If you pay close attention, the Bible says God created heaven and earth on the first day. According to the Bible, the earth was not as it is today, but rather, a water world devoid of land mass. We are then told that God said, “Let there be light, and there was light;” however, we notice that God did not say where this light came from. The Bible also says that God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
Now, the question that enters my mind, from a quite logical position, is what caused the light? What science teaches us is that the sun causes our light; however, we know from reading the above verses, that God did not create the sun, moon, and stars until the fourth day. So where did the light come from? I must then imagine God sitting there with this giant flashlight, turning it on and off to produce the light and darkness.
We then see that the spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters. Let us take a second to ponder this. Obviously, since we are discussing waters, we must be speaking of liquid water; however, we must take a moment to consider that without the sun‘s heat, the temperature on the earth would be at least as cold as Pluto, around -235 degrees Celsius. This means the surface of the earth would be frozen solid, and no liquid water would exist.
On the second day, God creates the firmament. Most people are confused about what this means. In reality, there is a simple explanation. The Bible uses a poorly constructed translation of earlier beliefs. The Hebrew word raki’a refers to the “vault of the sky.” This followed a common conception of the times. Ancient man believed that the earth was surrounded by an imaginary sphere, much like a bubble, in which the sun, moon, and stars were affixed, and thus rotated around the earth. It was also believed that rain and snow came from this imaginary sphere, as the people of that time were not aware that the rain and snow came from clouds. The Bible itself proves this as fact. There is reference in the Bible to the water above the firmament from the water below the firmament. It is further evidenced on the fourth day, when the Bible says God created the sun, moon, and stars and placed them in the firmament.
Now on the third day, the Bible says God created the land, and then proceeded to create the plants. Now let us keep in mind that the sun was not created until the fourth day. The problem is that plants require sunlight to exist. This is called photosynthesis. Simply put: no sun means no plants. Since there were no biologists in ancient times, it explains why the Bible would put plants before the sun.
On the fourth day, God creates the sun, moon, and stars. The purpose of this was to give light to the earth, even though there was already some unknown light on the first day. While the sun and stars are light sources, the truth is not the same with the moon. While the moon appears to be a light source, the fact is that the moon merely reflects light from the sun, similar to some gigantic mirror. While not really that important, ancient man would not have known this; however, a god would certainly have known the difference. One would think God would have explained this to them, rather than allow them to propagate a falsehood.
On the fifth day, the Bible says God created whales, and then the fowl. This is probably also a slight error in translation. The reasoning is that the Bible says whales and not fish. In ancient times, there is an apparent lack of distinction between whales and other creatures of the sea. If it swims in the water, it’s a fish. Even in the story of Jonah, the reference is to a “great fish,” even though everyone knows it was a whale. There was also no distinction between air-breathing mammals, like whales and dolphins, and fish in general; although, obviously, ancient man could recognize the difference between a whale and a trout.
And finally, on the sixth day, the animals are created, including man, who himself is an animal. While the Bible goes on and on about how God gave all of this to man, it never mentions either Adam or Eve; but rather, just mentions man in the plural. This would indicate that God created man in the same way he created animals, in large numbers. Also, notice that the Bible says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Forgive my ignorance, but unless God had a mouse in his pocket, who was he referring to when he said “us” and “our”?
This is what the Bible says. That is all it says; no spectacular revelations or original concepts other than to include the god of Judea, himself. It is also notable that the Bible states a day is a period of darkness followed by a period of light. Judaism actually says a day is defined as sunset to sunset. And this is not unique to Judaism. Even the Celtic tribes of Western Europe believed that night came before day.