"Personally I think scripture is pretty clear...the Heavens & Earth were made 6000 or so years ago, not created. The only other way is to MANGLE the plain reading by insisting Heaven & Earth were included Day 1."
Mangle the text? Not plain? Not clear? Day 1 covers verses 1-3! Perhaps you don't understand the Hebrew word 'bara' which is translated 'created' in the English. It means to literally bring into existence something that was not existing previously. The many verses throughout Scripture that uses this word plainly show this. What didn't exist before, suddenly came into being. The Greek term in the NT is 'ex nihilo' out of nothing something is begotten.
I think the plethora of verses in Scripture using ' bara' plainly shows the opposite is true & that both what was created & what was made (formed out of pre-existing things) both occur in the 6000 years or so.
Your apparent ignoring of the contextual combining of the first 3 verses of Genesis 1 plainly shows this. It clearly states that IN THE BEGINNING--of the commencement of TIME, MATTER (visible & invisible) & SPACE continuum--
God did indeed CREATE the heavens & the earth on Day 1. However as vs 2 shows, God had yet to fully form the earth & the heavens & then to fill them. That occurred on the following 5 days.
John 1:1-3 shows the same thing. IN THE BEGINNING--WAS THE WORD. At the time of the initial time-space-matter continuum, the Word was already existing. The Word (Son), the Father & the Holy Spirit were all there prior to the beginning. They started it all at a point in time--THE BEGINNING.
It states that Jesus created all things in the beginning. All things CAME INTO BEING through Him & apart from Him NOTHING CAME INTO EXISTENCE that has come into existence.
'EX NIHILO!' Just as Genesis 1:1 states.
At the very beginning of day one, the earth is only described as not having been fully formed yet to where it could be made inhabitable. God will call those things He created into existence & fill the earth & heavens. What He does is GOOD. The earth & the heavens were empty after being created-- & had to be filled with the host of all that God created & made (plants, animals, mankind, planets, etc.) Thus God had to make, fashion, form both to be inhabitable.
Isaiah 45:9-12,18 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel & His Maker: “How dare you question Me concerning My sons, or instruct Me about the work of My hands?
It is I who MADE the earth & CREATED man upon it. It was MY HANDS that stretched out the heavens & I ordained all their host. (not a big bang) For this is what the LORD SAYS-- He who CREATED the heavens, He is God; He who FORMED & MADE (FASHIONED) the earth, He ESTABLISHED (literally, erected) IT; He did NOT CREATE IT TO BE EMPTY (void, in vain), but FORMED it to be INHABITED-- He says: "I AM--the LORD & there is no other.
Did God create the light? Yes. Day 1. Did God create the darkness, which is mentioned in verse 2? Yes. Day 1. How do we know since it does not specifically say God created darkness here in ch. 1?
Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture & one can make a mistake when not taking the whole counsel of Scripture into account, harmonizing & progressively seeing what God reveals elsewhere that helps us understand.
Isa 45:7 I form the light & CREATE DARKNESS.
Gen 1:4 And seeing that the light was good, God separated the light from the darkness.
Darkness in vs 2 also talks about the 'abyss'. (Greek Septuagint uses this word for darkness) Jesus in Matt 25 talks about the abyss/hell, that was originally PREPARED for the devil & his angels! This is part of the INVISIBLE creation that God does reference right in Genesis ch. 1 which many miss!
What is brief revelation at the beginning is progressively manifested with more details throughout Scripture. Jesus was continually pointing out that people did not know THE SCRIPTURES (plural), that they hadn't read rightly or had forgotten what was written, etc.
One needs to recognize that Genesis is the book of BEGINNINGS & gives the RECORDS of those beginnings. The whole rest of Scripture CONFIRMS what is plainly said in Genesis & progressively reveals more of what was meant by what God said there & thereafter.
The problem is that people have suppressed the truth about God in unrighteousness & Who He is & says He is & what He has created, formed, made & filled--& exchanged it for a lie. Mankind apart from God has become darkened in their understanding, not wanting to retain God in their mind at all but choosing to worship & serve with their time, life & money--nature & some random evolution--rather than the Creator.
Jer 31:35,36 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light BY DAY & the FIXED ORDER of the moon & the stars for light BY NIGHT, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts (heaven's armies) is His name. Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares the LORD, would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.
Deut 4:19 And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven & see the sun & the moon & the stars & all the host of heaven & be drawn away & worship them & serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Deut 17:3 ...And going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven--which I have forbidden--
Gen 1:14,18 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE DAY & THE NIGHT & to MARK THE SEASONS & THE DAYS & THE YEARS.
We can do this like a clock. Sun dials & calendars have been used by man for thousands of years & he has been able to mark off days, nights, months, years & seasons, etc. Knowing God's time frame day by day from what has been made demonstrates God's fixed order & physical laws & by Christ all things hold together by His eternal power & Deity. Because God is eternal, 1000 years is to Him like a day or a watch in the night passing--but to mankind--God's fixed order of calibrating & marking off time is precise.
The rotation & placement of the earth, sun & moon & stars--is used for navigation, to make a fixed order that mankind can measure & depend upon. The moon is exactly where it should be to regulate the tides of the oceans! Amazing! And God talks about doing all these things in Job 38-42, questioning Job as to his finite understanding of God's infinite wisdom & power to both create & to form, fill & sustain the heavens & the earth.
Job 38:12ff "In your days, have you (Job) COMMANDED the morning or assigned the dawn its place, that it might spread to the ends of the earth? Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?"
"Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home? SURELY YOU KNOW, for you were already born! And the number of YOUR DAYS is great!"
"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear & her cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?"
One shouldn't, in my opinion speculatively IMAGINE billions of years--God hasn't designed his creation that way nor the plain meaning in Scripture for normal people then & now to be able to understand.
The fixed order has been there ever since the beginning of the creation of the heavens & the earth. Man has been using it ever since the beginning when Adam & Eve were created. They KNEW what a day was, they knew what a week was, they knew what a lunar month was, they knew what a year was, they knew how to do geneaologies & how many years a person lived. God gave His revelation to normal people living normal lives, talking in language & concepts people could understand.
How is it that man in very recent history has fallen prey to his independence apart from God & has departed from this order, speculating billions of years of naturalistic evolution & selection by random chance. God laughs at men's foolishness & not following the fixed order that He created in the very beginning!
Genesis 1:18 ...To preside over the day & the night & to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. Jesus is described as the bright & morning star, His brightness & glory shining as the sun. God IS LIGHT. He was a flaming pillar of fire by night for the Israelites, that moved to show them where to go!
There is no problem with Day 1 having light & darkness. It is ONLY a problem for theistic evolutionists who choose to believe man's naturalistic & foolish reasoning that excludes that which is supernatural, God's power & attributes that can easily do this. Jesus' words echo loudly, 'You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.'
Daniel 2:22 He reveals the deep & hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness & light dwells with Him.
Psalm 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we SEE LIGHT.
Mark 9:3 His clothes became radiantly white, brighter than any launderer on earth could bleach them.
Mankind has no excuse before God for not realizing He exists & is the Creator of the universe. God has made Himself known within the heart of man & also from without through His creation of the orderly universe. (to be continued)