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Nowhere does the Bible explicitly state that the Earth is young. Therefore, all claims that the Earth is young, rest on fallible human inference and interpretation.
The Bible states that the Earth is old. Genesis 49:26, Deuteronomy 33:15 and the Habakkuk 3:6 speak of the "ancient [Heb. "everlasting" (AV), "eternal" (RSV)] mountains" and/or the "age-old [Heb. 'owlam "perpetual"] hills".
The Biblical evidence is that the `days' of Genesis 1 are not meant to be taken as literal, 24-hour, days.
The length of the `days' of Genesis 1 is not stated to be literal 24-hour days. Even young-Earth creationists like the late Edward J. Young, Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in the USA, admitted that "The length of these days is not stated ..." (Young E.J., "An Introduction to the Old Testament," 1958, p.52).
The word "day" [Heb. yom] in Genesis 1 has multiple meanings, including: "light" as opposed to "darkness" (Gn 1:5); "day" commencing with "morning" and ending with "evening" (Gn 1:5,8,13,19,23,31); "day" as opposed to "night" (Gn 1:14,16,18); "day" with no end (Gn 2:1-4) and the period of the entire creation `week' (Gn 2:4).
The Sun is not depicted as having been made until day four (Gn 1:14-19). Therefore `days' 1-3 cannot be meant to be understood as ordinary solar days.
The activities on day six (Gn 1:24-31) suggest a long period of time elapsed. On day six God: made all the land animals (Gn 1:24-25); man and woman (Gn 1:26-27); spoke His creation mandate to them (Gn 1:28-29); and declared all that he had made as very good (Gn 1:31). In the complementary account in Genesis 2:7-23 dealing specifically with the creation of man and woman (which is only part of the sixth day in in Genesis 1): God formed Adam (Gn 2:7); put Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gn 2:8,15); instructed Adam about eating the fruit of the trees in the garden (Gn 2:16-17); brought the animals to Adam for him to name them which he did (Gn 2:19-20); caused Adam to fall asleep (Gn 2:21); made Eve from Adam's side (Gn 2:22); brought Eve to Adam (Gn 2:23) who cries out "at last!" [Heb.].
Unlike the previous six `days' there is no terminating "And there was evening, and there was morning..." at the end of day seven. Hebrews Heb 4:3-10, quoting Ps 95:11, implies that day seven is still continuing.
Moses, the traditional author of Genesis 1 and Psalm 90, states in the latter that God's days are longer than man's days: "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by..." (Ps 90:4) and this is quoted by the Apostle Peter "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years..." (2 Peter 3:8).
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Created: 4 August, 2000. Updated: 12 January, 2010.