 1:6) has also generated various interpretations, but we need to keep in mind that the Hebrew word (raqia) means simply "expanse," as in "a great expanse of water between California and Hawaii." An essentially synonymous English term would be "space." And just as "space" can be used to refer to space either as an entity or to a particular space, so likewise for the word "firmament."
There are at least two—probably three—special "firmaments" mentioned in Scripture. The most exalted firmament is under God's throne (Ezekiel 1:26). Also, there is an atmospheric firmament, where birds fly, and a stellar firmament, where the stars are (Genesis 1:20,14). There are likewise three "heavens" (note II Corinthians 12:2), and it is significant that God called the firmament "Heaven" (Genesis 1:8), where the Hebrew for "heaven" is actually a plural noun (shamayim), frequently translated "heavens." These distinctions are not often made by creationists when discussing a particular firmament (or space, or heaven), but they are Biblical, and it is important to take careful note of the context in each case.
This brings up another controversial subject, the canopy theory, the essential component of which is "the waters which were above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7). If the particular firmament (or space, or heaven) in mind here is the atmosphere, and if the waters were in the vapor state, then many Biblical facts and scientific relationships are beautifully explained. However, there are certain scientific difficulties that are still unresolved, and there is again a temptation to abandon the theory because of these.
from http://www.icr.org/article/503/