Creation in Six Literal Days?
Did God create the world in 6 literal days? Were the days different than the 24-hour days that we know now? Let's read the creation account, Day 4:
"Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth' and it was so. (Gen. 1:14-15)
And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. (Gen. 1:16)
And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and night…a fourth day." (Gen. 1: 17-19).
God didn't create the sun and the moon until the fourth day, which would be used to determine days and years (v.14). God created the sun and moon for the purpose of governing day and night (v.18), so days 4-6 were 24-hour days. But what about Days 1-3? Were they literal 24-hour days? We don't know because God did not reveal in Scripture how long they were. Some scholars believe they were 24-hour days, while others believe they were periods of undetermined length. The fact is; the "days" were ungoverned before Day 4. Days 1-3 could have been the same length of time as Days 4-6, but the Bible doesn't tell us for certain.
Some people dismiss the 6 literal days because age-dating of rocks suggests that the world is approximately 4 billion years old. However, most people don't realize that age-dating is merely a theory. A number of variables are assumed to be true, and if any one of those assumptions is incorrect, then the dates will be wrong.
Living snails have been dated as 2,300 years old by the carbon-14 method.
Wood taken from growing trees has been dated by carbon-14 to be 10,000 years old.
Hawaiian lava flows, which are known to be less than 200 years old, have been dated by the potassium argon method to be 3 billion years old! Don't place your faith in age-dating methods to determine the age of the earth.
Home