Most weeks during our busy season at the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky, I teach children’s programs. At some point during the program, I’ll ask the kids, “How long did it take God to create everything?” Enthusiastically, they’ll yell out, “Six days!” (or sometimes “seven days!”, forgetting that God rested on the final day). But how do we know it was six literal 24-hour days, not long periods of time?

Here are five reasons we can confidently teach children that God created in six literal 24-hour days:

1. The context of Genesis 1: The Hebrew word for day is yom, and it’s used frequently in the Old Testament to refer to a regular day, a period of time (e.g., the days of Abraham), or a time in the future (e.g., the day of the Lord). Since the word, like our English word day, has a wide semantic range, how can we know what it means in Genesis 1? The context, of course! Whenever yom appears with “evening” or “morning,” an ordinal number (first, second, third), or “night,” it always means an ordinary day—and we find all those contextual clues in Genesis 1.

2. Exodus 20:11: When God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, He instituted the Sabbath, telling them, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). They were to work for six days and rest on the seventh because that’s what God had done in creation. If He created over millions of years, this parallel makes no sense, and God lied to the Israelites when He said He made everything in “six days.”

3. Death before sin: At the end of creation week, God described His creation as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no death, suffering, or disease in God’s original creation—everything was perfect. But God told Adam that if he sinned (ate from the tree he was commanded not to), he would die: death is the consequence of sin (Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22).

And yet the fossil record is filled with death, disease, and suffering. The supposed millions of years come from an interpretation of the rocks and fossils. This interpretation places millions of years of death and suffering before sin. Suddenly, God’s creation wasn’t “very good.” It was a broken, groaning world filled with death and disease, just like ours. That’s a major theological problem, in direct conflict with the clear teaching of Scripture.

4. The character of God: Death before sin also calls into question the character of God. Instead of being the all-powerful God who speaks and galaxies pop into existence, God would be an incompetent, cruel Creator who needs eons of time to slowly shape and form the universe and life—and needs millions of creatures to slowly die out to finally bring about humans. Death and the curse would no longer be our fault because of sin; they would be God’s fault because He made the world that way. That does not match the character of our loving, all-powerful God.

5. Jesus’ words: When Jesus was asked about marriage in Mark 10, He responded in verse 6, saying, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” But if God created over millions of years, Adam and Eve were not “from the beginning”—they didn’t arrive until eons after the beginning.

The text of Scripture isn’t vague or confusing when it comes to creation—it’s crystal clear. The confusion comes from trying to add man’s ideas about the past into Scripture. And that’s ultimately why this issue matters.

You see, it’s a biblical authority issue. Will we start with God’s Word, or will we start with man’s word? I always ask the kids I teach, “Has any scientist always been there? (No!) Does any scientist know everything? (No!) Do scientists make mistakes? (Yes!)” Then I ask them, “Who has always been there? Who knows everything there is to know? Who never makes a mistake?” Of course, the answer is “God!”

We must start with God’s perfect Word, not try to add our own ideas into the text. When we compromise God’s Word with man’s ideas, we’re really setting ourselves up as the authority over God and His Word. But we are fallible; God and His Word are infallible. God must be the authority in all areas, from the very first verse.

Let’s make sure the children we teach understand God as the perfect and final authority in all areas!

Avery Foley is a writer and speaker for Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter. She and her husband are homeschool parents to five young children and the producers of Building Blocks, a chronological walk through the Bible for kids on Answers.tv.