Dovegiven said:
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"God made the planet without form and void, that is with no surface features."
WaterRock said:
While I agree with you that the reference 'without form' represents that the topical features of the surface, I would submit that the term 'void' refers to the absence of living matter.
The Hebrew words have the earth made initially without "tohu" and ""bohu". Those two words present a "double whammy" of nothingness except H2O. It's unusual for the Hebrew to be used like that, very much an "overkill" of a situation, showing the chaos that must have been on day one. The prevailing definitions indicate absolutely no surface features such as mountains, valleys, continents, or life of any sort. There was nothing but a smooth crust covered with water, and not only water on the crust, but water above it, waters over waters. The only way water could be above water is for the "above" waters to be vapors. Without sun light there was no heating of molecules from above, so not enough energy to change liquid into a gaseous state. I prefer to just accept that God set it up in those states, then let natural processes he created take over. Otherwise, the only source of heat would have been from the crust, perhaps superhaeating surface waters over some of those "windows" God opened up in Gen 7, putting steam and geysers of liquid water and other gases above the surface. There's no proof it happened that way, this being only some theorizing on my part, partly from the Gen 7-8 account, largely based on ideas from creation scientists in the past.
From the wording there was no definite boundary between the waters over waters, perhaps only a matter of molecule sizes diminishing with height above the crust. I imagine like a very wet drizziling fog above the ocean. My experience with that was to be thoroughly wet from the fog while on watch on deck, the actual sea surface not observable only about 60 feet down from the deck, and breathing very difficult as though nearly drowning. So yes, it does include absence of living matter. The idea is as the Potter viewing a ball of clay covered with water, any other description left up to the Potter. BTW, the scenario establishes the proof there is anough water in and on this planet to provide the waters required to flood it again as in Gen 7.
Dovegiven said:
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"Without an atmosphere, in zero atmospheric pressure, the water would begin going directly into a gaseous state regardless of presence of light."
If I may, can I ask your source that supports the position that pressure alone determines whether a substance will exist as a solid or a gas."
Elementary physics. In a vacuum, liquid water has a vapor pressure varying by its temperature which will always seek to equalize with the less "heavy" more empty space. Not sure I'm saying that right. The water on the crust would evaporate, but without sun light energy it couldn't remain liquid long, seeing the extremely low temperature in the vast darkness. Some of that evaporation could easily become snow or sleet, settling back down immediately. Air wasn't yet present, the" ingredients" waiting for the light catalyst. So on the first day light was supplied to begin the process of making an atmosphere, replacing the graduated water column.
So what happens to liquid water in a vacuum? When the astronauts drained used water into space, what happened to it?
But for the sake of brevity, the molecule which is formed by the bonding of two hydrogen atoms with the oxygen of atom, called water, or H20 would have never formed in a liquid state but would have remained in the gaseous state. Thus the water vapor would have instantly formed into the solid state, or ice. This process known as desublimation.
Dovegiven said: "Both states were initially created. It took a "firmament" to separate the two, "
Even now most of our atmosphere is nitrogen, UV rays breaking up gases to form O2, but no doubt a lot of volcanic type gases mixing with the water vapors, chemical reactions accelerated by the heat of geologic processes underway. Whatever the sources of "air", it was enough to allow a definite "arc" or expanse of the atmosphere above the globe-covering water below. Thus very quickly we have the "heaven" of atmosphere well separated from the ocean on Day 2. That had to be aq very violent day! So I agree, there would be sublimation and desublimation, back and forth, as well as many other processes as air accumulated, and more so as light reached the surface.
Dovegiven said:
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"Without the sun the new plants had opportunity to grow in the darkness, as they do today."
So the plants all sprouted overnight, then can you provide one specimen of plant that sprouts from seed in one day?
I doubt God started off with seed, but made the vegetation capable of reproducing various ways.He spoke the plants into existence, grasses bearing seed. I suppose the more complex plant kinds grew as time allowed, taking all week and more to germinate. I would also suspect there was a lot more CO2 present in the atmosphere, which coupled with many other conditions like water-soaked soil, warm soil substrate keeping plants warm through a cool night, etc. would all combine for remarkable germination and growth.
But even if seed was the path he chose, yes, under the right conditions some seeds do germinate within hours. Plus, God likes to do miracles.
I have a seed sprouter we used to sprout beans and alfalfa. The alfalfa root radicle popped out within 24 hours, and we enjoyed eating a batch within 4-5 days. But, the process is like having a puppy to raise.
