Discerning Which Definition to Use

i certainly dont view the light of day as 24 hours...i dont know anyone who does.i think of it as the 'light time' as opposed to the 'dark time'i believe there is light in the sky for 12 hours, not 24. i have done this a million times already"and the light he called day but the darkness he called night"The light was called day....it says nothing about time, only light.There is one more aspect with regard to definition that you are not taking into consideration. Other bible passages. For instance, the following chapter lists the 6 creative days and says they came to their completion and the 7th day came and God rested on that day....yet it doesnt say that 7th day came to its completion as it does the previous 6.So you should take that into consideration because what it shows to a lot of bible students is that when Moses wrote the book of genesis, that 7th day was still in progress. It was also still in progress according to the apostle Pauls words in Hebrews that christians had the opportunity to 'enter into Gods rest day'Its not only the immediate verse you need to look at to determine which definition to use, but also other passages in the rest of the bible which may expand on the verse you are looking at. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

Here are some other examples of how different bible passages can help to determine the meaning of an obscure verse.In the KJ version at 2Peter 3:10 it reads, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.if you look at this verse you might conclude, like many do, that the earth is going to be destroyed.But the following verses show that the earth will remain forever: This must cause us to look at the verse in 2 Peter and ask what exactly is the 'earth' in that verse. It cannot be the phycial earth because the bible shows in many other verses that the earth will stand forever. So 'earth' in 2 peter is understood to be figurative in its use.the apostle Paul also used this technique in Romans chapter 9 where he quotes from 11 other parts of the hebrew scirptures to make his point that following the mosaic law was no longer a requirement for salvation.So my point in this is to show that its not only the individual verse which determines the definition or context, but its also verses from other parts of the bible that contribute to the definition of the word being used. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

Ok, i agree with you on that point. But purpledawns point is that the 'day' in this verse means a 24 hour day....not only the light portion.So tell me, How many hours are there in the light portion of a 24 hour day? Why?Explain why it 'logically' means a 24 hour day.

And what are the figurative meanings? I have showed you from Genesis 2:4 that ALL the previous 6 days...the days you claim to be 24 hours long....are refered to as ONE day.
Gen 2:4This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, IN THE DAY that Jehovah God made earth and heaven"You havnt showed me what the literal indicators are....what are they? yes it has.
Gen 2:4 says that all 6 days were 1 day. This implies that the 'day' is being used figuratively. So yes, i agree with you here, all the possible meanings of the word are shown in the surrounding verses. Ok, if that is the case then please show me what the definition, and indicators for that definition, are in the following verse:

No. Yom has both figurative and literal uses in the bible including 'very long periods of time'...which is the definition we put to the genesis day. Yay, someone else gets it. Yes you know how to read english and you've read it in english and concluded that. So why do you think Gen 2:4 states that all six of the creative days were called 'one' day? Why do you think this verse rolling all 6 days into 1?

Not sure i can agree with that considering the following scriptures use the same greek word 'ge' the first two state that the earth will stand forever, that it will never be destroyed , that it will exist into eternity....the last says the earth will be destroyedWhat the first two, among others, do is shows that Gods will for the planet is not to be destroyed so we cannot say the verse in 2 Peter means the literal earth will be destroyed. This is how other passages in the bible help us to determine what is figurative and what is literal.2ndly, the context contributes to this when it says that the earth in Noahs day was destroyed.
Vs 5 states: "For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an EARTH (ge) standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; 6and by those [means] the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water" So the context shows that the earth in vs 10 was the 'people' not the planet/earth/ge because the planet was not destroyed...only the people were.I hope you can see why a figurative or literal use of a word cannot be determined within a sentence alone. You need much more then just the sentence in question. You really cannot apply creative writing to the bible...it wasnt written by creative writers using creative writing teqniques...our rules do not apply. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

because genesis 1 is giving us an overview of the steps God took to prepare the earth for habitation.In vs 1-5 is a brief description of earth being put into rotation to have alternating days and nights. That process was the first 'yom' or 'length of time' When it was complete it as as if a new day had dawned therefore it was described figuratively as day 1.Vs 6-8 show the 2nd 'yom' or 'length of time' was in creating an expanse between the waters...they were separated to create an the expanse of the heavens. When this was complete a 2nd new day had dawned because it was something completely new...like a new day, day 2. Its almost exactly the same for genesis.The point is that it shows the word YOM is used figuratively within the same account so why is it that some people are demanding that the Yom in vs 4/5 is literal?is it merely because they want it to be literal in order to make a case against the bible? Its dishonest to put a literal interpretation to a word that is being used figuratively in the same account.

the problem with the above excerpt is that the writer is basing this on 'proper english'Yes in english it may be right, but hebrew has nothing to do with english and its grammatical rules. The indicator should be the word yom itself. Not how we translate it into english. Its used figuratively within the same passage and therefore there is no reason why it cannot be figurative in the preceeding verses. the leaven. Just by reading the verse, show me the indicators of the whether the 'leaven' is figurative or literal.

Ok, so will the earth/ge be destroyed according to 2 Peter?

he was probably thinking that he would only reveal understanding to a select few

But what are the 'indicators' of what determines its figurative use?In one breath you are saying there are gramatical indicators to show a literal definition, so now show us the indicators for the figurative in this verse.

lolyou've done nothing but argue with my opinion since you started in this thread which says a lot about your motives for joining inthen you miss the humor in my tongue in cheek remark...oh well.

Purpledawn, in Message 9 you said I don't see a figurative meaning for the word ge/earth.so in Message 20 when i ask you if the meaning of the verse is literal you say What am i not understanding? That the earth in this verse is figurative as you have indicated you agree with??? Or is it something else?Im not intersest in the literal definition of the word 'ge', im interested in how you came to the view that in this verse its to be taken figuratively. I have explained how we come to a figurative explaination, now tell me how you came to it....was it by some gramatical 'indicator'? if so, what is that indicator?Edited by AdminPD, : Msg links

actually, we are talking about how to determine the meaning of a word when a word has multiple means....as purpledawns OP asks Purpledawn ends her OP with the following question My answer to this question is that Yom has many meanings. There are no 'indicators' in hebrew that state a word must be taken figuratively or literally....the only real indicators are:1. Context of the immediate passage
2. Other verses of the bible revealing more information on the subjectThese are the indicators we use to determine a figurative or literal use of a word. The meaning of the word comes into play, but if it is being used figuratively, then the meaning changes to its figurative use. If you are still interested in this topic, the by all means i can provide some verses that use figurative meanings and we can discuss how the figurative use of the word is determined by other scriptures. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

as i've maintained, i dont believe there is an indicator in the passage that says the yom must be taken as a 24 hour day.I've stated many times now that a real 'yom' based on the account in genesis is actually only 12 hours. This is becasue the account says that the yom was the 'light'the light remains for only 12 hours, not 24.I dont believe you have any indicators for a literal reading...even the surrounding verses use day to mean all 6 days....if it can be used figuratively there, then it can be used figuratively in chpt 1 as well.