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Young Earth or Old Earth?
#24
Shlama Akhi Chuck,

We cannot know more than what scripture states about it. It was light, which produced the same effect as the sun, giving evening and morning for each of the days as the earth spun on its axis as it does now. This light had to be localized in one point of space, facing only one side of earth at a given time. All the days had to be similar in length or they could not be categorized and numbered as time keeping devices, which is what days are, according to verse 14. The days,years and seasons, as well as signs (v. 14) are based on the sun, moon and stars, and should not be confused with each other.Since days four through seven had the sun to demarcate evening and morning, we must assume the light created on day one served the same function and that the earth's spin was at the same rate as on day four. To make the earth's day vastly longer than 24 hours presents insurmountable obstacles, both to Biology (plants and animal life) and to logic (day three- 1000 years; day four- 24 hours?) Even a one year day would assure most plants on earth would die. But why the need to confuse a day with a year, or with 1000 years? If you examine 2 Peter 3:8
Quote:And of this one thing, my beloved, be not forgetful, That one day, to the Lord, is as a thousand years; and a thousand years, as one day.
, you'll notice that this is a simile : "like a thousand years; like one day". It does not say "one day=1000 years".

Another thing you will notice is that Peter is referring to a verse in Psalms 90:4
Quote: For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Not only is there a comparison or likeness of 1000 years with a day, but also with a "watch in the night", which is a 3 hour period. This is metaphorical language, not a scientific metric system, Peter is referring to. He is saying that our time frame does not apply to God, but no exact equivalent or conversion is given, just the idea that a very long time for us is a very short time to Him, and vice versa. Genesis was not written for God's benefit; He wrote it for our benefit, so He made the day 24 hours and spoke in terms that humans understand. All cultures get their time keeping of days, weeks, years and seasons, as well as "signs" from Genesis and creation. That creation week is the original of all weeks, and they are all 7- 24 hour days, in every nation that I know of.

The church fathers taught that the earth was under 6000 years old. Many of them also taught that creation week, though a literal 7 day week, was symbolic and prophetic that 6000 years of human history would pass, and that the millennium would then be the 7th day of a thousand years of peace. Obviously, they did not apply the 1000 year standard to the first 7 days, otherwise the earth would have been 7000 years old after the first week of creation had past! The trend was to apply this standard to prophecy, not to history. None of the church fathers believed creation days were 1000 years each.

Was their reckoning of the millennium correct? I think most Western Christians over the past 5 centuries basically have agreed with it. We shall soon find out. Johannes Kepler, who formulated the laws of planetary motion, calculated a creation date of 3992 B.C.! That means the Millennium should arrive in 2009! That would be nice, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Blessings,

Dave
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Messages In This Thread
Young Earth or Old Earth? - by rungold315 - 03-19-2008, 04:56 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by *Albion* - 03-19-2008, 05:31 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-19-2008, 05:40 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by rungold315 - 03-20-2008, 12:02 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-20-2008, 05:31 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-20-2008, 05:47 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Amatsyah - 03-20-2008, 12:09 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-20-2008, 06:09 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-21-2008, 06:02 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-21-2008, 06:29 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-21-2008, 11:46 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-22-2008, 01:39 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-22-2008, 06:57 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-23-2008, 02:57 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-23-2008, 03:31 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by SP Silver - 03-23-2008, 09:22 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-23-2008, 03:42 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-27-2008, 07:44 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-28-2008, 03:15 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-29-2008, 12:30 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-29-2008, 04:12 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-29-2008, 03:10 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 03-29-2008, 08:09 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 03-31-2008, 04:45 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 04-01-2008, 02:27 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 04-01-2008, 07:02 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 04-02-2008, 12:56 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 04-02-2008, 11:29 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 04-03-2008, 01:46 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 04-03-2008, 03:16 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by Thirdwoe - 04-03-2008, 05:18 AM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by rungold315 - 04-03-2008, 04:51 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 04-05-2008, 06:11 PM
Re: Young Earth or Old Earth? - by gbausc - 04-05-2008, 07:06 PM

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