On the Order of Creation

There are some people in this country who claim that the Bible is the true and accurate word of God and that the description that it provides for the creation of the universe in Genesis is to be taken literally. Literally, as in it took 6 literal days. I presume that their insistence on the literal interpretation includes not only Chapter 1 of Genesis but also Chapter 2 and in fact the entire Book and the entire Bible. In reading Genesis I discovered a number of discrepancies and items of interest that I would like to point out.

Let’s take a look first at the order of creation as I’m sure this is a very important aspect of Literal Creationism.

In Chapter 1 the order of creation is a follows:
Day 1: Heavens and Earth.
This is really a misnomer since really he only created the Heavens (I presume this is heaven as in where the angles live and people go when the die, because he creates the stars later) and Water. He then creates light and begins the day/night cycle (without the sun and moon, he creates those later).
Day 2: Sky
That’s it. On the 2nd day God created the sky. It’s interesting that he created the day/night cycle before creating the sky. Not that God couldn’t have done it, just seems odd.
Day 3: Land and Vegetation
On the 3rd day God separates water and creates land. He also creates plants and trees and all manor of vegetation. No problems here, but this becomes important in Chapter 2.
Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars
Curious. He made vegetation (which relies on sunlight to produce energy) before he made the Sun. Granted the plants only had to survive one day without sunlight, but still, wouldn’t it have been better to do this the other way around?
Day 5: Fish and Birds
Nothing special to point out here. Fish and Birds are good.
Day 6: Land Animals and Man
On the 6th day God creates the land animals. He creates the “cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind”. Then finally, God creates Mankind (note Mankind not one man) in “our image, our likeness”. He (they?) do this so that Mankind may rule over all of the fish, birds, animals, and earth. He doesn’t create one man in his image but “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
He then goes on to tell Mankind to multiply and fill the earth. He then gives “every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.”

Now we move onto Chapter 2. Which seems to completely change voice and style. Chapter 2 seems to start over again stating that THIS is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. This chapter isn’t broken up into days so we’ll just go with the order.

It starts with a barren earth: “Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth”. 2:5
Then “Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” 2:6
Then God formed the man (singular one man) from “the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”. 2:7
Then God plants an orchard (Eden) and puts the man into it.
God then makes all of the trees grow (including the Tree of Life (immortality) and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (sentience).
God then charges the man with caring for the orchard. Apparently the man was simply created to be God’s gardener. He tells the man to eat from any of the trees except the two in the middle. This contradicts Chapter 1 where he gives every tree to Mankind.
Then God, seeing that all was not good, decides that the man shouldn’t be alone, so he creates the animals and the birds.
After letting the man name all of the animals and birds, God decides that he needs more company and creates him a woman.
This is the end of Chapter 2 and there are no more descriptions of creation. Chapter 3 then continues to create contradictions with Christian Dogma but I’ll get into that later.

So, if you have been paying attention you should be a little confused about the order of creation. If you aren’t then let me sum it up for you:

Chapter 1	Chapter 2
1. Heavens 2. Water 3. Light 4. Day / night 5. Sky 6. Land 7. Plants 8. Sun, Moon, and Stars 9. Fish 10. Birds 11. Land Animals 12. Mankind (plural, men and women)	1. Earth 2. Water 3. Man (singular, Adam) 4. Plants 5. Animals and Birds 6. Woman (singular, Eve)

My question to the Literal Creationists then is: What was the order of creation? There appear to be two completely different creation stories in Genesis. Am I to interpret both of them literally? If not, is one correct and the other wrong? Which is which and why? Should one be taken literally and one not? If so then what about you’re claim that all of the bible must be taken literally? If only some parts should be taken literally then how do I tell?