The following text is not original with me, but I'm not citing the source because I don't want *it* to distract from the point of the thread. I think it's important that we hash out what's right or wrong with the following points so that we can rightly divide the word of truth and not impose interpretations on the Bible that aren't warranted...
What does everyone think of these two points of view?
Hi dysert,
Well, I can tell you that I'm on the first hand. Personally, I don't find the second argument compelling. He writes:
The word "yom" is used in different ways in the creation account. For instance, Gen. 1:5 refers yom only to daytime (daylight), not night-time.
I've always allowed that if we only look at the word 'yom' that we cannot make any definitive claim as to the length it denotes. But, when one adds the textual evidence of morning and evening and numbering that he mentions under hand 'one', I find it hard to just ignore that evidence. Evidence is evidence. There are many words in the english language that if you just write the word on a blank piece of paper, others will likely not understand what meaning is intended to be conveyed. 'Yom' in the hebraic language is a similar word and so one must, absolutely must, define it by it's contextual evidence.
So, yes, if one wants to throw out the contextual evidences, then one can make the word itself mean several things. Of course, this then begs the question, how does the writer know, then, that 'yom' in Gen. 1:5 is referring only to daytime? I'll bet he used contextual evidence to determine that. However, I will allow that it probably isn't this writer who made the determination that 'yom' in this case is referring only to daylight. It was probably the translators depending on contextual evidence.
He then writes that for those on hand two:
God's rest on the seventh "day" has no evening and morning.
He is correct, but why that fact would negate the contextual evidence of the previous six days escapes me.
Finally, he writes:
Adam could not have named all the birds and animals in 24 hours according to Gen. 2.
Why not? First, again we must be careful to read what the Scriptures say. I'm not convinced that God's word says that Adam named 'every' animal, but speaks specifically of livestock, birds and 'beasts' of the field. We don't know how these animals arrived before Adam. We don't know if Adam had to go searching for each one or they just appeared as they seem to have done in Noah's day, by the command of their Creator. If, these animals all stood together before Adam, I don't see any problem with Adam naming them all in a day.
In the summer around here the days can be a bit more than twelve hours long. Try sitting on your porch for 12 hours and see how many animals you can name, assuming that they are parading in front of you. I've walked through many zoos, some of them fairly extensive in their collection of animals, in less than a day. And I had to walk! So, I don't think we really have enough information to be able to say that the task is impossible to complete in a day. I rather imagine that if Adam were standing in the garden and all the animals of the garden came parading by him in some fashion as one might imagine the animals came into the ark, that Adam would have had time to even stop and get some coffee over at WaWa's while he completed his task.
Of course, I guess the best piece of Scripture to keep in mind whenever we begin to say that something in God's word seems 'impossible' is: Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
'All things are possible'. Let's repeat until understood. 'All things are possible', 'All things are possible', 'All things are possible', 'All things are possible' -- with God.
Now you have my two cents worth that you requested.
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted
