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.
Theories abound about the ultimate meaning behind what's seems like a literal and simple explanation of creation. I have heard some speak of a creation then recreation that occurs between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2. This would represent the time of the fall of Lucifer and the other angels that were kicked out of heaven.
I have also heard claims that the days mentioned in this chapter are not literal days, but rather each day represents indefinite lengths of time. Some of the men I have heard speak of this, I believe, are trying to make God's word more appealing, especially to those in this day and age who believe in Macro evolution. There are some major issues with this, one being that you would have to go elsewhere in scripture and pull verses out of context to defend this. The other is that Scripture declares God to be a God of order. If God is the designer then he knows intimately every facet and requirement of his creatures. The fact that he creates plants and animals on separate days does not allow for a long period of time to transpire between. You could say that it works based upon a different pre fall system that did not require bugs to carry pollen or the sun for photosynthesis, but you would also be adding and speculating way beyond what's there.
I believe that it was six literal days, and as far as the Gap theory, I am not certain.
The Gap theory, again, would appeal to those who struggle from the constant bombardment of the doctrines of evolution. I am a huge fan of Discovery Channel and Animal planet but it would seem the media has forgotten that evolution is more like a hypothesis that has been called a theory but taught as law. When you make fun of those who have faith, remember that evolution has actually cornered the market on the sort of faith required to believe the impossible. Faith is hard thing for people though; I believe that true faith is a gift of God's grace (and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God) as well.
So now we have the first day, and we have light, and an idea that God spoke this into existence. This is more feasible to me that an explained eternal God designed the things I now see. There are no unicorns or dragons, merely a Creator and the Word, who's Spirit hovered over the waters. The Big Bang Theory has a priori, at it's beginning, a spec, a granule, a piece of very dense dust that must have also been eternal. This is the God of evolution. That is much more difficult for me than even the Gap Theory; it stands in complete defiance of logic, but it is widely taught. I suppose I will stop here; let me know what you're thinking. You do not have to agree with me to write here.
