Christians, evolution and an earth millions of years old is not possible?

Question

How could there be death before Adam sinned when sin brought death?

What was Adam's age when he was created?

If Adam was a grown man, why couldn't God form the earth as a mature planet?

What is a Behemoth mentioned in the book of Job?

http://www.answersingenesis.org/...

Jesus, Himself believe that Genesis was true. He was refered to as the second Adam.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned - for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
- Romans 5:12-14

Answer 1

How old is the earth?

Pleace consider the following:

Adam‘s age when Seth was born: 130 years (Genesis 5:3)
Seth‘s age when Enosh was born: 105 (Genesis 5:6)
Enosh’s age when Kenan was born: 90 (Genesis 5:9)
Kenan‘s age when Mahalaleel was born: 70 (Genesis 5:15)
Mahalaleel‘s age when Jared was born: 65 (Genesis 5:18)
Jared‘s age when Enoch was born: 162 (Genesis 5:21)
Enoch‘s age when Methuselah was born: 65 (Genesis 5:25)
Methuselah‘s age when Lamech was born:187 (Genesis 5:28)
Lamech‘s age when Noah was born: 182 (Genesis 5:32)
Noah‘s age when Shem was born: 500 (Genesis 11:10)
Shem‘s age when Arphaxad was born: 100 (Genesis 11:12)
Arphaxad‘s age when Shelah was born: 35 (Genesis 11:14)
Shelah‘s age when Eber was born: 30 (Genesis 11:16)
Eber‘s age when Peleg was born: 34 (Genesis 11:16)
Peleg‘s age when Reu was born: 30 (Genesis 11:18)
Reu‘s age when Serug was born: 32 (Genesis 11:20)
Serug‘s age when Nahor was born: 30 (Genesis 11:22)
Nahor‘s age when Terah was born: 29 (Genesis 11:24)
Terah‘s age when Abram (Abraham) was born: 70 (Genesis 11:26)

Add these up and you will see it was about 2000 years from the time that Adam was created (when the Earth was 6 days old) to the birth of Abraham.

The time period from Abraham to Christ was about 2000 years and from Christ until now it has been about another 2000 years.

Add these together, and the Earth, according to the Bible, is about 6000 years old.

Why does it look so old?

Everything created by miracle looks older than it actually is.

For example, when Jesus broke the loaves and fishes to feed the thousands, the new bread he created looked and was eaten just like bread that was made from grain grown during a normal season, harvested, ground up into meal, mixed with other ingredients, allowed to rise (unless it was unlevened bread), and baked. Normally this would have taken quite some time, especially without the modern conviences we have now, but Christ made it instantly.

In the same way Adam, one day after he was made, was actually only one day old, but he appeared much older. There was a real age, and an apparent age.

Also, many look at the earth and assume it has always changed through time at the same rate that they see now. This does not take into account drastic changes that occur from time to time, such as the changes that would have happened during the global flood.

Answer 2

Wow, a lot of questions here!

First of all, death came into the world because of Adam's sin.

Romans 5:14

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Death started with Adam's sin and will continue until Jesus finally destroys death at the Great Judgment.

Adam's age when he was created? Scripture is silent on that subject so there is no way to tell.

As for God creating a mature planet, who says He didn't? We see stars in various stages of evolution (meaning from birth to death), and God created them that way so we could see and understand the entire cycle of a star's life. Without being able to see stars in various stages of their lifecycle, we could only theorize how they age and die. This way, we can see by observing stars of various ages.

Uranium has a half-life of millions of years. Yet we have uranium deposits in various stages of decay into lead, which God created that way so we could see and understand the decay cycle of radioactive elements into other elements.

People mistakenly believe that God created everything new at Creation, which on the surface seems logical. But if that was the case, we would have no solid knowledge of how star formation and life cycle went, as they would all be the same age.

The same with transmutation of elements. If God had created them all new at Creation, all deposits of radioactive elements on Earth would be the same age and have the same amount of decomposition, which we know is not the case.

So, when God created the Universe, He created things in various stages of their lifecycle so we could understand how these things work, giving some the erroneous impression that the universe is billions of years old.

As for behemoth, there has been much speculation, but no certain answer as to it's identity. It would seem to indicate a dinosaur of some sort, but they all perished during the Flood so God may have been referring to such a creature in the past tense.

Answer 3

Please be patient. First we have no conception of how God marks time.He has it written, A day CAN be 1000 yrs./1000 yrs. CAN be one day. Why did He make the sun stand still in the sky? And as a sign to that king, the shadow on the sun dial went in to reverse? Truely I won't even be so presumptus, like some to pretend to know that. yet whith out shame.I did watch 'THE UNIVERSE' and saw the REAL brains discuss what man has learned so far. Why some of them uttered 'CREATION'. But they couldn't get past 'somehow', 'couldhave', 'quite POSSIBLE', etc. Adam was munutes old, when he opened his eyes ALIVE, thanks to YHWH's breath. AND he saw his creator. I believe that the earth WAS mature, just that
Go was 'dressing' it with form, and living things, culminating with Adam & eve. Yes Behemoth, also Leviathan. thank you and I hope this helps

Answer 4

The story of Adam & Eve is the creation of religion, not the word of any god. The ancient people who created this story didn't know that when members of the same family bear children, the offspring are always born with genetic defects like sterility and Mongolism (Down Syndrome). If you want proof, marry your cousin and have childen. Ask a pastor about this and see what excuse you will get, it should be a whopper. Ask a different pastor and you will get a different whopper. Ignorance is never the answer. Knowledge is the enemy of religion and they know it.

Answer 5

Well 4 him, I'll answer each of your highly informed questions in order..
1.Yes it's more than possible, it's VERIFIABLE..
2. The fictional character of Adam must've been past puberty to commit the original sin. I suspect you aren't however..
3. I can't answer this question, it's like discussing what a unicorns horn is made of. It is not within the realms of reality.
4. You'll have to ask someone versed in the fictional and allegorical stories in the bible. No doubt it will be open to interpretation and the pseudo experts will offer many different answers.

Answer 6

Because the planet was only around for a short period before Adam and Eve sinned. So, there was no death before that, which was a short period anyway.

Probably roughly about 20-30 by todays standards, cept he was going to live forever, so it didn't matter.

He did form the earth a a mature planet. The fossil record was largely produced by the Flood, small animals dying first, then older ones etc. And the alternating magnetic rocks that are found could have been created that way.

Sorry, lost on the last sentance

Answer 7

Most Christians do not take the stories of creation in the Bible literally. Catholics believe the book of Genesis tells religious truth and not necessarily historical fact.

One of the religious truths is that God created everything and declared all was good.

Catholics can believe in the theories of the big bang and/or evolution. Or not.

On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani generis:

The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Here is the complete encyclical: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html

The Church supports science in the discovery of God's creation. At this time, the theories of the big bang and evolution are the most logical scientific explanations. However tomorrow someone may come up with better ideas.

As long as we believe that God started the whole thing, both the Bible and modern science can live in harmony.

With love in Christ.

Answer 8

After God created Adam God realized we'd need fossil fuel. So God created dinosaurs after Adam but placed them ahead of Adam on earth's timeline.

Then he went into the future and cranked up Barry Manilow.

http://www.lvhilton.com/entertainment/manilow.shtml?src=ppc_google_bmanilow

Answer 9

if you insist that either science or the bible must be wrong, i'm picking it's the bible that's wrong. at least, the young earth interpretation of it is wrong. there is just too much physical evidence that the earth is old and that evolution occurred to ignore it based on what you think a book written by bronze age goatherders says (unless you're so god-addicted that you think that lying about science like a complete moron is a good idea, like ken ham and the staff of "answers in genesis" do).

Answer 10

I have to say I find it disturbing that any individual would rely more on theology and their religious scripture to explain scientific events.

The relative age of the Earth is an established fact. Anything short of a time machine could not prove this further.

simple geometry and algebra was able to prove the world was round.

Geology, Cosmetology, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and,Paleontology have all proved we live on an old earth.

To say that the Earth is thousands of years old is the equivalent to saying that it is flat as well.