It can be a bit confusing, but if you look at it in the Hebrew, it's a bit clearer. In the fourth day it doesn't say that God created the sun, moon and the stars. It states that he "made" them, which is the Hebrew word "asa" translated as the verb "made". When the Hebrew word "asa" is used it is usually used to denote an action already completed.BavarianWheels wrote:Interesting how we read God's word saying the sun, moon, and stars were made on the 4th day, but we "reason" that they were already there prior to the 1st... For whom were the "clouds and gases" removed on the 4th day to reveal the already created sun, etc? Clearly there was light and so the light from the newly created sun wouldn't have been anything new for the plant life.
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Genesis 1:16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
Genesis 1:16 simply does not specify when in the past the sun, moon, and stars were made. However in Genesis 1:1, it does says that it was created using the Hebrew word "erets" or "hashamayim we ha' erets," heavens (plural) and the earth (singular). "Hashamayim we ha' erets" consistently refers to the totality of the physical universe. All matter and energy and whatever else it contains....