Six Day Creation? No Way!

Greg Merrill

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I'm considering taking the Literary Framework View of Genesis 1. If you're unfamiliar, this is the view that Genesis 1 is a poem or song that is using a six day framework in order to communicate truths about God and Creation, but not to be understood as six historical days. It's an argument from genre.

However before I really made a commitment to this view I wanted to try it on for size and see if it could be adequately defended. How would you challenge this view? I'll try my best in this thread to defend it.
I came across your post earlier in the day. I just came across the following while working on another project and thought you might like to read/listen.
Six Days of Creation, Part 1 [Podcast] | The Institute for Creation Research
 
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OldWiseGuy

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A change in what critters we see does not need to equal some planetary biosphere being destroyed.

They are found in uniform layers that circle the globe. What conclusion can be reached other than a global cataclysm of some sort?

don't think floods can explain the layers. Nor do I remember where God had a series of floods.

The bible doesn't go into prehistory very much although there are strong suggestions that the prehistoric earth was made for the angels long before Adam.
 
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KWCrazy

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The Hebrews were not astronauts and didn't believe in any of this stuff you're talking about. In their worldview, the firmament is above the atmosphere, it is the dome upon which the stars are fixed.
The Hebrews did not write the book of Genesis. Moses did as directed by God. God explained everything in language that those reading it would be able to understand. That doesn't make His word any less true.

You're straining at gnats and swallowing camels. God had a very specific reason for the six day creation and for describing it as He did. He wanted even those of us in modern times to appreciate His creation, even though we would have boundless information as to why it should not have happened that way. He expects us to have faith in Him and His word.
 
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Sanoy

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I don't think it can be viewed as a poem because there are explanations put into the text like in Genesis 1:16. Genesis 1 also ends in Genesis 2:4 which gives the subject of Genesis 1 when it says "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." That doesn't sound like the title to a poem. Though I am thinking of it in the modern sense of poetry.
 
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Ronald

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The sun and stars were placed in the firmament. No way that is the atmosphere.
That's the second heaven which is described in Gen. 1:14-18. Yes, a much different kind of firmament. Didn't you know of the first heaven ... and then there is the Third Heavrn as well. Gen. 1:6-8 explains the first heaven clearly Daddio. Different versions of the Bible use "heavens" in Genesis. The spiritual heaven of course would be the third.
 
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Tree of Life

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I don't think it can be viewed as a poem because there are explanations put into the text like in Genesis 1:16. Genesis 1 also ends in Genesis 2:4 which gives the subject of Genesis 1 when it says "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." That doesn't sound like the title to a poem. Though I am thinking of it in the modern sense of poetry.

Genesis 2:3 is the end of a section and 2:4 is the first toledot found in Genesis. It's the beginning of a new section. 2:4 should be understood to be connected to what follows, not what precedes.
 
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Sanoy

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Genesis 2:3 is the end of a section and 2:4 is the first toledot found in Genesis. It's the beginning of a new section. 2:4 should be understood to be connected to what follows, not what precedes.
but the section that follows doesn't fit what would be prefaced by 2:4. Gen1 seems to be best prefaced by 2:4.
 
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Tree of Life

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but the section that follows doesn't fit what would be prefaced by 2:4. Gen1 seems to be best prefaced by 2:4.

See also Genesis 5:1, Genesis 6:9, Genesis 10:1, Genesis 11:10, Genesis 11:27, Genesis 25:12, Genesis 25:19, Genesis 36:1, Genesis 36:9, and Genesis 37:2.

How do these toledot formulae function?
 
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Sanoy

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See also Genesis 5:1, Genesis 6:9, Genesis 10:1, Genesis 11:10, Genesis 11:27, Genesis 25:12, Genesis 25:19, Genesis 36:1, Genesis 36:9, and Genesis 37:2.

How do these toledot formulae function?
I am only aware of two of these and of those 2 I have only looked into 5:1 for any length. I'll have to spend some time on the others. However I think 5:1 works the same way, backwards, as 2:4 because it contains the same generic use of the word Adam as the preceding chapters, while verse 3 transitions to using Adam as a proper name thus beginning a new book in the compilation. 5:1 maintains the generic usage of Adam (sometimes Ha Adam) and so must be part of the book of the preceding chapter rather than the beginning of the new book using Adam as a proper name.
 
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Tree of Life

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I am only aware of two of these and of those 2 I have only looked into 5:2. I'll have to spend some time on the others. However I think 5:2 works the same way, backwards, as 2:4 because it contains the same generic use of the word Adam as the preceding chapters, while the next verse transitions to using Adam as a proper name thus beginning a new book in the compilation.

Take a look at all of them a bit more closely. They are called "the toledot formulae". Toledot is the Hebrew word meaning "generations". It's how the book of Genesis is organized.

A little hint - they always begin a new section.
 
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Sanoy

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Take a look at all of them a bit more closely. They are called "the toledot formulae". Toledot is the Hebrew word meaning "generations". It's how the book of Genesis is organized.

A little hint - they always begin a new section.
I don't understand how to make sense of things this way. 2:4 as a preface doesn't make sense for what follows through chapter 2-4, but it makes sense of what occurred in Gen 1. Gen 5:1 uses Adam generically as in Gen 2-4's genealogy, while Gen 5:3 begins a novel use of Adam as a proper name indicating a new book in the compilation. 5:3 beings a literary transition from Adam used generically for man and Adam used as a proper name of a person. That literary transition to how "Adam" is rendered seems to divide Chapter 5 with verse 3 being the beginning of a new book rather than verse 1.

Genesis 10:32 might be the same deal, reading backwards because it doesn't really fit with Genesis 11's opening. We have a division of the earth in Genesis 10 with Peleg, so we don't need to look to Gen 11 for a division to make sense of verse 32. But I still need to look at this and the others you listed more closely because I haven't given enough investigation to those after chapter 5.
 
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dad

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They are found in uniform layers that circle the globe. What conclusion can be reached other than a global cataclysm of some sort?
I would conclude that the different nature of the past was conducive to very rapid layer formation, unlike today for one thing.


The bible doesn't go into prehistory very much although there are strong suggestions that the prehistoric earth was made for the angels long before Adam.
Made for angels? Funny that He said the stars were for seasons and times for man. Funny we were told to subdue it. I do not recall any verses that indicate angels lived here before creation week.
 
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dad

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That's the second heaven which is described in Gen. 1:14-18. Yes, a much different kind of firmament. Didn't you know of the first heaven ... and then there is the Third Heavrn as well. Gen. 1:6-8 explains the first heaven clearly Daddio. Different versions of the Bible use "heavens" in Genesis. The spiritual heaven of course would be the third.
Show us where Genesis differentiates parts of the firmament and lists one part, below the waters here on earth, as separate from the firmament in general? Yes there were parts of the sky, like where birds flew, but the stars were put IN the firmament. There was also water above that...in other words above the stars.

That is where many think the flood waters came from (as well as under the earth)
 
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Ronald

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Show us where Genesis differentiates parts of the firmament and lists one part, below the waters here on earth, as separate from the firmament in general? Yes there were parts of the sky, like where birds flew, but the stars were put IN the firmament. There was also water above that...in other words above the stars.

That is where many think the flood waters came from (as well as under the earth)
Gen. 1:6-8 differs from 14-18. The air we breath is in that first heaven, beneath the clouds ... You are unsure how that differs from outer space? Wow, you're having trouble with this? You know very well that God does'nt go into every detail and specifics. He doesn't explain the Astro-physics, quotum and mathematical laws, or differentiate between concepts people wouldn't understand. It's basic stuff. The universe was designed for our minds to reach out and explore and discover how its put together. He gave just enough time for the brilliant minds to make fools out of themselves and then He'll destroy it.
 
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OldWiseGuy

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Made for angels? Funny that He said the stars were for seasons and times for man. Funny we were told to subdue it. I do not recall any verses that indicate angels lived here before creation week.

There are several.

That the angels sang and shouted for joy when the foundations of earth were laid.

That Lucifer ascended from the earth and was cast back down.

That God condemns the rebelling angels that left their first estate and habitation, the earth. (Jude)

All these events occurring before Adam.
 
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toLiJC

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I'm considering taking the Literary Framework View of Genesis 1. If you're unfamiliar, this is the view that Genesis 1 is a poem or song that is using a six day framework in order to communicate truths about God and Creation, but not to be understood as six historical days. It's an argument from genre.

However before I really made a commitment to this view I wanted to try it on for size and see if it could be adequately defended. How would you challenge this view? I'll try my best in this thread to defend it.

why not six days(144 hours) in the literal sense?!, especially when the system Administrator/Provider of life(God) has to provide the souls with abundant and eternal life as soon as possible, otherwise they can lose a lot of time as an opportunity to have eternal life if He doesn't hurry enough to provide them with it, for example, if one single cycle of the eternity is 20 thousand years and God made the universal creation for 6 millennia, the souls would have the opportunity to have eternal life only for about 8-9 thousand years (given that there have been 5-6 millennia under sin and death since the day of the Fall)...

Blessings
 
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dad

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Gen. 1:6-8 differs from 14-18. The air we breath is in that first heaven, beneath the clouds ... You are unsure how that differs from outer space? Wow, you're having trouble with this? You know very well that God does'nt go into every detail and specifics. He doesn't explain the Astro-physics, quotum and mathematical laws, or differentiate between concepts people wouldn't understand. It's basic stuff. The universe was designed for our minds to reach out and explore and discover how its put together. He gave just enough time for the brilliant minds to make fools out of themselves and then He'll destroy it.
Differs?

14 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: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

I did not see anywhere in the chapter before this was mentioned where some other firmament was created.

If the stars were in the firmament then there are waters above that.
 
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dad

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There are several.

That the angels sang and shouted for joy when the foundations of earth were laid.
Yes and they shout for joy when someone hets saved now. So? You thought that meant that they lived at the Hyatt?
That Lucifer ascended from the earth and was cast back down.
From the earth? Perhaps you think that a garden of God was the garden of Eden of earth? Look closer, that won't work at all.
That God condemns the rebelling angels that left their first estate and habitation, the earth. (Jude)
No.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Their habitation is heaven. Not earth. That verse does not say they left earth in any way shape or form.
 
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