rebelling against low expectations

How to Stop Being Bored And Start Being Wonderstruck

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Do you ever wonder at the world?

Not in a tired way. Not like you’re upset or frustrated. Like you’re in awe.

We live in a world of marvels, glorious complexities and breathtaking beauties. Every day we are surrounded by them.

Yet we drink them all in without a shred of wonder or an ounce of awe. We are bored.

How poignantly G.K. Chesterton assesses our condition:

“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

Consider with me just for a moment the sky. One day it’s grey and cloudless, the next it’s deep blue and crowded with puffy whites.

Then it’s black. Then it’s red. Then it’s pink. Then it’s yellow. Then it’s orange. Then it’s navy flecked with silver stars.

The sky is cloudless. Then there are millions of clouds. Then they drop rain, billions of pellets of water.

From the sky.

Though really, this was actually condensation from the earth that was somehow sucked up into the clouds which hung onto it until they got too heavy and dumped it back on the earth.

When it gets cold, it snows. Every snowflake is startlingly unique.

Right now it seems like it’s spring everywhere except where I live. We had a snow storm last night, and now my front lawn is layered with trillions of snowflakes. Yet every snowflake on that lawn is different.

Wondrous.

What about the mechanics of the human body? The playfulness of our pets? The taste of food?

God didn’t have to make food taste so good. We didn’t have to have taste buds. But He created them, and He gave them to us for sheer pleasure — to bring the glory back to Him. For good food.

Wondrous.

Look around your house. Look closely at whatever technological device you’re reading this on. Computer, smart phone, tablet, iPod — how amazingly inventive this technology is. How grateful we should be for fridges and microwaves. How blessed we should feel for the creativity of our fellow man.

Looking around my living room alone I am awed by not one but three laptops, my grandmother’s beautiful Heintzman piano, a cat perch, an electric fireplace, a coffee table, a ticking clock, books, a phone, a rocking chair, electric lamps, picture frames, fake plants. and speakers.

Wondrous.

Daily we are surrounded by wonders. Pine trees and sunsets, running cars and coffee, pillows and thunderstorms, hand cream and chicken nuggets — don’t waste them.

Take a moment to truly wonder at God’s glorious creativity and the marvelous, intricate world of beauty He has created.

It is wondrous.


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Photo courtesy of Vern and Flickr Creative Commons.


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About the author

Jaquelle Crowe Ferris

is the former editor-in-chief of The Rebelution and author of This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years (Crossway). She's the co-founder of The Young Writers Workshop and hosts a podcast for youth called Age of Minority. She's married to Joe and lives in Nova Scotia, Canada.

310 comments

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  • Hey Jaquelle, this is a great article! I’ve found my wonder growing thin at times too. That’s when I can look around like you are describing and I realize that I practically live on an alien’s planet! Haha It’s crazy, the things we take for granted! Thanks for reminding us of all the impossible things that we see every day!

  • Jaquelle, thank you for this beautiful reminder to look upon and marvel at the wonders of Christ’s beautiful creation surrounding us each day. Tis’ easy for me to forget the beauty and wonder that surrounds me when I get caught up in my busy day to day life. But when I do take the time to pause in life and see the sun rise or feel the wind blow or listen to the chirping of birds in the early morning then it makes my heart smile and dance as I behold Christ’s love shining brilliantly through all of his creation.
    Also, you are an excellent writer. Keep it up! 😉

  • This is a beautiful reminder, Jaquelle. (Your name is fantastic, by the way :D) Marvelously written too! I’m glad i read this today. I’m off to find wonder in my bunk bed, pillow, and blankets 🙂

        • Yes! Finally another one! I’ve been like, the only one I know for forever! Lol!
          So name a favorite!?

          • Eleanor’s beautiful!
            I actually have a hard time with girls’ names, I can’t pick a favorite. It’s harder for me to find ones I like, too.
            But boys. :O There’s a whole treasure trove, it’s awesome!
            Favorites would include Mordecai, D’Artagnan, Bartolomeo(I love, love, love Spanish names)…

          • I guess you could say I am a name nerd too then because I am always looking for unique and rare names. My favorite girl name is Lanae. I am not sure that I have ever met anyone with that name though. 😉

          • Yay!!!! 😀 That’s gorgeous. Would you happen to know what origin Lanae is?
            I’ve never met anyone with that name, either. 🙂 But I have met a Kawana. And a Benaiah(that’s a boy). And my best friend’s name is Magdalena. So I seem to be somewhat a magnet of unique names. Course, with a name like mine, that would make sense. Lol 😀

          • Sadie, I had to do a little research on it, but apparently it has origins from the Hawaiian language, but it comes from a variant of that name, Lana, which comes from Greek, Russian, and English. My parents considered naming me Lanae so ever since I saw the name and realized that, I have wanted to use it for my first daughter if I ever have any. 😉
            Those sound like some fun boy names. 😉

          • Awesome! It is beautiful! I asked cause it sounded a little Scandinavian. 🙂
            I
            know, I love them. I love a lot of literature names, and Spanish(have I
            mentioned that before? 😉 ).
            @disqus_aeGm5xMIfo:disqus and @a_haylie:disqus what about you guys? What are some of your favorite boy
            names?

          • I don’t have as many unique favorite boy names. I have always liked the name Jonathan, but that isn’t an unusual name or anything. Lol. Lot of the guy names I like are Bible figures, missionaries, or other people who I think are really inspiring and then I want to name my child after that person.

          • Jonathan is one of my favorite Bible characters; I’ve always wanted to use that as one of my boys’ names, maybe as a middle. 😀 Yes! Same here! Like Adoniram Judson! I learned about him during school but had a bit of a refresher when I did research on Burma for a paper I was writing for class. I’ve wanted to use a part of his name for one of my kids since them. Same with William Carey. 🙂
            Question: your thoughts on names: Gideon, Israel, Zion, and Hosea? 🙂

          • I actually really like the name Gideon, because of Gideon in the Bible, but also because one of my favorite movies is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and one of my favorite characters in that movie is named Gideon. Those other names are nice too, but probably wouldn’t end up using them. 😉 Do you like them?

          • Gideon’s probably my favorite Bible story, tied with the story of Hosea and Gomer. I’ve heard of that movie, but I don’t remember much about it. What is it about again? 🙂
            Yeah. Though I think I’d use Israel for a girl. In the Bible Israel is always referred to as a girl, or daughter. And often as the daughter of Zion.
            And I like Hosea because his story is my favorite romance in the Bible…

          • Agreed, the story of Gideon and Hosea are pretty spectacular stories.
            The movie is about 7 brothers. The oldest goes to town to find a wife and brings her back to his farm where all his brothers live with him. Eventually all the other brothers want to get a wife too, but they don’t go about doing it in the most gentlemanly manner and end up kidnapping their girl. 😉 It is basically just a very silly and humorous movie that no one should take too seriously, but it is really funny and has good dancing in it. 😉 You can watch it to find out the whole story. 😉

  • Wow, this article is amazing! Every time I go outside, I am reminded of all the wonderful things God has given us. Thanks for sharing this beautiful reminder of the little big things in life. 🙂

  • This is why I love science, I am reminded of how truly amazing God’s creation is! I marvel how scientists can know so much about the complexities of nature, yet still some believe it all come from a “big bang.”

    • Exactly! Richard Dawkins defined biology as “the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” Yet he refuses to believe that these complicated things actually could be designed for a purpose. It’s absurd!

    • Yes, God’s creation is amazing and science truly shows that. However, I’m going to say that I do believe in a “big bang,” just not the way you would think. Dawkins would have us believe that out of a ball of nothing came a big explosion, resulting everything we see in the universe, which is absolutely preposterous. But don’t you think that when God spoke the universe into existence that there would have been a massive transfer of energy into nature, like an explosion? Just food for thought people.

      But yes, the big bang theory and evolution are terrible inaccuracies in science.

    • Hey Martial Artist,

      I disagree that there was a “Big Bang” also known as “The Mass Expansion Theory” – whether created by God or not.

      The reason for this, is, it requires you add something not written about, into the creation account. One could argue, because it’s not talked about, it can be true. Well… *winces*, I don’t see it that way.

      You see, Genesis doesn’t say God didn’t create the Earth from a cow, but does it mean that I should believe He did?

      In addition, a Big Bang would require rewriting the first chapter of Genesis. It says in detail what order God created the universe, including “the sun, the moon, and stars”, which takes up much of the matter in the universe.

      So we could say “God created the Big Bang”, but really, for it to line up with what’s said in Genesis, there wouldn’t be much ” big” in the Big Bang. You know?

      I think the only understandable reason for describing the creation of the universe that way would be to relate it to what most Atheists believe and to their definition of “science”. Though I don’t believe that is an adequate reason to “adapt” the Bible.

      Now, I realize I probably won’t change your mind, and I don’t want to cause either of us the stress of long unending debate, but I just thought I would point that out.

      Have a great day!
      God bless,
      – Trent Blake

      • Now, please realize that I have no desire of starting a heating debate. I merely want to have a cordial exchange of ideas, like any good debaters or philosophers. (Wow, that makes us sound really old).

        I very much appreciate your insight. I now think that perhaps my idea was wrong, since God created first the heavens and the earth, then light, then oceans and sky, then the other heavenly bodies.

        And please realize that I do not want to in any way condone ANYTHING that the atheists believe about science. Unless it is grounded in firm scientific and experimental fact, they should not talk about it like it is so. Evolution and the Big Bang really have no foundation on scientific principle.

        I suppose I just kind of got carried away. I mean, when God spoke light and the planets into existence, don’t you think that it would have been something like the Big Bang though. If God spoke them all into existence, then would all have appeared at the same time. In my mind, it would have happened quite explosively.

        And I didn’t mean to give credit to the Big Bang theory. I was more trying to visualize what that event (God creating the universe) would have been like in a more practical manner. But being that this is The Rebelution, I suppose that isn’t really necessary. 🙂

        You certainly have a great deal of spiritual wisdom Trent! Brooklyn is right, another five-star answer. Thank you very much, and please know that I am not angry at all! A good scientist keeps an open mind to opposing viewpoints, and I see that your viewpoint is better than mine, so thank you!

        And sorry for the book. 😛

          • Hey Trent, got a question for you. Have you ever heard of kenosis as applied to Jesus? And if you have, what do you think of it?

            Thanks

          • I haven’t looked much into it. But I believe kenosis is dervived from the Greek “κένωσις” (kénōsis) meaning emptiness.

            I’m not sure if some people apply it to Jesus as “emptying himself to the Father’s leading” or the other way, “we should empty ourselves to Jesus’s leading”.

            Now, as I said, without much research, I can only guess at the reason for your question, for me to answer. Are you concerned that it is too similar to what Yoga teaches (i.e. “emptying your mind “)?

            Or was there something else?

            Hope I can help!
            – Trent

        • I wasn’t here for the whole conversation, but I do believe that as Christians we must also be careful about treating atheists as stupid. They do have reasons for believing what they believe, and I think some of their reasons are better than just that they don’t want to believe in God.

          • Okay, I see your point. I guess I should have included that in what I said. Thanks. But a lot of atheists will blindly believe things just because they don’t want to believe the alternative. I think a lot of people who believe in evolution believe in it because they don’t want to admit the Bible is true. That was my reasoning. But you’re right. We shouldn’t discredit a scientist’s work just because he or she doesn’t believe what we believe. Thanks for the insight.

          • That’s kinda what I was going for. 🙂 That’s also what they teach in my church’s kids ministry.

          • It seems to me that if you were a scientist trying to explain what it was like when the universe and everything in it came into being, the evidence to you would probably look a lot like it was pointing to an explosion of creation. However, I have a hard time believing that it was all a simultaneous big bang.

            After all, the Bible says that after God created the heavens and the earth, the rest of creation happened in six days. There was actually twenty-four hours in each day, so it couldn’t have been simultaneous. Still, that is fairly quick for a creation, so I can understand why the big bang is well supported.

            I like to think of the big bang idea as a misinterpretation of the evidence. Pretty close, but not quite hitting the mark. A lot of science is like that. Using the scientific method does not guarantee success, but the conclusions derived from it are tentative, and even scientific laws can be overturned.

            Sherlock Holmes in the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used his own detective methods. He could read the evidence, experiment, and come up with a pretty close explanation as to the crime and the killer, but even then he was often wrong on a few points, timing, (usually unimportant details) but sometimes even the killer itself. Why? Because all he had to go on was his interpretation of the evidence. He didn’t have all of the pieces, so he had to apply logic, and the limited knowledge he possessed of the people involved, and of the crime.

            One thing he also tried to do was to never develop a theory until he had all of the available evidence. He didn’t want to be biased and interpret the evidence based on his preconceived ideas.

            Scientists operate in a similar fashion, only all scientists have some preconceived ideas. that’s because they have worldviews that affect the way they interpret the evidence. So my point is, just because something has a lot of evidence, doesn’t mean it is all interpreted correctly.

            I see I’m going to have to learn more about the Big bang theory so I can better understand that view, and how far it actually differs from the Bible. Thanks for inspiring an interesting discussion:)

          • I just wanted to mention that God exists outside of time, and creation probably didn’t actually happen in six 24-hour days. The Bible uses lots of poetic language (like how Job 41 sounds like it’s talking about a dragon, but was most likely a crocodile :P), so I think creation happened in six different parts, not necessarily six days. But I know there’s lots of different views on this, so I may be wrong. 🙂

          • Interesting thoughts, Gabrielle! I think God exists outside of time too. 2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” I think God dwells in eternity.

            As far as the creation goes, simply studying the context and translation clears up a lot of controversy. Students of Hebrew have studied the beginning of Genesis and they say that the way the days are phrased make it clear that these were actual twenty-four hour days, not symbolic for several reasons. I can’t remember where I first read that, but I found an article that talks about it here- https://answersingenesis.org/days-of-creation/could-god-really-have-created-everything-in-six-days/ if you are interested in reading about it.

            No one is quite sure about the dragon, what it was and all, but I think it was a creature that existed then but is extinct today. There ARE a lot of different, interesting views, and I just started really learning and studying them. Apologetics can be really fascinating!

          • That was an interesting article. I do believe that God could have created everything in 6 days if he wanted to, but the earth is scientifically a lot older than the Bible would make it seem. While science should not come before the Bible in any circumstance, I do trust that people who study this kind of stuff to know what they’re talking about.

            Like I said before, a lot of the Bible is poetic. Even Jesus was poetic, telling parables to exemplify his points. The Bible is most definitely God’s Word, but it’s also just a big collection of letters, stories, and songs. The words were not written down by God. I believe the creation story focuses more on HOW God made the universe, and the way he created us, not so much on how long it took him.

            The Bible is not a record of every single thing God did, and it’s not meant to be taken that way. Do you think the things Jesus said in the Bible are the only words he ever spoke to the people and to his disciples? Of course not! Only the things that really mattered and needed remembering were written down and decided on to be put in the Scriptures. In the same way, I don’t think the Bible (which is a story, by the way – an amazingly true story, but a story nonetheless – not a lecture from God to us) was meant to be taken apart and studied for every single meaning in every single little word.

            Anyway, hope that cleared up my point of view a little bit. 🙂

          • Sure, I get what you say Gabrielle. I don’t mean to criticize your beliefs. I will point out however that scientists are biased in a great degree by their worldviews, which doesn’t change the evidence, but does change how they interpret it. So far there is no evidence to confirm the theory of billions of years.

            The Evolutionists actually have their own radiometric dating method that can only be compatible with the theory of Evolution since it places the order of life on earth differently from the order in which God created life. That idea hinges largely on the idea of an invisible non-conformity in the layers of strata. They can’t see one, so they pretend it’s there. Of course, since we can’t see it, I guess we can’t prove it doesn’t exist. Still, I think we have a whole lot more evidence for God than they do for their world dating system:)

            My point is basically that just because they study this stuff, and put dates on the earth, doesn’t mean they’re right. Science doesn’t prove anything, it can only help form conclusions. I’m not saying they’re dumb, or anything, but that if you believe in the God of the Bible, according to God’s word their system is faulty. They often like to teach science as if it was the gospel truth, but all science is is theories, and hypotheses of man.

            Don’t accept that they know what they’re talking about. Study and see for yourself. If I trusted my doctors to know what they were talking about…well, I would probably be feeling nasty and taking a lot of medications right now instead of eating better and feeling better:) I won’t go into details, but some doctors are pretty biased against natural treatment…

          • Haha, I have to agree with that! But I also want to point out that science isn’t evil, or ungodly. God created science, and he used science to create the universe. It didn’t happen with magic. Science is something to be in awe of, because it is also one of God’s brilliant designs. Scientists and doctors, while misunderstanding things a lot of the time, are really just discovering God’s work as much as you and I.

            I think a lot of Christians today see things as either “spiritual” or “worldly”. For example, you can either believe the Bible or you can agree with scientists. Or you can either be in a relationship with only one man your entire life, or you can be a flirt and have multiple boyfriends before you’re 18. Why can’t there be a balance in between? I do believe every word of the Bible, but I also respect the opinions of scientists, who are not all creation-loathing atheists, contrary to popular belief. 😛

            And on your note of “don’t accept what they’re saying, find out for yourself”, my grandfather was a scientist, and both my parents have deeply studied into these kind of things. I’ve asked them questions, heard their opinions, browsed around online, and eventually agreed with them. So don’t worry, I’m not taking some random wacko’s word as truth, lol!

            And thanks for having this conversation with me, it’s cool to hear views other than my own! :))

          • radioactive dating… two creatures RIGHT BESIDE EACHOTHER have been dated for very different ages.
            and rocks that WE KNOW HOW OLD THEY ARE get dated much older. I don’t trust it

          • You know another thing, you can actually learn about Biblical interpretation that can teach you different forms of poetry and parables they used during Bible times, based heavily on translation from the original languages and the cultures they lived in. That may help you figure out which Bible passages are poetic and which are history. I haven’t studied that personally, but studied with the proper degree of discernment, it sounds very interesting and enlightening!

          • *enters conversation*

            Okay, I feel a friendly debate coming on 🙂 Because i firmly believe there is strong evidence of an earth that is under 10,000 years old. I am happy to back up that claim with examples if you would like 🙂

          • Alrighty 🙂

            First i’ll mention the Law of Entropy, stating that everything is deteriorating. Studies show that with every generation of every living thing, any possible mutations are harmful if not fatal. That would seem to suggest the impossibility of an ancient earth, and ancient man. Also under that law, I would point out the sun as evidence. A magnificent ball of burning gas drawing energy likely by collapsing under it’s own gravity. I wish very much that i could remember a reference, but i have read evidence that the sun is SHRINKING at such a rate, that the earth really can’t be that old, or we would have burned to a crisp!

            Also, The element helium holds proof of a young earth. Helium is known the be the by-product of radioactive decay in stars. The same processes have been observed about the earth since the beginning of time, making it the second most abundant element in the universe. Helium is too heavy to escape the earth’s atmosphere, meaning it’s all trapped above us. You’d think we would find an unfathomable amount of helium in the atmosphere, if the world was really older than 10,000, but we don’t. The amount of helium in the atmosphere matches up to the Biblical model of a young earth. My reference for that is A.C.E. Physical Science Text P.A.C.E. 1114.

            For more reasons, i would suggest reading this article : https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/age-of-the-universe/evidence-for-a-young-world/

            I’m open to other views, and would like to know what you all think! I hope i’m not coming across bluntly, and i’m not trying to come crashing down on anybody. This is just what i believe to be true. I believe that that the earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old, scientifically, but more importantly, it matches up with the Bible.

            God bless you for actually reading my “book” 😛 and i hope you have a fantastic day!!!

            Respectfully,
            Haylie

          • I doubt either of us are going to change our beliefs due to an online debate, but this is really testing my knowledge. 😛 And it’s a lot more fun than reading a textbook!

            I’m not going to argue with your first statement, I think that’s true. Everything does deteriorate- but then it starts over. (Think “Circle of Life” from The Lion King. :P) Matter can not be destroyed, last I heard. And as far as I know on the sun theory, I don’t think that the rate of shrinking per time frame has been proven. I’m pretty sure it was just a theory, and many other theories have been made alongside of it. It’s possible that there’s a cycle of the sun shrinking and expanding, though.

            I’ve read multiple scientific articles that say helium can and does escape the earth’s atmosphere, when heated up enough in the exosphere. I’ve also read articles by creationists who say that that’s impossible and doesn’t happen, and that scientists are wrong. So… not really sure what you’re getting at on that point. 😛 Maybe you can try to find some more evidence about the helium thing since my internet skills seem to be failing me on that.

            And without all the science stuff, the Bible was not meant to be a textbook. Remember, it was written for the people of those days. It wasn’t written with the thought that thousands of years later, people with advanced technology and higher intelligence levels would be able to decipher the scientific meanings in the Bible. People back then didn’t get that kind of stuff. They were writing the creation story to debunk other religious arguments. (Aka how Hinduism taught that life is just an illusion controlled by God, or how most other religions taught a more generalized form of evolution.) It was written to show that there was a God- an intelligent, creative God- who designed and created the universe step by step. It was written to teach how man was created, and that it wasn’t just an accident of worlds colliding.

            God, of course, is the most brilliant scientist to ever live (so don’t ever insult the term “scientists”! 😉 ) and he could rattle off every scientific law ever to exist if he wanted to. He created everything with science, and could defeat even the most intelligent scientist by ten thousand times. God understands every inch of his creation. However, the people he was talking to back then would have been like “Wha…?” They didn’t care about that. I honestly don’t care. But to people who don’t believe in God but believe in hardcore proven facts, this whole young earth thing is just another proof to them as to why Christians are dumb. And I’m not personally saying the concept or people who believe it are dumb, as a six-day creation is completely bibically correct. But it’s not necessarily scientifically correct, and science is God’s work as much as the Bible is God’s word. It’s not either or. Science and God go together, regardless of the many misunderstandings that have been done in the name of science.

            Do you see what I’m getting at a little bit?

            Thank you for patiently reading through my sequel to your book! XD

            -Gabrielle

          • Hey thanks for replying! 🙂 This is definitely more fun than reading a textbook! I did not mean in any way to insult science or scientists, and i’m sorry if i came off that way. I find that many scientists that are hard core Atheists are extremely smart people. I think that science and the Bible do go together, but i also think that the modern view of the term “science” is often flawed. I appreciate completely unbiased science, (not toward or against the Bible) which is getting very hard to come by. I’ll admit, all scientific discoveries can’t be explained away, if you will, by the Bible. They don’t always match up. But when they do, which is actually a lot more than i once though, it’s really convincing.

            Yeah, i should have checked some more articles, but i was kinda thinking on the fly. Those were just things that came to mind first.

            I have a question that kinda ties into this conversation though. If the 6 days of creation were not literal, than were the 3 days after Christ’s death literal? Just because it was a more recent account of history, does that mean it should be taken more literally? I think that both instances happened exactly as the unabridged text presents, but i want to know what you think.

            Thanks again for conversing with me! Have a fabulous Lord’s Day 🙂

            ~Haylie

          • I certainly believe the three days after Christ’s were literal!
            (oh, and for those who don’t know, in Jewish history any part of a day is considered a day, so Friday to Sunday is three days)
            I also believe Jesus’ 40 days of fasting were literal… and his 3 years of ministry, etc.

          • Yes, exactly. If we take one event in scripture and say that it wasn’t exactly what it says, where would we draw the line of what happened, and what was figurative? Your comment about the Hebrew word “Yom” was very insightful, and something i wasn’t aware of, so thank you for mentioning that 🙂

          • passion for creation science + being a PK= finding out lots of biblical info 🙂
            P.S. Love the profile “picture”

          • AMEN!!! This is a great conversation to stumble on…both sides really know their stuff! =)

          • Yeah, unbiased science is very hard to come by. But science should be able to match up to the Bible, since it’s just as important in the creation story as the words written about it. It all fits- people need animals, animals need plants, plants need light, etc. Everything works in the precise order that God created it.

            Like I mentioned before, only the important stuff was included in putting together the Bible. Obviously the 3 days after Jesus’s death were important, because they fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah and what Jesus had said to predict the future. He said, “He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Luke 9:22) That part is important. It showed the people of that age that Jesus really was the Messiah, not just some priest making up numbers and dates.

            And that’s all I’ve got for now. 😛

          • @joyfuljoyful:disqus
            @a_haylie:disqus

            I want to apologize for any harsh comments or offense I’ve given, if any. I tend to get heated up in arguments, which is one of the flaws that God’s working on fixing in me. 🙂 I’d also like you to know that I am totally ready to admit that I was wrong on different points, but respect for the creation story and scientific research working together will keep me from doing that until one or the other proves me wrong. 🙂 Thanks for discussing it with me, and helping me to figure this all out!

          • @joyfuljoyful:disqus
            @a_haylie:disqus
            @malloryobier:disqus

            I want to apologize for any harsh comments or offense I’ve given, if any. I tend to get heated up in arguments, which is one of the flaws that God’s working on fixing in me. 🙂 I’d also like you to know that I am totally ready to admit that I was wrong on different points, but respect for the creation story and scientific research working together will keep me from doing that until one or the other proves me wrong. 🙂 Thanks for discussing it with me, and helping me to figure this all out!

          • Hey, no hard feelings! I really appreciate you debating with us, and what you have said is very interesting. Keep using your brain for Jesus, Gabrielle!

          • I forgive you! truthfully, I don’t think you were to harsh or heated up. I enjoy a friendly debate and don’t get as many chances as I’d like since I had to stop debate group. 🙂

          • I get what your saying, but plants on our earth as we know it need the SUN, not just light. The sun was created a day after plants. Now, the light God had created might have held heat as well, but there really isn’t any way to know.

            I understand that it seems odd to think about only our small planet earth keeping track of time. But we have to remember that the God who created the entire universe created the days that kept time as well. Humans didn’t come up the cycles of time. God gave them to us. And i think that it would be against the character of God to change what a day meant.

            That’s really all i got for now too. Thanks again for being a gracious debater 🙂

            ~Haylie

          • God didn’t create days, he created the method that creates days. Just like God didn’t create your computer, he created the method for making it. Just like your computer, time is a powerful tool that God uses to help us. But he didn’t speak time (or your computer) into existence. He created the things in the creation story, and he created laws for us to live by. But he did not say, “Let there be time,” or “follow the laws of time.” Time does not exist to God, and it doesn’t exist anywhere else except our minds. We measure a day by the earth rotating once. How do you measure that on another planet where it rotates slower/faster? How do you measure that if there was no sun to tell night and day apart?

          • I’ve been trying to stay out of this rather heated and not so friendly debate y’all have been having, but I can’t ignore it any more. Here’s what the Bible says about days,

            “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that is was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”- Genesis 1: 3-5

            “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night: and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”- Genesis 1:14-19

            “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.” – Exodus 20:11

            God therefore, by his own admission, invented the concept of days, describes the passage of time with evening and morning, creates the Sun and the Moon for us to measure the passage of time by, and personally institutes them as the system by which we measure the days and years with. To me it is apparent that God had already invented Day, and described what a day was, then invented the system by which we can tell on earth that time is passing.

            The Sun didn’t start the system of days, or the passage of time. Just like time passes whether or not we have watches to measure it with, so time and days passed without the Sun. Earth is bound by it from day one. Regardless of how much of His time it took, the Bible is clear in these passages that it took six of our earth days to complete the creation.

            God describes this passage of time with evening and morning instead of hours because that measurement wasn’t made up until later. That was the way He, as well as us, defined a day in the beginning. We didn’t start describing it as a full earth rotation until later, but that’s what it came to mean. God is specific with marking the passage of time with evening and morning, and marking the days it took because the Bible was written for people who live on earth, and He knew that we knew what a day was.

            Why bother mentioning how many earth days it took, if it wasn’t earth days at all, but some vague measurement of His own time? Isn’t eternity immeasurable to us? We can’t even describe the passage of His own unique time that He spends, within our own earth days, because they are separate. How can we possibly understand that He meant something other than what He both said and described?

            The more I have followed this argument and read what both you, Haylie, Trent, and Joyful Joyful have written, the more I have thought about and studied the creation, and the more assured I become of this. In light of the creation it doesn’t matter what God’s time is to us because earth operates under different laws that it is bound by. You can’t use the argument that He is infinite in this instance because the world is not. Of course there will be some conflicting evidence. If every single scrap of evidence pointed directly without a doubt to God’s creation and design, what would be the need for faith? “Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

            You can think what you like Gabrielle. (I’m not trying to change your mind or prove you wrong!) You have shared your reasoning and defense behind what you believe and think, so I felt it necessary for me to also share the reasoning and the defense behind what I believe and think, so that that any who may have also followed this interesting debate may consider and draw their own conclusions.

          • I wasn’t aware that this was a non-friendly debate, my apologies to everyone who took it that way.

            Now, I agree with most of what you’ve said. God created a way for us to know the time (aka the sun), so that our lives wouldn’t be chaotic. That fact is important, because back then, people assumed the sun had just always been there. But nope, God created the sun, and time came from him.

            Why would God feel the need to make sure we knew it was six 24-hour days? Why would this be important to him? Reminder: nothing in the Bible is said without reason. If it wasn’t important or didn’t need remembering, it wasn’t written down. What point would God have in telling us to remember that he created the world in six earth days? Nobody back then cared about meaningless time frames, such as how long it took for the world to be created. God wouldn’t have cared about it being in the Bible either, unless it had a deep meaning that would make sense to his people. It IS important, however, that he created it in six different parts (or days), regardless of how long it took, because it proves that the world wasn’t created all at once in a big jumble. It’s carefully separated out, and even though I don’t believe God created the world in literal days, it did set the stage for the seven-day week, with resting on the last day.

            I’m just curious about your thoughts, not trying to be defensive or anything- do you think that there’s any chance at all that my stand could be the right one, and that the six days could just possibly be figurative? Just so that this doesn’t become a matter of pride, I think that there’s a slight chance you could be correct as well. But God’s creation is proving itself to be older over and over again, and my acceptance of the explanations of God’s creation outweighs my respect for the many interpreters of his word.

            People say, “Where’s the proof?” all the time. Sadly, most Christians think in terms of science vs. God, but in reality, science is the proof of God. The amazing colors we see around us, the graceful motion of dance, the sun shining down. All have an underlying scientific explanation, but at the same time are a reflection of God’s beautiful character.

            I agree that faith is needed, but I don’t believe God created the world for us to believe in solely on faith. “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15) // “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.” (Psalm 111:2) He wants us to learn, to discover new things about his ways. Why would he hide those things from us, if he loves it when we learn new things? I, for one, want to discover the new things about his creation, not try to hold on tightly to outdated facts that fit into the young earth mold.

            “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” (Job 38:4-5) I wasn’t there. You weren’t there. But God and his creation were, and neither of them specifically say that the earth is a young one.

            Again, thanks for discussing this with me! The world would be boring if no one had anything to debate or anyone to challenge them. 😛 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
            reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (1 Timothy 3:16)

          • I’ve been watching this debate for a week,and I finally had to comment! I’d just like to say that if God didn’t create the world in six literal days, why would He allow the Hebrew word for literal earth days to be used in Genesis? He knew when it was written that people in future years would misconstrue what He had said, so why wouldn’t He try to be as clear as possible? (By the way, isn’t it cool that as the Bible was being written, God was thinking about every single time someone would read, or mention, or ponder those words? Including what you read today! Right this minute!)

            And also, I believe God exists outside of time as well. In fact, it would be really hard to figure out how He could exist if He didn’t! (Have you ever read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle? Confusing, and I don’t approve of everything she says, but at one point in it, she mentions the fourth dimension, and that it could be called time. Stop for a moment and think about the fourth dimension. I can’t even wrap my mind around it. How can there be another direction?! But think about how the third dimension would seem to someone who had only ever existed in the second dimension. It’s the same principle for us to think about the fourth dimension. And if there’s a fourth dimension, why not a fifth? Or a sixth? (See Life of Fred: Geometry: Chapter 12 1/2 for a more detailed explanation. The model of a tesseract is lovely!) Anyways, if time is the fourth dimension (if!), then God could exist in the fifth dimension and be outside of it. Of course, I’m not saying that God exists in the fifth dimension. I’m not even saying that time is the fourth dimension. Just trying to give you a new way of looking at it. Haha, my friends might be surprised that I came up with this paragraph on my own. It doesn’t really sound like me.(If you’re reading this, Dracula dear, what do you think?) )

            I’d also like to say that it seems like the main reason people want to believe in a young earth is because they’re trying to meld Christianity with macro-evolution. I don’t think that you are saying that macro-evolution is true, but that seems to be the main reason people try to believe in an old earth. Most of the comments seem to reflect this. (If you aren’t saying that macro-evolution is true, what is your purpose behind believing in an old earth? Just curious, not trying to be rude!) I don’t believe there is any real evidence that macro-evolution occurs. (But I’m not going to get started on that right now. That might open up a whole new barrel of monkeys, if you’ll pardon the expression.) However, I will say that if we came from monkeys, then we weren’t created specially by God, in His image. If it were true, it would mean that we’re just another type of animal, and we don’t have to have standards or rules to follow. There would be nothing special about us. I hope you don’t believe that’s true. Christianity and macro-evolution really aren’t compatible. I’ve not yet seen an attempt to mix the two that convinced me.

            Hope this changes the way you think a bit. I’ve had a bit of trouble following this conversation (given the length of the comments and the late hour), and if I missed something that was already said or disproved, I’m sorry! (I have a habit of missing really obvious things.) I just want to help you understand a bit better! If there’s anything in this comment that confuses you, I’ll try to help, but I’m not perfect, and I sure don’t have all the answers! Quite honestly, I think we all need to step back, cool off, and pray about it. Hope this helps! (Okay, bedtime! It’s nearly one o’clock in the morning where I live, and I just spent three hours putting this comment together!)

          • Hey, thanks for responding! Funny that you brought up Life of Fred, that’s the math curriculum I use. 😛

            We could also ask, why did God allow other things to be put in the Bible that are also confusing and debatable? There’s already so many different views on Christianity, with all the denominations and back and forth debating between Christians. I mean, we already see such a wide span of views just on this site! Why didn’t God just clear all that stuff up as well? All the different views on creation, end times, what God does/doesn’t do, what we should/shouldn’t do, etc. all have their own biblical proof. He could have cleared all that up with the thought of us squabbling about all of it, but he didn’t.

            Haha, very nice science-y paragraph right there. It’s amazing to think about!

            And no, I’m totally not for macro-evolution! I believe that God, while speaking everything else into existence, created us and breathed life into us. We are set apart, and special. Not in any way coming from monkeys! 😛 I do believe that other things micro-evolve, however, to adapt to the world changing around them. My purpose for believing in an old earth is that God used science to create the universe, and science is not meant to be refused just because people (including a lot of scientists themselves) misunderstand it. I trust in what scientists discover about God’s creation, because most are actually trying to figure out the earth, not making things up to discourage Christians. Hope that made sense…

            And you’re right. While it’s not bad to debate, it certainly wears on your spirit, and I’m going to wrap this up. I’ll gladly answer any questions, and if I have any I’ll be sure to ask you, but until then, we can agree to disagree as friends and sisters in Christ! 🙂

          • I love Life of Fred! (As much as I love any of my math books…Ugh!) 😉

            Yes, it’s true that God could have cleared up a lot of things in the Bible, but He chose not to. I thought of that myself! 🙂 I’m just saying that since God doesn’t lie, would He have used that Hebrew word if He didn’t mean it?

            I figured you didn’t believe in macro-evolution, I just wanted to make sure! I totally believe in micro-evolution, though. How can anyone reject it? It’s clearly proven by science. I think I understand your point of view on old-earth creationism. I would like to say that God certainly used science, but He also controls it. When He created the earth, for example, He bent scientific laws. And the miracles that Jesus performed didn’t have a scientific explanation, either. I’m just saying that not everything can be explained by science. (Not saying that you believe it can, ’cause I don’t think you are.) I also believe with what scientists find in creation. (As long as they’re not using incorrect methods!) It just seems to me that the evidence points towards a young earth. (And you know how, when you are trying to prove something, it becomes very easy to overlook any opposition? Scientists, like all people, do this. Everyone is biased, whether they know it or not. If they’re trying to find old-earth evidence, they’re more likely to find it then those who aren’t. Get what I’m saying?) As far as I am concerned, it seems like a young earth is the way it happened. (At this point in the debate, I think we should all just stop, because it isn’t helping anyone very much.) I don’t think I’m going to change your mind, but thanks for discussing it with everyone! (Haha, that comment got kind of long again. Not trying to open the debate back up! Don’t feel obligated to respond to it!) Have a nice day! 🙂

          • Haha. This whole thing reminds me of:

            http://youtu.be/QsnfMP_q7IM

            But believe me when I say this, compared the debate with The Rejected , this is very civil. With that said, I think we should always keep in mind the reasons for a debate. And most importantly, what would Jesus do in our situation?

          • That video is hilarious!
            I’ve never heard of The Rejected, but it seems to me that this debate has mostly stayed fairly “healthy”. Others might see it differently. I’m still going to believe in a young earth, but I’ll respect the fact that others might not see it that way. Thanks for the WWJD reminder. That should always be at the front of our minds. 🙂 (By the way, I like your new profile pic!)

          • @joyfuljoyful:disqus @a_haylie:disqus @prayerwrrior:disqus
            Sorry about this, I know we said we were done. But I just found this argument, and I really feel like it needs to be spread. The book I found it in is totally worth reading. It’s called Chucking College by Melanie Ellison. I’d recommend it to anyone! (Though it’s intended for young ladies.) The author discusses the problems with college education today, even from Christian colleges. In the chapter Academic Assault she discusses how a student’s faith can be challenged at college, and she presents some arguments for Christianity. This is what she has to say on creation week:
            “…the belief that God initiated evolution and then allowed creation week to extend for eons of years implies that death occurred before the Fall of mankind (if animals evolved and died in the process to make way for higher forms of life.) This would mean that the Creator called death ‘very good,’ since He made that pronouncement at the end of creation week.”
            Now, I know we’ve already said that we don’t believe in macro-evolution. But even though this argument was intended to persuade those who believe in it, I think the argument about death occurring before the Fall is a valid one for this debate. Wouldn’t plants have died in those years between when they were created and when animals and people were created? I suppose that there might not have been death yet, but it seems to me that there is a bit of a conundrum here. Anyways, it’s something to think about, and I hope you read the book! It’s a very good one, and I’m going to get my friends to read it too!

          • I know i said i was done on this thread so forgive me 🙂 I just wanted to mention one quick thing. Humans actually weren’t the first to come up with the idea of computers… God was. I found this quote by (surprise?!?) Richard Dawkins that i found really interesting.

            “The machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like. Apart from differences in jargon, the pages of a molecular biology journal might be interchanged with those of a computer engineering journal.”

          • I had to read that quote three times to get a basic understanding of what it was trying to say! XD But yes, I agree with you. God inspired computers, because God created and works with science. 🙂

            And as long as we’re trading awesome fun facts, did you know that the same materials found in the human body are also found in the earth’s crust? “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
            breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
            soul.”
            Boom! I hadn’t known that before today, but it’s cool proof that man is really made from dust and breathed into life by God! 😀

          • it all boils down to what your ultimate source of truth is. do you fit the bible around science, or science around the bible?
            if science is more truthful than the bible, why is there any reason to believe in miracles? including a resurrection!

          • I believe in the Bible, 100%. But that doesn’t mean we as Christians should ignore everything that doesn’t fit in our perfect little Bible boxes. God created science. God gave the words for the Bible. It’s all from God, and since he isn’t half Bible God and half science God, it should all fit together, correct? So if there’s scientific proof about one thing, and biblical saying that seems to oppose it, there’s a giant problem.

            If scientists are proven wrong about an old earth (and they seem to be progressing on their discovery of evidence, not decreasing), I’ll readily take the young earth side. But as long as God’s own creation is saying it’s been here longer than 6000 years, I’m going to study and believe that.

          • Honestly, i just don’t agree with that. I’m not ignoring science, but i think there is just as much evidence for a young earth as there is against it, if not more. But, i’m gonna bow out of this conversation now. Thanks everyone who contributed, and God bless!

          • You’re probably right about that fact, but how much is the young earth evidence worth if all of it can be countered by old earth evidence? And yeah, these debates are really exhausting sometimes. 😛 See you around!

          • Yes! here are some other things
            1. the moon moves away from the earth every year. if we moved the moon back towards the earth, it wouldn’t be to long before the gravitational force would pull the moon into the earth!
            2. The ocean gets saltier every year. If the ocean had been getting saltier at this rate for as long as some people claim that the ocean has been around, the ocean would be solid salt by now!
            3. The milky way galaxy winds itself up a little ore every year. if it were really old, it would already be completely wound up!
            There are MANY others too! this is what I remembered 🙂

          • Yes, thank you Joyful joyful! Those were some others that i just didn’t have the time or brain power to write about 🙂

          • So many different comments to reply to! 😛

            1. Yes, the moon is moving away each year. By inches. (Ughhh I despise math. But here we go…)

            The moon is moving away at 1.5 inches per year. Go back a million years, and the moon would be 1,500,000 inches closer. Which also equals 23 miles. Do you know how far away the moon is?? About 240,000 miles away!

            To keep going, let’s go back 4.5 billion years, the age of the earth according to science. The moon would be 6,750,000,000 inches closer- or 106,534 miles closer. Not trying to crush your beliefs or anything, but that moon argument has been debunked by science for a while.

            2. There are actually many natural ways that salt is removed from the ocean, and it’s been discovered that the amount of salt is roughly equal to the amount removed. Also, man made pollution is a large part of creating salt in the ocean. Therefore, the ocean wasn’t always as salty or gaining more salt per year as the present day is.

            3. I’m going to have to read more about this one, but as far as I’ve gathered, the spiral arms aren’t solid, as many young earth creationists believe. They’re constantly losing and gaining new stars, which is one of the reasons it wouldn’t have totally wound up.

            Still not sure how correct I am on that last point. Scientific articles are very complex to read! 😛

            Here’s a short article that conveys my thoughts pretty accurately, if you’re interested in reading it. http://www.oldearth.org/hope.htm

          • Oh @prayerwrrior:disqus I feel bad for you…I’ve been the only person on a certain side of an issue on an online debate before, too. Looks like (while I completely disagree with you ;-P) you did a great job! =)

          • The Hebrew word used to describe the word “day” is “Yom”. (I don’t know if that is the spelling but it is the pronunciation.) Whenever this word is used in the old testament with the words “first” or “second” etc. it ALWAYS means a literal day.
            Many Christian scientists think that Job was actually talking about dinosaurs. They think Job probably lived not too long after the flood, and when he talks about “the cold out of the north” that is the ice age that occurred after the flood. (Yes, Christian scientists believe that an ice age is biblical!)
            Creation science is something I really enjoy and have read a lot about 🙂

          • A day = 24 hours, correct? Now where in the creation story does it mention hours?? And even without hours, people tell time with the passing of the sun! Guess what? The sun wasn’t created until the fourth day. The first day there was only light, dark, and a formless earth. How would anyone be able to measure time, or a 24-hour “day” by that?

            Day 2, we’ve got sky. Light, dark, heaven, water, sky. Any possible ways to tell time? Not that I can see.

            Day 3, land and plants appear. Still no way to tell time…

            Day 4, sun, moon and stars! Everyone can now tell time! There’s officially a such thing as days!….. or not, since man hasn’t been created yet, and time is an idea made by man.

            Day 5, animals. As far as I know, animals don’t care about time and don’t record it, either.

            Day 6, more animals, and Adam and Eve.

            Do you get what I’m trying to say here??? Time is man made! Time is just an idea created in our minds. God doesn’t work on “time” or “days”. The earth rotates once, and we count it as a “day.” The planet makes a full rotation around the sun, and we call it a “year”. Then we split up the length and make mini groups of time that we name hours, minutes, seconds, etc. This stuff is all just an idea, not a scientific law.

            If God would have mentioned to Abraham, “you will have a million descendants.” He would have said, “What’s a million?” God explains things in a way where people can understand. God did not write the Bible. He did not intend it to be your science textbook. Anything written was written for the people of those days, people who were a lot less intelligent than we are today.

            Days did not exist when the world was created.

            And creation science is something that I also enjoy and have read about, along with having a family of scientists. 😉

          • Nowwwww I understand why we agree to disagree.
            actually, I figured it boiled down to this.
            GOD DID WRITE THE BIBLE.
            IT IS 100% HIS WORD, 100% TRUE, AND 100% RELIABLE. ANYTIME!!!

          • sorry, I only meant to bold that “God did write the bible” i meant to keep the rest in plain text. 🙂

          • Actually, people wrote the Bible. (Solomon wrote Proverbs, Paul wrote Ephesians, Matthew wrote Matthew, etc… ) But you’re right, the words were inspired and approved by God, and it is 100% his holy word, 100% true, and 100% reliable anytime! ;))

          • Well, from my interpretation, many scientists believe that the universe started as a singularity filled with gases and atoms that was just always here. That thing exploded billions of years ago and formed the universe that we have today. All of the atoms eventually combined to form earth, and then the first organism, and so on. Spontaneous generation is what they call it. That’s as far as I understand about the Big Bang, but I haven’t researched it deeply.

            Now, about Sherlock Holmes. He is one of my favorite characters in all of literature. I mean, he is almost the perfect scientist because he has no bias, which is impossible for scientists nowadays. That’s why throughout history, the establishment have had such a difficult time believing in new ideas (Like Newton’s laws, Galileo’s observations, Einstein’s theories). That’s why it’s important for scientists to keep an open mind.

            Now, I can tell by your description of the creation of earth in six, twenty-four hour days that you obviously listen to Ken Ham. I honestly don’t care one way or the other if the earth was created in six, literal twenty-four hour days or not. But let’s just be clear on one thing, which is that MAN developed a system by which they could measure time. And since there was no man at creation, God could have stretched out those days as long as he wanted to. Just food for thought.

            Now, thanks for being frank and not being critical or anything. Honestly, I enjoy being able to have an honest, friendly debate about certain topics. And I don’t mean to sound angry or anything. I understand that sometimes it may sound like I come across that way. Thanks for being a good arguer. And if you want to discuss anything else, by all means, please let me know. 🙂

          • Thanks for your info about the Big Bang! I actually haven’t heard or read a lot of Ken Ham’s stuff. I mostly just read my Bible, but I enjoy Apologetics 315 , Think Apologetics.com . and Reasons for Hope, which all have some interesting stuff. I don’t really hold to anyone’s theory, I just try to evaluate the information I receive and study my Bible, so that I can discern and make my own conclusions.

            I like Sherlock Holmes too:) Sherlock only used applied science, being a detective, so it was easier for him to be unbiased. He NEVER cared about understanding the world around him and how it worked. He didn’t even care to remember that the world goes around the sun! Can you imagine?

            I honestly don’t care a whole lot about how long it took God to create everything either, but if He says He did in six days multiple times in the Bible, and by all accounts seems to be very much aware of how long a day is, than I’m just going to take His word over that of some scientists that He created. He ought to know better than them, since He was there. I wonder, If no scientists had ever questioned Genesis, would we have ever even questioned God’s claim as being literal? Of course, since a day to the Lord is like a thousand years, doing it all in six was probably a no-brainer. That’s kind of an interesting perspective actually…

            Another thing I find interesting about the six day creation is that when God rested on the seventh, He Himself instituted the seven day week. The Israelites were to rest on the seventh day because He did, then the new week began!

            Not really arguing with you at all, I just enjoy discussing this and different perspectives on it. I could analyze this stuff all night just for fun. To me, what happened after creation is the most significant:)

            I’m interested in Apologetics because in my own experience it is essential for reaching a lot of the young people these days with the gospel. I want to be able to adequately defend my faith, and answer questions that others like me face through school or culture that can cause them to doubt their faith.

            Thanks for not being critical or anything either! I enjoy friendly debate and discussion too, (I don’t ever get to talk about this stuff, really:) and your comments have given me some things to think about…

          • Hey bro, I would like to challenge your thinking, so when you come out of this discussion, you have researched the facts presented in the Bible and either become more solidly grounded in your beliefs (if they are what the Bible teaches) or switch to what you believe to be the truth (if they are not what the Bible teaches).

            First, I would like to address the part about creation. Now, I am hesitant to “quote” your comment, because whenever someone quotes me in this type situation, I feel like they’re picking my argument apart. That is not my intention. So, please keep that in mind as I reluctantly resort to quoting what you said.

            You said: “Now, I can tell by your description of the creation of earth in six, twenty-four hour days that you obviously listen to Ken Ham. I honestly don’t care one way or the other if the earth was created in six, literal twenty-four hour days or not. But let’s just be clear on one thing, which is that MAN developed a system by which they could measure time. And since there was no man at creation, God could have stretched out those days as long as he wanted to. Just food for thought.”

            The two of us could go back and forth and argue our opinions on it (which you probably agree with me that that is sort of a waste of time. haha)

            However, I feel that if we look at what the Bible says, we can have a better understanding at what God says happened. And since God cannot lie, I would say we can trust Him. Yes?

            So, let’s see what the Bible says about Creation. Here is a direct copy of Genesis 1, using the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), what I use as my Study Bible as well as what LifeWay.com uses as it’s default Bible.

            ______________________
            GENESIS 1:1-31

            ______________________

            1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

            2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.

            6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

            9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.

            14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.

            20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.

            24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

            26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”

            27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

            28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

            _______________________

            Now, firstly, I would like to clear up the original Hebrew meaning of the word “day”. As another kind young person pointed out, it is the Hebrew Word “Yom” (pronounced “yome”). It is used in the HCSB Bible 2209 times, with the word “day” as the most used, a total of 901 times, followed by days (487 times), today (265 times), and then “time”, “life”, “historical”, “all day long”, “when”, “reign”, and “each day” all coming in at less then 100 times each. (There were also 286 miscellaneous translations)

            So, in other words, out of all these times, the words “day” and “today” (both singular) are used for this word for more then all the other uses combined.

            Now, because of this, I believe the word “day” should be where it is, as the word “day”. but let’s assume for a moment that I am wrong and the correct word is “time” or “life”. If we replace day, we get:

            6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second time .

            or

            6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second life .

            To me, neither of these make sense. Even with the word “time”, the reader would probably assert that because it said, “evening came, and then morning”, it was referring to a literal 24-hour day. That brings us to our next word: the words for “evening” and “morning”

            The word “evening” comes from the Hebrew word “‘ereb”, pronounced “eh’-reb”

            It is used a total of 131 times, 109 of which are the word “evening”, and twilight, dusk, evenings, ever evening, dusk, and west come up less then 10 times each. There are no miscellaneous translations .

            So, from this, I would be pretty sure that it does in fact mean “evening”, as in “the latter part of the day”.

            The word “morning” comes from the Greek word “boqer” (pronounced “bo’-ker”). And it is used in the HCSB Bible a total of 199 times. 153 of those times was for the word “morning”. The other times that make up the other 46 times are as follows:

            every morning, next morning, daybreak, dawn, early morning, mornings, tomorrow morning, east, and miscellaneous translations

            So…

            from all this, I would say it is best to take God at His word, that He made the earth in 6 literal days. You are right in that it never says, “God did not use the big bang to create the universe” or “God did not use 1000 years to create each day”, but really, it shouldn’t have to. After all, the Bible never says, “God didn’t create the Earth from part of a chicken’s head”, but we can be reasonably sure that He didn’t.

            In the same way, I think we should be careful what earthly theories we conform to, because while some can be accurate, others are against the truth of scripture – and the only way to agree with that theory is to change what the Bible says. And that’s kind of a dangerous path to be walking.

          • Wow! That’s a lot of information! You’ve really done your research and I applaud you for that sir!

            I will just say that everything you have said about days and nights and evenings and mornings is true. My main point before was that God was not bound by time, and that his 6 days may have been longer or shorter than 6 days to us. Man created a way to measure time, and that just happens to have twenty-four hours in it. I’m only saying that God could have let the sun stay up as long as he wanted it to, thus making the day longer.

            But really, it’s all speculation, and almost not worth the effort. I mean, it’s really inconsequential to argue and be divided over whether or not it was six literal, twenty-four hour days. Of course, we need to believe what the Bible says, but it doesn’t matter how long each day was.

            Thanks Trent. You have certainly gotten my thinking. I’d love to try to answer a question for you if you’ve got any. I feel I like I should return the favor now. 🙂

      • I can see both of your points. I guess we’ll never really know exactly how God decided to make the world, so until I can ask him in heaven, I’ve decided to just roll with the fact that he did create it and that’s all I need to know. 😀 Nice logical thinking though on both of your parts.

  • I am not sure what is more marvellous…
    Your article or your writing style.

    You have some writing talent there.
    Very good article as well. 🙂

  • Wow! I often wonder things like this. Think about your brain for a second, the names, math equations, song lyrics, faces..etc..I mean WOW!
    Thanks for this, Jaquelle!

  • I found this quote that reminded me so much of this post, I had to share it!

    “I could spend most days looking for the golden moment ahead, when the gold is already in front of me. Available for every messy minute.” 
    ― Sara Hagerty, Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet: Tasting the Goodness of God in All Things

  • Hey, thanks to everyone for the encouragement and kind words. This article was a joy to write, and I’m so glad you could be edified by it! Many blessings to you all.

  • Thanks, Jaquelle! This is beautiful! I remember, one of my favorite things in life is waking up to a sunny day. I looked out at the sky recently and was like, “Wow! The sky is so blue!”

      • 😀 I like the colors of leaves in the fall months. So beautiful! And we live where there’s lots of mountains, so the mountains are just covered in gold, orange and red. It’s amazing!

  • Ahh,love it, Jaquelle! Now I’m like, all wanting to go and read outside and just enjoy all the beauty out there. You have such a gift for writing. <3

  • Hey guys,

    I don’t want want to draw attention to myself or anything, and I don’t want you guys to think I’m trying to be “super Josh” or anything, but I felt like I needed to let y’all know something…I’m going to be taking a break from the Reb (and Disqus and Revive) for about a week. I don’t want anything to become an idol in my life, and I don’t want to be addicted to anything, either. Not saying that the Reb is an idol or I’m addicted to it, but it’s good to make sure…I did it with my tablet with my games/books on it this past week. So basically, I won’t be on here until next Friday night at least. =/

    Just wanted to let y’all know, and I hope no one takes this the wrong way. =)

    Bye!

    -Josh

  • I LOVE THIS ARTICLE. This holds some serious truth. Jaquelle, thanks for the eye-opener. God’s creation really is beautiful.

  • Being able to wonder at God’s creation is wondrous in itself. God’s creation is amazing and extravagant, created simply for the purpose of giving glory to him. But the fact that He made us with the ability to see the beauty in creation is amazing, and it shows us just how lovingly He created us. God’s ways really are so much higher than ours!

    Great article Jacquelle–-so encouraging. Thanks for posting.

  • When I started reading, I was thinking “yeah, I know what she means… that’s how I feel when we drive through the mountains on vacation.”
    Now I am amazed that vertical blinds stay up and the bristles in my tooth brush stay in place… 🙂

  • I love G. K. Chesterton so much!! He is right up there with C.S Lewis. Thank you for this reminder of His intricate and beautiful world!!!

  • You are so right Jaquelle! We really need to just stop and take it in sometimes. Thanks for writing!

  • The word ‘boring’ is not allowed in our house! I think that if you think everything’s boring, you’re boring yourself! It was very hurtful to me every time my Christian homeschooling friend came over to our house, because every time I suggested something to do, he didn’t l like it and said he wad bored. Oh it is much more polite and kind to others if your are wonderstruck and interested in them!

    Hope this helps 🙂

rebelling against low expectations

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