The Six Days of Creation ("Debunking the 7 Myths that Deny Biblical Truth" Series)

The Bible’s Creation Account Is Literal, Not Metaphorical

Myth number two is, the Bible's account of creation is only metaphorical. The six creation days are not ordinary days, and creation really unfolded over millions.

Of years.

Despite what some would say, the Bible's creation account is not so vague that it's subject to each person's unique spin. The Bible clearly narrates how God created everything over a six-day period. What else could God have meant when he wrote with his own hands and in the Ten Commandments no less, that he created in six days, and even wanted us to model our lives after the same weekly cycle?

It wouldn't make sense if this part of the Ten Commandments was figurative, catched in between literal commandments like don't steal, don't lie, and don't commit adultery. Did Jesus or any of the New Testament writers update what God said?

Certainly not. He wanted us to believe, back then and still today, that he created in six days. When looking at the actual text, the writer was directed by the Holy Spirit to use certain Hebrew words and phrases to describe creation week, and it sure seems like they went out of their way to define the creation timeline.

The Meaning of “Day” in Genesis 1

For example, day or yom in Hebrew is defined in verses 14 to 16 when God said, Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.

And it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. Think about it. For life to begin on earth, this cycle had to be started first. We can see from these verses that days and years are linked, with their duration being determined by the fixed movements of earth in reference to the sun.

The earth, sun, and moon are all perfectly synchronized to give us a 24-hour day. This is why the Jewish people count a day from nightfall to nightfall. It all has roots back to the first chapter of Genesis.

Notice in the same context where Genesis 1 mentions the days of creation, that days is defined and is even contrasted with years. Surely, there's no way to insert millions of years into this text. We can also tell that the word yom in Genesis 1 means an actual day because each usage of the word day is prefaced by evening, morning, and then a number.

Yom is used 2 ,301 times in the Old Testament. When used with a number, yom always means an ordinary day, and this occurs 410 times outside of Genesis 1. Evening and morning are used together without yom 38 times and it always means an ordinary.

Day.

Evening or morning is used together with yom 23 times each and it always means an ordinary.

Day.

Night is used with yom 52 times, always meaning an ordinary day. The writer of Genesis could not have been more clear. In fact, just looking at the first four days of creation, when the earth and the universe were formed, reveals that about one-third of the text is dedicated to defining the chronology of the creation process.

Genesis, the Day-Night Cycle, and the Genealogies

In Jeremiah 33, God said that he made a promise that earth would always have a day and night cycle, just as permanently as David's throne would have a king. This day and night cycle has been repeated for all recorded history and it all began in Genesis 1 verse 5 when God called the light day and the darkness he called night.

This cyclical succession of light and darkness has always constituted a solar day. The genealogies in the first 11 chapters of Genesis map straight back to Adam who was created on the sixth day of creation.

It also describes that Adam was created out of dust and Eve from his side and they were created in the image of God, not in the image of some evolved ape-like creatures. These genealogies list 87 patriarchs by name and their sons and the birth and lifespan years are given for 33 of them.

How could this even possibly not be a historical account? How much more straightforward could God have been? It's really a matter of authority, believing God's word over man's word. Yes, there are passages like Psalm 104, Job 38, and Isaiah 40 that provide poetic descriptions of creation.

God is riding on the clouds in a chariot, shutting in the seas with immense doors, or measuring the waters with his hands. We wouldn't expect these to be read as historical narratives, they are clearly poetic.

The multiple uses of the word like in the poetic context express creation in dramatic and vivid language. However, the genre of the book of Genesis is clearly historical. This is evident for many reasons, but we'll consider just three.

Why Genesis 1–11 Is Historical Narrative

First, Genesis provides an unbroken narrative. From creation to the fall, the flood, then on to Abraham, Moses, and David, all leading up to Jesus the Savior. Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham and Luke back to Adam.

Where in this unbroken line would we stop and say we are just working with some poetic imagination?

The flood? The fall?

Adam's sin? We can't pick and choose the history we like and dislike. Second, Genesis 1 -11 is written in the genre of Hebrew Prose, recorded by the writer to include 87 patriarchs and birth and lifespans given for 33 of them.

Some say the creation account is just figurative. Can this be so? Is it just poetry? Not according to Hebrew expert Dr. Stephen Boyd, who ran a statistical analysis of the text. By looking at the different types of verbs that are used in Hebrew poetry compared to historical works, Dr. Boyd determined that there is a 99 .5 likelihood that the Genesis creation account is literal history, not poetry.

Third, Moses recorded that God wrote with his own hands that he created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days. This is what the writer, God, intended to convey and it's been interpreted like this for generations since it was given.

If this is not what was meant by God, when did the writers of scripture or Jesus fix it, setting the record straight? The great reformer Martin Luther even wrote, when Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day.

But if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are, for you are to deal with scripture in such a way that you bear in mind that God himself says what is written.

But since God is speaking, it is not fitting for you to wantonly turn his word in the direction you wish to go. The Bible has God miraculously creating the world and everything in it in just six days about 6 ,000 years ago.

Why Radiometric Dating Cannot Validate Deep Time

But the theory of evolution has a much different timescale, taking millions of years to go from goo to me and you by way of the zoo. Which view is correct? Well, to be honest, both views require faith because no one was there thousands or millions of years ago to observe how it all got started.

But can the idea of millions of years of evolution be scientifically validated? Can we really prove this idea of deep time using the same observational science we use for making medicine and putting people on the moon?

Validation is the process of confirming what is believed to be true by what can be observed to be true. Has this ever been done for radiometric dating, the process that gives us the very idea of long ages?

Actually, long ages and radiometric dating hasn't stood up to the validation test. Radiometric dating has never been validated against the absolute, known ages of rocks. Let us explain. Consider Mount St. Helens.

This volcano erupted in the 1980s, giving scientists the opportunity to date the rocks that were formed from the eruption. The results? Five different ages, all between 350 ,000 and 2 .8 million years old, for rocks that we know were less than 30 years old.

This discrepancy happens all the time in radiometric dating studies. In fact, there has never been a radiometric dating analysis that simply produces ages that validate to the known ages of rocks. And if radiometric dating doesn't work for rocks of known ages, why do we trust it for rocks of unknown ages?

So, the next time you hear, millions of years ago this happened or that, just ask, how do you know that for sure? And if radiometric dating is the answer given, just ask, are you aware of a study where the radiometric age of a rock agreed with the known age of the rock?

And you'll find the answer will undoubtedly be, no. God wrote with his own hand that he created the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them in just six ordinary days. The genealogies in Genesis lead us straight back to Adam.

Just about 6 ,000 years ago, millions of years can't be jammed into this timeline for the very important reason that Adam and Eve were responsible for bringing the curse of sin, death, disease, suffering, thorns and thistles into the world.

And the evolutionary time scale has these things existing supposedly millions of years before humans were even around. And if these things existed before the consequences of our sin brought them, this makes them God's ideas, rather than the results of our falling away from God.

This doesn't fit the Bible because God said his creation was very good and all life started out vegetarian before the fall. See the problem? Death, suffering and carnivorism are the result of the fall of Adam and Eve and were not part of God's original creation.

Why Creation Points to a Master Designer

Have you ever noticed how hard the world pushes the idea of millions of years? Books, movies, museums, schools, it's everywhere. Honestly, it takes faith to believe in either the creation account or in millions of years of evolution.

None of us were present when God created and filled the earth. The creation process, through either perspective, goes back further than written history will take us. But when you look at the earth, the sun and the planet spinning through space with an incredible degree of precision so that we have days, seasons, years, warm, cold, seed and harvest, doesn't it look like the book of Genesis got it right?

That it was all designed and placed here at the beginning with this incredibly well-tuned universe working in harmony? Genesis 1 shows that God was setting up the earth, the cycles and systems just like a master planner.

It all had to be calibrated from the beginning to start and sustain the life on earth we see today. Days, nights, the monthly cycle of the moon and the earth traveling around the sun every.

Year.

It all works like clockwork engineered by a master designer. If you move the distances or change the cycles, the whole thing unravels and we all freeze or fry. Such a finely tuned universe all had to be created and timed in perfect synchronicity.

Many Christians believe that creation was a miracle, just like Jesus' resurrection, walking on water and multiplying five loaves and two fish to feed thousands. So is it too difficult to believe that creation was a result of God's command as the Bible says and was outside of the natural laws as we know them today?

The Bible says that God cannot lie or change his mind and that his words are permanent and pure like silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. And it is this very word that tells us that the world was framed by the word of God and that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

That's because God commanded and they were created and he commanded and it stood fast. Each of us has a choice about how to frame our worldview using man's word or God's word and how we live our lives stems from what we believe.

Because none of us were eyewitnesses, wouldn't it make more sense to go through this life taking God at his word? Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs?

Download the Genesis Apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and more.