Did God Create the World in Six Days?

[Fiasco]

I know exactly what you mean

Thanks, Dave. Do U cringe too?
They do Christianity a disservice, especially with the likes of C. R. Dawkins waiting to pounce on anything that looks irrational.

Even worse: some folks follow Velikovsky!!!

 

[InJesusItrust]

Thanks, Dave. Do U cringe too?
They do Christianity a disservice, especially with the likes of C. R. Dawkins waiting to pounce on anything that looks irrational.

Even worse: some folks follow Velikovsky!!!

Explain the flood. Science cannot detect the flood, but Jesus’ genealogy is traced back to Adam. Either the flood was a metaphor, Christianity is a lie, or somehow science has it wrong. Even in Akita the Virgin Mary warns of a time worse than the deluge, implying that it happened.

 

[itullian]

the Bible says 6 days

we know it’s billions of years.

Bible is wrong, face it.

one of the reasons i’ve lost my faith.

 

[Nat682]

I realize that this is a slightly ridiculous explanation, but:

Jesus said that, with God, one day is like a thousand years. Genesis says that everything in existence was created in six days. If each day is like a thousand years, then six days is 6,000 years. 6,000 years is about 2,191,500 days. Each one of those days is a thousand years, so everything was created in 2,191,500,000 (2 billion 191 milion 500 thousand) years. If you compound this formula a third time, you get 800,445,375,000,000 (more than 800 billion) years. You never know what God’s really saying. On this issue, I am going on the principle that nobody cares. We are not going to Hell (or Purgatory) for misunderstanding how long it took to create everything. God is the maker of heaven and earth; let’s leave it at that. As Galileo said, the Bible tells how to get to heaven rather than how the heavens were made.

And please note that there is a ban on discussing evolution that is still in effect.

 

[itullian]

really good try Nat, but in reading the Bible it seems obvious to me it means regular days, like when in Exodus it says, for in 6 days God made the world and on the 7th he rested.
to tell us to keep the 7th day holy.

besides, if you go the long day route you get into animal death and all kinds of weird stuff.

 

[fms]

As Galileo said, the Bible tells how to get to heaven rather than how the heavens were made.

…

This is inaccurate

 

[gregrege]

disagreehttp://www.cleaningcassette.com

 

[fms]

gregrege if you were disagreeing with my last post

Wikiquote

**I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree: “The intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heavens go.” **

Variant translation: I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree: “That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes.”

Based on this definition of science:

Science (from Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”) is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

I do not see how science can show ‘how the heavens were made’.

 

[gentle_atheist]

Regardless of the author’s intent, the fact remains that for thousands of years almost all good, God-fearing, Bible-believing Jews and Christians have taken the creation account literally. 6 days meant 6 24-hour days. If the author is God Himself, then didn’t the author foresee that?

Would God knowingly mislead people into believing something that isn’t true?

 

[edwest2]

This issue will be brought up here constantly. Why?

If the Bible is not a science book then why treat it as one?

The Church permits either view:

“Much less has been defined as to when the universe, life, and man appeared. The Church has infallibly determined that the universe is of finite age—that it has not existed from all eternity—but it has not infallibly defined whether the world was created only a few thousand years ago or whether it was created several billion years ago.”

Peace,
Ed

 

[fms]

Regardless of the author’s intent, the fact remains that for thousands of years almost all good, God-fearing, Bible-believing Jews and Christians have taken the creation account literally. 6 days meant 6 24-hour days. If the author is God Himself, then didn’t the author foresee that?

Would God knowingly mislead people into believing something that isn’t true?

At first glance looks like a solid argument.

Glad ar least you get the author intent part.

From Faith, understanding you are an aethist, God cannot deceive or be deceived. What would be the point?

Getting to your argument, recall all the classes you attended. One Teacher but the students had different aptitudes and understanding.

 

[fms]

How To Read the Bible

Interesting…

 

[HelenRose]

the Bible says 6 days

we know it’s billions of years.

Bible is wrong, face it.

one of the reasons i’ve lost my faith.

I find that so sad. I have always understood that the Bible teaches the “Why” of our existence and science the “How” of our existence. To throw away ones faith so easily is truly a tragedy.

I do not see a contradiction in faith and reason. I also realize that there is no point in arguing. You have made up your mind.

I have often wondered why it is so important for many people who “have lost” their faith to destroy the faith in others. I believe that I have something to give when I talk about God, faith and reason. But what is given when someone is teaching a belief in nothing?

Believing in God and loving the Bible has taken nothing away from my love for scientific thought. I have the best of both worlds. These two visions of life have given me wings to learn about and to love life.

 

[fms]

I find that so sad. I have always understood that the Bible teaches the “Why” of our existence and science the “How” of our existence. To throw away ones faith so easily is truly a tragedy.

I do not see a contradiction in faith and reason. I also realize that there is no point in arguing. You have made up your mind.

I have often wondered why it is so important for many people who “have lost” their faith to destroy the faith in others. I believe that I have something to give when I talk about God, faith and reason. But what is given when someone is teaching a belief in nothing?

Believing in God and loving the Bible has taken nothing away from my love for scientific thought. I have the best of both worlds. These two visions of life have given me wings to learn about and to love life.

I was waiting for the opportune time to ask how many who have posted in this thread are physicists, scientists, engineers, astronomers, etc. So how many are there?

I generally believe that these are also believers because they have come to behold in awe the creation they study.

This week I was at the eye doctor and he took a model of an eye to explain something to me. We ended up commenting how just this one part of the human body can be an object of an entire lifetime of study and yet never getting understood completely (pointing to its infinite mysterious creator).

 

[Fiasco]

Explain the flood. Science cannot detect the flood, but Jesus’ genealogy is traced back to Adam. Either the flood was a metaphor, Christianity is a lie, or somehow science has it wrong. Even in Akita the Virgin Mary warns of a time worse than the deluge, implying that it happened.

The Flood and the age of the Earth are two different things. ive never denied the Flood or our First Parents or Jesus genealogy. Actually, were allowed to believe that the Flood was less than global......im not qualified to comment on that one.

If youre into astronomy, youll know that stars are powered by nuclear fusion, and that heavy elements are formed in stars which go supernova, and distribute them through Space… etc etc etc. The whole awesome thing makes one appreciate the omnipotence of God much more than a 6-day Creation belief ever could.

The Earth, the Solar System, our location in the Milky Way, gravitational effects between the Milky Way and other galaxies…and on and on and on: All interlocking.

God gives each of us an intellect, and He gives us vastly more than enough to exercise them. fms` eye doctor account is a great example.

Jesus said that,** with God, one day is like a thousand years**. Genesis says that everything in existence was created in six days. If each day is like a thousand years, then six days is 6,000 years. 6,000 years is about 2,191,500 days. Each one of those days is a thousand years…

Scripture also says that to God, a thousand years is but a day.
All its really saying is that from Gods perspective, time is meaningless. To Him, theres no before and after; theres just the eternal NOW. Hes immutable. In other words,** from Gods perspective,** everything is in the eternal NOW. To OT folks, 1,000 was a large number. From memory, the myriad (10,000) was the Greeks highest number. To us, thats not huge. “In them days”, using numbers which we consider huge would`ve been impossible: 10+ billion!!!

really good try Nat, but in reading the Bible it seems obvious to me it means regular days, like when in Exodus it says, for in 6 days God made the world **and on the 7th he rested.**to tell us to keep the 7th day holy.

Thats obviously metaphorical because God doesnt rest. The resting bit was included for our benefit.

 

[HelenRose]

I was waiting for the opportune time to ask how many who have posted in this thread are physicists, scientists, engineers, astronomers, etc. So how many are there?

I generally believe that these are also believers because they have come to behold in awe the creation they study.

This week I was at the eye doctor and he took a model of an eye to explain something to me. We ended up commenting how just this one part of the human body can be an object of an entire lifetime of study and yet never getting understood completely (pointing to its infinite mysterious creator).

I do not want you to assume that I am a scientist or any of the above disciplines. I love thinking about the wonders of our universe. I study on my own but I do not have the discipline to be anything more than an arm-chair admirer of those who really do devote their lives to the search for truth. For I do believe that truth does exist. I believe that we are obliged to seek truth even if truth is more often than not beyond our ability to understand.

It seems to me that it would be hard to see the wonders of something like an eye and not have anyone to say ‘thank you’. I am fortunate to live in Western Colorado. There are many nights when I can behold the wonders of the universe in the sky. The stars against the black sky speak to me of the wonder of God.

How lonely we would be if God did not exist. How vast the universe. How frail the human being. Yet we are given the gift the love it. For this I am grateful beyond measure.

 

[buffalo]

Genesis 1 seems to be written form God’s Perspective.

Imagine a rolled up tape measure. God sees the rolls all at once. We live on the tape measure, and we have to see the actual divisions as we look back.

Faith and reason do intersect in certain areas. Human reasoning of our observations are a weakness.

http://forums.catholic-questions.org/picture.php?albumid=639&pictureid=7720

 

[BrJuniper]

Cosmology now seems to confirm that:

map.gsfc.nasa.gov/cosmology/cosmology.html

It seems to me that it is science which tends toward (never quite catching up) revealed truth and not the other way round.

Short answer…no. Creation was not complete until the Ascension.

 

[buffalo]

Yound Earth Creationism, makes Christians look unreasonable in my personal opinion.

bowing to the god of BUC makes materialists look irrational in my opinion.

 

[buffalo]

May I quote Augustine of Hippo on the literal interpretation of Genesis:

Anyway I thought Catholics rejected “sciptura sola” so you should look at Church tradition as well as the literal word of the Bible.

Be careful here, look at all of St Augustine’s writings.

From the Catechism:

The senses of Scripture
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two *senses *of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85
3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86
   118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:
   The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
   The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87 119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgment. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88
   But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.89