The days in Genesis are 24-hour days

I believe that the word Day in the Bible is clearly a litteral 24-hour period. Contention 1: LanguageI contend that the word day is a litteral 24-hour period in the Bible because of the phrase found at the end of EVERY creation in the book of Genesis. What is that phrase? "The evening and the morning were the __ day. " In the Bible, the Jews counted time from sunrise to sunset. The begining of sunset was a brand new day, thus the phrase The evening and the morning rather than The morning and the evening. Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. What is the meaning of the word day? In the Hebrew language, the word used in the passage was yom the word yom has several meanings. 1) A litteral 24-hour period2) A time from sunset to sunset (remember, a sunset was the begining of the new day. Thus the terms the evening and the morning and not the morning and the evening. )3) An unspecified amount of time. How do we know what is the literal meaning of yom in that case? CONTEXT! The word yom is used 2301 times in the Old Testament outside of Genesis 1. om plus a number (used 410 times) always indicates an ordinary day, i. e. , a 24-hour period. The words “evening” and “morning” together (38 times) always indicate an ordinary day. Yom + “evening” or “morning” (23 times) always indicates an ordinary day. Yom + “night” (52 times) always indicates an ordinary day. (1)It is clear what the context is when we see the phrase the evening and the morning were the _ dayWhen yom is preceded by a number, it is always meaning a litteral day (2) Contention 2: Statement by GodI contend that God has shown us the meaning of yom. He says in Exodus 20 that "In 6 days the LORD made the heavens and the earth. .. " then goes on to say that is why we should hallow it and keep it holy. (3)If the Hebrew word "yom" was so imprecise, then why was the Sabbath held so regularly (i. e. once a week)? (2) If God wanted the period of rest to represent his work, then it is illogical to have only 1 day of rest or one Sabbath if it was hundreds of years in the context. Contention 3: A day-age confuses the rest of the OT! "There are many inconsistencies for those who accept the days in Genesis as long periods of time. For instance, we are told in Genesis 1:26-28 that God made the first man (Adam) on the six day. Adam lived through the rest of the six day, through the seven day, and then we are told in Genesis 5:5 that he died when he was 930 years old. (We are still not in the seven day now, as some people misconstrue the account, for Genesis 2: to tells us God rested from his work of creation, not that he is resting from his work of creation. ) If each day was, for example, a million years, then there are real problems. In fact, if each day was only a thousand years long, this still makes no sense of Adam's age at death, either! " (4)Again, we know for a fact what context the word yom is used because it has a number next to it! That is all for this round. Good luck to my opponent. Sources1. . http://www.gotquestions.org...2. . http://lavistachurchofchrist.org...;3. . http://www.icr.org...4. . http://www.creationists.org...Other stuff to look at! . http://www.answersingenesis.org...