if you believe the earth is only 6000 years old?

Question

why? and do you just not believe in fossils at all? there are fossils of modern man dating to more than 10,000 years ago.

also, where does the bible say that this is how old the earth is?

Brett--yeah, i know. i just needed any random number over 6000 and didn't feel like looking up the exact dates.

h2o: little touchy aren't you? i asked a legitimate question because i was curious.

Answer 1

When I was in Christian school, I was taught that carbon dating was an inaccurate non-science.

And, when pushed against a wall, my teachers would say that the earth was created with "appearance of age". IOW, Adam and Eve LOOKED 20 years old when created, and the earth LOOKS 20 million (or whatever) old, but it's all an illusion designed to make the earth more beautiful.

I don't believe that anymore, but I was taught it. Hope that helps.

Answer 2

"Dating" fossils by Radio Carbon 14 dating is not an exact science. It is a subjective science. Specifically, it is subject to the bias of the scientist that is interpreting the data.
Carbon dating can only work if an unprovable assumption is actually true.
Consistency in the measurable rate of degrading of the Radio Carbon 14 isotope requires that atmospheric conditions have always remained the same on earth.
There is no way to prove that assumption, particularly when the Bibles teaches that it was most likely vastly different prior to the Great Flood.

Answer 3

The debate over the age of the earth has been building since geologists first started dating rock strata and Darwin introduced us to the concept of evolution. Whether it's billions of years old or only a few thousand is a topic that seems to be impossible to come to an agreement on. Most people believe one or the other, completely ignoring all evidence contrary to their beliefs. A few attempts have been made to reconcile the two but rebuttals to the arguments seem to come faster than the theories themselves. I believe the answer to this question lies right there in the first chapter of Genesis and one need only look to the original Hebrew scriptures. "Old earthers" rely on science while ignoring the Bible and "young earthers" blindly stick to the King James Version of the bible while ignoring science. The keys to unlocking this mystery require first, an open mind, and second, a look at what was originally written about creation. I am vehemently opposed to allowing one's personal bias to get in the way of the truth. We must start from the scriptures and learn from them, not bring our own preconceived notions to the scriptures. Every English version of the Bible that I've found has shown signs of personal bias in the translation. No two translations completely agree with each other and even the KJV has been revised several times. If you have ever sat in church trying to follow along with what the pastor is reading and found all the words don't match up it's because you're reading from different "editions" of the KJV. In this essay, I will use the most common edition of the KJV as a reference only. It's the version that is most widely read in the English speaking world and it's also the version that Dr. James Strong used as a reference for his "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible". Strong's Concordance is considered to be the most accurate resource for Biblical study and is certainly the most widely read. These are the only two references I use in my work unless otherwise noted.

Now, let us start "In the beginning".

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

"In the beginning" comes from the Hebrew word "reshiyth" meaning "first" and the word heaven comes from shamayim meaning "sky", so the first verse should read "First, God created the earth and sky."

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

In the first sentence, the translations for the words "was", "without form" and "void" are not completely accurate. The Hebrew meanings of these words are:

"was"
hayah meaning become or come to pass

"without form"
tohu meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface)

"void"
bohu meaning to be empty; a vacuity, i.e. (superficially) an undistinguishable ruin

In the second sentence, the "Spirit" of God comes from ruach meaning wind and "face" is from paniym meaning "surface.
There are a couple of ways to interpret this verse so I will give both possible translations.
1. The earth became desolate and empty, darkness was over the face of the deep. The wind of God moved over the surface of the waters.
2. It came to pass that the earth was laid waste and ruined, darkness was over the face of the deep. The wind of God moved over the surface of the waters.
As you can see, both versions say the same thing. We'll come back to this after looking at verse 3.


Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

This verse is actually translated pretty accurately, at least close enough that nothing is really lost in the translation. The only reason I even mentioned this verse is because it's important to subject at hand.

Let's put all three verses together and see what the scriptures tell us. I will take the liberty to paraphrase:

First, God created the earth and sky. The earth became a wasteland, desolate, empty and ruined. Darkness covered the surface of the oceans. God caused a wind to blow over the waters.

As we can see, the Hebrew Scriptures paint a different picture than the one we've been taught. If the scientists are right about their old earth theory, then millions (or billions) of years could have passed between the original creation and destruction of the earth. The scriptures do not tell us how much time passed nor the reason for the destruction. Since the details were not given to us, we can only speculate.

Because of the fossil record and the study of rock strata, scientists believe that the earth is billions of years old and dinosaurs have been extinct for at least millions of years. They very well could be right without compromising the inerrancy of scripture.

The leading scientific theory for the extinction of the dinosaurs is a meteor impact in the Yucatan Peninsula:
"The shock wave from the impact would indeed have triggered massive earthquakes in the region and indirectly triggered other earthquakes around the globe. A tsunami would have formed from the impact, which occurred in a shallow sea. The giant waves would also have been generated by the earthquakes and undersea landslides triggered by the shock wave."
"The dust thrown up by the impact, the soot generated by the firestorms and the smog formed from the oxides of nitrogen and sulfur particles would have blocked sunlight for many months. The surface of the Earth would have plunged to freezing conditions -- typically 70 degrees Fahrenheit below normal -- and photosynthesis would not have been possible, even if plants had survived the fires and acid rain." 1
This scenario certainly fits the description of the wasteland as depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures. The earth would certainly have become desolate, empty of life and ruined. Darkness would have covered most of the earth. In Genesis 1:2, God caused a wind to blow ridding the planet of the soot and dust particles that caused the darkness giving the earth light once again as seen in Gen 1:3. Once there was light again, the rest of the new creation process could begin.
As you can see, this is an issue that can be laid to rest. Billions of years ago, God created the earth and sky (probably at about the same time as the rest of the cosmos), it was populated with the plants and animals that we now see only as fossils. At some point the earth was destroyed in a great catastrophe, not only causing the extinction of plants and animals but also altering the topography of the earth. Somewhere around 6 to 10 thousand years ago (according to theologians) God "re-terraformed" the planet, created the new plants and animals and, of course, man.

Answer 4

Based on the biblical account of creation and the ages of the individuals and their birth and death times etc, it is approximately 6000 years. However, as information about those early times is very sketchy and being that we do not have first person accounts..but have instead the rememberances of each generation, it is conceivably possible that the dates are not exact. However, I have no reason to believe that what some current scientists have deduced as the age of earth and man is really any more accurate. As a Christian who knows that God exists, I choose to believe what the Bible tells me. Frankly, I don't really think it matters. Christians interpret their data and non-creation scientists interpret their data. One day, everyone will know the truth. Until then, it will be a constant battle of who is right or wrong.

Answer 5

The bible says shut up. LOL! Actually i think like 80% of America doesn't believe in Evolution, and I find it hilarious. Because we use so much gasoline, which comes from fossils. XD

Answer 6

Adam would be 6073 years old, is Adam the earth or did Adam began the world. John 3:16; 1Cor.15:22-28,51-53; Heb. 9:27;

The world with Jesus is without end. Eph 2:7; 3:21; 2 Pet.3:13; Rev.21:1-5; All is made new.

Answer 7

I am not one of those Christians who think that the world is only 6000 years old. In what I've read from the Bible, it does not tell how old the Earth is.

Answer 8

No one really knows but my question is how do scientists find a fossil and date it back 190 million years ago? Come on now. This world has been around for millions of years according to them and look at how long it took us to come up with a stinking light bulb. Now I am supposed to believe that?

Answer 9

the 6000 years comes from all those begats at the beginning of the bible, someone went through and figured out the blood line from adam and eve to jesus, then added the 2000 years after jesus's birth and arrived at around 6,000 years. They get their facts from the bible only.

its pretty ridiculous, especially since we can see stars billions of light years away.

Answer 10

The Bible is historically accurate and if you trace a geneaology found in it, you will get about 6000 years. ----no more than 10,000.(see Luke, chapter 3 for example)
Man was created on the 6th day of creation.