how is it possible?

Question

that if humans have been around for only 6 thousand years and we began with only 2 people that there are now 6 billion people on earth?
thats about 100 million people per century. 10 million per decade. thats an awful lot of growth in just a short time.

Answer 1

Yes that's a lot. But you forgot to count the dead!

Answer 2

By this time, after reading some of the answers that came before mine here, you've learned a few things about mathematics that you didn't know when you first asked your question.

That should bring up a NEW question in your mind. If man has been around for millions and millions of years, and it takes less than 50 generations for the human population to grow from 2 original parents to 6 billion people, then shouldn't human beings be stuffed into every nook and cranny on the face of the earth, by now?

What a choice! Massive population-thinning events (like worldwide Floods, perhaps?) or having the human population being so crowded that its members are stacked up alive, like cordwood!

Answer 3

Ok, let's put this one to the test. The flaw in your theory is that you use linear growth. Let's test out this one. I know the first few cases aren't Biblically accurate, but just for argument's sake. I think it's relatively widely accepted that a modern generation is about 30 years. I'll use that. Also, I'll go off the the assumption that each person replaces himself/herself with two new people (four children to a couple). Here's how the population of each generation looks (only the new generation, not adding in surviving members of older generations).

2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024
2048
4096
8192
16,384
32,768
65,536
131,072
262,144
524,288
1,048,576
2,097,152
4,194,304
8,388,608
16,777,216
33,554,432
67,108,864
134,217,728
268,435,456
536,870,912
1,073,741,824
2,147,483,648
4,294,967,296
8,589,934,592

Ok, so now we're above 6 billion at generation 33. Generation 1 began at time 0, so that would mean, given the assumptions, 32*30 = 960 years is all it would take to build up a population of this size. Of course, this isn't a realistic scenario and doesn't take into account any of the circumstances. Just to show how it could happen. (With 3 kids per couple, it's around 55 generations).

Answer 4

According to statistics,there are approximately 4 million babies born a year just in the United States alone. That's 40 million a decade,400 million a century. Add the millions upon millions of babies born a year across the rest of the world,and see what number you get.It certainly wouldn't take millions of years to get to a population of 6 billion,even with the population starting with only 2 people.

Answer 5

Even though I am an unbeliever, I don't think this reasoning works. I mean, remember that you have to multiply, not add. I mean, if each couple had 4 children (and in average they have more), this would imply that for every two people in a generation, we'd have two in the next. So, it would only take 33 generations to reach that number, because 2^33 (i.e.: 2 multiplied by itself 33 times) is 8.589.934.592, which is more than the number of people on earth.

But this doesn't prove that god exists. This only proves that yours isn't the right way to prove god's theory wrong.

Note: there are in average 3 to 4 generations in 100 years. So, 33 generations would be about 1000 years.

Answer 6

Not such a stretch, when you consider the average lifespan of the 1st few thousand years (much less after the flood, but still a great deal longer than at present). 200 years gives a man or woman LOTS of time to procreate.

Even now, the average annual growth in population is estimated to be between 85 & 100 million.

Answer 7

According to the start of the Jewish calendar this is the year 5474 or there abouts.that is why Christians say the world started about 6000 yrs ago.AS ADAM and EVE were supposed to be the first humans on the earth.When they were the first of the line of the Israelites.and met other tribes outside of the Garden.
Where did these tribes come from and how long had they existed before ADAM and EVE.

Answer 8

Well you have to know that in the early times, people lived very long lives....i mean Prophet Noah himself was 900 years old when he built the ark.....imagine.

Since they lived longer, they had more children. And there neverused to be so much poverty or inflation that people would think of having less children. There weren't any family planning methods too so.....

and yea men ususlly mariied more than one women so more children

Answer 9

We went from 3 BILLION in the 60's to over 6 BILLION now.

But, I never put much faith in that 6,000 year theory, it's almost as faulty as the evolution-only hype.

Answer 10

%0% of that growth has been within the last 100 yrs.

Answer 11

Most of that growth was within the past few hundred years, even in exponentioal terms.