Cardinal rule of hermeneutics: context, context, context
Sirius_Kai, the scripture you are referring to is found in 2 passages: Psalm 90 and 2 Peter 3.
This is a lengthy response, but to understand my argument you must read the whole thing.
It is really amazing to me that if we were talking about secular literature many in this forum would be flamed for not having read the actual literature that is being discussed here. Not even to mention, most in here are NOT looking at primary sources (Hebrew,Greek,Aramaic).
When Psalm 90 says:
90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.
(nasb)
It is NOT saying that to the Lord:
1 day=1000 years
It is saying that 1000 years is nothing to the Lord. In context, the Psalmist just said, that God created all, and He has been from everlasting. It is stressing his eternality in the face of judgment. Notice the rest of the Psalm. It is not saying, hey, every time we see the word day (yom in the Hebrew), let's translate it 1000 years. Sure why not.
In the 2 Peter passage we have the same exact thing. The apostle Peter is saying, look, judgment is coming. There are those who say, "where is the promise of His coming..." Peter says, look, God is not slow, don't forget, to God, 1000 years is NOTHING.
2 Peter:
3:7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
3:11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
3:12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
Also, Anizmail is RIGHT on, contrary to Dyrwen. Anyone who calls themself a Christian MUST interpret the creation account as literal. Here are some of the reasons why:
1. We get no indication in the Hebrew to translate the creation account as figurative. There is no figuration language. The context dictates we must translate it as literal days (there was evening and morning--24 hour period).
2. There is a major problem when we say we evolved and were not created. The gospel of Jesus Christ itself is attacked. Contrary to popular psychological belief the Bible does not present man as inherently good, but desperately wicked.
Romans:
3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
3:10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
3:11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
3:12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
3:13 "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS";
3:14 "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS";
3:15 "THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
3:16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
3:17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN."
3:18 "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We are not just evil because we sin, but:
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--
This is theology 101. Who is this one man you ask? It is Adam. When Adam sinned, he plunged the entire human race into death. This is the gospel, that men are dead (eph 2) blind and cannot find God. Only when God draws men to himself can they see. The apostle Paul was NOT looking for God on the road to Damascus, he was putting Christians in Jail (Acts 9), he even watched on as the first Christian martyr died (Stephan). The Lord made him alive with Christ on that Road.
If you say men evolved from whatever, you deny there is a man named Adam. Therefore, Romans 5:12 is false. You can't have both, if you call yourself a Christian, the simple understanding of the Gospel is that sin came through Adam, death spread to all men, and it is only through Jesus Christ that we can be made alive.
As far as the THEORY of evolution is concerned, the evidence is sparse. I'm quite amazed that the main Evolution proponent in here, Dyrwen doesn't even understand the difference between a theory and a law. Dyrwen, you even said that you thought gravity was a theory. This suggests to me that you are very ill-informed about your own beliefs in evolution. Anizmail didn't make up that equation, ever read Newton?!
To most, when you ask, "why do you believe Evolution is true?" Most say, well, every scientist believes it, it must be true. Most don't even know the reasons why they believe it.
A good book written by a scientist and an EVOLUTIONIST is: Icons of Evolution. In this book, Dr Wells debunks pretty much every piece of evidence that we were presented as college students/high school students (the Miller-Urey experiment, that experiment where they create amino acids in a lab, pictures of embryos, etc). The four-winged fruit fly is presented by Dr. Wells, of which some think alone could support evolution, he calls a "hopeless cripple--an evolutionary dead end." He even goes so far to say that much "science" today is not truth-seeking, but dogmatism. Anyone who believes in Evolution should pick up this book and see the truth that Evolution is not only a theory, but a very badly supported one.
It comes down to this, for Anizmail and myself, we don't share our opinion, it is one of authority. The Bible is our authority as God's word, (and to answer your question Dyrwen) even when the Israelites are told to wipe out the Amalekites and not leave one alive. Additionally, we do not kill in the same way that Israel did to violations of the law, because the law passed away (Col 2:14,Rom 3,4), or perhaps you never read that, Dyrwen.
