Old earth or Young earth?

Question

A study was just released states that the Sierra Nevada mountains in California are up to 60 million years older than previously believed. How do young earth folks account for this type of research?

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/15000095.htm?source=rss&channel=cctimes_news

An old family friend of mine recently told me she believes (and has been homeschooling her children) that the earth has been proven to be no more than 6000 years old and that any "research" proving otherwise is a bunch of misleading facts and/or just plain lies. She is an evangelical Christian who also believes that Noah had dinosaurs on the ark ("not full-grown ones, of course," she said, "they were eggs or babies").

What do you think?

Please remember that if you are religious, your bible is NOT scientific evidence. Thanks.

Answer 1

Young-earth people, I think, would respond that the world could have been created to APPEAR to be billions of years old. It would make a lot of sense, then, that these Christians would defend their point so fiercely, because for them the age of the earth is an article of faith that runs contrary to empirical data.

As an educator, I deplore the indoctrination of children. I believe that the essence of education is providing students with the skills that they need in order to think on their own. It is my knee-jerk response to be wary of home schooling because it smacks of indoctrination. In school, a student is subjected to the views of a number of different educators; at home, it is all too easy to present only one perspective and to fail to encourage independent thought. I don't fault this friend of yours for holding to the young-earth theory; in fact, I feel she has the right to teach her children what she thinks is right. But she also needs to teach her children not to check their brains at the door and to introduce them to alternative viewpoints, if only so they possess the intellectual skills to reject error later in life when no one is around to tell them what to think.

Answer 2

First of all, the Bible says that the earth was created 5 days before Adam. So that means that the earth is young. Scientists don't have to use the Sierra Nevada's to make a logical case for an old earth. Using human wisdom, all they have to do is point out that light is reaching this planet from stars that are millions of light years away. That's what human wisdom tells us.

But when it contradicts what God has said then we have to look a little deeper and see how we could be misinterpreting the data. Now consider this. When God created Adam, he was a full grown man. The trees around him were already bearing seeds as well. So if some scientist was transported back in time and he looked at the evidence presented by Adam and the trees he would logically conclude that they had been around for quite a few years and he would be wrong because they had only been created a day or two earlier.

It's the same with the light from the stars and the various formations of rock on this earth. God caused the light from the stars to be reaching the earth as soon as He made them. Also you have to consider that the flood of Noah's time mentions that the "deeps" were opened up and the waters poured out as well as the rain coming from the sky.

There are whole herds of Mastodons that have been frozen with food still in their stomachs. Obviously some cataclysmic event took place that caused major changes here on earth. If you don't want to believe the Bible, that's your business, but I trust God who was actually there when these things happened over scientists who are making their best guesses based upon theories based upon observations that are at the least 4 to 6 thousand years years removed from the actual events.

Answer 3

In my opinion, I believe that the earth is infact very old. If the earth was young still, we probably would not exist.

If you follow evolution, then the Earth would have to be very old to be able to support human life.

You said:
She is an evangelical Christian who also believes that Noah had dinosaurs on the ark ("not full-grown ones, of course

I will have to say that Noah's Ark is a load of BS. There's no evidence of it happening now is there?

You also said:
that the earth has been proven to be no more than 6000 years old and that

There was a guy named Ussher(not the singer) that said the earth was 6000 years old if I'm correct. I looked it up.

I

Answer 4

Approx. 6000 years old. This is based on studied timelines from the beginning of the Old Testament to today. There is also a theory that has been going around for years. It is based on several factors. One is the creation. Six days of creation. One day of rest. Two is a verse in 2 Peter 3:8 which indicates that one day with the Lord could equal 1000 years of our time. Three is the fact of Revelation stating that after Christ returns to the earth, there will be a 1000 year period of time on the earth in which the devil is chained and Christ rules the earth in peace.

So if you look at all of this together, you can theorize that the creation was a model of the earths history and we are almost at the end of the 6th day when Christ will return to establish the 7th day of rest. God's true Sabbath rest for his people.

Answer 5

Science and Christianity can go hand and hand. The 6,000 years comes through tracing the Old Testament. If you trace it back to Adam you will find that the Earth is 6,000 years old. However, we have found that scientists claims that isn't true. I'm not sure if the Earth is AS OLD as scientists say, but I do believe them when they same men and dinosaurs DID NOT exist at the same time. So, how does science and religion work together. If you ask most Christian preachers they will tell you there was a pre-adamite world. Remember in Genesis God tells Adam and Eve to go out and "Replenish" the earth. The "Re" tells us there was something there before Adam and Eve. So I believe there could have been many years prior to Adam and Eve and I definitely believe that is the time period in which dinosaurs lived. We also have to keep in mind that God's time is not the same as ours so again, I definitely believe science and religion can work together.

Answer 6

"data" for a smooth earth. because of the truth you won't be able to re-create the activities clinical data is ineffective. airborne dirt and dust on the moon - even as the lunar lander landed on the moon the scientist had assumed, because of the age of the moon being thousands and thousands of years previous, that the lunar lander ought to sink into the airborne dirt and dust which became projected to be countless ft thick. they got here across in basic terms inches. Van Allen belts - The belts of radiation around the earth that deflect a number of the daylight's radiation are slowly shrinking. If we extrapolate to the earth being in basic terms a million years previous the belts ought to were so solid no animal or plant ought to have lived. sunlight shrinkage - The sunlight shrinks by some inches each and every 12 months. This has ben measured for some centuries. If the earth were over a million years previous the daylight ought to were so great it ought to have engulfed Mercury and the earth ought to were too warm to help existence. now to not instruct the gravitational themes. Erosion - on the present cost of abrasion if the earth were a million years previous the gulf of mexico should be nonexistent (from the Mississippi river), and the Mediterranean sea should be ninety% smaller (from the Nile river) this is in basic terms some there are a decision of, many, oh one of those number of extra.

Answer 7

Christians' entire belief system is based on the infallibility of the Bible. One mistruth in the Bible and it's all gone. They work very hard to explain away real world observations that conflict with biblical truth, because the real world is constantly proving that the Bible cannot be completely correct.

Answer 8

There is a show that comes on called "The John Ankerberg Show" it is a christian debate show. The test different beliefs with christian beliefs. They said the earth is millions of years old and gave good proof I think. too much to talk about here. check out the show.

Answer 9

Well i would have to say she is wrong it took that long just for God to create the earth. because in the bible it says it took God 6 days to create the earth and on the 7 day God rested. And in the bible it says that one day equals a thousand years to God. And many have past since the earth was created.

Answer 10

the bible based creation myth does not really hurt people
but it makes them rebuke science without logic
teaming up the no social skills and no science in these home schooled kids, I think we are going to see some useless kids
In short the earth is old, the bible is a moral lesson not a history lesson, home schooling is wrong and amoral