Correct way to Read Genesis Creation

[DOShea]

Very good reply except the last part where you said there is obviously some truth to it. I believe it is ALL TRUTH, some are just not letting the Holy Spirit led them but instead let man and therefore never see the TRUTH.

Did you also note the reason I said that was to illustrate my advice of caution when hearing that something is not written in historical narrative format? I was saying that you must not equate a text being “not a historical narrative” with a text that “didn’t happen.”

The Psalms are written in various types of Hebrew poetry, not in historical narrative, yet in them we find real people and events. That is what I’m talking about.

 

[DOShea]

This is from paragraph 63 of Communion and Stewardship

Since it has been demonstrated that all living organisms on earth are genetically related, it is virtually certain that all living organisms have descended from this first organism.

Would someone care to cite me the reference for that statement?

What has been demonstrated is that genetics works the same way in all living creatures. That is a far cry from all living organisms "are genetically related. And there is NO “virtual certainty” that ALL living organisms have descended from this first organism.

Where do they get this stuff? Evidence for that “certainty?” I know better than to ask for that. There isn’t any, just a lot of good theories.

So I’d like to know upon what information this statement was based, or did they just make it as an assumption?

As a practical matter, that document is useless. It clearly states the only kind of evolution you can believe in is one that has the hand of God behind it as the cause. Good luck trying to locate one of those. It’s effectively saying you can believe in evolution so long as it isn’t any of the ones currently being posed out in the real world.

 

[buffalo]

When did this process begin, and was it unbroken ? One asks because it is difficult to fit a date of 2348 BC for the Flood into the history of the Ancient Near East. And if it is being suggested that Adam & Eve chatted in Hebrew in the year 4004 BC, and really had Hebrew names - that is ***really ***stretching it.​

What is your source for Levi’s age ? Genesis does not say.

Just curious - since God infused knowledge into Adam and Eve - what language do you suppose they spoke?

 

[PeterK]

Just curious - since God infused knowledge into Adam and Eve - what language do you suppose they spoke?

Since languages are generally named according to locale - Japanese, German, Italian, etc. - I would say they spoke Edenese.

Those familiar with the Harry Potter series would say that Eve spoke parseltongue.

PeterK

 

[PeterK]

The ultra-literalist or literal-only stance can best understood using the familiar narrative of the Tortoise and the Hare as an example. The literalist would say tortoises and hares actually, at least on one occasion, spoke to one another and pursued sport by engaging in competitions to determine certain matters of supremacy, all to the delight of other forest animal spectators. Further, and this is the rub, to deny the actuality of these literal details is to set oneself against all truth contained in the narrative. It’s a black and white, all or none, methodology.

Atheists point out this trait to their great advantage in propagating their godless cause. A common atheist refrain is that to be Christian is to believe in many absurd things that run counter to human reason and natural law.

However, one can accept and even revere the core truths the above narrative example espouses - never give up, perseverance prevails, pride before the fall, hares are arrogant (OK, maybe not that last one) - and all the while maintain that such activities among animals to be pure fantasy because they are not in accord with what human observation and reason have consistently seen to be normal natural animal behavior.

To apply the above model to the Genesis narratives we can even believe these core truths to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and the author of the narrative to have been a holy woman/man inspired by the Holy Spirit. We can even believe this tortoise and hare story to be the very Word of God. Even with all this added belief, we can still hold tortoises and hares do not, and never did, speak to each other and never engaged in sport.

In my previous post in this thread - #53 - I listed many details we are not held to believe as having actually happened. This does no disservice to the narrative.

One of the fears of the literalist involves historicity. Again, in a black and white world, to doubt the literal historicity of the creation narrative is to doubt the historicity of all scriptures. So if the creation of the universe in 7 days is not true, then Jesus never rose from the dead. No. Wrong. The different narratives in scripture can have varying degrees of literal historicity. Some are indeed to be taken quite literally.

How do we know?

The Catechism guides us concerning the core essential truths of scripture. As long as these core truths are not compromised we can entertain a broad spectrum of ideas as we try to assess what actually happened from a materialistic point of view. This attitude is not contrary to the faith. To suggest it is contrary is misleading.

Hope this helped.

PeterK

 

[edwest2]

This is from paragraph 63 of Communion and Stewardship

Would someone care to cite me the reference for that statement?

What has been demonstrated is that genetics works the same way in all living creatures. That is a far cry from all living organisms "are genetically related. And there is NO “virtual certainty” that ALL living organisms have descended from this first organism.

Where do they get this stuff? Evidence for that “certainty?” I know better than to ask for that. There isn’t any, just a lot of good theories.

So I’d like to know upon what information this statement was based, or did they just make it as an assumption?

As a practical matter, that document is useless. It clearly states the only kind of evolution you can believe in is one that has the hand of God behind it as the cause. Good luck trying to locate one of those. It’s effectively saying you can believe in evolution so long as it isn’t any of the ones currently being posed out in the real world.

“real world”? You mean the God-is-not-involved-in-the real-world, real world?

The document is useless? Why? Everyone in the real world was quoting Pope John Paul II all the time but only to use his words to say, See, see, the Church believes in evolution.

And thanks for bringing this to people’s attention. The only form of evolution Catholics are allowed to accept is one that “has the hand of God behind it as the cause.” I’ve heard that repeated by priests on Catholic radio.

Peace,
Ed

 

[DOShea]

In my previous post in this thread - #53 - I listed many details we are not held to believe as having actually happened. This does no disservice to the narrative.

You’re right, it does not do violence to THAT narrative. One of the primary principles of any biblical interpretation is that individual passages should not be interpreted in a vaccuum, instead bounced against the rest of the Scripture in order to gain a better sense of what it means. So what do you make of Exodus 20:10-11? The same God speaking to Moses the Ten Commandments declares that in six days He made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that in them is? He says “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work,…” If this reference to days is the same a Genesis, and those were longer than 24 hour days, than how long is a Sabbath, a day, or eons? If it is different than Genesis, where the Genesis day is allegorical and the Exodus day is not, then you have an inspired text giving TWO completely different answers to the same question. That isn’t supposed to happen with inspired texts because there is only one Truth.

If one holds Genesis to be nothing but an allegorical - that is, a fairy tale with a deeper meaning, you are forced to hold Exodus 20 in the same regard since God can’t “allegorically” do it in one book and really do it in the next. If you hold Exodus as allegorical, you have only a fairy tale as a basis from which to formulate mortal sin, since their basis are the words on either side of Exodus 20:10-11. Is that your position? The Ten Commandments were simply allegorical?

If you step into that swamp, you do violence to virtually all of the Old Testament. When God strikes dead a man who touched the Ark He would have had no reason that could be conveyed to man as just. When David sinned by murdering a soldier and taking his wife, God would then have been UNjust to take the life of David’s child as a punishment for disobeying an allegorical. When God commanded Moses to rid the tribe of Israel of the sin that dwelt within it, and they killed an entire household to satisfy that requirement, that would place God in the position of ordering a murder because someone - what - misinterpreted the allegory?

Reduxio ad absurdum.

 

[nordskoven]

The Genesis creation account is more aptly described as being in the format of and constituting a covenant with the Creator. The Suzerainty Treaties of the ancient Middle East are always in two parts. As a technical document, the Genesis creation account is consonant with modern medical and legal expositions consisting of a synopsis and a detailed description that, if each is viewed separately, can almost be seen as unrelated.

The scientific dynamics behind Genesis are stunning and have a broad consonance with astral physics as researched and confirmed by Immanuel Velikovsky, who correlated all ancient accounts of actions in the heavens to come up with accurate conclusions before direct observation was possible, like a hot Venus. Genesis is recording astral events starting with the beginning of time, and the translation of various stages is a bit impoverished. Honoring the observations of the ancients as accurate made Velikovsky’s methodology a target for the likes of those atheistic evolutionists who are still desperately seeking life as coming from other planets, still monitoring radio transmissions from outer space like eager Mormons waiting to hear from their interplanetary god.

I think Moses, a prince of Egypt, likely got the creation account from Egyptian archives as left by the original monotheists. All ancient cultures follow Genesis in things like marriage, and strict modesty standards, and it may be posited that everybody was working from the same account at one time. Monotheism was probably not instituted but re-instituted by Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton, who showed great largesse to the Hebrews at this time, doubtless in recognition of their preservation of orthodoxy.

Evidence points to monotheism being universal and original. In Egypt, the wily rebel priesthood made discernible attempts to cover original monotheism up. There’s the real story. As an aside, this is why God may be more aptly described as returning, not turning over, lands that were once those of the monotheists to their spiritual descendants, the Hebrews who wrested them from the rebels. Abraham and Princess Sarah left Ur of the Chaldees which was a hotbed of rebellion. Lugal, a rebel priest, tried to usurp Sargon the Great’s empire centuries before by attempting to rape his daughter, Princess Enheduanna, the “woman of grace.” Who marries the princess becomes the steward-husbandman-ruler. This is why Sarah had to be removed, and why kings wanted her hand in marriage.

The medical accuracy of Genesis is stunning if translated as richly as it demands. A man was made of the stuff of the Earth! We take this for granted but this is hot news! And gene permutation studies show we came from one man, “Scientific Adam”; and from one woman, dubbed “Eve.” Man was put into a deep sleep–anesthesia! Stunning! Don’t be so jaded as to be unimpressed. From man’s tissue, another creature was cloned. Only this creature was not just cloned, this creature, according to the literal translation, was “refined.” Woman is God’s greatest gift to man. Woman wasn’t just cloned, she was refined, genetically modified, in shocking accord with modern genetics only recently discovered.

A day with the Lord is like a thousand years is explained in the online essay, “Seven Years of Starlight and Time” by Russell Humphreys, a grand solution to the time dilemma with the thin edge of the time wedge being a 24-hour-day and the large end of the wedge being eons. The Bible contains great science, and the history of God’s revelation to His elect shows high tech, high math, and high med skills being imparted that were back-engineered to form the basis of western scientific advances. The Eucharist is great physics and I’m humbled to be allowed to honor and partake of this Greatest Gift. If you don’t know, don’t doubt. Reserve judgment. Trust in God and fear nothing, as the great mystic and scholar Teresa of Avila counseled. May she pray for us to be richly blessed of God.

“Shining One” is the translation descriptor bonded with “serpent” and may we all heed Jesus Christ’s warning, “Beware of Satan appearing as an Angel of Light.” Most High God, preserve us–gently and firmly–unto everlasting life with Thee in Heaven. AMEN

 

[BibleAnswer]

When did this process begin, and was it unbroken ? One asks because it is difficult to fit a date of 2348 BC for the Flood into the history of the Ancient Near East. And if it is being suggested that Adam & Eve chatted in Hebrew in the year 4004 BC, and really had Hebrew names - that is ***really ***stretching it.​

What is your source for Levi’s age ? Genesis does not say.

10883 BC: SETH IS BORN. ADAM IS 130 YEARS OLD.

10778 BC: ENOSH IS BORN. ADAM IS 235 YEARS OLD. SETH IS 105 YEARS OLD.

5590 BC: NOAH IS BORN. LAMECH IS 182 YEARS OLD.

5090 BC: SHEM IS BORN. NOAH IS 500 YEARS OLD.

MAY 21, 4990 BC: GOD DESTROYS THE WORLD BY WATER.

4488 BC: ARPHAXAD IS BORN. SHEM IS 602 YEARS OLD AND DIES.

3153-2914 BC: GOD DIVIDES THE EARTH INTO CONTINENTS, AND CONFUSES MAN’S LANGUAGE.

2167 BC: ABRAM IS BORN. TERAH IS 130 YEARS OLD.

2068 BC: GODS COVENANT TO ABRAHAM.

2067 BC: ISAAC IS BORN. ABRAHAM IS 100 YEARS OLD.

2007 BC: JACOB IS BORN. ABRAHAM IS 160. ISAAC IS 60 YEARS OLD.

1967 BC: JACOB GAINS ESAU’S BIRTHRIGHT AND GOES TO HARAN.

1954 BC: LEVI IS BORN. 1950 BC: JOSEPH IS BORN.

1944 BC: JACOB DEPARTS HARAN WITH HIS FAMILY.

1944-1933 BC: GODS COVENANT WITH ISRAEL WHO IS JACOB.

1933 BC: JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY.

1877 BC: ISRAEL ENTERS EGYPT. BEGINNING 430 SOJOURN.

THE GENEALOGY OF LEVI

Ex 6:16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty seven

1817 BC: Levi dies at 137. Kohath is the patriarch. 77 years later.

Ex 6:18 And the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty three

1667 BC: Kohath dies at 133. Amram is the patriarch. 133 years later.

1530 BC: AARON IS BORN. 1527 BC: MOSES IS BORN.

APRIL 1447 BC: MOSES LEADS ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT AFTER 430 YEARS OF BONDAGE.

1447 BC: MOSES PARTS THE RED SEA.

JULY 1447 BC: THE 10 COMMANDMENTS [THE LAW].

MAY 1445 BC: MOSES LEADS ISRAEL INTO THE WILDERNESS.

MARCH 1407 BC: JOSHUA LEADS ISRAEL INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN.

All of this information was obtained from scripture in the bible. It took many hours, days, months of study to find the connection. but there it is.

 

[nordskoven]

Timely revelation of science from the Creator includes the Ark of the Covenant, a giant capacitor, that is, a module that stored up electrical energy like a Leyden Jar and was able to release it in one gigantic, man-smoking burst. The capacitor in a television or a computer could kill a person even if unplugged. And when the escort touched the Ark of the Covenant, he was zapped to death. Here is an example of sin as contravening a law of nature, not a moral law, although disobeying God is ultimately disobeying a moral law, is it not?

Noah’s Ark was another high-concept, high-tech ship, a massive flotation raft consisting of bundled giant reeds lashed together and tarred and dusted with volcanic ash (kephra, not “gopher” with “wood” emended), all to stop waterlogging. Because Noah’s Ark stayed buoyant via flotation and not displacement as with a hollow boat, it could not capsize. Noah’s Ark was free-bailing like the reed raft of Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl, Kon-Tiki, i.e., water ran through it so no bailing, but Kon-Tiki got waterlogged as it was not tarred. The log superstructure on Noah’s Ark was a three-story trusswork supported within fore and aft by angled twin stem-and-sternposts to allay “hogging” or buckling stress. This was the iconic basis for the twin pillars in profane and sacred temples of old, the symbol of Noah’s divinely-granted authority. Take back our twin pillars from the Freemasons! That’s orthodox technology.

More high science from the Most High God: Moses and the Bronze Serpent. A plague of snakes besets the Wandering Jews, and Moses implements an inspired plague-busting protocol. The people are all to tramp to the center of the camp and meet at a great Bronze Serpent. Then they are to make their way back to their respective campsites. The huge S-curve in bronze is held up by a shaft sunk into the ground and is transmitting low frequency waves inimical to snakes. Everybody meeting up at the S-curve is vibrating the ground that creates a resonance in the S-curve that transmits said resonance into the earth. The sensitive snakes beat it. Thanks, God. The lesson here is that a miracle is not in the means, it is in the timing! J.I.T. Just In Time!

Lord, we rely on You alone to protect and guide us; aide us mightily as a witness to the unbelievers of Your providence and power and receive our humblest thanks and highest praise. AMEN

 

[NotWorthy]

5090 BC: SHEM IS BORN. NOAH IS 500 YEARS OLD.

MAY 21, 4990 BC: GOD DESTROYS THE WORLD BY WATER.

4488 BC: ARPHAXAD IS BORN. SHEM IS 602 YEARS OLD AND DIES.

3153-2914 BC: GOD DIVIDES THE EARTH INTO CONTINENTS, AND CONFUSES MAN’S LANGUAGE.

I’m confused. I thought Shem was alive during the lifetime of Abram. It would be worth another thread - this one has gone far enough off-topic.

 

[NotWorthy]

I’m confused. I thought Shem was alive during the lifetime of Abram. It would be worth another thread - this one has gone far enough off-topic.

To belabor the point, many of our brother Jews teach that Melchizedek was actually Shem.

 

[BibleAnswer]

I’m confused. I thought Shem was alive during the lifetime of Abram. It would be worth another thread - this one has gone far enough off-topic.

shem born 5090 bc
the FLOOD: 4990bc
arphaxad born 4488bc
salah
eber
peleg; the tower of babel, confusion of language.
reu
serug
nahor
terah
Abram born 2167bc

this is the geneoligy of shem. 2321 years between shem and abram.

 

[NotWorthy]

shem born 5090 bc
the FLOOD: 4990bc
arphaxad born 4488bc
salah
eber
peleg; the tower of babel, confusion of language.
reu
serug
nahor
terah
Abram born 2167bc

this is the geneoligy of shem. 2321 years between shem and abram.

Are you sure about this?

Here’s what I get from AgapeBibleStudy.com

Genesis 11:10 records: When Shem was a hundred years old he fathered Arpachshad, two years after the flood. After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years*. *Shem lived to be 600 years old. If you calculate the age of Shem from the toledoth of Genesis chapter 11 you will discover that Shem was 390 years old when Abram was born. Genesis 17:24 records that Abraham (his name was changed by then) was 99 years old when Ishmael was circumcised at age 13. At that time Shem was a venerable 489 years old-- still alive after the events of Genesis chapter 14. For information on Shem as Melchizedek also see *Babylonian Talmud, N’darim 32b; *and most modern Jewish Bible study notes: i.e., *Tanach *(Stone edition), note on page 29; and *The Jewish New Testament Commentary, *page 679.

 

[NotWorthy]

shem born 5090 bc
the FLOOD: 4990bc
arphaxad born 4488bc
salah
eber
peleg; the tower of babel, confusion of language.
reu
serug
nahor
terah
Abram born 2167bc

this is the geneoligy of shem. 2321 years between shem and abram.

I think you are figuring the ages that each man died in your geneaology between generations, rather than the age each man was when he fathered the next generation.

Here’s what Genesis 11’s Toledoth of Shem says:

Genesis 11:11*** When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. … 12 When Arpachshad was thirty-five years old, he became the father of Shelah***. (Shem would be 135)….***14 ***

When Shelah was thirty years old, he became the father of Eber. (Shem would be 165 when Eber was born)… 16*** When Eber was thirty-four years old, he became the father of Peleg***. (Shem was 199 years old)… 18 ****** When Peleg was thirty years old, he became the father of Reu. (Shem was 229 years old)… ***20 ***
When Reu was thirty-two years old, he became the father of Serug. (Shem was 261 years old)… ***22 ***When Serug was thirty years old, he became the father of Nahor. (Shem was 291 years old)… ***24 ***When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he became the father of Terah. (Shem was 320 years old)… ***26 ***When Terah was seventy years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. (Shem was 390 years old).

If Abraham was 99 years old when he had Isaac, then Isaac was born around 400 years after the flood, not the 2000+ years you are indicating.

 

[juliamajor]

Trouble with biblical geneologies is that they’re telescoped down.Meaning only the best and brightest, the ones most likely to give their families honor and prestige(and lets face it that part of what geneologies are about)would be included.You wouldn’t put uncle uggah who committed suicide in , or the three headed children he had! You’d have a hard time getting a marriage contract or into a royal court that way.
Homic idalaunt Muttah who drowned uncle Percy in the tub, also wouldn’t make it.You can’t get a true accounting of time by using that method.Thay might have worked in the western world but in the ancient near east and ancient world it won’t fly.(even in the West we have a tendency to disregard or hide unsavory people or events-I found that out through my husband’s geneology!)This leaves gaps.

 

[BibleAnswer]

NotWorthy,
Julia,

Hey julia, its been awhile sense we debated,

I would like to make two points.

1st, NotWorthy, I understand your method, as this is the method used by Ussa to calculate his timeline way back when. However, there are certian verses which point to the fact that certian patriarchs of the line of Adam to Christ, were born on the death of the previous patriarch. This is my evidence.

The ambiguity of “named him” and “begot”, when understanding
genealogy and TIME in the bible:

In (Gen 4:25), (Gen 4:26) God uses special language to set forth
a precedence, to discern between offspring and grandchildren.

Named him: Denotes an immediate descendent.
An offspring. The calendar is based off of the new patriarch
at the year of his birth.
(Gen 4:25),(Gen 4:26),(Gen 5:29),(Gen 21:3),(Gen 25:26)

Begot: Denotes a descendent far removed. A grandchild.
The calendar is based off of the death of the old patriarch.

It has been established that the calendar has been tied to the life
spans of certain patriarchs.
(Gen 5:32),(Gen 11:10),(Gen 11:26)

Language is very important when studing the bible. I suggest, if you are student of the bible and seeker of answers, to open the bible, and study the verses i set forth, and before you make a comment, try to see if you can see what i see. if not, so be it.

2nd point, Julia

We cant make the bible say what we want it to say. there are no gaps, or lost accounts in the bible. It is Gods word and God is complete and perfect. He would not give us a incomplete account.

The fact is that without further study, **you **have used your own mind to rationalize the account given by God thereby taking away His glory with your misunderstanding. We can’t do that, ever, we will always be in error if we do that. The rightous to the damned are all in the bible for our benefit for correction and instruction in righteousness.

2Tim 3:17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

[NotWorthy]

NotWorthy,
Julia,

Hey julia, its been awhile sense we debated,

I would like to make two points.

1st, NotWorthy, I understand your method, as this is the method used by Ussa to calculate his timeline way back when. However, there are certian verses which point to the fact that certian patriarchs of the line of Adam to Christ, were born on the death of the previous patriarch. This is my evidence.

The ambiguity of “named him” and “begot”, when understanding
genealogy and TIME in the bible:

In (Gen 4:25), (Gen 4:26) God uses special language to set forth
a precedence, to discern between offspring and grandchildren.

Named him: Denotes an immediate descendent.
An offspring. The calendar is based off of the new patriarch
at the year of his birth.
(Gen 4:25),(Gen 4:26),(Gen 5:29),(Gen 21:3),(Gen 25:26)

Begot: Denotes a descendent far removed. A grandchild.
The calendar is based off of the death of the old patriarch.

It has been established that the calendar has been tied to the life
spans of certain patriarchs.
(Gen 5:32),(Gen 11:10),(Gen 11:26)

Language is very important when studing the bible. I suggest, if you are student of the bible and seeker of answers, to open the bible, and study the verses i set forth, and before you make a comment, try to see if you can see what i see. if not, so be it.

OK, my brother. But I’m still lost. Here’s what you wrote:

                 Originally Posted by **BibleAnswer**                     [forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif](http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=5619880#post5619880)                 
             5090 BC: SHEM IS BORN. NOAH IS 500 YEARS OLD.

MAY 21, 4990 BC: GOD DESTROYS THE WORLD BY WATER.

**4488 BC: ARPHAXAD IS BORN. SHEM IS 602 YEARS OLD AND DIES. **

3153-2914 BC: GOD DIVIDES THE EARTH INTO CONTINENTS, AND CONFUSES MAN’S LANGUAGE.

I simply do not understand how you got that from Genesis

Genesis 11:11*** When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. …

Does it or does it not say that Arpachshad was born two years after the flood?*

 

[Philthy]

We cant make the bible say what we want it to say. there are no gaps, or lost accounts in the bible. It is Gods word and God is complete and perfect. **He would not give us a incomplete account. **

Sorry, but your conclusion violates the premise that you offered. Please show where the bible says that God will not give us an incomplete account. Otherwise you are simply trying to make the bible say what you want it to say, no? Isnt that what you started out saying that we can’t do?

The fact is that without further study, **you **have used your own mind to rationalize the account given by God thereby taking away His glory with your misunderstanding. We can’t do that, ever, we will always be in error if we do that.

It is not as simple as you apparently would like to pretend it is. The creation account indicates that “morning and evening came” for the first three “days” of creation. Gods word also tells us that the sun and moon and stars had not yet been created. Our understanding of a “day”, of “morning”, and of “evening” is inseparable from the sun. In addition, it is inseparable from the rotation of the earth, which is determined by the other planets and stars which influence the earths rotation. What are we to understand of the use of the word “day” prior to the creation of the sun, moon and stars??? Should we “make the bible say what we want it to say” and ASSUME that the day is the same length of time as our 24 hour day??? You criticized such an approach above - what say you now?
Furthermore - the concept of “night and day” is entirely terrestrial. It is the perspective of a person who is stationary on the earth where the rotation of the earth brings the sun, moon and stars into view and thereby defines “evening and morning”. But God’s perspective is very different. It is always “daytime” somewhere on earth, and it is always “evening” on earth. Morning and evening are CONSTANTLY coming and going. Evening does not “come and go” except in relation to fixed points on the earth. Morning and evening, day and night are HUMAN concepts and perspectives, they are not God’s perspective. Now, in order to accept the “literal” interpretation of the creation account as you would propose we have to assume that God became limited and finite - quite human - in his perspective. And why would He do that??? That would be misleading us in our understanding of God, would it not???
It is because of these very basic issues (among others) that the Genesis account is not taken literally in all respects.

 

[BibleAnswer]

OK, my brother. But I’m still lost. Here’s what you wrote:
I simply do not understand how you got that from Genesis

Genesis 11:11*** When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the flood. …

Does it or does it not say that Arpachshad was born two years after the flood?*

In (Gen 4:25), (Gen 4:26) God uses special language to set forth
a precedence, to discern between offspring and grandchildren.

Named him: Denotes an immediate descendent.
An offspring. The calendar is based off of the new patriarch
at the year of his birth.
(Gen 4:25),(Gen 4:26),(Gen 5:29),(Gen 21:3),(Gen 25:26)

Begot: Denotes a descendent far removed. A grandchild.
The calendar is based off of the death of the old patriarch.

It has been established that the calendar has been tied to the life
spans of certain patriarchs.
(Gen 5:32),(Gen 11:10),(Gen 11:26)

This is the answer.

Notice the language used, Shem **Begot **Arphaxad. This means that Arphaxad was not an immediate descendent of Shem, however through the years of children Shem had, through his line, which is the line of Adam to Christ, eventually Arphaxad was born, and Arphaxad was the patriarch when Shem dies as the language implies. This fits with the rest of the account given in Genesis.

There is two words used when geneoligy is given.

Begot
and
Named

You must distinguish between the two, because they mean seperate things. If you apply the same rule to both of the words you will end up with a timeline like Ussa’s,

However the language is different and so we must figure out why. and so there it is.