The world was created in 7 days

I accept Con's challenge, and will seek to show that the reservations raised are not "impossible" as claimed. 1. The absence of humans to record the event is irrelevant since the process of the Bible's recording involves God-inspiration and revelation to prophets. 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is a little-known fact that the book of Genesis is subdivided into toledoth accounts, the Hebrew word Towl@dah often translated "generation" by the KJV marks the beginning of a new account, and could be translated genealogy.[1] It appears 13 times in the Old Testament, each time demarcating the start of a new section.[2] This is known as the Wiseman Hypothesis or Tablet Theory; it points out that Genesis follows the pattern of ancient Mesopotamian family genealogy tablets by having two parts for each family, a genealogical listing of ancestors, ages, and children, and a narrative of the family's history.[3] At any rate, Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the very first section and the only one that does not start with this word. In essence it is God's own account of what transpired, whereas Genesis 2:4-5:32 appears to be Adam's account of his creation in the Garden of Eden. Thus God Himself relayed the knowledge of what occurred to a human such as Adam or Moses, that then wrote it down. 2. It is a little-known fact that the Bible indicates the coming New Heavens and New Earth will not need the sun, and that Jesus will be the final source of light, apparently as He was the first source of light. He is not called the "light of the world" without reason. Jesus is a literal Light, not just a figurative one. Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Revelation 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 3. The Bible does mention details about the rest of the universe, not just Earth. For example, the Bible mentions that God spreads out the Heavens. Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Psalms 104:2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: This was confirmed in 1998 by the Hubble Telescope, which found that contrary to Big Bang predictions, the universe's expansion was accelerating with no known explanation for doing so. "In the early 1990's, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the Universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. The Universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the Universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion of the Universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But something was causing it."[4] If the only cause for the universe's expansion was an original Big Bang with all matter spreading outward from the original explosion then by all logic the outward expansion from that Big Bang should have been slowing down or at the very least constant, not speeding up. One of the oldest books of the Bible, Job, even mentions that God suspends the Earth upon nothing, a marvelous reference to how outer space works that is thousands of years old. Job 26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. 4. The Bible does not say Adam and Eve only had male children, it specifically mentions that Adam had daughters. We simply aren't told what their names were. As seen from Genesis 5, the Bible mentions the patriarchs all had sons and daughters. However, only the names of those most key to history are mentioned. Genesis 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: Furthermore, humans before the Flood lived over 900 years regularly as seen from Genesis 5. Thus, siblings could grow up centuries apart in age, which made family relationships very different from what they are now, which is why the commandment against incest was not given until thousands of years later. (Leviticus 18:6) And as Paul says, sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13) The situation then was very different from today because of the vast lifespans. 5. God being able to take a rib and make a human from it does not mean we can do the same. Although, it should be pointed out that the concept of removing DNA from tissue for cloning is actually not all that dissimilar.[5] 6. It should be pointed out that there may be room for debate on how old the Earth itself is. Yes, Biblical genealogies do combine for an age of roughly 6,000 years for the age of life on Earth. However, the Earth itself could be debated as older given Gap Theory. In essence, the theory argues that the Earth already existed in Genesis 1:2 before the week of Creation. Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Indeed, how could there be water floating in outer space at all? For water to be gathered in an area like that, it suggests the presence of a planet and that Earth itself already existed. Thus the Earth itself could be older, and the genealogies would refer specifically to life on Earth. Perhaps a minor distinction but one necessary to observe I think. Sources: [1] http://www.biblestudytools.com... [2] http://www.biblestudytools.com... [3] http://www.trueorigin.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... [4] http://science.nasa.gov... [5] http://www.livescience.com...