Genesis Account - Allegory or History? How Long was a Creative Day?

Featuring the Bible and the "Scopes Monkey Trial"

Who that has lived for a number of decades does not recall the tennis match of Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King? Bobby Riggs felt that the best of women athletes could not stand up to a man. He then engaged in a tennis match with Billy Jean King and was soundly trounced. Did this match provide the answer to the challenge Riggs brought up? Many would like to think so. Yet, was he the leading male in the tennis world, even as King was the leading female? No. So, in reality the match didn't prove anything, except that Billy Jean King was a better tennis player than Bobby Riggs was.

In 1925, a trial was held in Tennessee, which has been held by some as proof that it is foolish to believe in creation, when evolution makes scientific sense. What is their basis for saying that? Before I allude to the answer, allow me to point out a website that has excerpts of the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial. It is the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law's State -vs- Scopes Trial Excerpts web page. Of special interest is Day 7 of that trial, in which lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan "debate" topics found in the Bible book of Genesis.

An ill-equipped Bryan attempted to defend Genesis under examination by Darrow. It is felt by some that this part of the trial demonstrates the foolishness of putting faith in the Bible's veracity. In actuality, this encounter closely resembles the Riggs-King tennis match. Darrow was a far better lawyer than Bryan was a theologian. A case in point - Darrow asked Bryan where Cain got his wife. Bryan did not know. In fact, the Bible has not been painted into a corner in this matter.¹

Although at times Bryan was able to provide an accurate answer to a question by Darrow, he often could not explain why or how that answer was correct. As an example, consider the length of a Creative Day,

Darrow: Do you think the earth was made in six days?
Bryan: Not six days of twenty-four hours.
Darrow: Doesn't it say so?
Bryan: No, sir....