
It depends on biblical consistency. Do we consider time to be constant? Then you find biblical accounts of time changing like Joshua calling on the sun to stand still and Hezekiah asking the prophet to make the sundial turn back 10 degrees. The point is that, a belief in God's time, as explained by God in His world, appears to be the most consistent. How do we determine time by the sun's evidence if the Creator creates time as He chooses?
Yes, the "gap theory" can explain the age, but not the fact that the overwhelming scientific evidence is that species evolved, and did not all begin spontaneously. Nor can it account for details like plants being created before the sun.
The beginning of Genesis was not INTENDED to be literal. Efforts of modern people to figure out some way where it makes literal sense not only don't work, they are counter to the actual literary intentions of the author.
Sorry, I missed this, but evolution may take place, but it never 'makes' entirely new creatures, but animals 'evolve' within their own species by means of selective breeding, but they never ever become something else they are not. The fossil record clearly backs this up. 'Is Genesis History' really does a bang-up job in explaining it all, but DNA does not allow a fish to grow legs and get lungs and start to roam the ground, Jesus made every creature unique and special, and they produce after their own kind. There had to be a being who was not affected by time, space, and matter, who was all-knowing who could put this earth and solar system and universe together, with such detail that it continues on its own in a logical manner, without creating or destroying anything; its self-sustaining. That Creator is Jesus. What a beautiful planet He made for man, and yet, we have evolved to the point where we deny His very existence, but He is the only answer to all that we see around us and why we are the way we are.
The subject at hand currently being discussed by the US Government of the existence of and threat from UFOs...in that the debate should be, if GOD the Ultimate most Holiest and Fundamental Deity and entity, created ALL (and in 6 days, even HE (SHE? had to rest on one day)...then did HE/SHE also CREATE ALIEN BEINGS...what are aka UAPs...green men from.outer space, unknown "civilizations" ( how do we know they are civilized if we perceive them as a threat to our national security?). Why is the RCC Vatican HIDING all sorts of evidence on this? that there were present aliens during the times Jesus Christ was alive...and why can't we have a 4 day work week and a 3 day weekend in USA, damn it and get rid of this horrible murder suicide inducing Eastern daylight saving for crying outloud!!
Carlo, when scripture is not literal, scripture clearly points out in terms such as 'like this' or 'in a vision' and scripture clearly defines the time frames as evening and morning were the 1st day, a single rotation of the planet. Jesus does not need an evolutionary explanation for His creation, He is highly capable of doing what He said He did, and does, and is coming back to do. This world is falling apart, because of the original sin of man, and it is getting worse, because man continues to not trust God for man's salvation, but we believe we can save ourselves. The Bible is not a fairy tale, nor is it a good idea put together by man, but it is an autobiography of Jesus' story of how man originated and how we ended up where we are at, and where we are headed, if we do not repent and turn from our wicked way and trust Jesus to save us from death, the second death, aka hell.
Well stated L Maunder. The bible does not state how long it took God to "create the heavens and the earth."(Gen 1:1) However after it became "without form, and void"(Gen 1:2) it took God 6 days to put it back together in a state to be inhabited. And then he rested on the seventh day.
Both of you are JWs or taught by JWs, Moses created HIS 7-day week in 1513bc which is long after Adam. Your perspective is backwards as to what comes first. There was no WEEK before Noah's Flood. It is a creation centuries after that Flood.
'The Jews also adopted a seven day week, based on the time it took the lord to create the universe as reported in Genesis" -- or vice-versa
Isn't it more logical to believe that Genesis was written by the Jews under the assumption that it took the lord one seven day week to create the universe!
The first five books of the Old Testament were written, not by "the Jews", but by one Jew - Moses. From the incident of the burning bush forward, Moses was in regular, sometimes daily communication one-on-One with God Most High, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (except for what happens after Moses' death) are the work of this one man, and based on what God revealed to him. That includes not just the law, but the entire history of man on this earth, gradually focusing on the descendants of Abraham. As to the age of the earth, God did not create Adam an infant - he created him a fully grown adult. In just that same way, He could easily have created the earth to also be mature and ready for human life. For a God who can speak the most intricate, complex systems into creation, doing all that in six days is in no way a stretch.
No scholar believes that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and a careful reading makes it obvious even to a non-scholar.
"Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth." - Number 12:3. That would be a very strange thing for a man to write about himself.
Or something as simple as Genesis 36:31: "These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned." That had to have been written after the establishment of the Israeli monarchy.