I was starting to wonder if I had not departed from mainstream creationism. I decided to check out AIG to see if my understanding of there position was defective. I found these two articles:
"The objects created in Genesis 1:1 in 20th century terms are 'universe' and 'earth', although from the descriptions which follow in Genesis 1, neither of these was in a complete state. The emphasis of the statements in Genesis also becomes obvious even in the first sentence concerning creation. Since the earth is a part of the universe or of the heavens, the statement that God created the universe, would have covered everything, including the earth. The fact that it is mentioned separately focuses the reader's attention on the interest that God takes in His creation in general - the universe, and His creation in particular Earth."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/3790.asp
"We know today that all it takes to have a day-night cycle is a rotating Earth and light coming from one direction. The Bible tells us clearly that God created light on the first day, as well as the Earth. Thus we can deduce that the Earth was already rotating in space relative to this created light."
How could the days of Genesis 1 be literal if the Sun wasnt created until the fourth day?
Genesis 1:1-2 is Gods creation 'bara'. I'm something of an amature bookworm so I couldn't resist the tempation to cite something from my Vine's Expositiory Dictionary:
"bara- "to create, make," This verb is of profound theological signifigance, since it has only God as its subject. Only god can 'create' in the sense implied by bara. The verb expresses creation out of nothing, an idea seen clearly in passages having to do with creation on a cosmic scale: "In the begining God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1; Gen. 2:3; Isa. 40:26; 40:5)...Objects of the verb include the heavens and earth( Gen 1:1; Isa 40:26; 42:7; 45:18; 65:17); Man (Gen 1:27; 5:2; 6:7; Deut 4:32; Ps 89:47); Israel (Isa. 43:1; Mal 2:10)...et al...Especially striking is the use of bara in Isaiah 40-65. Out of 49 occurrences of the verb in the Old Testament, 20 are in these chapters. (Vine Expository Dictionary)
If I am not completly confused then the Creationist postition is that the heavens and the earth were created before the six day creation began.
From Henry Morris' book Biblical Creationism:
"The particular events of the six days involved three specific events of ex nililo creation , marked by the use of the Hebrew word bara (create), a verb never used to describe the work of anyone other thatn God the Creator. These three events were the creation of the physical universe, the creation of the entity of conscious life, and the creation of the spiritual nature (the image of God) in man; "In the beginning Go created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1); "God created...every living creature that moveth"(Gen 1:21); God created man in his own image...; male and female he created he them (Gen 1:27)."
From his commentary on the Fourth Day:
"Constructing the vast astrosphere suronding the earth (sun, moon and stars) and placing these "lights" throughout the infinite space of heaven that had been created on Day One, these also being made of the same earth matter created on Day One..."
(Henry Morris, Biblical Creationism)
Henry Morris has done some great work but when he does Biblical expostitions he just loses me. I guess its a commonly held belief among creationists that sun, moon and stars did not exist until the fourth day. I don't see how the text would require that particular interpretation. Personally I like the idea that the narrative is from the perspective of the earth and the light was being exposed not created in the bara sense. The reason I believe that is because he says let there be lights to govern the day and night. I think it is pretty obvious that the Genesis 1:1-2 creation and the subsequent 6 day creation are seperate events. It seems reasonable to think that they were in the rough originally and he later fine tuned them on the fourth day. I'm going to give Genesis 1 some more thought and then try to work out an expostion.
Grace and peace,
Mark