Given that man was the last of God's creations, God took his time in perfecting things thus waiting to see that things were good before moving to the next of his creations. That, in a way, is evolution, just not Darwin's. God did see that the thumb was a great creation from his creation of the whole monkey (sapien) species.
Understand I'm not attacking you when I ask this, but doesn't that almost seem to make it out that God kind of "experimented" with His creation? The Bible seems to show throughout, however, that God always knows exactly what He is doing. When it says God "created" the different animals, it seems to imply something instantaneous, not progressive, doesn't it?
He did create them first as animals of the land. I believe that he took the best attributes of all of his creations and gave them to man and then to his ultimate creation, WOMAN (a feminist at heart). That is our link to the rest of God's creations, which explains our genetic links and the links of all others. With each creation of God's the next was even greater until woman. At least I like to think of that way, which is why we are the givers of life and nurturers of all of the human race.
I am not a feminist, but neither am I a masculinist. I am an egalitarian when it comes to the sexes, I guess. Both are equal, with different roles. I believe this is Scriptural. Humans as a whole were the pinnacle of God's creation (man and woman); it wasn't that woman was the crowning achievement. Both man and woman were; but then, they even fell.
Where does it say that those days are consecutive, as in one week, without a lapse in between for determining that things are good?
Again, not everyone agrees that they were. There are several views. Are they literally 24-hour days, are they literally days (with no clear definition of how long), or is the whole thing figurative in some way? If we take them literally, then yes, they are consecutive (first, second, third, etc.), and there is nothing there to indicate any lapse in between. So, they would either be consecutive 24-hour days, or consecutive undefined periods of time, but the only way to get beyond that is to take it figuratively, I think.
This is what I have questions about. How much time elapsed in determining that things were good?
As stated above, there doesn't seem to be any lapse in between days (however you define those).
Who are we to impose our Earthly limitations upon God? God made the limitations for man to rest on the seventh day or put the creation of Earth in terms that man could understand at the time when he revealed it to Moses for rendering in the word.
I don't think anyone is trying to impose anything on God. We are all trying to understand what God said and meant. In doing so, we have to look at the text, and try to take it as straightforwardly as possible to determine as accurately as possible what the original writer meant (Moses) and what the original hearers would have understood.
I have much to learn as my questions and probing have gone unanswered for so long. I have been told not to question nor to even suggest such things, such was against God.
Well, the attitude of the heart matters, of course. If you are purposefully trying to question God, then that is "against" Him (though I'm sure you aren't doing that). But if you are merely trying to understand Him and His word better, that is actually for Him, not against Him.
I do hope to learn and probe much into the Bible. Please don't take anything I ask and say in a mean spirit, but of an inquiry spirit. I often play devil's advocate so I can get a full view of all sides just so nothing is left unexposed or pondered, even if I don't agree with it I will still ask and represent that side to gain full understanding. I learned how to do this when I was doing policy debate and as a forensicator in college and high school. I learned that all things have two sides of the story and must be understood. Tolerance is best left for mother-in-laws, not other cultures or peoples for which understanding is best which requires full learning.
I actually see a lot of myself in the quote above. I gained an interest in apologetics and studying these issues so I could better understand all sides and be able to provide good, reasoned answers to questions such as these. I know exactly how you feel.
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