Simple question here on Genesis chronology and how God counts heavenly days (JWs seemingly believe in a conversion factor of 'one God day is equal to 1,000 human years', based on 2nd Peter).
Genesis 2:1-2 says this (NIV):
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Day seven was the Sabbath, the day of rest from all work, specifically from engaging in creative activities (Jews observe the Sabbath specifically BECAUSE of the words found in Genesis 2:2).
However, God's not quite done creating things, since Genesis continues with this, on day EIGHT (8), the day AFTER the Sabbath:
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth a and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams b came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man c from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7 strongly suggests that God created Adam and Eve AFTER the Sabbath.
But wait a minute: Genesis One just told the reader that God created humans on day SIX, BEFORE the Sabbath:
Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, a and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God even gave them a blessing, and food to eat:
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
So believers, which day did God create mankind? Was it Day Six or Day Eight? Did he create humans BEFORE the Sabbath day of rest, or AFTER the Sabbath?
If you say Day Six, how do you account for Chapter 2's saying that plants hadn't yet sprung up, which contradicts Chapter 1's saying that God gave mankind and animals plants and fruit trees as food to eat?
Let me guess: did God put mankind and animals in some kind of suspended animation (hibernation) mode, so He could take the day off and get some rest, too?
But if you go with Day Eight, how do you account for Chapter 1's contradictory claim of God making mankind? How do you account for plants not springing forth until Day Eight? Did the animals and humans go hungry on a starvation diet for AT LEAST 1,000 years, since God didn't get around to to watering the plant seeds until AFTER the Sabbath?
Splain, please.....
Adam