Why Biblical literalists don't read the Bible's accounts of things side by side.
Let's look at Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 as an example, shall we?
Here we go.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
So far so good.
When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the Darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Sea. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
Where's Adam? God made him before plants. No bush of the field was yet in the land, remember, whether it was a plant that yielded seed or not. Where is Adam?
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night."
Didn't he already separate the day (the light) from the night (the darkness)?
"And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so.
Was the light God created way up there in verse 3, the light he called Day... was that not giving light upon the earth? The three days up to now were dark days, with only light to light them?
And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
So many of the stars are so much larger than our own tiny star! But there are only two great lights in God's book? And one of them is the moon? That's not a light, it's a mirror! Simplification is one thing, but this (from an all-knowing god) is lying.
And God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
Ah, yes. The moon and all the stars are in the sky. In the expanse firm enough to separate the waters below from the waters above. How ignorant did this god want us, his creations, the readers of his book, to be?
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let flying things fly above the earth across the expanse of the skies." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the sea, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
Plants yielding seed have been around, sprouted forth from the earth, for two whole days now. Where is Adam?
Remember, the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life when no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up. He should be here already. Where is Adam?
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the skies and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
It's too late now. The bushes and herbs of the field, yielding seed, have already been brought forth by the earth. God told the earth to sprout these plants, and it was so.
Adam can't be made now.
It was too late the moment the first seed-bearing plant sprouted forth from the earth in accordance with God's will.
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