Question for Christians about "young earth" belief.?

Question

Do you personally actually believe the planet Earth is only 6,000 years old?

If you found proof for yourself that convinced you it wasn't 6000 years old, but in fact much older? Would that put a question in your mind about your faith? Or is it just a side issue to you that really has nothing to do with Jesus on the cross?

Personally, I see where it's an issue with those who claim the bible is "perfect and literal". But then, those who believe that would also believe in a talking donkey and stoning kids to death for talking back, would they not?

Jerry and Magley, you are both empty shells.

Answer 1

I don't personally believe anything about the age of the earth...the way I see it, believing the earth is 6,000 years old OR believing it is 4.5 billion years old OR anywhere in between requires speculation about a topic that frankly, doesn't matter to me...the age of the earth is irrelevant in terms of my existence and my beliefs. Curiosity aside, what could it really matter if we think the earth is thousands or billions of years old?...and I have better, more relevant things to be curious about than a question that we can't possibly answer conclusively either way. If someone could tell me why I should care about the age of the earth then I might choose to believe one way or the other...but in the absence of any logical reason for believing anything, I'll choose neutrality.

I've never read or heard any "proof" to convince me the earth isn't 6,000 years old nor have I heard or read any proof that it isn't 4.5 billion years old. In fact, I'd argue that such proof can't possibly exist. All the methods people use to pinpoint the age of the earth (be it counting generations in the bible or radiometric dating of rocks) rest on untestable assumptions (for example, assuming the bible provides a COMPLETE history or assuming that the rate of carbon decay has remained constant over the past x thousand or million years). Sorry, but I'm fully aware that throughout history, people have speculated about unobservable phenomena and time (and the advancement of knowledge) has invariably proved them wrong. The "proof" of this fact is undeniable and I have no doubt that whatever we believe today about such issues will be disproven by future developments in knowledge.

I understand and somewhat agree with your point about those that believe the bible is "perfect and literal". However, those people seem to be unaware that something can be perfect and literal without being exhaustive. I believe the bible is the the inerrant word of God...as such it is perfect and literal...but consider the source and his purpose!

The owners' manual for my truck is about an inch thick and provides accurate and detailed information regarding the use and maintenance of a relatively simple man-made machine. My bible is only a couple of inches thicker and it provides accurate and detailed information regarding the proper use and maintenance of God's much more complex creation...man!

Is the manual for my truck imperfect or inaccurate because it doesn't provide a detailed account of the production process for that truck? Hardly...the folks at Toyota know that I don't need to know how they built the truck to operate it the way they designed it to operate! By the same token, the bible isn't innacurate because God didn't give us a blow by blow account of his creation process.

Actually, I think that's why my position on the age of the earth issue has always been "don't know don't care"...if God thought we needed to know, he would have told us (and no doubt the bible would be infinitely longer than it is). Instead, he told us everything he thought we needed to know about human history prior to Abraham in the first 11 chapters of the first book of the bible. Most of the remaining 1, 178 chapters (spread across 66 books) in the bible are devoted to 2,000 or so years between Abraham and Christ. If you think about it this way, the Genesis account reads a lot like the paragraph in the beginning of my owners' manual summarizing how Toyota created the new Tundra...it is entirely accurate and entirely literal...but it isn't very detailed because we, the operators, don't need that that kind of detail to use and care for our truck. Maybe God's trying to say the same thing...that we don't need to understand the details of how he created us to operate the way he designed us to operate!

Answer 2

I personally believe the Earth is probably in the neighborhood of 10,000 years old. I find it hard to believe that science can ever "prove" something that no one was around to record--all we can do is put together the evidence, try to make logical interpretations, and work backwards from there. (I was a science major in college.) So according to what I've read and heard and learned for myself, I am happy accepting this age for the earth. It doesn't really change my belief in God whether He created it 5,000 years ago or 50,000 years ago. And because of my confidence in my belief in God, I also have confidence in the Biblical record and the work of Jesus on the cross.

I do also believe the Bible is perfect and literal, but again it's a matter of interpretation (and multiple translations) and the way we understand it in modern English may not be 100% the way an ancient Hebrew population would have understood the same text. I believe in the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead, conquer sin, save sinners, walk on water, etc., so why wouldn't I also believe in the power of God to make a donkey talk? Understanding the Old Testament law is a little bit more difficult but I do believe God did command the Israelites to stone prostitutes, sacrifice animals, etc., and that they did. However, the glorious thing about the New Testament is that it fulfilled the Old Testament so that Christians now are "no longer under law, but under grace." That's why you don't see me sprinkling sheep's blood around my house, but I still believe in the God of the Bible, the God of yesterday, today, and forever. It's all one package.

I guess I should say, too, that the Bible never gives an exact age for the earth, just evidence that others have used to create an approximation.

That's my opinion. Hope you find it somewhat helpful.

Answer 3

In A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Christmas Present tells Scrooge that when he sees so-called people of God living in ways very different than they profess, he should blame only them, not their religion. I've never heard the Gandhi quote before now, but it's very fitting. I'm a Christian, and I've actually never even seen a street corner preacher in all my life, though I know people who have. It's very true that shouts and insults cannot win people into Christianity. We don't claim it does, and I'm sorry if you've been personally insulted. The reason we have to witness at all is because, according to the Bible, a non-Christian is literally not able to "accept" Christ on his or her own. God's Spirit has to breathe real (spiritual) life into the person first, and that is something a nonbeliever cannot simply "decide" to do, since the Spirit is communicated through the Word, or the Bible, which comes from the mind and heart of God Himself. People are still people, though, and occasionally witnessing does turn into a shouting match. Please don't judge the rest of us by the few. Most of us neither take part in or condone that behavior.

Answer 4

The Bible is not a Science book, and doesn't contain all the scientific answers needed to conclude a young or old Earth. It does however say that God created things a certain way. Furthermore, even if you could "prove" that the Earth is older, it still is inconclusive as evidence for the very fact that God created Adam of the age of a grown Man.

That being said, he could obviously have a Mature Earth created instantly too. Because we see things from start to end, we assume things have to progress first. God gives the increase though, so easily he could create everything at their perfect state.

God is the only one that can prove that fact one way or another, because he is the one who did it.

So, very much a side issue, since it can't be proven. Just like the fact that God could have created Apes and Man off of the same basic genetic codes, but that doesn't mean that Man came from Ape. Obviously every artist has their own finger print in their creations. You can spot a Picasso easily. Just because the same paints and colors were used, doesn't mean that the latter pictures Picasso painted were derived from his first, but rather they had the same creator.

Answer 5

I have talked to 3 or 4 people on this site that truly believe the Earth is about 6,200 years old. I was informed that Satan placed the dinosaur fossils and bones such as Lucy or the First Family so that we would believe the Earth is older.

Answer 6

Most Christians are more intelligent than to think the earth is 6000 years old. The ones who are not will never get your logic because they mind is not evolved.

Answer 7

I would stone a donkey for talking back or perhaps get kids stoned for talking to a donkey but the rest of you question is just a lot of psycho babble.

Answer 8

There are many accounts of where our modern dating methods have failed and proven unreliable. There are many factors that go into determining the date of something, for instance using carbon dating. If any of those assumptions are incorrect, the method will give an artificial date. Therefore, there are those of us who trust in God even more than the science of man. Because God's Word has never failed. And with God, anything is possible!

Answer 9

this has GOT to be one to drink to by now...