Was the World Created in Six Days?

How long were the days in Genesis? Could six days be enough?

Not as long as the day I had yesterday...believe me. And that's not a joke. But some days are just longer than others, of course, and we all have 'em so what are you gonna do, right?

When it comes to the "six days of creation" explained in the Genesis account, there are several things to keep in mind.

1. "Six days" does not mean literally six days. Remember, much of the early parts of the Book of Genesis is written as an allegory. An allegory is "a story in which people, things, and happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning: allegories are used for teaching or explaining truths, ideas, moral principles, etc." It's important to remember, though, that an allegory does not mean that there is no truth...only that the truths are being expressed through symbolism.

2. The Catholic Church absolutely allows us to interpret certain parts of Genesis as figurative language, while certain other parts as historical, as long as neither interpretation stands in contradiction with doctrines we know to be true.

3. The Hebrews did not treat Genesis as an orderly biographical account of God the Creator at work, in terms of how long it took Him to create the universe (i.e. a week). They were not as concerned with the "when" or the "how" as the WHY God created us and WHAT happened from there.

If you want the order of creation you can read the story for yourself in Genesis 1. The beauty of that is that it won't even take you a whole day, and certainly not thousands of years - it takes about ten minutes, twenty if you pray it.

Have fun.

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