Is biblical creation fact or fiction?

Answer 1

However, it must be noted that the "creative days" were not literal 24 hour days.

To begin with, the earth was already formed when the "creative days" began.

Genesis 1:1, 2 states:

"1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and desolate, and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep, and God's active force was moving about over the surface of the waters."

Of note, a day to Jehovah God is a thousand years to mankind. (Psalms 90:2,4 & 2 Peter 3:8)

At Genesis 2:4, Moses refers to all six creative days as "one day", so what is a day?

On the seventh day, God entered his "rest". That day of rest is still going on, 6,000 years after the creation of Adam and Eve.

Without being told specifically on human terms, it is feasible that each "creative day" could have been as long as 6,000 years, but we do not know for sure.

ANOTHER ANSWER:

The account is "fact": "...Thy WORD [the entire Bible] IS TRUTH." (John 17:17).

But, as mentioned above... the earth was already in existence by the 2nd verse; and had undergone some kind of destruction -- "...the earth WAS [or BECAME, a form of the verb, 'to be'] without form, and void...". ["without form": "tohuw;" to lie waste; a desolation... a worthless thing... in vain..." -- The Literal Bible {LIT}]

Isaiah tells us that God DID NOT CREATE the world"IN VAIN ! "

"...God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it NOT IN VAIN [same word as Gen.1:2; tohuw], He formed it to be inhabited..." (Isa.45:18 KJV).

So, the earth and the universe was "created" within the "undisclosed time frame" of the first verse. It does NOT tell us how long it took God to make the universe in verse one. Anyone's guess as to how long that might have been is as good as anyone else's.

But the "RE-creation account" of the ruined earth that ensues after verse one is composed of SIX 24-HOUR DAYS... as God established the 24-hour day as we know it today, AT THAT TIME!

"...God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening [Night] and the morning [Day] were THE FIRST DAY." (verse 5)

The rotation of the earth from sunrise to sunrise [a period that has always included THE DAY and THE NIGHT, as observed from a fixed point on earth, is a constant physical measurement of 24-hours. It's been going on since God set it in motion in the "RE-creation" account in Genesis 1.

It's a FACT.

God didn't have to create the earth in this account. He only had to "repair the damage" done to it by whatever it was that destroyed it in verse two.

Again... no time frame is mentioned in verse one. So, no one knows how long it took to make the original universe and the original earth... nor how long this perfect original creation of verse one remained untainted until the subsequent destruction of the earth in verse two.

The Bible reveals evidence of what happened, however, in other biblical passages. For instance:

"And THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN: Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon [Satan -verse 9]; and the Dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not. neither was their place found any more in heaven... he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev.12:7-9)

And Jesus tells us: "...I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18)

The question becomes: "What does the impact of an army of angels cast down to the earth do to the earth?"

Does it turn the once-perfect earth into a worthless, vacuous desolation?

The biblical creation account [as well as everything else in the Bible] goes back to Christ's prayerful assertion to His Father in John 17: "...Thy Word is Truth." (verse 17)

It doesn't matter if anyone believes the Truth of the Bible. It's still the Truth, anyway. It's all FACT!