“It SHOULD matter how much time it was, since believing anything other than a literal 24 hour day”
You should reread my post. Between Genesis 1:2 and Genesis 1:3, the earth was formless and void and God’s Spirit hovered over the earth. There were no days at that point. There was God and a formless and void earth. Between those two verses could be a trillion years. We simply do not know.
Sometimes, “straining at gnats” leads to “swallowing camels”. Christ says not to do that kind of thing.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
You should reread my post. Between Genesis 1:2 and Genesis 1:3, the earth was formless and void and God’s Spirit hovered over the earth. There were no days at that point. There was God and a formless and void earth. Between those two verses could be a trillion years. We simply do not know.
Sometimes, “straining at gnats” leads to “swallowing camels”. Christ says not to do that kind of thing.
To: aMorePerfectUnion
This was posted earlier. It is sandwiched in with the ten commandments in the book of Exodus. God knew how long He would create a solar day to be even before He placed the sun and he hammers it home well after the book of Genesis. I hope it will clarify things for you.
Ex 20:11 For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
It doesn't hurt to see God as a painter who created on the canvas of our reality as a whole mature universe. We don't need to fear the Academics interpretations of reality.