Did God really create the world in 6 days?

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buzy_mom

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What is the Catholic teaching on scripture’s interpretation if God created world in 24 hour periods as indicated in the bible as day 1, day 2 etc. or could it be in time periods or era’s?
 
The things which the Church teaches us are revealed truths in the two different creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 do not include a literal six day creation.

I hope that is clear.

-Tim-
 
You are not required to believe either way. Some people believe it is literal six days, some believe each “day” is symbolic a period of time, and others believe it’s just a story. I think that all is required is that you believe the story about how God created man (humans are special and have a special, immortal, soul from God).
 
The previous thread has a link to an interesting document from the Vatican on this subject. Thanks, that is very good.

This subject has been discussed in many, many threads. Some of us old timers here get tired of repeating the answers over and over.

use the “search” feature to go back and browse through the many answers to this same question that have been submitted in even just the last year.

Part of your question has to do with an “official” Church document on this? The Church does not have documents that are broken down into unofficial documents on one pile and official documents on another pile.

Maybe you’re just saying you don’t want just somebody’s private opinion about this. In these threads you’re about 99% assured of JUST getting people’s private opinion.

The modern place to read “some” official teaching about creation is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can do a search for this in your browser. Once you get there, do a search on “creation” and you will fnd the “official” information.

The official teaching does not insist on creation in six days (in a scientific sense) as depicted in Genesis.

You may be interested in some perspectives from published commentaries on Genesis. There’s plenty of help in the other creation threads in this website.

I will extend my reply in a following post.
 
St. Augustine, quite early in the history of Catholic thought, said that these “days” could each be a long period of time, rather than 24 hour periods. There is absolutely no problem if we do not believe these days are 24 hour periods.
 
I promised a more detailed post on this subject but it was deleted somehow. I cannot exactly reproduce it.

But, my deleted post was not exhaustive on the subject, and perhaps this post will have more information that is useful to you.

Judaism refers to the first five books of the Bible as “the Torah” which means “instruction.”
Likewise, and similarly, the New Testament both directly and indirectly says virtually the same thing. 1Tim3:16-17 says that “scripture” (the Old Testament) is “useful…for teaching” or otherwise, “instruction.” So, that is a direct statement.

There are many indirect statements of this concept in the places where the Old Testament is quoted directly or by paraphrase.

So. the New Testament canonizes the Old Testament as useful for teaching and instruction.

This teaches us that the Old Testament, including Genesis, are to be followed for all practical purposes. This is also in accord with the general guidelines about scripture in the Catechism that begin at around paragraph 41. And, that official guideline says that scripture can only be understood when read with faith, prayerfully. It says that to understand scripture, you have to understand what the author intended for the audience to whom it was addressed.

So, Genesis was not written to an audience with 21st century scientific and historical sensibility, nor with the glaring technology for documenting (or even staging) an event.

I apologize that second post was lost, but you are on the right trail with the advice given in the various preceding posts.
 
buzy_mom said:
What is the Catholic teaching on scripture’s interpretation if God created world in 24 hour periods as indicated in the bible as day 1, day 2 etc. or could it be in time periods or era’s?
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On God’s terms yes. A day’s period is probably different than our 24 format, but who knows:shrug:
 
Vagueness is not instructive. The Church has infallibly stated that the universe has a finite age. It has not infallibly stated if the earth is thousands or billions of years old.

From the Catholic Answers library:

“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
 
edwest2 said:
Vagueness is not instructive. The Church has infallibly stated that the universe has a finite age. It has not infallibly stated if the earth is thousands or billions of years old.

From the Catholic Answers library:

“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
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That’s correct because the age of the universe is a matter of science and not a matter of faith. The Church does not make infallible declarations on scientific matters.
 
the problem I have with the days not being literal 24 hour days and creation was created over an extended time is how would it fit the jewish sabbath? saturday. Since saturday is the 7th day and God rested on the 7th day the sabbath wouldn’t make much sense if creation was spread out thousands of years.
 
To really get into this, this thread should be moved to the Back Fence.
 
In certain respects, the creation account must be taken literally. since this account in some ways touches on things of faith. For example, we cannot say that God was not responsible for the creation of the human race. Catholicism also believes that the first people lived without original sin, which Adam and Eve then committed. Similarly one of the popes taught that somehow the first woman was made from the first man, because of the creation account. (if anyone wants this I will look up the source.) The preceding poser provides quite an interesting way of maintaining that the days of the creation account were 24 hour periods (using the fact that the sabbath was held on the seventh day because of the creation account), but I would like to hear more for and against this view before coming to any conclusuins personally.
wiggbuggie said:
the problem I have with the days not being literal 24 hour days and creation was created over an extended time is how would it fit the jewish sabbath? saturday. Since saturday is the 7th day and God rested on the 7th day the sabbath wouldn’t make much sense if creation was spread out thousands of years.
Click to expand...
 
mdgspencer said:
In certain respects, the creation account must be taken literally. since this account in some ways touches on things of faith. For example, we cannot say that God was not responsible for the creation of the human race. Catholicism also believes that the first people lived without original sin, which Adam and Eve then committed. Similarly one of the popes taught that somehow the first woman was made from the first man, because of the creation account. (if anyone wants this I will look up the source.) The preceding poser provides quite an interesting way of maintaining that the days of the creation account were 24 hour periods (using the fact that the sabbath was held on the seventh day because of the creation account), but I would like to hear more for and against this view before coming to any conclusuins personally.
Click to expand...
The first woman had the same human nature as Adam. This emphasizes that the two parents of humanity actually transmitted to you and me the human nature (which is an unique unification of the spiritual and material worlds) that was created by God.
 
The Sabbath was established to memorialize the completion of God’s work of creation “and on the seventh day He rested.” Doesn’t matter if the “day” was 24 hours or 24,000 millenia long. Just like we celebrate Christmas and Easter within months of each other - we don’t have to wait 33 years.
 
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