Six Days or Six Thousand Years?

Did God create the world in six days or six thousand years? In traditional thinking, it would be six separate 24 hour days. Looking at what the bible says, on day one He created the earth by separating the water and air. He did things each day and put things on earth until the sixth day, when He created Adam and Eve. Could all of this really have been done in just six days? The debate comes in when you add scientists and different versions of the Bible to the discussion.

The Bible states that, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The Bible does say that the world was created in six days but there are some that believe that one of these days is actually equal to a thousand years, which means it took six thousand years to complete. The bible was written in Hebrew, and in Hebrew the word day is yom. Yom actually has three main meanings; the daylight portion of a solar day, a 24 hour solar day, or a long period of time. Hebrew lists definitions referring to long periods of time such as years, lifetimes, and time itself. These distinctions are where confusion really sets in.

The Bible says "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." From this passage it is easy to translate that it only took six 24 hour days. When you look deep into this subject though, you can find many references that, in the first day, it could have taken God several years just to form the Earth. So the six days or six thousand years debate continues to rage on.