Each day of the valid Christian Creation must have been a literal 24 hour period.

"The Bible is very clear about a vegetarian diet before the fall for ALL creatures. "The Bible is not clear about this. Nowhere is it explicitly stated that all creatures had a vegetarian diet. I have already addressed the verse my opponent used as evidence for this claim. As I wrote in round 2, "Genesis 1:29–30 states that God has given fruit and seed bearing plants for the animals to eat, but it does not say that animals ate only plants. " Nutrition for all creatures does come from plants; herbivores are nourished by them, who in turn are eaten by carnivores. Thus, plants do provide "meat" for all creatures even in a carnivorous society. "God favored Abel's offering of sheep over Cain's offering of fruit. " This in no way supports the idea that there was no carnivorous activity or animal death preceding the fall. In fact, Cain and Abel's situation actually works against my opponent. If animal death is an evil that was brought about as punishment for original sin, then why would God be pleased with it? Should God not favor the one who makes a sacrifice not involving such evil? Rather, he is pleased, and nothing evil can please God. "The Bible does give reasons to believe animals were included in the punishment of original sin. "Here, it is conceded that this idea is not clearly stated in Romans 8:22, only suggested. To this I respond with Genesis 18:25:"Far be it from You [God] to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly? "God does not punish the innocent. Animals did not participate in the first sin, so it would be wrong for God to punish them for it. Therefore, we must conclude that animal death and suffering did exist beforehand, or it would not exist today. "Also, the Bible establishes exactly when creation can eat meat. God allowed meat to be eaten once the flood was over. Genesis 9:3 [4]. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. "My opponent seems to purport the idea that this passage is even addressed to animals at all; it is not. Nothing here even remotely implies that all of creation could then eat meat; it only refers to humans. Even then, neither this verse nor the contextual ones clearly state that humans could not eat meat beforehand. It is open to interpretation and does not support the resolution; remember, this debate revolves around whether the creation days must have been 24 hours. "Genesis 1 does use the word ‘day’ with a number, and every other time this happens in the Bible it refers to a single day. "To say that this happens every other time in the Bible is false. There are numerous occurrences of yom with a number that do not refer to a single day. The Hebrew word echad means one, and here I will list several instances where echad yom refers to a period of time longer than one day. (2) Daniel 11:20-28 Referring to the rise and reign of Seleucus, it is prophesied that "within a few days [echad yom] he will be shattered. " The reign lasted 12 years. (3;4;5) Zechariah 3:9-10, Zechariah 14:7-8, and Hosea 6:2 all refer to the Day of the Lord, a period which will be 7 years long. Sources(1) . http://godandscience.org...(2) . http://www.biblegateway.com...(3) . http://www.biblegateway.com...(4) . http://www.biblegateway.com...(5) . http://www.biblegateway.com...ConclusionI believe that my opponent has not adequately proven that the creation days must have been 24 hours long based on biblical references. I believe I have disproved the validity of his resolution by thoroughly refuting each of his arguments. I remind voters that this debate is based solely on the Bible and disregards any scientific evidence available (Neither side used any, but I think it's necessary to make that clear). Sorry for the lengthy final response; I felt it was necessary to give thorough rebuttals.