Alien life on other planets

[Traveler]

How long were God's days prior to creation of the sun. A thousand years? A billion? Or, is the concept purely ordinal rather than cardinal -- i.e., the "second day" of Creation just means some indeterminate point after the first day and before the third?

I do not think that we will have any way of knowing that this side of the rapture.

 

[Ronald David Bruno]

How would we know when a full revolution of the planet has been completed if there is no fixed reference point by which to gauge it?

You wouldn't know, you did not exist, nor did anyone. Gen. 1 is an eye- witness testimony that God is sharing with us. We believe in it because He said so. He is telling you generally what He did in six days. The second chapter goes back and fills in more details.
And btw, one day = 24 hours. Since the botanicals were made on day 3, they could not survive in darkness for too long which is why God made the sun the following day. Besides that each day begins with evening , then morning = 1 day, as we all experience.

 

[Spyder]

Well, there is difficulty here, because man wants to put Yahweh into a box that limits Him and His creation as to how it operates. When God established the Garden of Eden by the power of His spoken word, it was good and not yet cursed. Who among us knows what that garden was like back then? Personally, I have zero problem with the concept that God can illuminate this planet for as much as and as long as He desires. As we try to line up anything more than an understanding that Yahweh created everything just be speaking, and that, because of Him, we exist; we squabble. Probably should not do that, right?

The, of course, we'll squabble what the seventh day entails.

 

[keithr]

For me this settles it that God created heaven and earth in six 24 hour days. All the words translated as "day" or "days" is the same Hebrew word yome:

Exodus 20 (WEB):

(1) God spoke all these words, saying,​

(8) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.​

(9) You shall labor six days, and do all your work,​

(10) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;​

(11) for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.​

 

[Traveler]

For me this settles it that God created heaven and earth in six 24 hour days. All the words translated as "day" or "days" is the same Hebrew word yome:

Exodus 20 (WEB):

(1) God spoke all these words, saying,​

(8) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.​

(9) You shall labor six days, and do all your work,​

(10) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;​

(11) for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.​

Here is where the word is used in another application.

Gen 4:3 And in processH4480 H7093 of timeH3117 it came to pass,H1961 that CainH7014 broughtH935 of the fruitH4480 H6529 of the groundH127 an offeringH4503 unto the LORD.H3068

Gen 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.