By Bill Jones. Was the Earth created in six Earth days? I do not read Genesis 1 that way. While 6 Earth Days is certainly implied, a careful read will result in a different answer.
My background is as an engineer/scientist since I have worked in advanced engineering for my entire career. I have designed, built, and debugged systems that had never been built before. I am an inventor with ten patents.
I have eight years of study with the “Bible Study Fellowship” program. I took the BSGenesis course two times. The Genesis course was being taught when I started BSF. I started the course because I was interested in Genesis. It should be noted that BSF is a worldwide organization. If you travel you do not have to miss a single lesson since the courses are taught at the same time in each city worldwide. It is not a trivial study.
There is often a waiting list for men wanting to enlist in the BSF study. At the end of seven years you are expected to leave the course if there is a waiting list. It is not unusual to have a waiting list. This course was started by a woman. There is a duplicate BSF course for women.
I take the Bible literally, but there are minor errors in translation. These errors often lead to interesting discussion, and differing opinions. This is healthy. In any case we think in terms of a day being 24 hours. I do not suggest that there is an error in Genesis 1. I do suggest that a careful read of Genesis provides an unusual result.
Since Genesis 1 uses the term day it is assumed to be a 24 hour day. However I do not read it that way. In Genesis 1 the day is defined to be light, and darkness is defined to be night. Genesis reads as evening following morning, and we imply a 24 hour day. Actually when the Sun and Earth were formed, it is thought that a day was about 21 hours.
Data shows the universe to be about 14 billion years old. Just because it appears to be about 14 billion years old does not mean that the Earth was not created six days. The universe may be about 14 billion years old plus six days.
The universe appears to have been created instantly by what is called the “big bang.” Our galaxy is about 14 billion years old, and our solar system appears to be about 5 billion years old.
How could the Earth be formed in six days? It depends on how you read Genesis. Genesis describes the creation as follows.
I have taken the liberty to edit and condense the first days of creation. Please forgive me.
Day 1- He created light and darkness which were called Day and Night. Then there was evening and morning,
Day 2 - He created an expanse which separated water from water. He called the expanse –sky. There was evening and morning.
Day 3 - He created dry land and the sea. The land produced vegetation –seed bearing plants and trees. The land produced seed bearing fruit of various kinds. There was evening and morning.
Day 4 - He created two great lights. The greater light was to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night. He made the stars and set them in the expanse to give light on the Earth. There was evening and morning.
Day 5 - He created all living creatures in the sea and on the land, He created man, male, and female. He saw it was good. There was evening and morning.
Day 6 – God saw it was good, and there was evening and morning.
Day 7 - He finished the seventh day, and blessed his creation.
Evening to morning is normally thought to be 12 hours and this would indicate a 24 hour day. However, morning can also be translated to be brightness, and evening may be translated to be darkness. I will assume for our purpose the solar system to have been essentially completed at day 6.
There are several ways to define a day on Earth. A day is from midnight to midnight or sunset to sunset. The “civil day” is defined by the number of seconds required for a day’s rotation of the Earth. The “sidereal day” is defined using the sun. The “solar day” is defined by use of a star. The time of a “stellar day” is defined by use of a star. The last four ways were not available during Biblical days. The Biblical meaning of a day is normally 24 hours - the time from sunset to sunset. Today the meaning will vary slightly depending on the type of measurement. The actual time for a year may vary by only a second. The time for a year is measured accurately because of our advanced instrumentation.
Genesis does not mention the earth until day three. On day three the waters were gathered in one place, and there was dry land. The time between light and dark is not defined. It is important to note that the sun was not in existence until the fourth day. Then the definition of a day before the sun was put in place could be any amount of time. You cannot have a day without the sun. You had light and darkness before the sun was in place but the time of each period is not defined. In Genesis 1 you may replace evening and morning with darkness and light. It does say that - exactly.
There was no sun the first day.
There was no sun the second day.
There was no sun the third day.
The sun was created on the fourth day.
Therefore, the length of time for the first three days is not defined. The first three days could then be millions or billions of Earth days or years. He created light and darkness for the first three days but no solar system. I believe that He was bringing the system together during the first three days. The light was from our galaxy being formed. In the first three days the darkness was caused by two possible conditions. Condition one - the formation of our galaxy intermittently cut off the light. Condition two - the new earth rotated very slowly or did not begin rotation until the sun was in place.
It is thought that our galaxy is the same age as the universe or close to 14 billion years old. The sun and Earth however are thought to be about 5 billion years old. Then the Sun, and Moon, and Earth would have been formed about 9 billion years after our galaxy formation. Genesis 1 states that the sun and Moon were formed on day four. We could then infer that the first three days was a period of about nine billion years. Each day would not necessarily be three billion years, but the total would add up to about nine billion years.
There are a number of theories regarding Genesis 1, with the more important theory being that the Hebrew word regarding day is normally 24 hours. It would then appear that creation required only six days.
Yom is the Hebrew word for day and generally means 24 hours, but Yom has other meanings. Wikipedia gives other meanings as follows.
Yom - period of light (as contrasted with the period of darkness),
Yom - general term for time, but also Point of time
Sunset to next sunset
A year (in the plural; Sam 27:7; Ex 13:10, etc.) Time period of unspecified length.
The 24 hour theory is held by many Bible scholars, but God formed it as He desired. He is sovereign.
I do not mean to question Genesis 1. I only mean to note that it is not possible to have a true day 1, day 2, and day 3 as 24 hour days without a sun in our solar system. Again the first three days had light and darkness – with the length of each of the first three days being undefined. There was no solar system for the first three days.
It is normal that human beings would consider that God would choose our solar system as his standard for time. Humans have always thought that the Earth was the center of the universe. After all, the sun did revolve about the Earth in the beginning. The solar system was also the center of the universe in the beginning
We do not know that the universe has a center. We do not know if the universe is finite or infinite. There does not seem be a center.
It is estimated that we can see back 13.799 billion light years because that is how long it takes light to reach us. Since the universe is expanding we can see back further than that, but it still takes light 13.799 billion years to reach us.
As I read Genesis 1 – the solar system was not created in six 24 hour days. Each of the first three days was about 3 billion years. It makes common sense. It is scientifically reasonable. All days after the creation of the Solar system would be considered to be normal days.
Today, science is a great place to work because of the things that are being found. It appears that we know little about our universe. There are many discoveries that are being made with many of the discoveries producing questions rather than answers. Our great telescopes show galaxies and stars being formed - many light years ago.
It is accepted that dark energy and dark matter make up most of our universe. The term dark is used because it needs to be called something – “dark” seems to fit very well. It is not known what the dark energy or dark matter is. Dark seems appropriate because we cannot see it. Our universe seems to make up only about 5 percent of what is out there - only about 5 percent of what we can see. The theory is well accepted. It is difficult to prove incorrect.
There is some disagreement between Einstein and Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics provides excellent results from its mathematics, but the collapse of the wave function is mind boggling.
It is now thought by some scientist that consciousness is the cause of the wave function collapse. It is thought by some that consciousness is fundamental and possibly a wave function. Observation of an experiment can change the results of that experiment.
String theory is now popular, but in much of a mathematical uproar. It may work, and it may not work. Science is providing us with great information and discoveries. There are great discoveries and great disagreements in physics today.
I do believe that God is giving us information to show us what He has done. Some of what is being learned is unbelievable. Really unbelievable.
We must remember - God will do, and has done as He pleases…
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