If the Earth was created to appear aged (for those that believe it is)?

Question

how old is it supposed to look?

and why did God place fossils in those deliberately aged rock strata? What was the reason behind it?

Elaine, it's only a dumb question if you already know the answer, and it appears you don't

Bula, that's the point I'm getting at, glad someone is switched on :)

Answer 1

There are good answers for your questions, although I'm not the best person to explain this clearly.

One of the best Christian scholars I've had the privilege to learn from believes that the sequence of events was probably like this:

In Genesis 1:1, "In the beginnning God created the heavens and the earth", we see the creation of the universe in general. It could have happened millions of years ago, for all we know. It's just a blanket statement.

In Genesis 1:2, "And the earth was formless and empty..." we see something that could have happened a mere few thousand years ago. The word "was" is better translated "became" (the way it is elsewhere in the Bible) and has the connotation of judgement. So probably what happened was, between verse 1 and verse 2, Satan sinned and fell, and God judged the earth because it was a part of Satan's dominion.

The creation story in Genesis goes on, and could quite easily be describing God cleaning up the earth (already in existence) in a series of 24 hour days (yes, the Hebrew wording requires it to be days) but it would have taken His creative power to set it straight again after its judgement.

So the fact that the universe in general appears old doesn't mean that the creation story is wrong at all. There is nothing in Genesis to contradict an ancient universe or earth. However there is alot to contradict the theory of evolution.

Adam and Eve, by the way, were created as mature adult humans. No doubt they appeared "aged" but it was not for purposes of deception, it was simply unnecessary for God to make them go through the process of growing up.

As far as rock strata and fossils, the Genesis flood account, and the catastrophic aftermath, provides the best explanation for all the jumbled fossils (including trees fossilized vertically through rock layers that were supposed to have taken millions of years to deposit... how did the trees manage to survive, I wonder?), etc. Scientific studies at Mt. St. Helens have shown what incredible changes to a landscape (including layer deposits, canyon carving, etc.) can happen in a very short time, instead of millions of years, under the appropriate catastrophic conditions.

So most of the rock strata we see today appears to be deposited by or shortly after the Genesis flood, including the fossils. "Scientific" rock dating methods have been shown to have an enormous margin of error, for instance carbon 14 dating.

Answer 2

The idea that the Earth and/or Universe was created recently but was made to appear older than it really is is something to think about while smoking joints at late at night.

(no offense intended to the asker of this question!!!)

If you believed that a creator would do such a thing then you might as well believe that the universe is 5 seconds old. Why not?

My point is that this thinking gets you no where.

Answer 3

"and why did God place fossils in those deliberately aged rock strata? What was the reason behind it?" - GOD did this to make the people that believe this comfortable being themselves in their belief.

I do not know how old the Earth is.

Answer 4

There in certainty data of the two. Now it incredibly isn't eye-witness testimony, it is data that calls so which you would be able to attend and spot and persist with the course. it is like against the regulation learn, there are circumstances while the data is narrowly inconsistent, yet once you positioned it at the same time evolution and long geologic strategies are shown. the best clue to the age of the earth is radiometric courting. This includes repeatable experiments with radioactivity, creationists scoff at this line yet in basic terms by using fact they do no longer truthfully inspect what it ability. as an occasion they often declare carbon courting is incorrect on dinosaur bones, while it is not even CARBON it is used as much as now issues returned that far. it could grant fake solutions yet while used with different strains of knowledge is amazingly useful and on the entire incontrovertible. Then the fossil checklist. it is incomplete yet there remains plenty there, sufficient to determine the present team of animals did no longer in basic terms look some thousand years in the past. additionally even while there are gaps you never locate those with trilobites, dinosaurs and saber enamel cats, etc. flow that with DNA which, the extra we decode it the extra it proves evolution. you are able to activate a gene in chickens to grant them tooth, looks to tutor much extra their first rate from T-Rex than particular advent. even while an theory is discredited, like that some DNA is unuseful junk or that the human appendix is unuseful, nonetheless the very placement of those products makes it sparkling they descended from till now, diverse makes use of IN AN EVOLUTIONARY way extremely than have been in basic terms created that way. the factor is evolution isbelievedd by individuals who in basic terms have self assurance in issues that is touched, and advent is pushed by individuals who think of the actual international would not rely. i ought to never compress all the data for evolution into this field BECAUSETHEREE is in basic terms too plenty. Creationists make the errors of thinking that for the reason which you won't be in a position to boil all of it the way down to a unmarried sentence it is incorrect. No, it is real by using fact its data are so voluminous.

Answer 5

The young earth theory does not preclude fossils or history or strata or any of those things we see in the study of the earth.

If you were god what would you make your earth look like?

It looks like it looks.

A better question might be, why are many scientists now questioning the old earth that they've been selling for so long?

Answer 6

Modern Christians will tell us that it's an illusion set up by God as a test of faith. You must believe the the earth is only six thousand years old (according to Genesis) despite what scientific evidence has thoroughly concluded. However, it's and an idle argument, because according to the Bible God is incapable of lying and deceit is just another form of lying.

Answer 7

Listen, there are some new age world people out there...but that doesn't mean it should be in religion and spirituality...

I am a Christian, but I agree with earth is old and the universe even older and that YES...life was created 3.9 billion years ago...but that doesn't mean it disproves christianity(islam and judaism too) or in anyway is against it's teachings...

Answer 8

I believe the earth is as old as it looks, or as science predicts. If God made it to look old and it isn't , that would be deception. So unless all of our scientific tests are wrong, the earth is old...maybe 1/2 billion years old? I believe the current "age" of the universe is 13.5 billion years old.

Answer 9

This is a lot of psychoreligiouspathic nonsense. How people can even make this crap up is beyond me.

It's like going in to a new car dealership and all the new 2008 model cars are all dented, rusted, with 158,000 miles on them - right straight from the assembly line. Do you realize how utterly stupid this whole idea is?

Answer 10

yr well on yr way to understanding the illusionary character of the world yr living in. Isn't the real question this: How could we possibly differentiate? And if we couldn't, why should we care? And this: Believing this or believing the opposite or believing something in the middle, which problem does it solve?