Do Christians really believe HUMANS have only existed or 6,000 years?

Question

I respect your attempt to validate the bible regarding ancient animals saying there was a lot of time through genesis, but nearly every scientist agrees that there is plenty of evidence of ancient cultures dating back at least 100,000 years. All over the world there is evidence of ancient civilizations. This isn't a belief vs non-belief argument, please keep it to only christianity. Even if carbon dating could be 100,000 years off(any scientist will tell you that it loses its accuracy after a point but could not be off by over 85%...) There are many other signs and tests that have proved we have existed for much longer than 6,000 years.

Answer 1

Only the stupid ones

Answer 2

The tremendous weight of the flood would have cause a global ice age. This would severly change the rock strata and make carbon dating impossible. If you go back and he was the son of and using ancient government documents with the bible like who was the king when and where. It really isn't that hard to figure out how long man has been here. The flood really damaged anything that could have made dating possible.
Those as the scientists say are guesses.
I can show you a medical document that stated, by renounded Doctors of the time. They felt to go 100 mph or more would kill a human. Many scientists all agreed. Race cars exceed that daily and it doesn't kill them. They use to take blood out, now they want to put it back. Scientist change the bible doesn't

Answer 3

No, only a few do. Most Christians accept the proof of scientific knowledge that the Earth has existed for many millions of years and humans, essentially as we are today, have existed for several hundred thousand years at least. Please don't assume that, because a very small minority of people hold the view that the Bible is literally true, that therefore all people who call themselves Christian believe the same.

Please get your terminology right before you ask inflammatory questions like this. Many of the scientists involved in the proofs you mention were, themselves, devout Christians!

"This isn't a belief vs non-belief argument, please keep it to only christianity." I have absolutely no idea what you mean by this statement! If you want to keep it only to Christianity, then why are you even mentioning the age of the earth or humanity? Christianity concerns belief that Jesus was the Son of God and that by dying on the cross, he atoned for the sins of all mankind - including yours. That is the basis of Christianity and it is the main belief that distinguishes it from other religions.

Answer 4

This is not quite correct. First, the bible does not state how long humans have been here, it only eludes. Second, science shows a time table of humans, sapiens that is, showing up around midnight on the clock of the history of time. They use a clock with 6pm being the beginning of time, and homosapiens showing up, looking much as we do today, only a bit smaller due to food supply, sanitation, etc around 12 midnight. Which puts us here around the same time as the other humanoid types not directly after which disproves much of the theory of evolution. Grade school and high school is much behind college in what it teaches about evolution. Evolution is a theory. A theory is not proof of anything. While for many years this theory was widely held as the truth, it was still acknowledged as a theory. Scientists just felf at the time enough "proof" existed to establish a basic foundation to accept this theory. It was still a theory though. Now, most scientists no longer put much belief in Darwin's Theory of Evolution. However, grade schools and high schools are lagging behind in letting this go. There are many scientists who are Christians. With what we know today, it is not at odds to be both a scientist and a christian.

Answer 5

Nope not all Christians believe that the human race has been around only 6,000 years. Genesis is not meant to be taken literally as history its a myth (doesn't mean that its a lie) which is a vehicle to hold truths such as Original sin and creation ex nihilo among others. I have absolutely no problem accepting science (properly carried out) as the truth (science) does not conflict with Truth (God's word.) Of course science can be wrong and sometimes it is but the overwhelming mass of evidence clearly demonstrates that the universe started some 10-15 Billion years ago.

Answer 6

Don't confuse Christians with fundamentalists. Fundamentalists believe that humans have only been around for about 6,000 years. Despite the fact that the fundis (short for fundamentalists) have come up with countless pseudoscientific arguments, there are absolutely no scientific data to support the 6,000 year hypothesis (and of course, there is no evidence in the Bible to support it either). Just as a side note, we can actually carbon date materials up to about 60,000 years. And as you might have guessed, plenty of fossils predate the 6,000 year mark.

Really, I don't know why the fundis even worry about this issue. The exact point of creation has no relevance to Christian spirituality at all, but of course, I'm just a Christian, not a fundamentalist.

Answer 7

There are many Christians in the world that believe that the bible is accurate to the letter. These people make this into a belief vs. non-belief argument. I have heard several arguments on the issue, many times they try use the small percentage of error that the scientists conceed as a reason to completely invalidate the scientific evidence such as carbon dating.

ADDENDUM: Please see the post directly above mine as an example of my point.

Answer 8

Some do, but that's based on assumption of 2,000 years between major biblical events (Creation to the Flood, Flood to the Exodus, etc...). There's no actual documentation of that rigid of a chronology of events anywhere in the bible. There isn't really a timeline written out in the bible, or the talmud, or anywhere else cannonical. It's just people guessing, and then for some reason standing firm behind their guesses. Even by that timeline, it's probably more like 12,000 to 20,000 years, but who actually knows? The bible doesn't really say, and I'm not sure why people insist on vehemently arguing for it. If anyone out there does strongly believe in the 6000 years thing, could you back that up with scripture please? Passages, not broken verses if you don't mind. I'm pretty sure there aren't any.

Answer 9

I believe that the earth is around eight thousand or so years. Science can teach whatever it wants, but it is wrong. You see, the cosmic catastrophe of Noah's flood makes the world appear to be much older than it really is. Secondly, carbon-dating is completely flawed! Carbon dating said that a shell from a clam that was just eaten, was nearly eight MILLION years old!!!!! That is off by over 99%!!!!! There are no true signs that prove that the earth is older.

Answer 10

Science can't explain everything. No one is alive from back then so there isn't anyone to tell you how long the world has been around. I don't really believe the world has been around for millions of years like what scientist say about the dinosaurs. But i do believe the world could be around for more than 100,000 years.

Answer 11

Some do. What they do is count back in the genealogies, estimate lifespans, and take into account other events.

Some people's faith (and therefore worldview) is so dependent on Scripture being 100% percent correct that when their personal interpretation of the Scriptures is challenged, they get a bit panicky and start grasping at anything instead of looking at it reasonably. If they would look at it reasonably, they would realize that it doesn't need to compromise their faith.

Christianity should be more about allowing Jesus to transform our lives rather than trying to prove Biblical/historical occurrences. If there is no change in our lives, arguing about the details is pointless.