geocreationism.com

My beloved Christian brethren, with whom I agree on most every aspect of the bible (the gospel, original sin, the rapture, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, God’s love, etc.), largely hold one view that I cannot… that the earth is young.  I do not believe in a young earth because I believe the earth itself contains ample evidence that it is old, and the universe contains ample evidence that it is even older.

Scientific arguments with those who believe the earth is young tend not to yield much fruit.  One reason is because the unavoidable human frailty that is manifested throughout the scientific discovery process is taken as proof that scientific discovery itself is no less frail.  However, discounting scientific discovery on such grounds …

In my post, Genesis 1:5b - What is a Day?, I explain how a day in Genesis 1 is defined by when Jesus (at Creation) intentionally experienced evenings and mornings.  However, I have received numerous responses of the following form: that “yom”, the word for day, always means 24-hour days, because its use in other scriptures are always meant to be treated as 24-hour days.  Therefore, the argument goes, creation days, which use the same word “yom”, must by necessity be 24-hour days.  In conclusion, I am twisting scripture to mean something it does not.  Naturally, I disagree.

Following are the scriptures people primarily use to argue for a meaning of 24-hours …

1 Chronicles 14:15-16 says:
15 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” 16 And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.  
When I read this, I notice something interesting.  God went before David to defeat the philistines.  Then, David’s armies go and defeats the philistines.  These appear to be separate actions, yet the same action.  They are separate because God has taken a action distinct from the army to defeat the philistines… but it is the same because it’s the same …

 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.– Genesis 1:11 to 13
Placing God’s creative pronouncement of Day 3 with the appearance of seeded plants on land does not fit into the Geologic Timeline.  The reason is because the sun, moon, and stars were visible in the firmament about 1.9 billion …

Genesis 1:9-11 (NIV)
 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
 
Proverbs 8:29a
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
       so the waters would not overstep his command
 
Job 38:8-11
 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
       when it burst forth from the womb,

 9 when I made the clouds its garment
       and wrapped it in thick darkness,

 10 when I fixed limits for it
       and set its doors and bars in place,

 11 when …

In a Psalm of worship and praise, an anonymous psalmist recorded an account of creation (Psalm 104) that mirrors the Creation account in Job, and lends us a few new insights that fit quite nicely with the Geocreationist view of Genesis 1. 

Recall that on Day 1, the last meteor strike of 3.9 billion years ago had vaporized the ocean.  It was raining back down, and without any further meteors en route the atmosphere was beginning to reform.  The sun’s light was beginning to disperse through the young sky, and could be seen somewhat even within the rain beneath the clouds.
 1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.
       O LORD my God, you are very great;
       you are clothed …

Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” - Genesis 1:6
At the beginning of Day 2, it was still raining… hard.  An atmosphere was beginning to form, and Jesus had seen to it that no more large meteors would decimate it.  It was sometime after 3.9 Ga, though probably before 3.85Ga, when the first signs of life would be fossilized.

The rain was like a sheet of water connecting the clouds to the oceans, until God said to Jesus to let a firmament form.  Eventually, the rain let up.  There were still clouds, but there was now a space between them and ocean.
Thus God made the …

Having made the case that Day 1 was 3.9 billion years ago, that Day 2 immediately followed Day 1, and and having described it all in terms of mainstream scientific hypotheses, some may say it calls the miraculous nature of those days into question.  First, let us recap.

It seems that God said to let there be light when Jesus and the Holy Spirit were hovering over the ocean, in the rain. The rain was part of the aftermath of a large meteor strike 3.9 billion years ago that blew away much of the existing atmosphere, and vaporized the existing ocean.  That vapor was now settling back through a worldwide rainstorm, and Jesus was watching the oceans reform below Him.  Without an atmosphere, …

“And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.  And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” - Genesis 1:5

This is the first sunset and sunrise that God experienced on the earth.  We know it was a sunset/sunrise because the context is day and night, the establishment of the light side of the earth’s sky and the dark.  We know it was God experiencing it based on the supposition that Jesus witnessed creation, because the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters with Jesus, and because Jesus was God’s instrument of creation.  However, the creating of light in the sky surely took more than one solar day, so how could this be Jesus’ …

“And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.  And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” - Genesis 1:5

This is a key verse to understanding the events recorded in the Creation account.  It builds on the context presented in verses 1 to 3, adding just enough detail for us to understand what actually constitutes a “day” of Creation.

We know that in Genesis 1:1 the terrestrial bodies and the earth were initially created; scientifically, we know this to be 4.5 billion years ago (Ga).  We know that in Genesis 1:2, the earth had not yet undergone the “formation” of God’s pronouncements, and the earth had no life.  We also know that the …