"And the evening and the morning were the second day." (Genesis 1:8)
"And the evening and the morning were the third day." (Genesis 1:8)
"And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." (Genesis 1:19)
"And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." (Genesis 1:23)
"And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:31)
Yahweh made a point to say “and the evening and the morning were the…” for all 6 days! If the people want to believe that these days were billions of years, then to keep true to the scriptures, there must be billions of years without nightfall, followed by billions of years before the light will come back. This method would kill almost all plants each night since the nights would be billions of years long.
A common argument that these days were not literal days is that the sun was not made until day 4. They say you can not have a day without the sun. When Yahweh defined what a day was in Genesis 1:5, did he say anything about the sun? Then someone will say, “Well, you can’t have light without the sun”. This is also not true. In the millennial reign with the Messiah, the sun will no more light our days, but the glory of Yahweh will light them (Isaiah 60). I would not put the people who use the reasoning that Yahweh did not create the sun until the fourth day in the category that each day represents a long period of time. I would put them into the category that they believe that the Genesis account is unreliable, and should be viewed figuratively. Because if they believe that every day represents a long period of time, then for the first so many billions of years of the earths existence, there was no sun (even for millions or billions of years after the plants came).
The people that believe in the Day-Age theory and believe in evolution will believe that the birds evolved after the land creatures (this is what evolution teaches). The scriptures clearly contradict this when it tells us that the birds were created on day 5 and the land creatures were created on day 6.
Theory 2: There is a gap between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2 (also called the Gap Theory). This theory has fewer gaps in it than theory number 1. Those who hold this theory believe Genesis when it says, “the evening and the morning were the first day” they believe that. So I can not point out their flaws using Genesis, because they actually believe the Genesis account. To show them that they are wrong about the gap, I have to use other scriptures.
First, to show how they conclude that there is a gap between verses 1 and 2.
Although the gap theory can be traced back to some obscure writings of the Dutchman Episcopius from the 17th century, the theory still remained virtually unknown until Rev. William Buckland started preaching it in the 19th century.
The people that believe this gap theory usually believe it because science books claim the earth is billions of years old and they are trying to get the bible to say that. If the science books were saying that the earth was only 6000 years old, these people would drop this theory in a heart beat.
Although it is harder to put holes in this theory than the first theory, it is still fairly easy. These holes are large and can not be filled (they must be ignored to keep the theory).
The scriptural basis for this theory heavily relies on the Hebrew word, “hâyâh” (translated as “was” in the KJV) which sometimes is translated as “became”. So when reading Genesis 1:2 the verse could read as, “And the earth became without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”
Since the word could be translated as either “became” or “was” we should look at some other scriptures to see which word should be used here.
Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 31:17
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
The above 2 verses show that the heavens and earth and all that are in them were created in 6 days. If the earth and waters and dinosaur bones were here before Yahweh started recreating things, then Exodus 20:11 could not read the way it does.
Another word that the gap theorist will use is the word “replenish” (in the KJV) from Genesis 1:28: “and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth’”.
This is easy to debunk. When the KJV was written, the word “replenish” meant to “fill”. It wasn’t until later that it came to mean “fill again”. If you look in the Hebrew, they used the word “mâlê'” which means “to fill”.
Another gap in this theory is that it puts death before sin.
Theory 3: Genesis is not supposed to be taken literal. It was written as poetry.
I can’t help these people too much. If they don’t believe the scriptures to be accurate and factual, then it is pointless to give them other scriptures to show their error. All I can say about this is prophecy, parables, and Psalms can obviously have some hard to understand, hidden messages in them. But we are talking about a law book here. If one can say that the 6 day creation is figurative, then they can say that the law was figurative.
Exo 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The earth being created in 6 days was intertwined in the Sabbath commandment. If you can take that to be figurative, then why can’t you take the Sabbath commandment or any other commandments to be figurative? Have you ever heard of a law book to have laws intertwined with figurative sayings? Laws must always be clear or it will be difficult if not impossible to convict a criminal.
Plus, if you can take Genesis chapter 1 to be figurative, what about the rest of the chapters? What about the flood? Usually the people that I talk to that chalk Genesis chapter 1 to poetry, also do not believe in that the Adam and Eve story was historical, or that Noah and the flood was historical (I have yet to find a Geologist with a detailed theory that supported both the old age theory and the world wide flood). After denying these two historical stories the rest of the scriptures falls apart. Then you will have Yashua and his disciples teaching myths as they were facts.
2 Peter 3:3-7
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Theory 4: The earth was created in 6 literal days between 6-10 thousand years ago (people who believe this theory are often called, “YECs”, in a derogatory manner, for Young Earth Creationists).
It is safe to say that this theory has absolutely no scriptural holes in it. I have been searching for any holes for over 10 years now. I have talked to many people. I have been on open forums and asked for one scriptural reason why this theory can not be true. When asked this question, people will then start attacking the credibility of the scriptures or trying to give scriptures or other reason why they believe their theory, but so far, every time they end up conceding that there is no scripture that they know of that can contradict that the earth is a young earth and was created in 6 literal days and I have never heard of anyone accusing a young earth creationist of not believing some part of scripture when it comes to this theory.
Here are some good Books and Videos that I recommend on this topic:
Here are some good webpages about the age of the earth:
The earth is 6000-10000 years old
‘Young’ age of the Earth & Universe Q&A
Biblical Age of the Earth
Here are some great websites that I recommend on this topic:
www.drdino.com
www.trueorigin.org
www.answersingenesis.org
www.icr.org
creationwiki.org
