Does a "day" in Genesis 1 literally mean a 24 hour day?

The real question here is when Genesis 1 refers to the work God did each day during Creation, does a "day" represent a literal 24 hour day, or does it represent an era lasting thousands or millions of years? Some try to justify it means an era, referring to 2 Peter 3:8, where it states "with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day."

Here are the evidences that show that God's Creation only took 6 literal days.

• The Creation culminates with Adam and Eve. If the Creation took eras to complete, the Fall of Adam and Eve would have been preceded by death, disease, work for food, and many others things in contrast to Scripture.
  
• There is a tremendous amount of scientific evidence for the earth only being about 6000 years old, but it is often ignored by science because it requires the existence of God and creation from God. See the evidences listed in the article Creation vs. Evolution.
  
• The Creation is a miracle. When the miracles occur, they do not conform to the natural laws of science, because God works them outside of the natural laws. They cannot be explained by science. Of course, we study the evidences of creation vs evolution because the aftermath of the creation followed the natural laws of science.
  
• Why six days? Why not in a moment? Why not over an era? God tells us in Exodus 20:11 - "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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." It was to model to us what our week should look like - we are to reserve the seventh days for rest and worship.
  
• It is fairly certain that the authors of the Bible passages that refer to the Creation as six days really meant it to mean six literal days.
  
• The Hebrew word for "day" in Genesis is "yom". Outside Genesis 1, yom is listed with a number 359 times (as in "six days"), and each time it means an ordinary day. Genesis 1 is not an exception.
  
• The days are referred as having an "evening" and a "morning", implying a 24 hour day. Of course, until the sun was created and the celestial objects are put in motion, it is not determined by sunlight and the earth's motion.
  
• The sequence of events as defined in Scripture would not work if they occurred over eras - God created vegetation on the third day, and the sun on the fourth day.
  
• Adam and Eve were created on day six. God rested on day seven. Then Genesis goes on to describe the events in the lives of Adam and Eve. If day six was an era, then day seven also was, which would imply Adam and Eve lived through an entire era.
  
  

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• Genesis 1:5 — God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
  
• Genesis 1:8 — God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
  
• Genesis 1:13 — There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
  
• Genesis 1:19 — There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
  
• Genesis 1:23 — There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
  
• Genesis 1:31 — God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
  
• Leviticus 23:3 — `For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.
  
• Exodus 31:15-17 — ~`For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
  ~`So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
  ~"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased {from labor,} and was refreshed."