AlphaOmegakid writes:
Yes, I understand that "yom" has many meanings just like our word "day", but the meaning is understood by the context. There is no context that indicates long ages in Genesis 1. The context indicates short periods of time. Even the "1000" year period day should only be invoked when prophecy is being used and not in a historical narrative IMO. A prophetic day can have different meanings within the scripture.
The problem is there is no long age context, unless you bring it in from the outside.
You didn't respond about God's comments on creation in Exodus. What do you think the context says there about "day".
When I use the phase "24 hour day" that is my phrase, not the scriptures. When I say 24 hour day, I mean a short period day. It could be the morning, the evening, or both combined. It still is a relatively short period of time on the earth (24 hours or less). The context of Genesis 1 and Exodus 20 are only consistent with short period days.
Ok, let's go with that. The immediate context of Genesis 1:1-2:3a is an ordinary (24-hr) day. What does that imply?
To me, it implies that the Genesis account is not to be taken literally for all the reasons that have been enumerated here and in many contexts going back at least to Augustine.