Instead of continuing to detract from another thread, I'm starting this thread to address the question of the six days of creation, so let's get started:
Originally Posted by Ringman
Ramblin_Razorback,
Quote
2. There is nothing I've read in the Bible that requires the six days of creation to have occurred over six consecutive 24-hour periods.
How do you handle Exodus 31:16-18?
"'So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.' When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God."
Was God literally "refreshed"? Did He literally "labor"? Perhaps He did, but I don't think his labor and refreshment is the same as it is for humans. I believe in interpreting literally to the extent reasonable, but I'm inclined to read God's labor and refreshment in Exodus 31 as figurative (metaphorical) rather than literally the same as human labor and refreshment. Also, the text doesn't say six consecutive days. Clearly God could have created the universe and everything in the universe in an instant (or in six seconds or however he wanted to). Why didn't he? To provide a model to us for our work - labor six days and rest on the seventh (and keep the sabbath holy). God's modeling the ideal for the human week didn't require him to "work" on six consecutive days.
