Why Not Genesis? - the Creation Events

The first chapter of the Bible, Genesis, tells of the major creation events. Many people, even Christians, regard the creation account as something other than actual history - a nice story that conveys some truths but which is not to be taken literally. The main reason for this view is the incorrect assumption that "science" has proved that it was really evolution that got us here. But why not start with the view that Genesis is true?, especially if you already believe that an all-powerful creator exists or could exist. There is no fundamental conflict between what is said in Genesis and what we absolutely know to be scientifically true.

Genesis says that the creation events were carried out over six days. Most (but not all) creationists believe these to be 24-hour days. Some have tried to make them into long periods of time in an attempt to reconcile Genesis with the supposed old age of the earth. That these are intended to be taken as 24-hour days is made clear from the phrase used following the description of each day: "there was evening, and there was morning". To make it even more clear, the terms used are defined in Genesis 1:5 where "God called the light 'day' and the darkness he called 'night'". Only one 24-hour day has one period of light and darkness, one morning and evening. One other important point to note is that some of the creation events are not in the expected order if long periods of time were involved: plants are created on day three, while the sun was not created until day four, and animals needed for pollination of plants were not available until day five.

The creation days activities are as follows:

After six days God was done creating and called the creation "very good". Creationists believe this could only be true if death and decay were not yet present. That is, God created a perfect world which only later was allowed to start to decay when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

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