bradleybadly wrote:Jennybh wrote:I obviously can't speak for all Christians, but some think that God created the sun earlier, but there was a haze in the atmosphere that prevented it from showing through very well, thus allowing a little light, but not showing the sun. I think this view is mostly held by long-day creationists (Another literal interpretation of the Bible, since the Hebrew word used for day is also their only word for an age.). Notice that first God created light, then he separated the light from the darkness. This correlates exactly with the current big bang theory. First there was nothing, God spoke, then there was a mass of light. Very shortly afterwards, the light separated by gravity into star and galaxies. The stars and galaxies are the light and the space between them are the darkness. It would make sense that a newly formed earth would not have a completely clear atmosphere, and the sun, moon and stars would not clearly shine through. I think this is consistent with a literal interpretation of the Bible too. I rushed through this a bit, so sorry if this is a little disorganized!
I think Player might be a "long-day creationist" and I've never heard her say anything like that. If the sun was created earlier then why doesn't it say something like "the sun was created earlier"?
Just to clarify my position:
Yes, I believe that the word used for "day" in the Old Testament ("yom") is not a specific word any more than "day" is in English. In this context, it refers to a segment of time.
One way I look at it is to imagine God, in all his knowledge, trying to explain to a completely unscientific people, a people who did not even consider time exactly as we do, about the creation. It is sort of like trying to explain Heavan or even death to a young child. The explanation comes in levels depending on the age and understanding. So, too, with this. Some ancient Jews, Christians basically assumed that the Earth was created in 6 revolutions of the Earth. Not knowing any different, it was a reasonable assumption, just like many children, first hearing of heavan think of something like a giant play room or music hall (depending on the explanation). Were they lied to? Well.. in the case of heavan, some parents do use words that, technically, might not be exactly true (for example, referring to death as "sleep", etc) but mostly, parents just use general discritpions (heavan is a nice place, everyone is happy there, etc.). It is not the parents that have told inaccurate information, it is that the kids fill in details incorrectly. (with the proviso that we don't 100% know ourselves in that case)
In the case of creation, many assumed that the Earth was made with a "snap" of a finger, that all the creatures we see just suddenly appeared. Many scholars, not being scientists themselves, assumed the same. More often, the really technical scholars saw it as an open question, something not exactly specified. That is, the words used were intentionally "open" and not referring to a set time period. Or, as some people/scholars have said, "how long is God's day?"
At any rate, the point of Genesis is that God made all. I find it remarkable that the order given is the same as put forward by Evolutionists. As for the sun -- there are actually a few different references. One is to light, the other is to the heavenly orb. Mention of the two is distinct. Light came first, but not necessarily the sun as we know it. I cannot get much into the technical aspects of astronomy and physics, but the above explanation sounds reasonable. For my part, I stick with what I know to be true.. that all life came here through the process of change, otherwise known as evolution.