How old is the earth?

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memyselfi

Junior Member
Jan 12, 2017
503
260
63
#61
the Most High does not have a beginning. it doesnt make sense to me that He only began making worlds when He made this one. what was He doing before this world?
the Most High does not have a beginning. it doesnt make sense to me that He only began making worlds when He made this one. what was He doing before this world?
Putting the "Beatles" together… lol....
 

theanointedwinner

Well-known member
Nov 6, 2018
2,058
1,125
113
#62
I believe that Apostle Paul can never write books like Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and Galatians, without the inspiration that comes from the Spirit of Jesus

Books like these exist in the Bible that we can physically hold in our hand, with the message written in ink on paper. We can even check this part ourselves if we are holding the Bible in our hand right now.
 

Scrobulous

Active member
Sep 17, 2018
290
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#63
I don't think scripture tells us that God began creating the earth "in the beginning". It does not say when that beginning was. To understand what scripture tells us we need to trace back to the original Hebrew that the first men who heard God spoke in, and what those words meant to them.

Genesis 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

In the beginning our earth was described by the Hebrew word choshek. This word means lifeless, dark, chaotic. It does not tell us there was nothing there when scripture lists the days of creation, but that the earth was dark and forbidding.

When scripture describes the first day of creation, it tells us that “owr” was created. This is a Hebrew word always translated as light, it means enlightenment, joy, life, and good. Physical light was not created until the fourth day. Owr is a Godly light. On this day God created light as we as human think of it.

On the fourth day the light created was called maor, or the plural of that is maorof. This is a name for objects that illuminate. Translators used our word light for both of these very different Hebrew words.
Ancient Hebrew was first written in pictograph, then without vowels.

We know that God is in a dimension different from ours because God is eternal. Time is part of the dimension humans live in, eternity puts God in a different dimension. Scripture tries to explain that dimension to us.

Scientist do not know what God knows about us for God created what scientist try to discover. But often they discover the truth of what we have misread scripture about. That happened about "the four corners of the earth". People said the earth was square, but scientist told them what that scripture meant. I think it is the same with the age of our earth.
I think you are on the right track.
Science keeps us honest by describing the means by which God did the things He did.
The bible is not a technical manual, it is an inspired revelation that God uses to convey spiritual reality. There is no conflict between ‘religion’ and science. Nor is there any reason to be over literal in our interpretation of scripture. It should be remembered that to communicate with mankind, God’s revelation has to be understood by all men over all time. He has to communicate with the uneducated and the highly educated, from the ancient past to the present day. To do this he uses symbolic writing. If you press myth, poetry and apocalyptic texts into service as scientific data, you end up in a web of contradictions.
The Earth is very old and there is no need to deny this. Genesis distils the important details about creation, it is not an orderly account of what or how it happened. Being over defensive of the scripture led to a denial of heliocentricity. The probem was that believers were limited in their thinking and tried to straight jacket their interpretation of scripture to fit their idea of the facts. Such a strategy was misguided and creationism is nothing more than a modern version of the same flawed philosophy.
The scriptures, understood correctly, transcend science, but do not obliterate it.
Christians should delight in science and welcome its discoveries. Christians should be scientists so that they can divide between real science and atheistic philosophies masquerading as science. If christians retreat into creationism, they leave the field open to exploitation by the devil.
Consider Professor Brian Cox, for example. He is a physicist of impressive calibre, but he gets on television and peddles his personal theories and interpretations. This is NOT science, it is philosophy dressed up as science. This is where christians need to join the battle; not in creationism, which is simply a headlong flight from reality.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
24,446
12,926
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#64
It does not tell us there was nothing there when scripture lists the days of creation, but that the earth was dark and forbidding.
This is patently false. The earth is approximately 6000 years old (as others have already pointed out), using the date of of the creation of Adam, and counting from Adam onwards. This is called Anno Hominis (AH), the Year of Man.

Also Ptolemy's chronology, which is generally used by all (and based on pagan history) needs to be abridged by 82 years in order to compute the correct age of the earth, based strictly on the Masoretic Text and the Authorized Version (King James Bible). For details study Martin Anstey's The Chronology of the Old Testament.

Many Christians have tried to accommodate evolutionary theory (and the billions of years required for this) along with the Big Bang Theory, but one can either exclude God totally from creation or dismiss evolution as nonsense. There is no middle ground.
 
J

jaybird88

Guest
#65
This is patently false. The earth is approximately 6000 years old (as others have already pointed out), using the date of of the creation of Adam, and counting from Adam onwards. This is called Anno Hominis (AH), the Year of Man.

Also Ptolemy's chronology, which is generally used by all (and based on pagan history) needs to be abridged by 82 years in order to compute the correct age of the earth, based strictly on the Masoretic Text and the Authorized Version (King James Bible). For details study Martin Anstey's The Chronology of the Old Testament.

Many Christians have tried to accommodate evolutionary theory (and the billions of years required for this) along with the Big Bang Theory, but one can either exclude God totally from creation or dismiss evolution as nonsense. There is no middle ground.
my bible says the earth was created before Adam.
 

Scrobulous

Active member
Sep 17, 2018
290
73
28
#66
This is patently false. The earth is approximately 6000 years old (as others have already pointed out), using the date of of the creation of Adam, and counting from Adam onwards. This is called Anno Hominis (AH), the Year of Man.

Also Ptolemy's chronology, which is generally used by all (and based on pagan history) needs to be abridged by 82 years in order to compute the correct age of the earth, based strictly on the Masoretic Text and the Authorized Version (King James Bible). For details study Martin Anstey's The Chronology of the Old Testament.

Many Christians have tried to accommodate evolutionary theory (and the billions of years required for this) along with the Big Bang Theory, but one can either exclude God totally from creation or dismiss evolution as nonsense. There is no middle ground.
Of course there is middle ground!
To imagine that the only possible understanding of the bible is your own, demonstrates a remarkable intolerance and frankly, lack of imagination.
 

Quantrill

Well-known member
Sep 20, 2018
988
300
63
#69
I believe the earth is very old. In reading through this thread I didn't see anyone bring up the 'Gap Theory'. Perhaps I missed it. It is sort of like the 'Rapture' in that most hate it. But, I believe it is Scriptural, and offers us explanation as to science's understanding of the earth's age.

Quantrill
 

Scrobulous

Active member
Sep 17, 2018
290
73
28
#70
I believe the earth is very old. In reading through this thread I didn't see anyone bring up the 'Gap Theory'. Perhaps I missed it. It is sort of like the 'Rapture' in that most hate it. But, I believe it is Scriptural, and offers us explanation as to science's understanding of the earth's age.

Quantrill
The gap theory is an attempt to shoehorn the geological ages into the days of creation described in Genesis. The attempt is futile because it is based on a false premise. The days of creation were not intended to reflect the evolutionary process, they were designed to convey the fact that God created everything. The gap theory cannot deal with the fact that the sun and stars we created on day 4 i.e after the earth. This is ridiculous and to accommodate such a view, means we have to accuse God of a deception, namely twisting the laws of physics (which are God’s laws) to make Genesis into what we want it to be, rather than what it is. It’s in the same category of accusing God of planting fossils in the rocks to trick man into thinking the earth is old. This path leads to madness.
 

Blanche

Junior Member
Mar 19, 2018
173
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#72
So, no one believes in evolution? Are all Scientists lying or just wrong?
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
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#73
The gap theory is an attempt to shoehorn the geological ages into the days of creation described in Genesis. The attempt is futile because it is based on a false premise. The days of creation were not intended to reflect the evolutionary process, they were designed to convey the fact that God created everything. The gap theory cannot deal with the fact that the sun and stars we created on day 4 i.e after the earth. This is ridiculous and to accommodate such a view, means we have to accuse God of a deception, namely twisting the laws of physics (which are God’s laws) to make Genesis into what we want it to be, rather than what it is. It’s in the same category of accusing God of planting fossils in the rocks to trick man into thinking the earth is old. This path leads to madness.
God does not trick any man. Man has tricked himself with his own perceptions and what he calls reality. Everything including heavens and earth were created for man and the genesis account was a real 24hrs days account of creation of everything with retrospect of how the man would observe them.
There's no conclusive evidence of an old earth.
 

Quantrill

Well-known member
Sep 20, 2018
988
300
63
#74
The gap theory is an attempt to shoehorn the geological ages into the days of creation described in Genesis. The attempt is futile because it is based on a false premise. The days of creation were not intended to reflect the evolutionary process, they were designed to convey the fact that God created everything. The gap theory cannot deal with the fact that the sun and stars we created on day 4 i.e after the earth. This is ridiculous and to accommodate such a view, means we have to accuse God of a deception, namely twisting the laws of physics (which are God’s laws) to make Genesis into what we want it to be, rather than what it is. It’s in the same category of accusing God of planting fossils in the rocks to trick man into thinking the earth is old. This path leads to madness.
No it isn't. It does provide an explanation as to the earths old age. It wasn't created to fit any scientific geological ages into Genesis. Nor is it intended to reflect any evolutionary process. Thus it is not based on any false premise.

There is no problem with the sun, moon, and stars being created on the 4th day. What is the big deal?

I see no reason to accuse God of deception concerning the gap theory. I do believe it is Scriptural.

Quantrill
 

Noose

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2016
5,096
932
113
#75
So, no one believes in evolution? Are all Scientists lying or just wrong?
Evolution can not be right- try thinking human language.
1. It is words with meanings and certain pronunciation
2. It is acquired externally through learning from knowledgeable sources - the words/ the meanings/the pronunciation
3. There can never be an internal origin of a word and its meaning through mutations followed by natural selection

Therefore human language has always been taught or learned from knowledgeable source. And with this fact, no matter how far back we go, we shall never reach a point where words and their meanings were inherent, rather , we shall always reach God as the ultimate knowledgeable source from which man learned words and their meaning.
 

Embankment

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2017
693
190
43
#77
So, no one believes in evolution? Are all Scientists lying or just wrong?
Do you not get it?
Science has only one purpose and that is to overthrow Christianity!
It all began several hundred years ago with them denying the world is flat and that the universe revolves around us.
It’s all a big lie to deny the inerrancy of God!
Who’s side are you on? Are you for God or Satan?
 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
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#78
Just food for thought........in Genesis it equates the days to evenings and mornings.....where does it say they were exactly 24 hours long.....we ASSUME that because that is what we have today..........

Mercury --->176 earth days to ONE evening and MORNING
Venus --->243 earth days to one evening and morning
Mars --->24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds to one evening and morning
Jupiter ---> 9 hours, 55 minutes and 30 second to ONE EARTH evening and morning WOW
Saturn ---> 10 hours 33 minutes to one evening and morning
Uranus ---> 17 hours, 14 minutes and 24 seconds to one evening and morning
Neptune --->16 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds to one evening and morning

Just some food for thought........there are at least 2 anomalous events in scripture that deal with the rotational speed and or direction of the planet.....go make a list of EVERYTHING Adam did on the 6th day BEFORE EVE was even created......as a matter of fact we base TIME on the SUN and this 24 hour rotational period of the sun which was not created until what day?

In all honesty the EVENING and the MORNING that equated to DAYS could be any amount of TIME and still be a day......it could have been 24 hours or even a million of our years and still be ONE EVENING and ONE MORNING.

Just saying
 

luigi

Junior Member
Dec 6, 2015
1,222
216
63
#79
the Most High does not have a beginning. it doesnt make sense to me that He only began making worlds when He made this one. what was He doing before this world?
Isaiah 45:18 seems to infer that the Lord has made other worlds to also be inhabited.

Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
24,446
12,926
113
#80
I see no reason to accuse God of deception concerning the gap theory. I do believe it is Scriptural.
How can the Gap Theory be scriptural when it postulates sin and death on this earth BEFORE Adam's disobedience, which actually resulted in sin and death?

ROMANS 5
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.