I do not see any co-relation between Alaska's dark times and reading that Gen. means thousands of years of darkness. In Alaska it is not pitch black, without any sunlight at all-- and it lasts a few months---not thousands of years. A day is set by rotation of the earth---everything in the Gen. account is what is happening on earth, not on Jupiter or anywhere else, so we should keep it to the earth. God's universe is not limited to this, and in His realm one day may last a thousand years. but He is talking about this earth, the times He set up for this world and He works with us within those times. He set up light and darkness without the sun---that is obvious. It is also obvious that He chose to offer no explanation for how He accomplished that. How much is the difference between light and darkness? When it is pitch black, there is no light--one candle is a lot of light in comparison. There is also the invisible light, it is still light and is very much real. There is also light that is seeping in from far off quasars. It is enough to know that He set up no light, and light. There is just no way to make this light and darkness that he calls one day--mean 1000's of years for each segment. Was Adam all alone except for animals, for 1000's of years before God finally figured out that He needed Eve? It took 6 days. the vegetation was in day 3---that means that there were several times were that vegetation would have had 1000's of years spend in darkness for each of those other 3 days. And Adam would have been in darkness for 1000's of years after he was formed. It just doesn't add up.
Well, with all due respect, you dont quite seem to be grasping my point about how orbiting around God could affect the worlds light and dark cycle.
Today, the earth revolves around the sun at the rate it does, with the tilt it has, and that is what we base our days on. Scientifically, we base a day on the revolution of the earth. So we have set 24 hour periods to be our definition of a day. However, Biblically, when you read Genesis 1, God calls the light "day". He also tells Israelites to celebrate the Sabbath day on Friday at sundown, til Saturday at sundown. Thus, the Biblical definition of a day is flexible. It doesnt mean exactly 24 hours. We start a new day at midnight. The Jews started a new day when the sun went down. That is why Orthodox churches celebrate the services for the next day the night before. Biblically, the definition of day has always depended on light, not the revolution of the earth or a set period of time. Remember that when the Bible was written, nobody even knew the Earth revolved. This has raised a controversy for some Jews, because in areas where the sun does not set for months at a time, they could be resting for months on a single Sabbath day.
The point I have in raising this point is to explain how a day can last longer than 24 hours in some areas. Other planets like Venus can have a day that lasts more than 200 earth days. It depends on many factors. If the earth was revolving around God like the Book of Enoch says, then the earths day and night cycles could have been drastically different than what we know now. And the nights would not have had to last an equal amount of time like you believe, either. In polar regions, during the summer, the days get longer and longer and the nights get shorter and shorter, until the nights end and the days stretch on for months at a time. If earth was circling God, and Pangaea was a single land mass, only one side of earth would have needed light. That side could have been in a state of day for years and years, depending on how fast the earth was rotating, what tilt the earth was at, and other factors. The nights would not last thousands of years, rather, they would last perhaps only seconds, Im pretty sure. Im not an expert astronomer, but Ive been to Alaska and ive seen how that works. After the 6 days were over, God breathed life into the planet and made them living souls, and set the planet in orbit with the sun. Then the normal 24 hour periods began, and thats when He set Adam in the garden, and made Eve. So, you see, theres no need for thousand years of darkness or Adam living for thousands of years before Eve or living in darkness. If God wanted, He could have done it any way He wanted, including freezing time or making the earth stand still, so, clearly, its impossible to know just what He did when He formed earth.
But ultimately it doesnt matter, really. Its not like God is going to quiz us before He lets us into Heaven and ask us how old the Earth is.
