Biblical literalists or anyone else: If creation took 6, actual days how were the first 3 measured?

You are going to get "They weren't literal days!" From people who believe everything else to be literal

ding ding ding hypocrites

Well, first understand that the word "day" - in both Hebrew *and* English - can literally mean something other than a 24-hour day or than the period of time during which it is light. See, for example, definitions 10 & 12

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/day

In fact, the same Hebrew (and English) word "day" is often used in the Old Testament in such a manner. SO, I believe that the literal meaning of the word "day" found in Genesis chapter 1 is "a period of time of undetermined length" - not "24 hours".

However....

IF you believe that the word "day" found in Genesis chapter 1 refers only to 24-hour days (and yet believe that it means something else throughout much of the rest of the Old Testament), it is possible to rationalize. Understand that a 24-hour "day" depends wholly on the rotation of the Earth with respect to some source of light. Since the sun was not created (or formed, more properly) until the 4th day, such a person would have to assume that some other source of light was responsible for the passage of day and night prior to the formation of the sun. Any of a number of such sources can be proposed - an alternate star; God himself; the glowing hot gasses still extant in the solar system at that early date that have since dissipated or are now part of the sun; etc .etc.

Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

God described each day as consisting of one evening and one morning - not a million years each.

Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

the first recorded words of God were let there be light... and if i am not mistaken, we measure days and night by a light cycle. it is worthy to note that Jesus was the first determined word from God's mouth because His name means Jehovah rescues, for He knew what the world would need before it ever came to be. when He said bring forth the light, the sun burst forth... when He named Jesus, the Son did the same. the sun is the source of natural life, Jesus the source of the spiritual. see which God favors.

and btw you cannot accept the evolutionary theory and still accept the God of the Bible. you cannot put any store into the words if you believe them to be only an allegory. you aren't living by faith, but failure.

edit: no, it is literal. and not referring to the sun or the moon. God eminates light. He is the source of it. the Bible says in the end the sun and moon and stars will have no more use, but the light of God will be what directs us.

There are many things which it is written that we are not to understand. We cannot understand all the mysteries of the God who created mankind, earth and everything in it. Even though you believe in evolution, it would only be as a result of mutation over time, and not because humans evolved. You can't believe in God 100 percent, hell and heaven and believe part in evolution, scientifically. As for the first 3 days, God's time is not like our time which means that you cannot look at 6 days the way we look at them. Time to God is different, but to let us understand for the simple people we are, Genesis just gives the days as they are written.

In both the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures, the word “day” (Heb., yohm; Gr., he‧me′ra) is used in a literal and in a figurative or even symbolic sense.

God used an hour glass.

After creating time...he back dated it three days....so our simple minds could understand it...sadly...some are too simple minded.