26 Day-Age Inconsistencies Part 2

A day is as a thousand years...

Some refer to 2 Peter 3:8 which tells us: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This verse is used by many who teach, by inference at least, that the days in Genesis must each be a thousand years long. This reasoning, however, is quite wrong.

Turning to Psalm 90:4 we read a similar verse: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” In both 2 Peter 3 and Psalm 90 the whole context is that God is neither limited by natural processes nor by time. To the contrary, God is “outside” time, for He also “created” time. Neither verse refers to the days of creation in Genesis, for they are dealing with God not being bound by time. In 2 Peter 3, the context is in relation to Christ’s second coming, pointing out the fact that with God a day is just like a thousand years or a thousand years is just like one day. He is outside of time. This has nothing to do with the days of creation in Genesis.

Further, in 2 Peter 3:8 the word “day” is contrasted with “a thousand years.” The word “day” thus has a literal meaning which enables it to be contrasted with “a thousand years.” It could not be contrasted with “a thousand years” if it didn’t have a literal meaning. Thus, the thrust of the Apostle’s message is that God can do in a very short time what men or “nature” would require a very long time to accomplish, if they could accomplish it at all.

It is interesting to note that evolutionists try to make out that the chance, random processes of “nature” required millions of years to produce man. Many Christians have accepted these millions of years, added them to the Bible and then said that God took millions of years to make everything. However, the point of 2 Peter 3:8 is that God is not limited by time, whereas evolution requires time (a very great deal of it!).

25 Day-Age Inconsistencies Part 1

There are many inconsistencies in accepting the days in Genesis as long periods of time.

For instance, we are told in Genesis 1:26–28 that God made the first man (Adam) on the sixth day. Adam lived through the rest of the sixth day and through the seventh day.

We are told in Genesis 5:5 that he died when he was 930 years old. (We are not still in the seventh day as some people misconstrue, for Genesis 2:2 tells us God “rested” from His work of creation, not that He is resting from His work of creation.)

If each day was, for example, a million years, then there are real problems. In fact, if each day were only a thousand years long, this still makes no sense of Adam’s age at death either.

24 Does Distant Starlight Prove the Universe is Old?

Critics of biblical creation sometimes use distant starlight as an argument against a young universe.

The argument goes something like this: (1) there are galaxies that are so far away, it would take light from their stars billions of years to get from there to here; (2) we can see these galaxies, so their starlight has already arrived here; and (3) the universe must be at least billions of years old—much older than the 6,000 or so years indicated in the Bible.

Many big bang supporters and old earth creationists consider this to be an excellent argument against the biblical timescale.

Do you know how to answer these questions?

Read this for help answering this common objection.

23 Genesis 1 versus the Big Bang

Many Christians attempting to compromise with modern science propose that God used the Big Bang to create the universe. There are several things wrong with this idea. Most importantly, it is absolutely contrary to the plain reading of Scripture in Genesis 1.

The big bang story from the beginning to now:

1. The entire universe is contained in a point.
2. This point rapidly expands like a balloon.
3. Energy becomes matter - hydrogen and helium.
4. The matter condenses into stars and galaxies.
5. Stars make heavier elements which become dust.
6. Dust condenses to form planets.
7. On one such planet, chemicals happen to form life.
8. Life evolves into you.

How does this compare to the Bible?

	Big Bang	The Bible
Cause of the universe	Quantum fluctuation, nothing, can’t know	God
Timescale	Billions of Years	Thousands of Years
Order	Stars before the Earth	Earth before stars
Order	Fish before trees	Trees before fish
Order	Dinosaurs before birds	Birds before dinosaurs
The future	Heat death	Judgment / restoration
ETs	Life likely evolved elsewhere, too	Earth created specifically for life
Original Earth	Molten rock	Created as a paradise

Do we trust in God's account of origins or man's story?

God's Word	Man's Guess
God was actually there	Man wasn't there
Never makes mistakes	Man makes mistakes
Knows everything	Limited knowledge
Always correctly interprets evidence	Can often misinterpret the evidence
Never lies	Sometimes dishonest
Actually responsibile for creation	Had nothing to do with creation

Which are you going to believe?

22 Class Materials

Below I have linked to the materials to past few class sessions. Feel free to modify or use them however you like.

Don't forget to share this site with your friends and relatives who may have questions.

February 14th - notes and powerpoint

February 21st - notes and powerpoint

February 28th - notes and powerpoint (Coming soon)

21 If it has sharp teeth, it must eat meat right?

When viewing fossils such as this one, all sharp teeth tell us is that the animal had sharp teeth.

There are several examples of animals with razor sharp teeth that need them to eat...are you ready for this?...plants! Pandas, fruit bats (like the one in the picture), and even bears have sharp teeth that are used to eat plants.

You can also read here about a lion that during its entire lifetime of nine years never ate meat!