Lets take Gen.1:1-5 and look at this closely and objectively.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." -Gen. 1:1-5 (KJV)
Beginning in verse 1, we see that in the beginning was God. Now this is interesting in that no timeline whatsoever is given here. All we know for sure is that in the beginning of recorded time, God was already there.
In verse 2 we see that the earth was made and there was noting here, absolutely nothing but water and darkeness and chaos. And the Holy Spirit "moved" upon the face of the waters and brought clam to chaos.
Then God creates light. And that light is what separates from darkness.
Then in verse 4 we see that God separates the light day, and the darkness.
And finally in verse 5 we see that the light was called day, and the darkness night. And at the end of this, this was the very first day.
Now, some have pointed out one verse that Biblical Literalists use to justify the "young earth" creationism theory.
If this "theory" is true, then what we end up with is an earth that is only at the very oldest some 13,300 years old. (give or take a few years)
Now here me out first.
Each day of the creation equals 1000 years. Six days to make the creation = 6000 years. One day to rest = 7000 years. Now my Bible dates the writing of the Pentauch/Torah, the Law books to about 3500 BC. Add this to the creation years, this equals 10,500 years. 430 years between the Old and New Testament period, or about a half a day. Since the brith of Christ, we have some 2000 years, or two days, so what we are left with is some 13,333 years.
Now this is
if take the Bible "Literally" at 1 day = 1000 years.
However, what we are left with is taking an allegory and appling it literally.
Now there is precidence for this in what James says in James 4:14:
"For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
The best anology of this verse is to imagine lighting a match. Your birth is like when you first strike the match. It burns quickly as it lights up, but soon, it settles down to a steady burn and then evetually burns out. That is like what our lifetime looks like to GOd.
But, then again, we are trying to put allagories on God.
We use terms like "omnipotence" referring to God as "all powerful."
Who is to say that God could not have merely spoke the world into existance. And at the very milli-second He was finished speaking, it came into existance. This is certainly possible if we believe that God is "omnipotent."
Now just consider for a moment what I'm saying here.
I am not arguing against the "literal" 24 hour creation. If that is what you believe, fine. I'm not arguing against that.
I am not arguing against the "literal" 7000 year creation either. If that is what you believe, fine, I'm not arguing against that.
What I am arguing against is trying to place our understanding of "time" against God.
Time as we know it, was put here for our sakes, not His.
We learn this lesson on the "fourth day."
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:" -Gen. 1:14 (KJV)
Who is to say that the creation did not take place in 7 milli-seconds, or 7 seconds, 7 minutes, 7 hours, 7 days, 7 years, or even 7000 years?
All we know for sure is that when the earth was created, and all that followed, happened on the very first
recorded day in history. However long that day was, we know what happened on that first "day."
I don't know how long that first day was, it is certainly possible that the very first day only lasted a second. It could have lasted only 24 hours. It could have lasted 1000 years, I don't know.
Nobody does, but what
we can know for sure is what happened on the very first day in recorded history.
As a side note, I want to interject this one thought.
Jesus is sitting on the right hand of the Father as we speak. He is in heaven. Scripture tells us that Jesus is:
"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." -Rev. 21:23 (KJV)
Jesus is the light of heaven. There is no day, there is no night.
In the timeline we know of, all the disciples died and went on to be with Jesus about 2000 years ago. But since Jesus is the light of heaven, and there is no day and no night as we know it, the disciples just arrived in heaven "TODAY!"
And if the good Lord tarries, we shall arrive in heaven "TODAY!"
Granted it will be just a little later in the day, but
we will get to heaven "TODAY!"
Certainly this is worth an Amen!
Before time began, God was. "I am the Alpha" and when time ceases to exist, God will still be "I am the Omega."
When ever time began there was God, when time ends, there will be God.
Time has no meaning to God, time was put into place for our sakes.
So why must we limit God to our understanding of "time?"
And that is the point I'm trying to make here. As I said previously:
I am not arguing against the "literal" 24 hour creation. If that is what you believe, fine. I'm not arguing against that.
I am not arguing against the "literal" 7000 year creation either. If that is what you believe, fine, I'm not arguing against that.
What I am arguing against is trying to place our understanding of "time" against God.
Who is to say that the creation did not take place in 7 milli-seconds, or 7 seconds, 7 minutes, 7 hours, 7 days, 7 years, or even 7000 years?
God Bless
Till all are one.