Biblical Evidence for Long Creation Days

http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/longdays.html ^

[truthfinder9]

The age of the earth and the universe is no longer disputed among most scientists. Science tells us the earth is ~4.5 x 10^9 years old. The universe is ~14 x 10^9 years old. There have been several Christian scientists who have attempted to propose theories and find "scientific" evidence that the earth is only 6,000 years old. All "evidence" for a recent creation of the earth is flawed in some way.

Hebrew Words

Literal translations of the Hebrew word, yom, like our English word "day," can refer to a 24 hour day, sunrise to sunset (12 hours), or a long, unspecified period of time (as in "the day of the dinosaurs"). The Hebrew word ereb, translated evening also means "sunset," "night" or "ending of the day." The Hebrew word boqer, translated morning, also means "sunrise," "coming of light," "beginning of the day," or "dawning," with possible metaphoric usage (1). Our English expression: "The dawning of an age" serves to illustrate this point. This expression in Hebrew could use the word, boqer, for dawning, which, in Genesis 1, is often translated morning.

Do all the instances of "morning" and evening" refer to a literal period of time? Here is an example from Moses:

In the morning it [grass] flourishes, and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades, and withers away. (Psalm 90:6)

This verse refers to the life cycle of grass (compared to the short life span of humans). Obviously, the grass does not grow up in one morning and die by the same evening. The period of time refers to its birth (morning) and its death (evening) at least several weeks (if not months) later.

The first thing one notices when looking at Genesis 1 is the unusual construction surrounding the words morning and evening together with day. This combination is very rare, occurring only ten times in the Old Testament, six of which, of course, are in the Genesis creation account. The remaining four verses (NASB) are listed below:

1."This is the offering which Aaron and his sons are to present to the LORD on the day when he is anointed; the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening." (Leviticus 6:20) 2.Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning. (Numbers 9:15) 3."For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning." (Deuteronomy 16:4) 4."And the vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true; but keep the vision secret, for it pertains to many days in the future." (Daniel 8:26) The first three verses obviously refer to 24 hour days, since this is readily apparent from the context. The fourth one refers to many evenings and mornings, which "pertains to many days in the future." This verse actually refers to events that are yet to happen, which is 3000 years of days from when it was originally written. One could easily say that these mornings and evenings represent thousands of years.

However, none of these verses have the form which is seen in the Genesis account. Let's look at the form of these "evenings and mornings:"

•And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Genesis 1:5) •And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (Genesis 1:8) •And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. (Genesis 1:13) •And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (Genesis 1:19) •And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:23) •And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31) The actual number of words in Hebrew is much fewer than that of the English translations. The words "and there was" are not in the Hebrew, but added to make the English flow better. The actual translation is "evening and morning 'n' day." There is no way to discern from the context that the text is referring to 24 hour days.

How would God have changed the text if He intended it to indicate 24 hour days? If God were to have created in 24 hour days, I would have expected the Genesis text to have begun with a statement to the effect that "God did 'x' in the morning" and "God did 'y' in the evening," as opposed to the very unusual construction of telling all God did and then ending with both evening and morning side by side at the end of the "day." So, the order indicates the end (evening) of one day is followed by the dawning (morning) of the next day. In addition, one would expect that if God chose to create the world in a few days He would have indicated it was all created in a few days instead of one day (Genesis 2:4) (2). This verse indicates to me that the Genesis days are other than 12 or 24 hour periods of time.

Scripture Declares the Days to be Long

Specific biblical examples of evidence for long creation days include:

1.The "Day of the Lord" refers to a seven year period of time. 2.Genesis 2:4 refers to all 6 days of creation as one day, "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven." 3.The seventh day of Genesis is not closed. In all other days, "there is the evening and the morning, the n day." 4.In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us to labor to enter into God's seventh day of rest. By any calculation, God's seventh day of rest has been at least 6,000 years long: For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:4-11) 5.The psalmist (Moses, the author of Genesis) says "For a thousand years in Thy sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night." (Psalm 90:4). 6.The apostle Peter tells us with God "A thousand years is as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). 7.The third day must have been longer than 24-hours, since the text indicates a process that would take a year or longer. On this day, God allowed the land to produce vegetation, tress and fruit. The text specifically states that the land produced trees that bore fruit with seed in it (3). Any horticulturist knows that fruit-bearing trees requires several years to grow to produce fruit. However, the text states that the land produced these trees (indicating a natural process) and that it all occurred on the third day. Obviously, such a "day" could not have been only 24 hours long. 8.The events of the sixth day of creation require time beyond 24 hours. On this day, God created the mammals and mankind. He also planted a garden, watered it, let it grow, and put man in it, with instruction on its care and maintenance. Then God brought all the animals to Adam to be named. This job, in itself would take many days or weeks. Next, God put Adam to sleep and created Eve. It is very unlikely all of this could take place in 24 hours, since much of it was dependent upon Adam, who did not have the abilities of God. 9.The Bible itself states that the covenant and laws of God have been proclaimed to a "thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Chronicles 16:15, Psalm 105:8). Even if a generation is considered to be 20 years, this adds up to at least 20,000 years. A biblical generation is often described as being 40 years, which would represent at least 40,000 years. However, since the first dozen or more generations were nearly 1,000 years, this would make humans nearly 50,000 years old, which agrees very well with dates from paleontology and molecular biology (see Descent of Mankind Theory: Disproved by Molecular Biology).

Appearance of Age

If God had created the universe in an instant, there would be no evidence from nature that He created it. The Bible states God has shown himself to all men through His creation so that men are without excuse in rejecting God (6). In addition, the universe declares God's glory, which is a sum of God's innate and unchangeable character (7). The Bible also states the universe declares God's righteousness (8). God's righteousness prevents Him from sinning. The scriptures say God cannot lie (9).

Therefore, from the Bible, we conclude that God does not lie or deceive, either from His word or from His record of nature. The heavens declare the universe to be at least 10 billion years old. In addition, we have the ability to see galaxies in the universe which are billions of light years away. If one claims the universe is 6,000 years old, he must state that God created the light from these distant galaxies in transit less than 6,000 light years from the earth. There are signs that the light has indeed been in transit for very long periods of time and was not somehow created in space relatively recently. Frequencies of known spectral lines show spreading or broadening which would occur after long travel times through space containing dust and debris. Since this light appears to be very old and to have originated from a point billions of light years away, if the universe is actually 6,000 years old, the heavens must be declaring a lie, an apparently old universe which is actually very young.

Let me give one example. For now let us assume the universe is 6 to 10 thousand years old and God created the light-beams already in place. Say we are watching a star in our telescope which is two million light years away, and we notice that it explodes (yes, supernova explosions have been observed). That means the light reaching us now is carrying the information recording this distant happening. Now trace this part of the light beam backwards in time along the path of the light beam. By the time you get back to the time of creation (6 to 10 thousand years ago) you have reached a point which is less than 1 percent of the distance to the star. This would mean that the "explosion" part of the light-beam began its journey from here - and not from the star! Thus, the information recording this explosion had to be "built-in" to the light beam, so what we see as having happened to that star may never have happened at all. The idea that observation of things further than around 10,000 light-years away is not necessarily linked to physical reality would be unsettling from both a scientific and theological viewpoint. I cannot accept a God who lies by creating deceptions.

Appearance of Age Rebuttals

Many have asked the following question: Since God probably created Adam full grown and mature why couldn't God have done the same thing with the universe? First, note that God had a choice of creating Adam adult sized, or as a baby. Obviously if Adam was created as a baby, God would have to provide a means of nurturing him. This would require some special agency or being, or God could have made Adam a very special baby who did not require special care. Although God could have done any of these things, we believe God operates according to the principle of simplicity. Thus, He simply created the first man full-sized. However, Adam's body did not necessarily have signs of age. Size by itself is not an indication of age except perhaps to tell that the person is not a child. If a doctor examines an adult to determine age he might look at skin condition, liver spot progression, hair, teeth, cholesterol level, metabolism, scars, etc. I believe that Adam's body had none of these signs of age. God created Adam sinless, with no spiritual deterioration, and I believe He also created Adam with a perfect body, with no physical deterioration. Thus I do not believe Adam had an "apparent age."

Other arguments often used to support the appearance of age argument is the wine that Jesus made from water. It was the best wine, implying that it was aged. However, the wine may or may not have had the chemical components of aged wine.

Ultimately, the downfall of the appearance of age argument is that the Bible never supports this idea with regard to the creation. The Bible explains the miracles of God and tells us when things were made as if they were old (like the wine that Jesus made from water). In contrast, there is not one verse in the Bible that suggests that God made the Earth look older than it actually is.

[gop4lyf]

How long were Adam and Eve in the Garden? If I recall correctly ( and I might not be), the Bible doesn’t start counting his age until he leaves the Garden.

[Uri’el-2012]

See Gerald Schroeder for Genesis and the Big Bang.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[James C. Bennett]

A bigger problem would be of 6+ billion individuals descending out of one mating pair, primarily through incest, initially.

Such a model would develop so many genetic abnormalities in less than a dozen generations, humans would have been extinct a long time ago.

Then we have the problem of humanoids / Neanderthals, etc.

[stuartcr]

I believe they were there for abot 103-105yrs prior to getting kicked out.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

The universe did not exist at all until I was born because it is all in my mind.
So the universe is less than 50 years old.

[jps098]

So the trees and grass created on day three, waited a loooonnngg time for the light to appear. I like the way this attempts to put the miracles of God in a box. Why can't God make trees already bearing fruit?

I have more respect for an atheist who does not believe than a supposed BELIEVER who tries to fit what the Bible says to make it agreeable to the atheist.

[Moonman62]

A bigger problem would be of 6+ billion individuals descending out of one mating pair, primarily through incest, initially.

With bottlenecks and isolation, evolution requires a high degree of inbreeding. Studies of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes show that a lot of us humans are related to one another.

[sirchtruth]

It's not easy to remember sometimes words mean "things." Yes, plural. And God means these things literally and metaphorically in the same breath. The earth could be both 6,000 years old and 15 billion years old based on the definition of whose time it is being defined by.

Think about this, God can not lie. It's one of the things God CAN NOT do. (John 2:19) When Yeshua, said if you tear down this temple I will rebuild it in three days, we understand him metaphorically, he was talking about himself. Defining "Temple" as himself. However, he was standing next to The "Jewish Temple" when he made this statement those around him laughed because they took him to mean the "Jewish Temple." Stones...

Here's where 'words mean things' gets really interesting. Yeshua claimed to be God, if people tore down that stone Jewish temple could God have rebuilt in three days?

Words mean things.

[Anti-Utopian]

Don't forget that the birds they claim evolved from dinosaurs were created on Day 5, while dinos themselves didn't get created until Day 6.

They don't actually read the Bible, so it's easy to miss stuff like that.

[Matchett-PI]

bttt

More: http://biologos.org/

[Anti-Utopian]

The 6 Days  of Creation	Gen 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25; 1 Cor15:38, 39 Everything multiplies "after its own kind"	Life forms are in a continual state of transition.
Day 1 Light	Gen 1:3-19 Light was created before the sun.	No light existed before the sun.
Day 2 Firmament	Gen 1:2 Oceans were created before land. Gen 1:7 Atmosphere between two hydrospheres	Land existed before oceans. Atmosphere & hydrosphere contiguous.
Day 3 Plants, Trees	Gen 1:11 First life was land plants Gen 1:11, 20, 21 Fruit trees were created before fishes. Gen 1:11-19 Plant life was created before the sun.	First life began in the waters. Fishes existed before fruit trees. Plants evolved after the sun.
Day 4 Sun, Moon, Stars	Gen 1:14-19 The sun & stars were created after the earth. Gen 1:16 Stars were all created at once.	Sun & stars existed before the earth. Stars evolved at different times.
Day 5 Creeping beings, Birds, Fishes, Whales	Gen 1:20, 21 Marine life was created all at once. Gen 1:20, 21 Birds & fishes were created on the same day. Gen 1:20-31 Birds & whales were created before reptiles.	Marine life developed gradually, from an organic blob. Fishes evolved hundreds of millions of years before birds. Reptiles evolved before birds & whales.
Day 6 Beasts, Man	Gen 2:7 Man was made from the dust of the earth. Gen 2:5 Man was created before rain. Gen 2:21, 22 Man was created, then woman.	Man evolved from monkeys. Rain existed before man. Woman preceded man.

[Grunthor]

I have always believed that the universe and the earth are hundreds of billions of years old. I believe tht dinosaurs and others roamed the earth tens of millions of years before human beings did. There were neandertals and other forerunners of our species.

I also believe that God created everything. Seven Days? What is time to Him that created it? Why do we always feel the need to limit God in such a way that we, a puny insignificant speck can understand Him?

Frankly I don’t WANT a God that I can understand. If God is so limited that even I, a high school drop-out can look at His creation and say “Yeah I can see where you were goin’ with that” then folks, we are in a s**t load of trouble.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

A bigger problem would be of 6+ billion individuals descending out of one mating pair, primarily through incest, initially. Such a model would develop so many genetic abnormalities in less than a dozen generations, humans would have been extinct a long time ago.

You make an interestting point. My take:

Evolution requires a small, isolated population for genetic drift. Creation begins with single pairs. Both cannot be wrong even though both conflict with the observed results of inbreeding. However creation was perfect at the beginning and only with sin imperfections accumulate. Evolution has no such out.

[OneWingedShark]

I actually like the author’s recognition of the language and the multiple definitions of the word. The word used for God creating the “heavens and the Earth” is a form of stretched-out; and if Einstein’s special theory of relativity holds then if that stretching was fast enough then some really weird things happen to time (and how does one explain that to a people who don’t have the concepts).

Also, both the 12-hour and 24-hour days are defined by the Earth’s position [rotationally] in relation to the sun; if there was no sun until day 4 then how can we be sure that the ‘day’ in 1 through 3 were 24-hour? It is an assumption.

Furthermore, if God exists outside of time how could he relay that sort of experience to creatures whose only experience is within time? {Just as God defines morality, so God defines time.}

[James C. Bennett]

The relations link to different individuals over history. I’m sure you’re referring to Mitochondrial Eve and individuals like that. They all appear at different times over the timeline.

[James C. Bennett]

However creation was perfect at the beginning and only with sin imperfections accumulate.

In that case, by now, we'd all have grotesque genetic abnormalities.

Evolution has no such out.

Not true at all. Recently, when it was proposed that Australian Tasmanian Devils might be doomed because of a flaw in their genetics that made them susceptible to cancer. A couple of months ago, they found a gene in some individuals circumventing that flaw.

[stuartcr]

How is it, that you KNOW what God means, and that He means these things in the same breath?

[James C. Bennett]

This was argued earlier, about a divine entity using a separate time scale, but I recall in those discussions how many pointed out that the same time line of Creation is used in several places in the Bible, implying that the times all had to be same, and not dilated for each circumstance.

[stuartcr]

I like th fact that you say you believe, not that you know.