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To: dangus
I have no idea where you got that from, but here is what the Bible actually says in Genesis 2::

(Gen 2:1 KJV) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

(Gen 2:2 KJV) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

(Gen 2:3 KJV) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

(Gen 2:4 KJV) These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

(Gen 2:5 KJV) And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

(Gen 2:6 KJV) But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

(Gen 2:7 KJV) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

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Notice there is NO MENTION of the Creation days as singular events. It is an overview of the events written in a way that some scholars call the geneology pattern listing the origin of some kingdoms of the Mid-East (See Gleason Archer and others). Nor is there any mention of Adam being around before plants existed. In fact, Genesis 2:5 clearly says plants were there BEFORE there was a man.

The only way you can get confused is if you twist Gen 2:4, IN THE DAY.

WE USE THAT type of speech today, referring to In the days of Clinton, the Day of our revolutionary fathers and such, and we dont mean a single day, we mean a time period.

If a person just reads it plainly, like it was written to be read, it is obvious Gen 2:4 means a time period, not an individual day referring to the whole Creation week.

As for the lack of a literal day, if there was no literal day in the description of Evening, Morning, and then the term DAY, then we have no reason to believe any word day means a day.

The days of Genesis 1 are the most clearly defined 24 hour periods in the Bible, and it is only those who wish to do away with the meaning of the word day who try to say otherwise.

And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

You must observe what you are trying to say when you deny the days of Genesis 1 are not 24 hour days:
Day 1, the creation of the Heavens and the Earth took an undetermined time, possible what we would call a million years

day 2, the firmament separating the waters above from the waters below took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years

day 3, the creation of plants and herbs took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years

day 4, Stars, the sun and moon took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years
WHICH CAN ONLY MEAN GOD HAD PLANTS THAT WERE CREATED ON DAY 3 EXIST FOR MAYBE A MILLION YEARS WITHOUT SUNLIGHT, something we KNOW cannot happen today!

day 5, all the whales, the sea monsters, the birds, the fish took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years

day 6, all the cattle, beasts including dinosaurs and cows, crickets and mice and MAN took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years

day 7, God's REST took an indeterminate length of time, possible what we would call a million years

And what you need to notice, that order of Creation is DIFFERENT from an evolutionist order of events.

SO, if you call the Bible a lie because you dont want to believe the LITERAL DAY of Genesis::

And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

IF you dont believe that a DAY means a DAY when it clearly has modifiers next to the word DAY EXPLAINING it is a 24 hour day, then you have no reason at ALL to believe that the word day means a 24 hour period anywhere in the Bible.

You also call GOD Himself a liar, for GOD HIMSELF said 6 days was the length of Creation::

(Exo 20:8 KJV) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

(Exo 20:9 KJV) Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

(Exo 20:10 KJV) But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

(Exo 20:11 KJV) 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.

If the days were not LITERAL DAYS, then there was no reason for GOD HIMSELF to use the word DAY here, was there? You are calling God a liar when you do that...

13 posted on 01/16/2005 4:22:43 AM PST by RaceBannon (((awaiting new tag line)))
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To: RaceBannon
You also call GOD Himself a liar...

Not to jump in here, but Jesus taught using parables... which are stories.

I wouldn't say the literal sense of the Word is wrong - or a lie - but I would say in different contexts it means different things. Both externally and internally. And every word is important in meaning i.e. why would evening and morning describe a day other than it being a state change.

I think of it this way: it is important that our children know and understand the creation story. Genesis 1 describes like a parable how we are born again... something every Christian must know and face.

15 posted on 01/16/2005 8:45:49 AM PST by DaveMSmith
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To: RaceBannon
Your post supports what dangus said and what I said earlier. The first creation lists the created things by day, singular events so to speak. While the second creation does NOT. Hence the all in one day creation.

What's interesting is that the 7th day is what starts off Genesis 2. After which the creation is repeated but out of sequence. Wouldn't think that it would be that hard to remember what was on the previous page.

16 posted on 01/16/2005 9:32:09 AM PST by ET(end tyranny) (Isa:59:20-And a redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob....)
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To: RaceBannon

*sigh.*
I don't say you are calling God a liar, can you at least do the same courtesy for me? Can't we have a rational discussion without such ionflammatory, hysterical language?

The Exodus parallel is pointing out the precedent that even God rested after one of his days. It does not establish that one of God's days equals twenty-four hours, as you claim it does. In fact, the bible makes quite plain that one of God's days is as a thousand of man's, and in quite a way that the use of "thousand" is figurative: It was used to mean what children now call "a zillion." Plus, you literal reading of "evening" and "morning" is impossible, since the Earth has not been formed yet! The sun always shines, so what causes darkness?

If your concept were true, God would have to limit himself to a locale on the Earth, in order that he might experience Evening.

Now you are correct in pointing out that the sequence of events in Genesis 1 do not follow the sequence of events in evolution. Please note that in this very thread I explained that what is presented in Genesis 1-11 is NOT historical, but mythical.

No, I'm not saying it's "mere" myth, like the Greek and Roman myths. Those myths aren't "mere" myths, they are false myths. There is true myth. Greco-Roman myths teach falsities or limited truths about the world. The creation myth is true myth: it's truth is complete, with no falseness.

Why does this matter? Because fundamentalism is driving a wedge between science and religion which is destructive to both. Science has gotten defensive from attack by religion, turning nihilistic in a way which would have been totally alien to Einstein, Keppler, or Mendel. And religion is becoming Luddite, segregated to the powerless corridors of society, because those with recourse to reason are forced to reject it.

There is a tempting argument that religion should be powerless in this way, but that notion would be calamitous to our society, which is built on religion having influence through democratic action to create the prevening grace of justice. For the sake of democracy, we cannot allow religion to become irrational, but the evidence against the 7000-year-old Earth is so preponderous, your literalism is fatal.

I've seen science flamed as the source of every problem in society. I reject that; it is the divorce of science from religion-informed values that is the problem. You are handing science, technology, and all their power over to the exclusive domain of evil!


24 posted on 01/16/2005 12:20:20 PM PST by dangus
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To: RaceBannon
Correct me if I an wrong but doesn't the Bible say that a day to the Lord is like a thousand years to man? Could all life on Earth evolved in 6000 years? It has also been another 6000 years since the creation....so then....if we are now moving into the end times of Revelation, wouldn't the 7th millennium be the reign of peace under Christ?
42 posted on 01/17/2005 3:11:57 AM PST by Navydog
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To: RaceBannon

"If the days were not LITERAL DAYS, then there was no reason for GOD HIMSELF to use the word DAY here, was there? You are calling God a liar when you do that..."

No, we are saying the fundamentalist take on Scripture is incorrect. Now, you may say that fundamentalists ARE God, but I don't think so. ;-)


89 posted on 01/21/2005 11:30:07 AM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
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