Genesis 1:11
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And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. (ASV)
Pro
Then the following day he created the sun and the moon according to Genesis 1:14 and Genesis 1:16. Plants need the sun to photosynthesize, so there couldn't be plants prior to the sun.
Con
The Hebrew phrase ha'shamayim we ha'erets, "the heavens and the earth" means more than the sum of its parts, i.e. the whole universe. Thus, the text is claiming in verse 1:1 that God created the sun, the moon and the stars during the first yom.
In verse 2, the frame of reference changes to the surface of the earth, where the luminaries were not yet visible. Isn't this what our current cosmological understanding tells us about the early conditions of the planet?
On yom two, God makes the atmosphere translucent, "letting there be light". That would certainly make photosynthesis possible. Later on, He makes the atmosphere transparent, letting the heavenly bodies to shine down on earth and to be used for calculating times and seasons.
Neutral
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