Was Jonah in the belly of the "great fish" for three days or for three thousand years?

There are many Christians who should believe he was in the fish for three thousand years—or longer—if they are consistent with how they approach Scripture.

Many Christians oppose the belief that God created in six literal days. They quote 2 Peter 3:8, "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years." On this basis, they say that the days of creation could be thousands of years. But if they were consistent, using this same logic, one could translate Jonah 2:17 this way:

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish THREE THOUSAND YEARS.

This is nonsense, of course. The context does not allow for using this phrase from the New Testament to determine the meaning of the Hebrew word "day" in Genesis 1. Peter is simply pointing out that God is outside of time, and thus is not limited by natural processes and time.

Genesis shows clearly that God created everything in six literal days, which is exactly what the Hebrew words—in context—mean.