The reason it does make a difference, to me, is that some don't believe in God because they see contradictions or things they don't understand so they consider them lies, myths, etc. about God's Word. If it could be explained to them, shown to be truth then perhaps they would reconsider. Other than that, I agree in that it makes no difference.
I believe there was a creation before Adam, before the present creation that we are a part of - I think that this earlier creation was wiped out when Lucifer was thrown out of heaven, destroyed by a flood, perhaps eons before the present creation.....Unexplainable fossil evidence can be explained if we accept that there was an earlier creation. Lucifer, before his fall, was given dominion over the earth. For him to have dominion, I believe there had to be a creation that was subject to Lucifer - he was not given dominion over a sphere floating in space with nothing here.
I agree. The Bible tells us that there was a creation before our present age and Lucifer did have dominion over the earth. He fell and God overthrew that earth age - water covered the earth (this was not Noah's flood). Our present age began when, "....And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"(Gen.1:2)
The problem is that our churches don't teach this so most simply don't understand and when faced with science showing fossils, etc. that prove the earth is older than what they believe the Bible says is the age of the earth, they dismiss all of it. That said, I must also say, I do not believe in evolution. Man is as God made him.
“The problem is that our churches don’t teach...”
You and I are in agreement. And I understand the reason you give that the “day with the Lord is as a thousand years” is important. And the problem is THAT OUR CHURCHES DON’T TEACH. Our churches regurgatate Church Doctrine - and all doctrine is man-made. Religion is man-made. God is a spiritual being, and what is of God is spiritual, not religious.
You are correct in saying that this present age began when the “Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”. I believe the last ice age ended with that beginning. When Lucifer fell, we are told that the Sun, Moon and Stars were turned off - waters flooded the earth to wipe out the creation under Lucifer’s dominion. With the “Sun turned off”, we have instant deep freeze and an ice age that ended with the thawing resulting when the “Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”.
The “creative acts” in the first few verses of Genesis were “restorative acts”. We had creative acts when living things were put upon the earth. The forming of Man from the dust of the earth, and God breathing life into that Man, was a creative act.
When God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, what he actually told them was to “replenish” the earth. This is exactly the same thing God said to Noah after the flood - “replenish” the earth.
Yes, Noah’s flood was the second flood. I believe the sign of the rainbow as God’s covenant sign that he would not again destroy the earth with flood, was because it was not the first time, but would be the last.
Until Noah’s flood, it had not rained on the earth. Watering was done from the ground. So, where did the rain come from? Where was this water, enough to cover the earth? We know from various scientific discoveries that air pressure was at one time nearly twice what it is now. We also know that the oxygen content was 30 + percent. For the first 1600 years or so the creation lived in a hyperbaric chamber. Man’s lifespan approached a thousand years. I think there was an ice shield that completely covered the earth, some miles up. This trapped the oxygen and enabled higher atmospheric pressure.
When it was time for 40 days and 40 nights of continuous rain upon the earth, God caused this ice shield to be broken, and as the ice chunks fell into the warm atmosphere they thawed and produced rain.
Now, of course, such conversation as we have been having on this thread blows fundamentalist minds, but I think we are much closer to the truth of the Bible and to the truth of scientific discovery.
Religion and science both make a similar mistake. They each one decide on their “conclusions” and then try to make their “discoveries” fit their “conclusions”. Religion and science remain at odds because each is trying to “prove” their “conclusions”. In reality, the truth of the Bible and the truth of Science are not at odds, but in agreement. Science will find no “missing link” because there is no evolution. When Science lets the evidence lead to a conclusion, Science will begin to know the truth of Science. Religion will not know the truth of the Bible unless religious men become spiritual men and let the Spirit of God lead them through His Word.