For all the Christians?

Question

Do you believe in a young earth (roughly 6000 years old) or do you believe in millions of years?

I believe in young earth, that the earth is only 6-7 thousand years old.

If you believe in old earth, why?

The only WORD that can be confused is the word DAY.

Day can mean 24 hours. Back in my grandfathers day (can mean a period of time), Day can mean about 12 hours (time when the sun is shining) So at least 3 meanings for the word day. I forget the original language (Hebrew maybe), the word that is used in the Bible is the meaning for a 24 hour day, that is why I believe in the young earth.

This response is to traveler. What scientific evidence, you are talking about carbon dating. Remember Mt Saint Helens when it erupted around 1980 or so. They dated that and it was millions of years. So since its only 20 years old that can disprove carbon dating.

Answer 1

Six times God said, "and the evening and the morning were the one through six day.

God wanted man to know He meant a 24 hour day. God knew we'd be arguing about this today.

I believe in a young earth 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Noah's Flood made a lot of things seem older than they are.

If God made everything easy to interpret then how could we have faith and believe. God commands everything. He even commands that we "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." There is life in the blood. God wanted man to know how important blood is and since blood is so important then the shed blood of Jesus the Christ was the most important shed blood that you will ever experience. God always knows exactly what he is doing. Mere man falls way too short of the mark of knowing what he is doing. For this reason, we have the Word of God. Rejoice, because God is our protection and provision and God knows all things.

Answer 2

I'm struggling with the notion of a young earth, because the scientific evidence points to a much older earth. I have a hard time believing all the scientists are conspiring together to fake earth's age just to oppose people who believe the literal interpretation of the Genesis account. They probably have better things to do.

There is also the Gap Theory as previously stated between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, but I find that argument speculative and has a very flimsy basis. It seems to be a very desperate attempt to explain why the earth is 4.5 billion years old and what happened to the dinosaurs from a Christian perspective. There is no official acceptance of this idea within the church because there is no scriptural or physical evidence to back it up. I've heard the Gap Theory arguments, but I'm not convinced.

I understand that the Creation story is viewed as essential to God's plan of salvation, but I admit that I don't have the theological or scientific knowledge to accept or deny complicated ideas about the ancient past and what that implies for us as humans. I just have lost confidence in the belief of a young earth where no convincing evidence exists other than the words of a few ardent Christians who don't have a deep background in earth sciences.

On the details, I leave that all up to God.

Answer 3

I believe the earth is much, much older than many of my fellow Christian "fundies" believe it to be. Further, this conclusion is not contradictory to Fundamentalism.

You wrote that "I forget the original language (Hebrew maybe), the word that is used in the Bible is the meaning for a 24 hour day, that is why I believe in the young earth."

Actually, the Hebrew word used at places such as Genesis 1:8 (which we translate as "day") is יום or "yowm," which is defined by the Hebrew Lexicon as meaning:

"day, time, year: day (as opposed to night); day (24 hour period) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1; as a division of time; a working day, a day's journey; days, lifetime (pl.); time, period (general); year; temporal references: today, yesterday, tomorrow."

So as you can see, "yowm" does not necessarily mean 24 hours -- it can mean ANY measure of time. When you consider the fact that God exists OUTSIDE of time, this only complicates things. Because of these factors, we have absolutely no idea of how long a "yowm" is to God. That's why the geographic record of the fact that the earth is billions of years old doesn't affect my faith at all.

Secondly, to interpret "yowm" as only referring to a 24-hour day renders passages such as Genesis 5:14 nonsensical: "And all the days [yowm] of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died." Consider also Isaiah 61:2: "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day [yowm] of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn." As everyone knows, the "Day of the Lord" is the Tribulation, which lasts 7 YEARS (not 1 day), per Daniel 9:27.

Thirdly, the Biblical genealogies do not support the concept of a "young earth." It is simply a mistaken belief that Jews ALWAYS listed each and every man within a genealogy. For proof, compare Jesus' genealogy to the Scriptural record and you'll see that MANY people are left out. There are varying reasons for this -- but the fact remains that it was a common practice. The fact that someone was named as "son of" within a genealogy could mean he was really the man's grandson or even great-grandson. So again, the Scriptural genealogies do not prove a "young earth."

Answer 4

I believe in old Earth. Not a literal day but that there wasnt a word to translate the real meaning. I suspect it was similar to epoch or stage.

The same way that things happened for 40 days and 40 nights. rather than "Many". They preffered to use a high number than change the wording.

Answer 5

The genealogies listed in Genesis chapters five and eleven provide the age at which Adam and his descendants each begot the next generation in a successive ancestral line from Adam to Abraham. By determining where Abraham fits into history chronologically and by adding up the ages provided in Genesis chapters five and eleven, it becomes apparent that the Bible teaches the earth to be about 6,000 years old, give or take a few hundred years.

Answer 6

The gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 leaves space for millions of years.

The earth was not created in "6 days" it was prepared in "6 days" for human life, but it was around since before the preparation period.

Edit: Primoa, I love your argument, can you please follow it up with the verse that says "nothing but the lord can last millions of years"?

Edit to the question details: "the word that is used in the Bible is the meaning for a 24 hour day, that is why I believe in the young earth."

If every creation day is meant to be 24 hours long, why didn't the seventh day end? All the other days, the bible shows when they ended, but as for the seventh day, it was never finished.

edit: jean, the seventh day never ended, we are still in it. How do you explain that?

edit: Codk, I agree with your current answer.

Answer 7

The days in the bible as far as creation of the world were not to be taken literally..

2PE 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.


So I believe 7,000 years of creation not 7 regular days

Answer 8

I believe in an old earth because what is a day to God. We cannot comprehend how long that is.

Answer 9

There is scientific evidence showing that the earth is many millions of years old. Like the other poster said, its amusing how people try to rationalize and find facts to prove their fairy tale is real.

Answer 10

" In the begining God created the heavens and the Earth "Not on the first day.Who knows how long it took to form the universe and the earth.Only God knows for shure.As for me and my walk I try to consentrate on my service to the Lord .
I try to stay away from dicecting the Bible. God provides the guidence I need through meditation and prayer.That is where the answers come from.