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Just something to think about the age of the earth and other really old things.
Sometimes you will see things that scientists or others claim are "billions of years old".
This might challenge your faith. That's a good thing, cos in my experience, when my faith is challenged, I end up "looking into it" and God's truth always comes out on top, even when it seemed like that might not be possible. On this issue of the age of the earth I've heard some great Biblical explanations and I thought I'd share them here.
The situation: Scientists say some things are billions of years old, Bible suggests these things are not nearly that old
Here's something to think about;
The Bible says that God made the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the earth.
Let's imagine for a moment that we built a time machine and went back in time, to the garden of Eden, and we arrived there 10 seconds after Adam was created.
As we see Adam, I might say, "That man is 10 seconds old".
And the other person might say, "No, he is not 10 seconds old. He is a full grown adult, he is 6 foot tall and he has hair on his chest. I am certain that he is at least 18 years old. We have observed that a human must start as a baby, become a toddler and finally become an adult.. Each of these processes take years. So he cannot be 10 seconds old, you are wrong by a factor of billions."
Despite the fact that the other person is totally correct in their reasoning, they are simply wrong in their conclusion. Despite the fact that they are correct about the aging process of humans, they are wrong in this instance because they were not including God in their equation. They are assuming that this human came about via natural causes only.
Adam at only a few days old:
People who do not believe in God approach every problem already assuming He doesn't exist (this makes sense, cos they don't believe in Him).
So they see Adam at 10 seconds old and automatically conclude "He is at least 18 years old". A Christian, however, looks at Adam and has extra knowledge that comes from the Bible: we know he was created in his full adult form by God.
So when people tell you that something is billions of years old, they are simply not counting the possibility that God created that something in it's mature form, like He did with Adam.
They might be correct in their reasoning, but the conclusion is still wrong. If God does not exist, it might take billions of years for certain events to happen- but we have extra knowledge from the Bible, so it comes down to whether or not you believe what the Bible says.
This is why when people ask you something like "Do you reaaaaaally believe that a man lived in the belly of a whale? Do you reaaaaally believe that a virgin conceived?" they are the wrong questions.
If a person believes that God exists, then it isn't a surprise to imagine that GOD (who has all power) can cause a miracle to happen. If God does not exist then miracles cannot happen.. But we believe He does exist, meaning miracles are not impossible at all.
Christian apologists with a lack of faith in God's word
Some Christian apologists think like this:
"If current human knowledge contradicts the Bible, we must not understand the Bible correctly."
I know it's easy to want to feel intellectual and it's hard sometimes to say that current human knowledge is wrong- naturally we don't want to appear stupid.
But we need to trust in our Father's word. I don't know if God used evolution to create mankind- but when I stand before Him on Judgement day I don't want to say "Lord, I read your word but when man made discoveries that contradicted your word, I decided that your word must be a metaphor."
I'd rather say "Lord, even though human knowledge said your word was wrong, I just took your word at face value and believed it anyway- cos I trusted you more than human knowledge."
And God might say, "Actually, you were wrong, Genesis was a metaphor for evolution." But that is preferable to me than God saying "You twisted My word to conform to human knowledge, I actually did create the world in 6 days just like My word said."
Sometimes you will see things that scientists or others claim are "billions of years old".
This might challenge your faith. That's a good thing, cos in my experience, when my faith is challenged, I end up "looking into it" and God's truth always comes out on top, even when it seemed like that might not be possible. On this issue of the age of the earth I've heard some great Biblical explanations and I thought I'd share them here.
The situation: Scientists say some things are billions of years old, Bible suggests these things are not nearly that old
Here's something to think about;
The Bible says that God made the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the earth.
Let's imagine for a moment that we built a time machine and went back in time, to the garden of Eden, and we arrived there 10 seconds after Adam was created.
As we see Adam, I might say, "That man is 10 seconds old".
And the other person might say, "No, he is not 10 seconds old. He is a full grown adult, he is 6 foot tall and he has hair on his chest. I am certain that he is at least 18 years old. We have observed that a human must start as a baby, become a toddler and finally become an adult.. Each of these processes take years. So he cannot be 10 seconds old, you are wrong by a factor of billions."
Despite the fact that the other person is totally correct in their reasoning, they are simply wrong in their conclusion. Despite the fact that they are correct about the aging process of humans, they are wrong in this instance because they were not including God in their equation. They are assuming that this human came about via natural causes only.
Adam at only a few days old:
People who do not believe in God approach every problem already assuming He doesn't exist (this makes sense, cos they don't believe in Him).
So they see Adam at 10 seconds old and automatically conclude "He is at least 18 years old". A Christian, however, looks at Adam and has extra knowledge that comes from the Bible: we know he was created in his full adult form by God.
So when people tell you that something is billions of years old, they are simply not counting the possibility that God created that something in it's mature form, like He did with Adam.
They might be correct in their reasoning, but the conclusion is still wrong. If God does not exist, it might take billions of years for certain events to happen- but we have extra knowledge from the Bible, so it comes down to whether or not you believe what the Bible says.
This is why when people ask you something like "Do you reaaaaaally believe that a man lived in the belly of a whale? Do you reaaaaally believe that a virgin conceived?" they are the wrong questions.
If a person believes that God exists, then it isn't a surprise to imagine that GOD (who has all power) can cause a miracle to happen. If God does not exist then miracles cannot happen.. But we believe He does exist, meaning miracles are not impossible at all.
Christian apologists with a lack of faith in God's word
Some Christian apologists think like this:
"If current human knowledge contradicts the Bible, we must not understand the Bible correctly."
I know it's easy to want to feel intellectual and it's hard sometimes to say that current human knowledge is wrong- naturally we don't want to appear stupid.
But we need to trust in our Father's word. I don't know if God used evolution to create mankind- but when I stand before Him on Judgement day I don't want to say "Lord, I read your word but when man made discoveries that contradicted your word, I decided that your word must be a metaphor."
I'd rather say "Lord, even though human knowledge said your word was wrong, I just took your word at face value and believed it anyway- cos I trusted you more than human knowledge."
And God might say, "Actually, you were wrong, Genesis was a metaphor for evolution." But that is preferable to me than God saying "You twisted My word to conform to human knowledge, I actually did create the world in 6 days just like My word said."
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