Hello and welcome to the SDA Forum Bob,
Here is somthing that I posted on another site quite sometime ago when I was ask if SDA believe in a 7 day creation and was it a core or key belief. Perhaps it will be of help in explaining a litteral 7 day creation.
Condider these points about creation from a Biblical prepetive. I should also mention that anything oher than the biblical account of ceation invalidates the plan of salvation.
It has also been suggested that we look at creation from a bio-medical view. If that is an approach that might be wishd to be explored, from personal experience I know that this is a topic that will validate creation, not eveloution.
"You have posed a very good question. Was creation a litteral 7 day event? It has been debated as long as I can remember. You have ask one additional question. Is this a core belife, or a key belife to christianity? I would like to share the rational that seems correct.
First we need to consider who was this Creator? Of course every christian who belives in the bible will readly agree that it was God Himself. Lets look at some the charector attributes of God. He is perfect. All knowing. Knows the end from the begining. Is a God of love. Cares about mankind as His children. Knows every sparrow that falls & cares about all His creation. Now lets read the creation story. As we go through the account of creation, God validates each day by the saying that the evening and the morning constituted each day. When we know somthing about the charector and nature of God, as well as what He has given us in His Word, it would make God less than perfect and even a lier, if it were not a litteral 7 day week. Therefore it is truly both a core belife as well as a key belife. You will notice the rational given is from a purely bibical standpoint. Faith must be used to accept any of the creation story.(I might suggest reading Heb.Ch.11 the faith chapter.)It must also be noted that if there is no belife in all or part of the creation story, there is no reason to debate the fine points of it.
Now lets look at the 7 day creation from a solely from a rational point of view bassed on what we can decuct from the sequence of events during creation. Forgive me if I take just a slight detour from what might be considered the standard account of creation before I address the the 7 days events themselves. In Gen.Ch1,1-2, we read "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." As I read this passage it becomes very clear that the finite cannot comprehind the infinate. It makes it very clear that God was here from the beginning. But it simply does not give a start date for creation. Therefore the argument that our current dateing systems showing some geologic rock to be millions or even billions of years old disproves the creation story, is completly invalid. We can't possibily know when this mass that was ..."with out form and void;", now called earth, was created. It is not neccessary to include this bit interest when diccussing a 7 day creation, but it might help those who doubt any part of the creation story.
Lets start with Day#1: As we read the creation story we find the first day God created light. As we look around us there is one common denominator amoung all all living creaturs. They All require light to exist. I know that some will challenge that statement perhaps giving as an example life forms that live in complete darkness at the bottom of the seas. Even thoese life forms that may be thousands of feet deep are still linked in their food chains to activaties and creatures at the surface that require light. Therefore God created light first in order to support all life. Also note that God Himself called the light day and the darkness night, and said that the evening and the morning were the first DAY!.
Day#2:Gen.Ch1,6 "And God said let there be firmamant...". Wheather christian or atheist we all accept the term firmamant to mean our atmosphere. He also divided the waters that were under the earth from the firmament above the earth. In the account of the second day God creates an atmosphere that would require light to recycle water upon the earth. God did keep the order of creations events in sequence so that they would harmonize and funtcion to meet the needs of all life that He was yet to create.
Day#3: Next came the creation of dry land which was followed by the creation of all plant life which ofcourse needed the light, the firmament, and the land to survive.
Day#4: Ge.Ch1,14-16. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: HE MADE the stares also." The account of God creating the sun, moon, and stars is usually accepted by christians without much thought. It also should be noted that not only did He create a world wide "alarm clock", but also gave us a first glimpse at his future relationship with mankind through prophicy. You will note that the first use God appointed to these lights was for signs. Here again God comes first, and everything else comes second!
Day#5: Now that God has planed the georaphy of the earth, which include seperating water from dry land, He now creates all the sea creaturs and all the birds of the air. This seeming inconsistant bit of creation, sea creatures created on the same day as birds, is often pointed out by noncreationest. They simply are not thinking about the water birds. It seems to me that the Creator did indeed keep things in order.
Day#6: Now that now all the support systems needed to sustain mammalian life have been put in place. God now creates all land forms of life..."and saw that it was good." After looking over what had been created, God now decides to create the very pinical of His creation..."And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness:.... Please note the pronouns us and our. It would clearly indicate the involvement of Christ as well as God the Father in creation. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created He them....And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Once again God tells us that He did this final act of creating things and beings in one day.
Day#7: This was God's rest day. It was the only day of the creation week that God did not create. Rather "...God blessed the seventh day and santified it: because that in it He rested from all His work which God created and made."
As you can see there was a need for the orderly sequence of creation for each subsequent act of creation to survive. Also if it were untold millions of years, or for that matter even just a few years, all life as we know it today could not have survived. God also set us an example by doing His work then resting. The sequince of work then rest is vital for our best health. How many people do you know who are "stressed out" because of not enough rest. Or maybe someone is a work-a-holic, has health problems,and the Drs. tell them to get more rest.
I hope that this view of creation will be of help in understanding the NEED for a literal 7 day creation. It should also be self explainatory as to why this is both a core belife as well as a key belife for christiandom."
Your brother in Christ,
Doc
