Why do some Christians believe the earth is only 6 thousand years old? What scientific evidence do they have?

Question

What do Christians make of dinosaur fossils? Do they completely deny they ever existed? Or do they believe dinosaurs roamed the earth 6,000 years ago?

What about evidence of human activity over 6,000 years old?

Was the universe also created 6,000 year ago? If so, what do you make of some distant stars? Their light takes over 10,000+ years to reach earth, making the universe older than 6,000 years old. Do Christians discredit this just like they deny carbon dating?

Answer 1

I found your Statement/question, sophomoric:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sophomoric

There was a time when the consensus of the most educated and enlightened scientists was that the earth was only a few thousand years old. There was a time when there only 4 elements, earth, wind , water,& fire, of couse the (5th) quintessence in the heavens. The Sun revolved around the earth.


You will find it difficult to find many who believe that today, however, I believe in the future there will be those who laugh at us because we believe the stupid things we do today.

You are doing what is called "Moral Preening".

Thre are people of all stripe who hold beliefs that we would find unsupported by science.
To start out you question with "Why do some Christians believe...." is simply rude and sophomoric.



Yours: Grumpy

Answer 2

>> Why do some Christians believe the earth is only 6 thousand years old?
They're fundamentalists. They believe in the Bible, no matter what. The 6000 year figure comes from estimating how long people mentioned in the Bible lived.

>> What do Christians make of dinosaur fossils?
The fundies say that dinosaurs were contemporary with Adam, and that Leviathan and Behemoth mentioned in the book of Job were dinosaurs.

>> What about evidence of human activity over 6,000 years old?
The fundies believe that carbon dating (and other methods) are flawed.

>> Was the universe also created 6,000 year ago?
The fundies say, yes.

>> If so, what do you make of some distant stars?
God created them.

>> Their light takes over 10,000+ years to reach earth
The fundies either say that the light was created en route ("Last Thursdayism") or that the speed of light has changed, that it was once much faster.

Answer 3

First of all, why does it bother you so much what Christians believe? If you do not believe it, then so what? Why expend the energy thinking about it?

Now, there are few simple arguments about this: 1) if humans were descended from apes, why are there still apes? 2) if humans have evolved over millions of years, there should be hundreds of thousands (or millions) of transitional fossilized skeletons, but there are none. 3) any scientist can attest to the fact that the sun is shrinking by about 3 feet per day, so a millions years ago, there would not have been an earth because the sun would have been so big, it would have taken it's place. 4) if the big bang theory is correct, then why do some of the moons in our solar system spin in the opposite direction? These are just some of the myriad of questions that evolutionists cannot answer. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1 that God uses the simple things to confound the wise.

Answer 4

"Young Earth Creationists" believe that all fossils were created as the result of the massive pressure forces during the Flood. They also believe that either a) God provided the light from distant stars in the correct trajectory so it would reach the earth at its appointed time, or b) that light traveled at a different speed before the Flood.

Evidence of human activity before 6,000 years ago is based on geological layering, so if you believe that the layers were formed as a result of the Flood, then you can accept that there will be evidence of human activity within them. They find it interesting that Carbon Dating does not work with recent events, only events that are further back in time (>50,000 years I think), so it is suspect at best.

Answer 5

Dinosaurs did exist according to the Bible - you've heard of Leviathan? God created light on the first day, but he didn't create the stars until the third day.

What about fossiles found in rock strata where the older are ON TOP of the younger fossiles? Why is that? Why don't the rock layers match from geographic region to geographic region? I know climate is different, but why are there sea fossils on the tops of mounts that are delcared older than the fossils themselves? Why does every culture on earth have a story about an earthly flood and a finite beginning.

I can't answer these questions for you, but if you read "The Biblical Basis of Modern Science" you will maybe understand why I believe what I believe. You can also visit www.khouse.org to get downloads on many topics that Christians believe to get our perspective on things.

Answer 6

The earth, as well as the rest of the solar system, was created with the appearance of age. If it was around as long as evolutionists say, and considering how the earth is getting closer to the sun, either at the beginning earth would be too far from the sun to sustain life, or we would be all burned up by now. And of course there were dinosaures. They were created the same day man was created. Where do you think legends about knights fighting dragons came from? People all over the world don't make up the same legends just as coincidence. (Also, the flood.) And, carbon dating has been proved wrong. Do some research on it.

Answer 7

I believe that the stories in the Bible refer to events which occurred during and after the Neolithic period, when humans came together to form communities, domesticate animals and grow crops. As humans began to live together in these enclaves, they exchanged ideas and concepts about the the whys of human existence.

Before that time, humans wandered the earth hunting and gathering. Little human interaction occurred, and communication was mostly at the group level.

So, when the Bible was written, the ideas and stories went back only to the dawn of the Neolithic period. Since human interaction was at a minimum before that time, it was like the world didn't exist before then.

As a side note, I believe that science and religion can coexist quite nicely if both sides accept the other at a certain level of understanding.

For the believers, they need to accept that the stories in the Bible are parables which were meant to teach and enlighten the peoples who lived during the time that the great monotheistic religions were adopted.

For the scientists, They need to accept that they don't have all of the answers, and that the many theories that they espouse are based on empirical evidence which may be disproved in the future. Until all is proved, scientists must accept the idea that a higher power may be at work.

Answer 8

They believe that because the Bible says the Earth and all life on it was created in six days (and God rested on the seventh) and the rest of the Bible covers just over 4,000 years. And we are living just under 2,000 years after the end of the Bible (as far as history goes, not religion), so that suggests to them the Earth and life was created 6,000 years ago approximately.

What they fail to understand is that the Hebrew translation that goes to "days" doesn't always refer to 24 hour periods (which would mean an actual day and that the Earth would then be created in a human week)., but just refers to a period of time. Days can be as short as an hour or as long as a 1,000 years or more in the bible. It just refers to a significant period of time. Which means that despite the fact that God created the Earth and all life in "6 days" according to the Bible that could actually refer to thousands, millions, or maybe even billions of years. Which means that the Earth could be billions of years old and still fit in with the way the Bible says we began (God created us).

Answer 9

I think the answer lies in literal interpretation of the Bible. If you use the Jewish calendar and then the life spans of the patriarchs that proceeded the start of the Jewish calendar as stated in the Bible, you would come up with your 6,000 (?) year time frame.

Where the Bible clashes with science, these Christians will side with the Bible. Watch the closing half-hour (the courtroom scene) of the 1959 movie, "Inherit the Wind", with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March. March's character (Matthew Harrison Brady) rants about this on the stand and he is being cross-examined by Spencer Tracy's character (Henry Drummond). It's an excellent movie about the Scopes "Monkey" trial that took place in 1925 about whether a teacher was allowed to teach about the theory of evolution in a Bible Belt town that only believed in creationism.

Answer 10

They also believe that a 600 year old man created the worlds largest boat out of wood. And that it was seaworthy in a great flood. I like the part where an 800 year old man heard voices from a burning bush.

Not all Christians are that gullible to believe that the earth is only thousands of years old. But they are gullible enough to believe that a god would create us, then kill us. They also believe that a god has a need for people to worship him. Ridiculous!