Just what is a day? Clear evidence of the age of the earth and universe is constantly being uncovered. Some ages conflict with other finds, but it is generally accepted that these ages are in the billions. We are always narrowing in on the exact age with every new find. The current estimate of the earth's age is 4.55 billion years. Age estimates are measured using a wide variety of scientific evidence such as radiocarbon dating, the fossil record, geological formations, time required for light to traverse the universe; ice core samples; dust accumulations on the moon; etc.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
- Genesis [1:3-5]
The
days of creation as outlined in the Bible are humorous as is the current
effort to explain that these 'days' were not our 'days', meaning they weren't
of a 24 hour duration.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
- Genesis [1:8]
It's
clear from the passages provided here that 'days' were indeed days as defined
by lightness and darkness. Did the earth spin slower in this time
resulting in longer days? (Note: There's actually evidence that
the earth's rotation is slowing, not speeding up.)
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
- Genesis [1:12-13]
We're
always entertained by the mental gymnastics being performed by followers
of the Bible. We actually met a fossil dealer at the Tucson Gem,
Mineral and Fossil show (referenced in Geological
Trip Through Time - [2])
that had the 'fish' on their business cards. Having the "Inquiring
Mind", it was impossible to resist the urge to discuss this contradiction.
This dealer proceeded to explain that God has his own timetable, which,
unlike ours, has days of different duration. For example, one of
these 'days' of creation might have been millions or billions of years.
Not wanting to be confrontational, we just listened and nodded - thanking
them for explaining their point of view and explaining our amazement at
the irony of finding someone promoting religion on the business cards at
a FOSSIL SHOW. After leaving their booth, we wandered around among
more fossils and found that we had more questions after pondering the answers
provided by the religious dealer... Why is creation held as such
a great example by many religious groups of an omnipotent God who could
create such wonder in a matter of days? If his 'days' aren't ours
and were billions of years, doesn't it dilute his grandeur and omnipotence?
If his 'days' aren't our days, why did he say 'days'? Why didn't
he say billions of years? Why confuse us in Genesis with 'days' when
throughout the rest of the Bible, 'days' are always used as 24 hour increments?
To us, this argument of God's 'days' in Genesis not being our 'days' is
just another attempt in the never-ending endeavor of Biblical believers
to mold and squish and twist the Bible to fit reality in order that it
doesn't get discarded as the book of nonsense that it is. However,
it's not working... at least not for us. It reminds us of the Steve
Martin movie "The Jerk" were he is explaining his view of the short relationship
with Marie. We love this dialog so much and the analogy to the Bible's
Genesis that it will likely become a page one day on the Ethical Atheist.
"I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days and the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days and the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it." - Steve Martin as "The Jerk"
References:
1 "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible"
2 "Geological Trip Through Time", Ethical Atheist, 2002
[Created: 05/10/2002]
[Last Update: n/a]