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Chris_in_Mich
Guest
I recently heard a Catholic apologist state that in the book of Genesis, a day does not mean a 24 hour period of time, I’m unfamiliar with this argument, can anyone familiar with this explain?
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mtr01
Guest
Chris in Mich:
2Peter 3 8But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Peter was probably quoting Psalm 89(90):
For a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
God is eternal, he has no beginning or end, he is outside of time. He exists in the past, present, and future all at once. Unfortunately, man cannot perceive eternity, we are bound by time. When trying to explain creation, Moses had no choice but to explain it in relation to time. Therefore, the first things created constitued first “day”, it could have taken an hour, it could have taken 1000 years, or 1,000,000 years. Time, as such, did not yet exist. There’s just no way to know how long it took. Remember what Peter teaches us:
2Peter 3 8But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Peter was probably quoting Psalm 89(90):
For a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
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PhilVaz
Guest
Ah ha I smell another age of the earth and/or evolution thread. 
I would check some of what Hugh Ross has to say, although he’s not a biblical scholar himself, he does quote a lot of biblical scholars or apologists (primarily Protestant evangelical since that’s what he is) who show day in Genesis does not necessarily mean “24 hours.”
One hint is the final day in the Genesis week, the seventh day which is still continuing (see Genesis 2:2-3 with Hebrews 4:3-5). Even if you are young-earth, God has been resting on the “seventh day” for thousands of years.
A comment from Ankerberg (see above link) : Everyone agrees that it has been at least thousands of years since the time of creation, yet the Bible declares that God rested on the seventh day after His six days of creation (Gen. 2:2-3). According to the book of Hebrews, God is still in His Sabbath rest from creation (4:3-5); hence, the seventh day has been at least six thousand years long, even on the shortest of all the chronologies of humankind.
This site defends the day-age interpretation (old earth creationist)
Hugh Ross suggests various views (24 hour, day-age, framework, analogical)
TalkOrigins overview of various Genesis interpretations
But there is no doubt science has known since the 1950s that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, along with the universe being 10-20 billion years old. And they have plenty of evidence to back that up. So we need to deal with that also rather than simply ask “what does day mean” and/or try to find all our science in Genesis or the early Fathers.
Phil P
I would check some of what Hugh Ross has to say, although he’s not a biblical scholar himself, he does quote a lot of biblical scholars or apologists (primarily Protestant evangelical since that’s what he is) who show day in Genesis does not necessarily mean “24 hours.”
One hint is the final day in the Genesis week, the seventh day which is still continuing (see Genesis 2:2-3 with Hebrews 4:3-5). Even if you are young-earth, God has been resting on the “seventh day” for thousands of years.
A comment from Ankerberg (see above link) : Everyone agrees that it has been at least thousands of years since the time of creation, yet the Bible declares that God rested on the seventh day after His six days of creation (Gen. 2:2-3). According to the book of Hebrews, God is still in His Sabbath rest from creation (4:3-5); hence, the seventh day has been at least six thousand years long, even on the shortest of all the chronologies of humankind.
This site defends the day-age interpretation (old earth creationist)
Hugh Ross suggests various views (24 hour, day-age, framework, analogical)
TalkOrigins overview of various Genesis interpretations
But there is no doubt science has known since the 1950s that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, along with the universe being 10-20 billion years old. And they have plenty of evidence to back that up. So we need to deal with that also rather than simply ask “what does day mean” and/or try to find all our science in Genesis or the early Fathers.
Phil P
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Toni
Guest
How else can you possibly explain dinosaurs to a child? We know they lived and of course we know it was for more than one day. I have heard that some religions do take the 7 days literally and I often wonder how they can explain this theory of dinosaurs to a child.
We do know God is eternal and has no time. One day could have easily been one million years.
We do know God is eternal and has no time. One day could have easily been one million years.
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PhilVaz
Guest
Toni << How else can you possibly explain dinosaurs to a child? >>
Look around the web, you’ll be surprised (or relieved if you are young-earth) that there are young-earth books for children suggesting “Adam wasn’t scared to watch dinosaurs eat, because all of the creatures ate plants and not meat.”
That is a book offered by Answers In Genesis (Ken Ham and company). Man lived with the dinosaurs, and they were all plant-eaters (including giant T-Rex) before the Fall.
D Is For Dinosaur (book and videos produced by Answers in Genesis)
This should be the front cover of that book
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/dinokid.jpg
Look around the web, you’ll be surprised (or relieved if you are young-earth) that there are young-earth books for children suggesting “Adam wasn’t scared to watch dinosaurs eat, because all of the creatures ate plants and not meat.”
That is a book offered by Answers In Genesis (Ken Ham and company). Man lived with the dinosaurs, and they were all plant-eaters (including giant T-Rex) before the Fall.
D Is For Dinosaur (book and videos produced by Answers in Genesis)
This should be the front cover of that book
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/dinokid.jpg
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trogiah
Guest
The definition of the word “day” is certainly important in deciding what to make of the Genesis account. In early times before there were accurate time keeping devices, a day was the time from one sunrise to the next sunrise. Most of us would accept that as a reasonable definition of a day. But consider the following from Genesis:
Then God said: “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
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and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth.” And so it happened:
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God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.
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God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth,
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to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.
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Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day."
The question I have is this: If the sun was not created until the fourth day, How was a day determined? Early verses state simply that light was called “day” and dark was called “night.” They don’t say how long those periods lasted.
I know some people go to great lengths to make a “science” out of the creation story. I won’t say that it is a waste of time but it seems to me to be a far greater struggle than is needed to keep balance between reason and faith.
Scripture and sacred tradition state repeatedly that God is the God of creation. The Maker of all things, seen and unseen. Every rock, tree, living creature, drop of water, the mountains, valleys, planets, stars, etc. Close examination of all these things suggest strongly that, based on a 24 hour day, all these things appear to have been created over a longer period of time than 6 times 24 hours.
For me that presents no problem. I don’t look to Scripture for science lessons. Just as I don’t look to science books for wisdom, guidance or spiritual help. (For the record, I would far sooner put away all my science books than I would Scripture. Not because I think they are wrong, but because they just aren’t as important.)
I still make it a special point to rest and worship one day out of seven just as I try my best to keep the other commandments.
Getting back to the main point, a day can be defined in many different ways. Sometimes we may be uncertain as to how a long ago author really meant to defined it. I think it is ok to be uncertain of that. We have certainty on those things that do matter.
-Jim
Then God said: “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years,
15
and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth.” And so it happened:
16
God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars.
17
God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth,
18
to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was.
19
Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day."
The question I have is this: If the sun was not created until the fourth day, How was a day determined? Early verses state simply that light was called “day” and dark was called “night.” They don’t say how long those periods lasted.
I know some people go to great lengths to make a “science” out of the creation story. I won’t say that it is a waste of time but it seems to me to be a far greater struggle than is needed to keep balance between reason and faith.
Scripture and sacred tradition state repeatedly that God is the God of creation. The Maker of all things, seen and unseen. Every rock, tree, living creature, drop of water, the mountains, valleys, planets, stars, etc. Close examination of all these things suggest strongly that, based on a 24 hour day, all these things appear to have been created over a longer period of time than 6 times 24 hours.
For me that presents no problem. I don’t look to Scripture for science lessons. Just as I don’t look to science books for wisdom, guidance or spiritual help. (For the record, I would far sooner put away all my science books than I would Scripture. Not because I think they are wrong, but because they just aren’t as important.)
I still make it a special point to rest and worship one day out of seven just as I try my best to keep the other commandments.
Getting back to the main point, a day can be defined in many different ways. Sometimes we may be uncertain as to how a long ago author really meant to defined it. I think it is ok to be uncertain of that. We have certainty on those things that do matter.
-Jim
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Todd_Easton
Guest
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
“God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity, and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine “work,” concluded by the “rest” of the seventh day.” (CCC, 337, emphasis added)
“God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity, and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine “work,” concluded by the “rest” of the seventh day.” (CCC, 337, emphasis added)
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