A theological pivot

Most Christian discourse related to Genesis 1-3, particularly by those who want to read it as a piece of direct text (i.e., taking the days as they are calibrated), spend far too much time on the content...which we can all read, and too little on the theology.

Ken Ham, for instance, never seems to really get to the theological implications of the 6 days of creation.

They are the orientating basis for our understanding of God, the creation and ourselves in the creation and in relation to God. God shows that he is not distant but near to us, executing the creation in the days he made for our fellowship with him (and this flows onto the grandeur of the Sabbath in the Covenant with Israel); he also shows that his word is the immediate cause of the creation. This demonstrates direct connection with the creation and gives force to the 'good's, and the final 'very good', further reinforcing God's intimate connection with the creation which culminates in Genesis 3:8 with God actively in the garden seeking Adam and Eve in fellowship. This is utterly different from any pagan myth.

The days, being 'our terms' are clearly located in real history, our history. But they do more: they underscore that they are in the concrete reality of the world we are in, (contrary to monist dreams), they form the intellectual basis for or understanding of reality (contrary to materialist dreams), and show it's goodness for our habitation and care (contrary to pagan spiritualism, platonic mind games, and Gnostic deceit).

The immediacy of creation also side-lines any notion of secondary or intermediate causes, either of which push God away from his creation and denigrate it's spiritual (godly) significance as the place of fellowship and where man reflects God's image and of us. Psalm 8 celebrates this intimacy that results.