What a Difference a Day Makes!

Six Days or 13.7 billion years?

What a difference a day makes
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be nought

And so the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation and stopped working. And that is how the universe was created.

Well, you said you'd try to get out of this one.

I've got a questions for you.

Do I see a trick question coming?

Not at all; a very factual question. When Mrs Armitage next door had her baby girl last year what did you pop through the letter box?

A card, of course.

A what was the picture on the card?

It was a stork, carrying a baby.

Why?

You wouldn't send a picture of mum in the delivery room, would you? Best wishes, Mrs Armitage, glad to see you successfully had sex with Mr Armitrage! Its just a simple baby-ish picture to show where kids come from without the messy bit.

So how would you explain the hugeness of the origin of the universe to people who knew nothing of modern cosmology? You would use a simple picture.

Six days?

And another question: how long is a day?

I'm sure that '24 hours' must be the WRONG answer!

The planet Venus rotates slowly, so a "day" there is about 243 days on earth! Plenty of time each day, then, for homework!"

Plenty of time for playing MP3 tracks!

Out in the universe a "day" could be any length you could imagine.and certainly any length that an infinite God might choose! Even the bible says:-

A thousand years is like a day in God's sight

There's no reason for "God days" to be the same as "earth days". If there is a God then he is outside of space and time. That's what "God" means. So God could, in theory, have created everything instantly. That's what it would seem like to us. God doesn't need days!

I'm beginning to understand.

And one last thing. What does the Bible actually say? And not what you think it says.

"On day one God created light", doesn't it?

Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day.

Evening passed and morning came—that was the second day.

Evening passed and morning came—that was the third day.

O K, I get the point. But I never really noticed. From evening to morning is one night, not even 24 hours. Now I am confused. I never realised ...

And those are the words used in ancient Hebrew as well. There is not the slightest reason to think that the words of Genesis Chapter 1 were ever meant to be taken literally. People in the past have chosen to take them literally, perhaps because it was easier for them to understand. Remember, time is irrelevant to an infinite God.

My brain hurts!

And how about this for a spooky thought? An infinite God could have created the whole universe right now in the last second. He could have put all history and scientific discovery in the brains of humans so we think it's old and we think we know stuff.

That's ridiculous.

How would you know if he did? And there's something even more spooky ... but that can wait until Sunday.

 Next Bible Blog : Sunday 21st October