Interpreting Genesis One

Marcia hits another home run!

That is correct - God is deliberately using an order to SHOW that the man-made trinkets traditions story-telling and imagination-station is not going to be allowed "in" an honest reading of the text.

It is absolutely a slap in the face to man-made story-telling such that you have to choose either God or man on this one. True to the text or "pure story telling" to get around it.

The "evening Morning" fact requires only the rotation of the planet and a light source on one side. As you point out - there are obviously many other sources of light other than our sun available to God.

This seems to come as a surprise to those trying to marry the text of Gen 1-2:3 to some outside story-telling.

I think you mean earth's rotation - but not "around the sun". The orbit of earth around the sun is a little over 365 days as we all know.

Because there is the "idea" that God did not actually "do anything" among believers in atheist darwinism - an belief that is sooo strong they even cling to it as they engage in the stories about abiogenesis AND as they loudly rebel against the "Intelligent Design" teaching of Romans 1 and "The invisible attributes of God clearly seen in the things that have been made".

Not that all who are looking for "alternatives to Genesis 1" on this thread are in fact believers in atheist darwinism - just that those ideas have crept into the church and seem to pop up even among those who are supposed to object to it (pops up at times at least).

Preach it!

In Christ,

Bob

 

You are right, Bob! I knew it didn't sound right but was sort of in a hurry and didn't think about it. I meant the earth's rotation in 24 hrs. not a year! (If we went around the sun in 24 hrs. we would all have very advanced ages! :laugh: )

Thanks for your post!

 

You are welcome Marcia -

hmmm every ten years would be 3,650 so now since I am 20 ( or at least I have been 20 a few times over) that means that I would be ....

 

Christ was raised as you said. What on Earth has that got to do with Genesis?

Christ's Resurrection was a witnessed fact, Genesis is not, it is something different.

And in the light of the Apostles teaching no one should have a problem with it.

David

 

If Christ had not said "in 3 days" then we might be free to "imagine" that time (like the statement of 3 days) has no meaning for God. If Jesus had simply said "at some point I will raise again after I am crucified" then those who have imagined that the term "day" does not actually have specific meaning for God - would have a little easier time.

The fact that Ex 16 says "TOMORROW IS" the Sabbath and the fact that God says manna would fall 6 days and not on the Sabbath and the fact that this SAME unit of 7 - they same term "yom" (Day) is used in Exodus 20:8-11 to summarize Gen 1-2:3 and the literal days of Sinai - makes it absolutely impossible to blindly "pretend" that the term has no specific time unit.

You did not witness Christ rising from the dead - does that mean days are "real" or fake??


Answer: it makes no difference at all! Days (as in evening and morning were ONE day) has always the meaning that we see in Ex 20:8-11 at Sinai. Exact equivalence made by the SAME author of Gen 1-2:2 as we see in Exodus 20:8-11 where God alone is speaking.

In Christ,

Bob

 

Blessed are those that believe and have not seen, comes to mind.

The time factor with regards to Genesis, what does it matter? How does it alter Christianity or a persons Salvation.

 

Some are not picking up on the positive message from those posters who spoke of Genesis as other-than-literal. While I would not use the term "symbolic", because that rather suggests an allegory of one-to-one correspondences, I would see Genesis as a marvelous interpretation of the human condition over against the Creator. It bears the marks of the limited understanding of science from the days of its composition and editing, but that is not what matters: what is inspired is its awareness of the creative ordering Spirit of God, the nature of human sin as self-idolatry, and the universality and depth of our alienation from God and from one another, even from ourselves.

All the questions about seven days, etc., really do not make much difference when Genesis 1 is taken that way. If, as the older Pentateuchal critics would have said, it is a P (Priestly) document, then the seven days of creation correspond to the seven days of the week, then one focus becomes Sabbath -- or the brokenness of the Sabbath.

I am rather with the original poster in his choice of interpretations, although even he spends more effort than I would in trying to make the time frame "compute".

 

God said "For in SIX DAYS the LORD MADE ... and RESTED the Seventh day" -- but what if we simply can not believe that!?? What if that statement just goes beyond the level of faith we actually have in our Creator God.

In Gen 1-2:3 God declares EACH day as "evening and morning" but what if that is just tooooo much of a leap for the faith of some Christians - to actually believe what Christ the Creator is saying in Gen 1-2:3. What if we simply do not trust God's Word to be accurate to that level?

Then what of the Gospel itself???!!

IN Christ,

Bob

 

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
(2Pe 3:8)

Anybody know where Peter got this info from?

 

God said it, I believe it, and that is all there is to it!

 

Don't doubt that, I was just asking if it is from Scripture or if it is direct Spirit teaching.

I have much more to say but you cannot handle it now, or words to that effect but when He, the Spirit of Truth comes...etc etc. Actually there is a lot of teaching that seems to be from an idependant source in the NT letters. I find it very intersting.

 

If God said it, it is true no matter what people believe about it.

 

After a little searching he seems to be using Psalm 90:4

Look and you shall find


You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
(Psa 90:3-6)

 

From the Spirit is the obvious answer

A lot of people try to compare II Peter 3:8 with Psalms 90:4 to show that Peter wasn't trying to be literal, but was making a wide exaggeration to show that God is not within time.

I think that comparison is comparing apples and oranges. The context are not the same.

I think Psalm 90:4 seems to be making the wide exaggeration, but II Peter is making more of a direct literal statement instead of pointing out that God is not within time.

The septenary arrangment of Scripture proves this out. And it is all laid out for us in Genesis 1 and the first few verses of chapter 2.

 

It gets even more interesting when you see that Psalm 90 was attributed to Moses.

Rob

 

2 Pet 3.8 is showing that time means nothing to God. It does not mean we are to think of 1,000 years when God says a "day" in the Bible. That makes no sense at all. Ps. 90 is clearly poetic, not literal. Otherwise, we could say everytime there is a reference to part of the night in the Bible, it is 1,000 yrs.

Gen 1 is the account of creation - the very beginning of it all. Why would God say a "day" and mean something else? Also, since he repeated in Ex. that he created the world in 6 days, it seems pretty clear that is what he meant.

God doesn't play games with words - men do. And that is what men do when they try to apply 2 Pet 3.8 to Gen. one.

 

IF the text had said "A Day for God is a 1000 years for man" JUST as God in the OT said to Jeremiah "I have given you a day for a year" -- THEN we could reasonbly try to insert 1000 years into the 3 days and 3 nights Christ was supposed to spend in the tomb - and into any other "days" in scripture -- in fact into ALL other "DAYS" in scripture. In that case "6 days you shall labor" would mean that mankind can not take a day off for 6000 years!

But what 2 Peter 3 "actually says" is "For 1000 years is AS a day with God AND a day is AS a 1000 years" thus it is NOT a "time rule" at all!!

Rather it is a statement that in 1 literal day God HAS ALL THE TIME He needs to get any task done -- and then some. It also shows that patiently works out his plan through 1000 literal years as though it were but a day. His patience is immense AND His ability to "accomplish things in a single day" is just as infinite!

But NONE of it is a "RULE" for time in either NT or OT!!

So when GOD said "SIX days you SHALL labor" He did not mean 1000 years of non-stop work!!

As sad as that will be for some to read.

But the good news is that it means that Marcia's statement above is fully supported by scripture when she notes that 2Peter 3:8 can not be twisted into saying "A day with God is a literal 1000 years".

In Christ,

Bob

 

A great many Psalms are attributed to other writers. IN Rev 15 we see the song of Moses. This has nothing to do with "ignoring time in the Bible".

Hence in Dan 9 the 490 days contained in the 70 week prophecy are taken to be 490 years and are found to create an exact timeline leading to the time of Christ's first appearing.

No such thing as "pay no attention to God when He speaks of time" in the Bible.

In Christ,

Bob

 

Preach it!

 

Correct! The "unchanging God" explains the "unchanging principle" of how HE is able to "Accomplish so much" in a literal day and yet be "so patient" as he works out His plans over the millennia - it is not a "time rule".

This is not a "time RULE" saying "A day with God lasts 1000 years for man" -- hence "SIX days you shall labor and do all your work" does NOT MEAN - "mankind is to labor without rest for 6000 years".

And "HENCE" God said "Tomorrow IS the Sabbath" without first asking everyone to work for 6000 years!

And "HENCE" God created multiple cycles (you know - "week after week") where Manna fell six days but not on the 7th!

You know "the impossible" according to those who try to "Dissolve time" by eisegeting texts like 2Peter 3:8.

In Christ,

Bob