Why would God create the earth incompletely formed?
Surely He could have created it instantaneously, in one moment, completely filled. Instead, He created in a series of steps, occupying six days. I don’t claim to know the mind of God on this point, but I am impressed with one implication of the creation story: God had a plan. The careful, step-by-step creation sequence indicates a thoughtful choice by the Creator. First the earth was prepared to support life, then it was filled with living creatures. The process was orderly and purposeful. Some interpreters[6] have proposed a structure in the narrative: in the first three days, the “earth” was “formed” in order to support life, then in the second three days it was “filled.” A parallel is seen between Day 1 (light) and Day 4 (sun); between Day 2 (atmosphere) and Day 5 (flying animals); and between Day 3 (dry land and plants) and Day 6 (land animals). However, the parallel seems to me to be rather imperfect (e.g., the seas were formed on Day 3, and filled on Day 5), which indicates that
