Quibbling or Learning from the Creation narrative?

[Aaron]

The days of Creation are basically the work of salvation in allegory, but so is the narrative of Hagar and Sarah, and Isaac and Ishmael, Galatians 4:21-31.

Can I say Sarah and Hagar are just concepts? Symbols of the old and new Jerusalems? and not individual women, as long as I get the lesson concerning bondage and freedom?

 

[Van]

Could they be less than 24 hours? How about a 24-second day? Or are you just trying to make room for millions of years?

Yes, it would not invalidate the Bible to interpret some usages of "yom" as 12 hour or so hours, some as 24 or so hours, and so as indeterminate periods of time, possibly billions of years. It also would not invalidate the Bible to attribute some apparent time spans as an illusion because God created something with apparent age that actually had none, such as Adam as an adult, or the wine at Cana. If we saw either, we would think they had existed in some form for a prior period of time.

 

[percho]

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

I wonder why these are capitalized?

Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day? if any one may walk in the day, he doth not stumble, because the light of this world he doth see; and if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.'

Is the day and night of John 11:9,10 the same as the Day and Night of Gen 1:5?

 

[Van]

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

I wonder why these are capitalized?

Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day? if any one may walk in the day, he doth not stumble, because the light of this world he doth see; and if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.'

Is the day and night of John 11:9,10 the same as the Day and Night of Gen 1:5?

Some translations (KJV, ESV) capitalize the words to draw attention to at least one of the defined durations, but other translations (NASB, NET) put the words within quote marks rather than capitalize, for the same "highlighting" reason. No duration is indicated for Genesis 1:5, but about 12 hours is indicated for John 1:19.

By day 5, Genesis 1:20, the daylight and darkness period has now been established as about 24 hours. Some people believe the "day" was also that long before day 5, others disagree. Of course, per Job 38, we actually do not know.

 

[Van]

The application of the Genesis narrative is not to quibble over details based on speculation, but to seek God's rest and follow the Lord of the Sabbath.

 

[Alan Dale Gross]

What portion of the nondescript day would you call the evening?

A few million years of darkness wouldn't have sat well with any life on the planet.

 

[Aaron]

The application of the Genesis narrative is not to quibble over details based on speculation, but to seek God's rest and follow the Lord of the Sabbath.

Then quit quibblin' about it and just tell us what you think the first six tells you about seeking God's Rest.

 

[Ben1445]

Some translations (KJV, ESV) capitalize the words to draw attention to at least one of the defined durations, but other translations (NASB, NET) put the words within quote marks rather than capitalize, for the same "highlighting" reason. No duration is indicated for Genesis 1:5,

Actually, there is an indication. The time frame of a day as defined by light and darkness is the duration.
Since the amount of time that God made to take up the space of a day is roughly equal to 24 hours, I accept that God made 24 hour days from the beginning.

but about 12 hours is indicated for John 1:19.

Are you sure that they are literal hours??

By day 5, Genesis 1:20, the daylight and darkness period has now been established as about 24 hours.

Using days 4,5,6, 7 as a pattern for the rest of the week, we come up with 7 literal, 24 hour days.

Some people believe the "day" was also that long before day 5, others disagree. Of course, per Job 38, we actually do not know.

God gave us stars and the sun and moon so we could keep track of how God works. God declared that He made everything in six days. What makes people think that they are not all equal is beyond me.

 

[cjab]

As God never self-identifies as part of the creation he made, so His days of creation, which relate only to His work, and nothing else, are not to be taken from creation.

A 6x24 hour creation would represent a pantheist view of God, where God and His creation aren't construed as divisible.

Jesus returns to the spiritual view of a day in John 9:4, and links it with his ability to do God's work. Such a period has nothing to do with 24hrs.

 

[Ben1445]

As God never self-identifies as part of the creation he made, so His days of creation, which relate only to His work, and nothing else, are not to be taken from creation.

A 6x24 hour creation would represent a pantheist view of God, where God and His creation aren't construed as divisible.

Jesus returns to the spiritual view of a day in John 9:4, and links it with his ability to do God's work. Such a period has nothing to do with 24hrs.

Your thinking has been elevated to the level of incoherent.
Come back down the mountain and take in more oxygen.

 

[Van]

Then quit quibblin' about it and just tell us what you think the first six tells you about seeking God's Rest.

You do not know how to seek God's rest, nor help others enter it?

 

[Van]

Actually, there is an indication. The time frame of a day as defined by light and darkness is the duration.
Since the amount of time that God made to take up the space of a day is roughly equal to 24 hours, I accept that God made 24 hour days from the beginning.

Are you sure that they are literal hours??

Using days 4,5,6, 7 as a pattern for the rest of the week, we come up with 7 literal, 24 hour days.

God gave us stars and the sun and moon so we could keep track of how God works. God declared that He made everything in six days. What makes people think that they are not all equal is beyond me.

Job 38 says humans including those posting their speculation, do not actually know just how God created the heavens and the earth.

 

[Ben1445]

Job 38 says humans including those posting their speculation, do not actually know just how God created the heavens and the earth.

That means when God said he did it in six days we should think otherwise?

 

[cjab]

It is never incoherent to keep the jurisdictions of heaven and earth distinct in the bible. Creation days are defined only by reference to what God is doing in and from heaven.

 

[Aaron]

You do not know how to seek God's rest, nor help others enter it?

Tell us what the other days of Creation say about it.

 

[Van]

Tell us what the other days of Creation say about it.

"When and if we believe into Him, we enter His Rest, fulfilling in our minor way, God's purpose of giving us His Creation narrative."