Christian leaders who uphold Genesis

Creation Ministries International ^ | 8-5-14 | Don Batten

[fishtank]

Christian leaders who uphold Genesis

Modern-era theologians and prominent church leaders from around the world affirm biblical creation (historical Genesis)

by Don Batten

The modern creation movement is mostly driven by those with primarily scientific qualifications. Some of a theological bent argue that we scientists don’t understand the ‘genre’ of Genesis (i.e. we are theological ignoramuses) and that Genesis is not meant to be understood as history. In part answer to this, I have listed here just some of those with theological qualifications who have taken a public stand for understanding Genesis as straightforward history, just as we scientists do. Those listed represent a wide spectrum, from pastors and evangelists to professors of church history, theology, and Hebrew, and from various church affiliations.

(Note: this list is not meant to be exhaustive. So, the absence of names of staff from a given theological institution should not be read as meaning that there are none at that institution. Also, we will update this article periodically with additional names.)

(In alphabetical order)

Randy Alcorn, MA in Biblical Studies, author of Heaven, and president of Eternal Perspective Ministries. He became a biblical creationist because “the straightforward reading of the text seemed to me to say it’s a young earth.” He also believes that the problem of evil “cannot be properly understood without accepting Creation, the Fall, and Redemption as real history.”

[Agamemnon]

I will ask you the same question, do you believe anything God said?

I believe all that God says and physically wrote with His own finger. Do you?

Did you read where he said these are the generations? Genesis 2 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

As the Prime origin of all things created, God by definition instituted the first generation of all things.

You will notice the word "heavens" is plural and the word "they" is plural. It should be no wonder to any competent reader then that the word "generations" (תּוֹלְדוֹת) in this context is expected to be plural, as well.

Also do you believe the Sabbath day is the 7th day or the first day like most Christians claim.

Sadly, it appears that you have a penchant for distraction. Try to stay on topic.

FReegards!

[ravenwolf]

Sadly, it appears that you have a penchant for distraction. Try to stay on topic.

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It is the topic you started, if any one got off it was you.

[Agamemnon]

It is the topic you started, if any one got off it was you.

Actually, it is you who has allowed himself to be distracted under the guise of what he peddles as his rejection of words of men in order to excuse himself for rejecting what God has very clearly and physically written in His Law and with His own finger.

You set up a false choice between Genesis 2:4 and Exodus 31:18 due to your apparent lack of understanding of simple linguistic usage common to both English and Hebrew, and in the end you failed to affirm that he believes all of what God has said or written.

It is this last point, which, since it goes to the heart of what informs your worldview, likewise reveals for readers what is behind your attempts at distractive deflection.

FReegards!

[boatbums]

Kinda hard to argue with THAT! Thanks.

[ravenwolf]

In the first place I do not have much of an idea what you are talking about, maybe my fault, maybe not.

The idea of the thread was to push the belief that the world was created in six literal days and if you believe that it is fine with me.

I don`t know how long it took but I see generations as more than six days

[Agamemnon]

You wrote this earlier: I am a long way from knowing all about it but if I am wrong about anything I would not even think about calling God a liar.

And now you wrote this:

I don`t know how long it took but I see generations as more than six days.

If you believe as the Bible describes, that God, Himself inscribed the 10 Commandments and obviously did so with his precisely chosen words, you should know full well how long it took to for Him create. He tells you straight forwardly and without minced words.

It is up to you to believe Him. When man chooses his own prideful perspective, as opposed to the straight forward reading of the clearest set of Laws ever written, he willingly blinds himself to God's clear truth.

One in fact calls God a liar if one does not believe Him or what He wrote.

God's creation was the first generation of many things which reproduce generationally. Speaking as a biologist, we routinely refer to generations of plants, animals, human beings, and even bacteria.

The word generations cannot be limited to the context of only generations of human beings. There were no generations of anything -- human, plant, or animal before there was "In the Beginning...."

Some theologians ask: Must we insist that God created in 24 hour periods when the sun was not created 'til the 4th day?

My answer: If you say you believe what God wrote you do. Full stop.

Still for those who require more --there is the Hebrew word, יוֹם pronounced “yom.” The word “yom” as it appears in Scripture over 1400 times means the same thing – a 24-hour day.

The plural form of this word as God inscribes it in the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:11 is יָמִים֩ pronounced, "yamin." Preceded by the number 6 in Hebrew it can only mean 6 literal days.

God was there. You'd expect that He knows wouldn't you? He didn't mince any other words in the 10 Commandments -- he wrote them to be understood by man concisely. Why would anyone credibly wonder what God meant by the word "yom" in the 10 Commandments, especially when the creation week is used as the singular reference point for understanding what is meant by the term "week" everywhere else?

God’s first creation was time itself – “In the beginning ….” The materialist, coincidentally, as the presumed master of his destiny must likewise create his own “time” to allow for enough fungible time as he determines he needs to invent to make his premise fit his worldview.

It most often results in circular reasoning that goes something like this: “This bone is 1MM years old.” Really? How do you know? “Well, the strata I found it in is 1 MM years old” OK, so how do you know the strata is 1 MM years old? “Well just look at the bone I found in it! The bone is 1MM years old! Why do I seem to always have to repeat myself to the “lesser evolved”? Aren’t you paying attention? Didn’t you hear me the first time?” **sigh**

God created the Sun moon and stars on the 4th day and set them in place as a clock to mark the time interval that He had already defined for a day on Day 1 and continued to define for Day 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, as He has defined every other day thereafter.

Genesis 1:14:

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:

In Hebrew Scripture every day recorded sequentially as an ordinal number (i.e., first, second, third, etc.) invariably refers to a 24-hour day. It’s the same word when used in its same context.

So yes, one must insist on the 24-hour day time interval, unless one chooses to harbor a spirit of disbelief and with it an intent to read the history recorded in Genesis in other than a straightforward fashion.

To not read the Creation account in a straight-forward fashion injects confusion where there is none.

But for sake of discussion let me play Devil’s advocate and suppose that one has the freedom to define the days of Genesis any way they’d like.

If the time frame for “day” in Genesis was different than 24 hours - say 1000 years or even 1 million years, explain how it is that flowers are created on day 3, the sun presumably needed to allow them to photosynthesize their life-maintaining energy is not created until a million years later on day 4, humming birds needed to pollenate some flowers don’t show up until yet another million years later on day 5, and the insects and bats needed to pollenate still other flowers in order to reproduce don’t show up until another million years later on Day 6!

It wouldn’t matter if you speculated 1 year per day or 1000 years per day, you’d have no flowering foliage in any case!

Luther wrote:

“The days of creation were ordinary days in length. We must understand that these days were actual days (veros dies), contrary to the opinion of the Holy Fathers. Whenever we observe that the opinions of the Fathers disagree with Scripture, we reverently bear with them and acknowledge them to be our elders. Nevertheless, we do not depart from the authority of Scripture for their sake.” (Martin Luther as cited in E. Plass, What Martin Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri, (1991), 1523.)

So I'll ask you again: "I believe all that God says and physically wrote with His own finger. Do you?"

FReegards!

[Kackikat]

2 Peter 3:8 I believe God made it all, but I also believe there is perspective in the Word that shows.... time is to God somewhat different to our understanding.

[ravenwolf]

Still for those who require more --there is the Hebrew word, יוֹם pronounced “yom.” The word “yom” as it appears in Scripture over 1400 times means the same thing – a 24-hour day. ------------------------------------------------ Yes, I do require a lot more than any ones word that a 24 hour day is the only meaning of Yom which in this case is the only reason to believe in a young earth. But how many meanings does Yom have in time? some believe it can mean anything from part of a day to forever, other meanings are time, age, ago. So the young earth people will have to do much better than what you are doing to convince me that God made the earth in 6 literal days. Also the bible tells us that in the beginning God created heaven and earth and the earth was with out form and void. He obviously created the Heavens and earth before the 6 days even began. Maybe you need to go back to the study board.

[Agamemnon]

2 Peter 3:8 I believe God made it all, but I also believe there is perspective in the Word that shows.... time is to God somewhat different to our understanding.

Time is one of God's creations. In fact the first thing God created was time. "In the beginning...." The Creator is not defined by His Creation, rather the Creation is defined by the Creator.

He defined a time interval for "day" for His Creation before He even created the sun, moon, and stars. He defines the movement of the heavenly bodies, because He is Lord over all.

He created these heavenly bodies in part to mark the advance of defined time intervals for us. Genesis 1 states as much.

Biblical scholars who read with a spirit of intellectual honesty look at a whole passage and they do so in its context. Too often those who experience difficulty with this portion of Scripture fail to quote the rest of the passage that says “… and a thousand years as a day.”

As Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis aptly discusses:

“If people use Scripture to try to justify that the days of creation are long periods of time, they usually quote passages such as 2 Peter 3:8, “. . . one day is with the Lord as a thousand years . . .“. Because of this, they think the days could be a thousand years, or perhaps even millions of years. However, if you look at the rest of the verse, it says, “. . . and a thousand years as one day“. This cancels out their argument! The context of this passage concerns the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This particular verse is telling people that with God, waiting a day is like waiting a thousand years, and waiting a thousand years is like waiting a day because God is outside of time—He is not limited by natural processes and time. This has absolutely nothing to do with defining the days of creation. Besides, the word “day” already exists and has been defined, which is why in 2 Peter it can be compared to a thousand years. There is no reference in this passage to the days of creation.”

Back to my point about the definition of days:

If the time frame for “day” in Genesis was different than 24 hours - say 1000 years or even 1 million years, explain how it is that flowers are created on day 3, the sun presumably needed to allow them to photosynthesize their life-maintaining energy is not created until a million years later on day 4, humming birds needed to pollenate some flowers don’t show up until yet another million years later on day 5, and the insects and bats needed to pollenate still other flowers in order to reproduce don’t show up until another million years later on Day 6!

It wouldn’t matter if you speculated 1 year per day or 1000 years per day, you’d have no flowering foliage in any case!

FReegards!

[Agamemnon]

Yes, I do require a lot more than any ones word that a 24 hour day is the only meaning of Yom which in this case is the only reason to believe in a young earth. But how many meanings does Yom have in time? some believe it can mean anything from part of a day to forever, other meanings are time, age, ago.

You are asking the wrong question. It is not how many meanings does "Yom" have in time, but rather how many meanings does the word "Yom" have taken in the context of Scripture in which it appears? Untethered to context, someone can take just about any word out of context and make it say whatever one wants it to say.

There are ~1400 examples in Scripture where "Yom," as taken in context can only mean a 24-hour day. In Hebrew as in English, referring to the first, second, third day, etc. and further defining this interval as "evening and morning" can only mean a 24-hour day, since having established the sun, moon, and stars on the 4th day as "time keepers," --- that we use to this very day --- contextually it can mean nothing other than a 24-hour day.

And this is where it simply becomes a matter of common sense

The usage of the word for day in 4th Commandment should remove all questions, since the context involves the definition of the Sabbath day in the context of a common week's time span. Very simple.

Is the God you worship incapable of creating the entirety of the universe in 6 days?

Do you harbor confusion about the meaning of any of the other 9 of God's hand-inscribed 10 Commandments?

My initial question to you was: "Would you believe it if God wrote that He created all in 6 days if He wrote that statement with his own finger?"

It appears that you are saying, no.

Still, you did say, "I am a long way from knowing all about it but if I am wrong about anything I would not even think about calling God a liar."

But yet, by not believing what His finger wrote in the 10 Commandments, whether you want to admit it or not, you are in fact making God out to be a liar.

You might want to re-consider your position.

FReegards!

[boatbums]

Yes, I do require a lot more than any ones word that a 24 hour day is the only meaning of Yom which in this case is the only reason to believe in a young earth. But how many meanings does Yom have in time? some believe it can mean anything from part of a day to forever, other meanings are time, age, ago. So the young earth people will have to do much better than what you are doing to convince me that God made the earth in 6 literal days. Also the bible tells us that in the beginning God created heaven and earth and the earth was with out form and void. He obviously created the Heavens and earth before the 6 days even began. Maybe you need to go back to the study board.

It isn't really the job of "young earth people" to convince you, or anyone, that what God said in His word is what He intended us to know. Where I think some people get off track is by imagining that the created world must match our own understanding instead of believing what God said plainly and clearly. To label people as "young earth" assumes that we blithely skip over the scientific evidence that "proves" the age of the earth is more than six or seven thousand years old. Instead, there are numerous explanations that demonstrate the universe was created out of nothing - ex nihilo - and that it was created having an apparent age. Adam was created fully formed as a grown man and Eve a grown woman. It is perfectly within the power of Almighty God to do so. This is why when He says "evening and morning", He means a twenty-four hour literal day - He had no reason to NOT reveal the truth about what He did and when He did it. He said, and Jesus reiterated, that He created the world in six days. I choose to believe Him.

The danger in attributing everything as potentially allegorical is that it negates the literal as the primary sense with allegory as secondary. What I find is that God does a pretty good job of helping us know when and which is the sense of revealed truth and we don't need to worry that we are missing something. The Holy Spirit is who teaches us the truth and opens our eyes to the lessons God desires we know. Agamemnon did a pretty good job of explaining how in the creation story God meant a literal day as the organisms were dependent on each other to regenerate and their beginnings happened closely to each other, not separated by thousands or millions of years. It's no mystery that plant life requires carbon dioxide from carbon life forms and give off oxygen that carbon-based life forms require to survive. Their simultaneous creation is unmistakable.

[ravenwolf]

You are asking the wrong question. It is not how many meanings does “Yom” have in time, but rather how many meanings does the word “Yom” have taken in the context of Scripture in which it appears? Untethered to context, someone can take just about any word out of context and make it say whatever one wants it to say.

---

You put it in the context you think it should be in and that’s what I will do.

Genesis 2

4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 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.

Nothing could be plainer, the days were generations in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

God had not caused it to rain, meaning it was meant to be a natural growth, peach trees did not spring up over night.

And this is where it simply becomes a matter of common sense
>>>>>
Year, right.

you are in fact making God out to be a liar.>>>>>

No, I said I would not call God a liar if i was wrong, not that I know anything about it but I sure don`t see it your way.

[ravenwolf]

It isn’t really the job of “young earth people” to convince you, or anyone, that what God said in His word is what He intended us to know.

---

I am not trying to sell anything I just agreed with some one who disagreed with the thread.

But I also do not buy anything that does not sound right to me.

And I see nothing at all that prove a literal six days, in fact I see just the opposite.

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To label people as “young earth” assumes that we blithely skip over the scientific evidence that “proves” the age of the earth is more than six or seven thousand years old.

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I don`t believe the label was mine, I believe it was in the thread other wise I would not have even known what it was called.

[boatbums]

You put it in the context you think it should be in and that’s what I will do.

Genesis 2
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens...

Nothing could be plainer, the days were generations in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

Genesis 2:4 is speaking of what was just said in chapter 1. Gill's commentary says:

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth, when they were created,.... That is, the above account, delivered in the preceding chapter, is a history of the production of the heavens and earth, and of all things in them; the creation of them being a kind of generation, and the day of their creation a sort of birthday; see Genesis 5:1. In the day that the Lord God made the earth, and the heavens; meaning not any particular day, not the first day, in which the heavens and the earth were created; but referring to the whole time of the six days, in which everything in them, and relating to them, were made.

The word "generations" is really giving an account of, or the history. Other times, in context, it does not describe the antecedents, but the consequents, of either thing or Person. (from Pulpit Commentary). Remember, chapter and verse separations were added by translators. So, rather than verse 5 concerning the vegetation on the earth opening up the idea that you are suggesting of a long period of time between the acts of creation, it is really summarizing what happened from the start.

My contention, and that of Agamemnon, is that God used the word that meant an actual day (evening and morning) and, since we weren't there to observe, we must believe what God said He did and not try to cause doubt about the literal words He used. I believe that had everything been created over eons God would have said so and since He didn't - choosing to use the word for a literal 24 hour day - we accept what He DID say. That it was repeated numerous times throughout both testaments of the Bible spoken in Hebrew and Greek - and confirmed by Jesus - is ample evidence it was to be taken by faith. It doesn't matter if godless "scientists" come along later and mock that faith, God will hold them in derision and, though they are professing to be wise, they become fools. I'll trust God.

[Agamemnon]

Genesis 2:4 is speaking of what was just said in chapter 1.

You are absolutely correct, boatbums.

This is a common feature in traditional Jewish narratives and in fact it is something we have often seen in the entertainment world, as influenced by entertainment pioneers Jack Warner Louis Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, Sid Sheldon, etc. -- who themselves all happened to be Jewish.

Story line installments that proceed from week to week in a television series often provide the recap of the action from the week before to lay the ground work for the continuing story line in the present episode.

The recap of the highlights from the prior series installment is never intended to be misunderstood as a second, duplicate intervening mini-story, but is to be viewed as a re-orienting restatement of prior action.

Again, this is just applying more common sense than some are prepared to do, because some are just too busy trying to contort Scripture to say what it doesn't to support an illogical if not prideful human perspective, rather than taking at His Word what God has written -- and with His own Hand no less!

FReegards!

[ravenwolf]

Genesis 2:4 is speaking of what was just said in chapter 1. Gill’s commentary says:

That is, the above account, delivered in the preceding chapter, is a history of the production of the heavens and earth,

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I can except the idea that it may be referring to chapter 1
but I do not except some one trying to explain away generations in order to make it literal days in place of what is probably thousands of years.

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I believe that had everything been created over eons God would have said so and since He didn’t - choosing to use the word for a literal 24 hour day - we accept what He DID say.

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I also believe what God literally said

2 Peter 3:8
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.

Did Peter believe in the six literal day creation?

A day to God is a period of time, we don`t know what that time is but I could insist that the days were thousand year days and it would fit scripture in my view much better than the literal 24 hour day.

Same with generations,which is what he said ,a day to God could be generations to us .

You and Agamemnon seem to be hung up on the idea that there would be no real Sabbath ( 7th day ) if the 6 days of creation were not literal 24 hour days.

Don`t you think God can work it out in his own way?

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It doesn’t matter if godless “scientists” come along later and mock that faith, God will hold them in derision and, though they are professing to be wise, they become fools. I’ll trust God.

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I don`t know if this was meant to be a slur or not, but for your information I know very little about science and as far as evolutionary science go if they get anything right it would be just coincidence.

I even believe the so called fossil fuel theory is bogus.

I trust the evolutionary scientists about as far as I trust professional religion.

I believe what I believe by reading Gods word and using common sense in the understanding.

My trust is in God.

[boatbums]

I can except the idea that it may be referring to chapter 1 but I do not except some one trying to explain away generations in order to make it literal days in place of what is probably thousands of years.

What is standing in the way of accepting literal days? Is God not able to create in the way He said he did? Can you explain why the Scriptures use the word for "day" in this context if it actually meant something different? It isn't "explaining away" to interpret words in the context of how they were used, their alternate meanings in translation and how they fit in with other Scripture passages.

I don`t know if this was meant to be a slur or not, but for your information I know very little about science and as far as evolutionary science go if they get anything right it would be just coincidence. I even believe the so called fossil fuel theory is bogus. I trust the evolutionary scientists about as far as I trust professional religion. I believe what I believe by reading Gods word and using common sense in the understanding. My trust is in God.

That was certainly no slur aimed at you. Instead, it shows that the wisdom of man - even those who lay claim to exceptional intelligence - is foolishness with God, so, we cannot base what we believe solely on the words of people who do not have any faith in the true God. So-called experts on biology, evolution and natural law have had to eat crow more than a few times as their theories have been uprooted. My only caution is in allowing yourself to be influenced away from faith in God's word by those who would mock or bully us for believing the Bible.

I hope you have a blessed weekend.

[Agamemnon]

I do not except some one trying to explain away generations in order to make it literal days in place of what is probably thousands of years.

Do you realize that some bacteria experience generations in mere hours, and some insects have generations of mere days? Genesis records the first generations of all things. Shouldn't be too hard to understand why Genesis 2:4 uses the term "generations" in plural.

Did Peter believe in the six literal day creation? A day to God is a period of time, we don`t know what that time is but I could insist that the days were thousand year days and it would fit scripture in my view much better than the literal 24 hour day. Same with generations, which is what he said ,a day to God could be generations to us . You and Agamemnon seem to be hung up on the idea that there would be no real Sabbath ( 7th day ) if the 6 days of creation were not literal 24 hour days. Don`t you think God can work it out in his own way?

I addressed this very point to another poster up thread. Perhaps you missed it.

Time is one of God's creations. In fact the first thing God created was time. "In the beginning...." The Creator is not defined by His Creation, rather the Creation is defined by the Creator.

He defined a time interval for "day" for His Creation before He even created the sun, moon, and stars. He defines the movement of the heavenly bodies, because He is Lord over all.

He created these heavenly bodies in part to mark the advance of defined time intervals for us. Genesis 1 states as much.

Biblical scholars who read with a spirit of intellectual honesty look at a whole passage and they do so in its context. Too often those who experience difficulty with this portion of Scripture fail to quote the rest of the passage that says “… and a thousand years as a day.”

As Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis aptly discusses:

“If people use Scripture to try to justify that the days of creation are long periods of time, they usually quote passages such as 2 Peter 3:8, “. . . one day is with the Lord as a thousand years . . .“. Because of this, they think the days could be a thousand years, or perhaps even millions of years. However, if you look at the rest of the verse, it says, “. . . and a thousand years as one day“. This cancels out their argument! The context of this passage concerns the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This particular verse is telling people that with God, waiting a day is like waiting a thousand years, and waiting a thousand years is like waiting a day because God is outside of time—He is not limited by natural processes and time. This has absolutely nothing to do with defining the days of creation. Besides, the word “day” already exists and has been defined, which is why in 2 Peter it can be compared to a thousand years. There is no reference in this passage to the days of creation.”

Back to my point about the definition of days:

If the time frame for “day” in Genesis was different than 24 hours - say 1000 years or even 1 million years, explain how it is that flowers are created on day 3, the sun presumably needed to allow them to photosynthesize their life-maintaining energy is not created until a million years later on day 4, humming birds needed to pollenate some flowers don’t show up until yet another million years later on day 5, and the insects and bats needed to pollenate still other flowers in order to reproduce don’t show up until another million years later on Day 6!

It wouldn’t matter if you speculated 1 year per day or 1000 years per day, you’d have no flowering foliage in any case!

FReegards!

[ravenwolf]

What is standing in the way of accepting literal days? Is God not able to create in the way He said he did? Can you explain why the Scriptures use the word for “day” in this context if it actually meant something different? It isn’t “explaining away” to interpret words in the context of how they were used, their alternate meanings in translation and how they fit in with other Scripture passages.

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Ok, here it is again.

2 Peter 3:8
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.

Peter explained it perfect as far as I am concerned, nothing for me to even wonder about.

That was certainly no slur aimed at you

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Thanks.

My only caution is in allowing yourself to be influenced away from faith in God’s word by those who would mock or bully us for believing the Bible.

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They have no influence over me, if I am wrong on any thing which I have been and most likely will be it will be with out any outside influence, I can do that on my own.

I passed the seventh grade almost 65 years ago by the skin of my teeth, my teacher taught the seventh and eighth grades and was afraid if she did not pass me she might have me two more years so I made it easy on her and quit So I am anything but scientific minded.

I do not trust any one who takes tax payer money in grants, especially evolutionary scientists.

And I put preachers for hire in the same class, including those who write and sell books on the word of God.

I hope you have a blessed weekend.

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Thank you very much and I hope you have the same.

[boatbums]

Ok, here it is again. 2 Peter 3:8 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. Peter explained it perfect as far as I am concerned, nothing for me to even wonder about.

To add to the well stated response just up thread from Agamemnon, let me add that the passage in Peter's second epistle is about GOD'S perception of time - not ours. Because He is outside of time, a thousand years, a million years, even, are no different than a single day. However, He set up time for our benefit, not His own. He is who established the sun and the moon and the stars to serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years (Gen. 1:15). God doesn't need time, WE do. That, I believe, is what Peter's passage is saying.