Geologists : How old is the earth ? Does this conflict with your religion ?

Answer 1

The Earth is much older than any scientist before the 2nd WW could imagine. Today's accepted age of the Earth of 4.55 billion years was determined by C.C. Patterson using Uranium-Lead dating on fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite and published in 1956.

As you can imagine, no religion in the world was willing to give such an age to our planet.

The great Newton himself put science on the wrong track by claiming (without any evidence) that the world could no be more than 250.000 years old. This were the days before the science of Geology even existed. You understand there was still a long way to go before science came actually to the right (we believe) figure of 4.550 million years.

In other words: even scientists were struggling to get rid of religious background. It was a hot topic at the time!

Answer 2

According to modern science, not woolly Bronze age myths (which themselves have been subject to much editing and alteration over the past 2000 years ) around 4.5-4.6 billion years. Just as a tiny example, NO way could the rocks that form the bulk of the (mile deep ) Grand Canyon have been deposited in a few thousand years. Even Geologists at the turn of the century dismissed Lord Kelvin's claim that The Earth was a mere 20 million years old, due to the vast thickness of the strata in places. It was the pioneering work of men like Rutherford with radioactivity that gave us a more accurate picture.
As for religion, why should it? It is good to know that at least some of the clergy acknowledge modern science:-
"Studies of plant life, animal life, and human life available in centuries past were primitive, to say the least. Concepts commonplace today in the world of physics, subatomic physics, astrophysics, and cosmology would have drawn from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to say nothing of the author of the Book of Genesis, nothing except blank stares of incredulity."
Bishop John Shelby Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism

Answer 3

I cannot , as a scientist, let this go without my answer....As much as I like science, as much as I have studied and worked, as much as "theories" make it plausible to believe them, I firmly and completely believe in the Biblical account. Now keep in mind that :
The Bible only tells us God created the heavens and the earth and this took place almost 7000 years ago.

Notice how heavens and earth are mentioned separately. And the Bible does say that God (and the Trinity) have been since before "time" (as we know it)...so science proving or theorizing the age of space may be correct. What is the biblical definitions of "Heavens"?

Answer 4

4.6 billion years, and science conflicts with religions all the time, because they arose from uneducated and primitive people attempting to answer their youngsters question " where did we come from?"

Answer 5

Why????
The holy texts were written in a time that pre dates all the sciences.
So ANYTHING written is pure conjecture and NOT fact.
So how can there be any conflict?