Subject: Re: Liberals vs conservatives
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 07:11:57 GMT
From:  (St.Athanasius)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the One God,
Amen. Peace and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Dear Daniel, 

>I'm not one to take Genesis 1ff literally, but when I was reading Gen 1 last
>night, I was rather intrigued by how those who do take it literally interpret
>'day' as being a long period of time, when the text repeatedly states, "And
>there was evening and there was morning, the first/second ... fifth/sixth
>day".  Were there no mention of morning and evening, I can see how it might
>be disputable.  Can anyone explain to me how they get around that?


The Oriental Orthodox see the first three days as unknown length
(which may include 24 hrs), the next three as literal 24 hour days
(Due to the creation of the Sun and Moon on the 4th day-thus solar
days from thence) and the seventh as a 'long' day that ended with the
resurrection of Christ 4,000 years (give or take) after. Please note
that the seventh day is different to all the others as it DOES NOT
RECORD the very words you have questioned (morning and evening), this
lends support to the Orthodox view that the seventh day is
spiritual/allegorical which is further supported by much of the
teachings about the Sabbath etc. BTW, There is a Biblical teaching
about the 'Eighth Day" which not many know about. Have you heard about
it. Its big among the Orthodox!

Peace and grace.