Old Earth and the Bible

[Jocken]

As can be found in another post of mine,
"Even if the Earth were 4.6 billion years old, it would not undermine the biblical account of creation. Genesis 1:3-5 (New International Version) asserts: "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning- the first day" (Genesis 1 New International Version). Throughout Genesis 1 the phrase "and there was evening and there was morning, the [first, second, third…] day" is used frequently. This is what seems to make it incompatible with a 4.6 billion-year-old Earth. However, this incompatibility dissipates when the original Hebrew definitions are analyzed (as the original text was in Hebrew). The words for evening, morning, and day have somewhat vague meanings. "Yowm" is the phonetic spelling of the Hebrew word that is translated as "day." It is defined as this: sunrise to sunset; sunset to sunset; a space of time (defined by an associated term); an age; time or period (without any reference to solar days). "Ereb" is the word defined as "evening" and means this: the beginning of darkness; dusk, twilight, or nightfall; closing, ending or completion. Finally, "Bocer" is the word translated as "morning." It means this: the breaking forth of light; dawn, daybreak or morning; dawning, beginning, or origin ("Word Studies in Genesis One by Hugh Ross, Ph. D." 3-4). Using the direct Hebrew definitions, the phase "and there was evening and there was morning, the [first, second, third…] day" could mean a number of things. It could mean something as completely different as "and there was an ending and there was a beginning, the [first, second, third…] age." This vastly different interpretation is entirely compatible with a 4.6 billion-year-old Earth."  

[ioioouiouiouio]

The way I heard it, the hebrew word that was translated as 'day' means something closer to 'an open-ended period of time that means something longer that a day'. However, it was translated as 'day'. thus making confusion as to the 7-day creationist theories.  

[Berezi]

Cometh The Inquisitor

The way I heard it, the hebrew word that was translated as 'day' means something closer to 'an open-ended period of time that means something longer that a day'. However, it was translated as 'day'. thus making confusion as to the 7-day creationist theories.

It's funny. We've actually been having that sort of conversation in Anthropology today. I'm actually planning on finding one of the professors who specializes in the first two chapters of Genesis (like, he's spent a good deal of his life studying this) and talk to him about it.  

[ioioouiouiouio]

Berezi

It's funny. We've actually been having that sort of conversation in Anthropology today. I'm actually planning on finding one of the professors who specializes in the first two chapters of Genesis (like, he's spent a good deal of his life studying this) and talk to him about it.

Yeah, that word that is translated as day is, in hebrew, yôma. According to BDB's Hebrew lexicon, yôma is translated as:

1) day, time, year
a) day (as opposed to night)
b) day (24 hour period)
1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1 1
2) as a division of time
a) a working day, a day's journey
c) days, lifetime (pl.)
d) time, period (general)
e) year
f) temporal references
1) today
2) yesterday
3) tomorrow

Note that, while one definition of yôma is a 24-hour day, more definitions are extremely open-ended.  

[Berezi]

Cometh The Inquisitor

Berezi

It's funny. We've actually been having that sort of conversation in Anthropology today. I'm actually planning on finding one of the professors who specializes in the first two chapters of Genesis (like, he's spent a good deal of his life studying this) and talk to him about it.

Yeah, that word that is translated as day is, in hebrew, yôma. According to BDB's Hebrew lexicon, yôma is translated as:

1) day, time, year
a) day (as opposed to night)
b) day (24 hour period)
1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1 1
2) as a division of time
a) a working day, a day's journey
c) days, lifetime (pl.)
d) time, period (general)
e) year
f) temporal references
1) today
2) yesterday
3) tomorrow

Note that, while one definition of yôma is a 24-hour day, more definitions are extremely open-ended.

No, I mean other things, like is it history or is it poetry?

Because Hebrew readers would have interpreted it differently depending on what it was.  

[Jocken]

Yes, one danger is to assign the word too much leeway. As I understand, the word was used in everyday Hebrew speech to mean day. However, in a poetic sense, it acquires all these definitions. It's like in English. "What will tomorrow bring?" Although "tomorrow" literally refers to one day, in a poetic setting, it can refer to the furture in general. It seems to be a universal poetic device to make time relations ambiguous. I'm pretty sure, though, that Genesis 1&2 is designed as more poetic than historical.  

[Curium]

So, then I guess no one really disagrees here, then. Anyway, I think that the earth being 4.6 billion years old does not conflict with the Bible. Didn't Moses write Genesis? Compared to eternity, a billion years and one second all seem the same...so if Moses was seeing this, wouldn't it have looked the same to him?