The days in Genesis are 24-hour days

I also thank him for the good conduct he shown forth. Allow me to refute his opening arguments before refuting the rebuttals. Age of the Earth My opponent argues that since Science has proved the Earth to be about 4.6 byo, then there is a scientific error in the Bible that needs to be answered. Therefore, it is logical to think that the meaning of the word day was not a literal 24-hour period (paraphrased as I am going to run out of characters. ) I would like to offer an explanation for this. Now, there are several possibilities that I will explain. Possibility 1: The earth is 4.6 billion years old. Since I am arguing for a literal 24-hour creation I must answer the question why does the age of the earth seem older than 6,000 years? Does the explanation have to be a day age? Why not a gap theory? You need to examine all the possibilities. Possibility 2: God has created the universe in a mature way. This is the viewpoint I hold. When God created Adam, how old was he? Well, technically he was 0—just like we are when we are born. However, Adam did not have an infancy stage. He was created mature. So, he would appear to be in his 20’s, 30’s even 40’s or however old he seemed—but he was still mature. God is an awesome God that has that power. Trees take longer than 24 hours to grow! My opponent basically argues that since trees take longer than 24-hours to grow, it can’t possibly mean a literal 24-hour day! (Paraphrased to conserve space) I obviously am not denying that plants take longer than 24-hours to grow! Does the verse directly say that the “Earth sprouted vegetation? ” No. Let us look at a couple of verses. Let us look at the verse Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so. We clearly see from the phrase whose seed is in itself that they were, in fact, mature—already with seeds to keep the commandment to “Reproduce and multiply. ” Isn’t God great! Notice that it also says Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree or in other words ““Let the earth sprout vegetation! ” God also already enables the plants to follow natures plants by creating them mature “Whose seed is in itself” I think that is enough for that point. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. Genesis 2:5 Look at the verse before it. “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. ” At this point, the beginning of day three, the ground is seeded, yet nothing can grow since there is no water. However, in the next verse God sends a mist from the earth causing the plants to grow. If God had simply made plants appear or supernaturally grow, then this water wouldn’t have been necessary. Instead, these verses indicate that the plants grew by natural means, yet we know it takes more than a day for any plant to naturally grow. We must then conclude that the third day at least was not a 24-hour day. I will now address my opponent's arguments. You say that If God had simply made the plants appear or supernaturally grow; then this water wouldn’t have been necessary. Wrong. Plants need water. That is a scientific fact. Obviously a plant can go a day without water. God can sustain life and if he is powerful enough to create a mature plant with the seeds already in, then clearly he can sustain the plant! Clearly, he knows that eventually they will need water. “We must then conclude that the third day at least was not a 24-hour day. ” Again, arguments found above support me. Now I shall answer the rebuttals that my opponent made. My opponent argues that the said day is 24 hours because of the phrase at the end of each day, "There was evening, and there was morning, the ___ day" However, this would be irrelevant for the first three days since there was no sun. But there was time, there was also light! God created light on the first day! Although there wasn’t anyway to measure “A day” God inspired Moses to write this story because God did know how long he took. The only two accurate definitions for yom are (1) a time from sunset to sunset (2) a time from sunrise to sunset (clearly not the case) Obviously because there was no sun. or (3) an extended period of time. For the first three days, definition 1 would be invalid, Why not? Time existed. God knows everything and I believe he would know how long he took! and only definition 3 remains. Refuted. My opponent argues that the use of the word yom in the rest of the Bible indicates that the word is describing a 24-hour period. However this is a fallacy of accident. Simply because yom indicates a 24-hour day 2301 times outside of Genesis 1 does nothing to prove that Genesis 1 is a 24-hour period. There is actually good reason to believe the contrary. Every time yom is used to describe a 24-hour day, it is within events that have been witnessed by humans. In addition, since the Israelites judged days by the sun and there was no sun in the first three days of Genesis 1, then logically follows that we might have an exception on our hands. Again, God who is all-knowing would know how long he took, even by Earth’s standards when there was no “Sun”! My opponent argues that God gives the meaning of yom to us in Exodus 20:11, "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. .. " Yet this argument does not address the issue. We are not arguing whether or not God created the universe in 6 days. Correct. Instead, we are arguing what it is meant by day in Genesis and could it be longer that our 24-hour days. The actual time periods between God's work and rest and our work and rest do not need to be the exact same amount of time as God's days are different then ours. After all, God is not restrained by time, living outside of it. I didn’t touch up on the opening pre-statement. I’ll do that here. 2 Peter 3:8 says, But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. Does this mean that the whenever the LORD says day that he is really referring to a thousand years? No. Let me give you an accurate meaning of this verse. “The text says ‘one day is like [or as] a thousand years’—the word ‘like’ (or ‘as’) shows that it is a figure of speech, called a simile, to teach that God is outside of time (because He is the Creator of time itself). In fact, the figure of speech is so effective in its intended aim precisely because the day is literal and contrasts so vividly with 1000 years—to the eternal Creator of time, a short period of time and a long period of time may as well be the same. (1)” I apologize for not touching up on everything—but when typing this on MS Word, I ran out of space—therefore, stuff I can’t touch up on or improve on in this round, I will in the next round. Source 1) . http://creation.com... I turn it back over to my opponent