Six Questions about the Six Days

As more and more of the Christian community accepts what the secular world already knows, that the universe and Earth are billions of years old, are they eager to explore what exciting implications this has toward their understanding of God through nature? Sadly, the answer is often, “no.” This topic is so divided into extremely opposite beliefs that many Christians would rather not discuss it. Does one need to have a degree in astrophysics, biology, botany, or geology to be able to understand the universe’s age? Fortunately not! Although nature bears evidence of a 13.7 billion-year-old universe and a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth, those who believe in Young Earth Creationism (YEC) dismiss such evidence with unreasonable standards that they themselves would not apply to any other situation in life. Knowing that their theories are inadequate to convince the majority of the scientific community, they instead devote their attention to defending a particular interpretation of Scripture to convince Christians. While there is no serious scientific debate about the age of the universe, there is a theological debate, and Christians can get at the heart of faulty reasoning for themselves by asking six biblical questions of YEC.

1. If the word, “day,” means 24 hours in regard to time intervals of creation, then explain “day” in Genesis 2:4?

2. Since God created male and female in the 6th day (Gen. 1:27), how could everything recorded in Genesis 2:15-23 happen within the 24-hour period: God creates Adam, Adam cultivates the garden, Adam tends the garden, God gives Adam instructions, God decides Adam needs a companion, Adam names all the animals, Adam takes a deep sleep, God performs surgery, God constructs a woman, God brings the woman to Adam?

3. Why would Adam respond with “At last” when Eve was brought to him if he was created within the last 24 hours (Gen. 2:23)?

4. Would God distort the truth of His creation by making a young Earth and universe appear much older, especially given scriptures explaining that no deceit can be found in either Him or nature (Numb. 23:19; Ps. 19:1-4; 85:11; Prov. 30:5; Rom. 1:18-20; Heb. 6:18)?

5. If specifying “evening” and “morning” for each day is evidence toward 24-hour days, then why is this phrase missing from day 7 (Gen. 2:1-3)?

6. If the Earth and universe are old, how does this make the Bible not true?

All six of these questions are repeatedly asked of YEC leaders and instead of being answered biblically, they are often met with the following responses: (1) The Lord works in mysterious ways, (2) God can do anything because he’s God, (3) I don’t interpret the Bible. I read the Bible, and this is what it says, (4) We cannot change the word of God, and science is constantly trying to change it, and (5) You weren’t there so you cannot know. Although these answers are divertive tactics, many who believe YEC are convinced that Old Earth Creationism (OEC) is a deception to lead Christians away from believing that God created the universe, and that naturalism is true. They are desperate to preserve the integrity of Scripture and have become so convinced on winning the argument that they overlook their greatest theological flaw: they believe that their interpretation of Scripture is Scripture, making them unwilling to fine-tune (or overhaul) their understanding about how the Bible and nature aligns as new evidence becomes available.

For further discussion on OEC v. YEC, interpreting the Hebrew word yôm (day), and geological evidence towards creation theories read my blogs, Was Noah’s Flood Global? and How Did God Create the Earth?.