how can religious people state that the earths only as thousands of years old?

Question

as apose to the billions of years that the scientists say the earth is?
and just a note to you all-this is just a question out of curiousity not out of spite for religion

Answer 1

Blatant denial of overwhelming evidence from the international scientific community.

I'm sure someone will post some bogus crap 'science' from creationist websites now.

Answer 2

Religious people have to respect the bible, and listen to what the bible tells them, they aren't allowed to question whether the earth is much older. That is one reason I consider myself more of a spiritualist than religious, religion is quite close minded, even with the amount of proof science gives. But then again, religion and science are both one sided, science opposes many things it cannot prove, as religion has you follow the words of the bible. Humans and everything else the earth has to brings date back billions of years, dinosaurs being found now too, yet in the bible it doesn't say that one of the 3 kings were eaten by a reptile.

Answer 3

The religion that I was brought up in believed that the 6 days of creation was literal and that each day was symbolic of 1,000yrs.
Blows my mind that I could have been so ignorantly stupid to believe such. Had I stayed there and continued to believe it, I would still be stupidly ignorant. I am not making fun of these people, just myself. You really have to laugh to keep from crying. Oh, at the years I lost in that one, but what I have been able to glean from it was worth every bit of the 15yrs of my life there. Now one can have compassion for those who are too frightened to death to do any questioning. That's a big No. I may still be a little stupid at times, but you can rest assured, I am not ignorant any longer, as in not knowing. Some of these churches seem to pray on the ignorant, that's how some get their congregations. Brain washing, trust me, it happens. Well, this should at least give your curiosity a little jump start. LOL
Sorry, I'm just on one tonight.

Answer 4

My field is paleontology and I am also a Catholic.
Neither is opposed to the other. This year I have been challenged by about twelve people who tell me that our earth is about six million years old. Once I would have argued and given proofs. This is a waste of time. These good people need black and white because greys are unsafe. Unsafe is not a good feeling. These days I gently smile at them. They do not want a discussion. They need agreement. In my heart I say a little prayer for them that their hearts may open a little.

Answer 5

I think to a certain extent it is due to the Bible's age. The King James version, for example, was written several hundred years ago. I don't think they had earth-dating techniques back then.

Besides, would the first people who wrote down the books really have believed that the earth was there long before they were?

Answer 6

Time is a man made invention. We need it in order to arrange our lives and feel more comfortable. Obviously years were not tracked in the early stages of the earth (who was there counting?).

If you're talking about the Holy Bible, then I think most people would agree that some of the things in there are "off". We must remember that the bible was translated and with ALL translations there will be errors in the translation. I think the time issue in the bible is one of the more glaring errors.

Answer 7

ah, the science vs. religion debate. tell you what, after you die, come back to us and answer all of these questions people have.

in all reality, no1 can be sure about a lot of things. i dont question that the earth is billions on years old but there are those who do. they follow too much of a belief, and that can sometimes cloud you from seeing logically.

Answer 8

The bible states that God created the heaven's and the earth. Based on historical records (not science) man has only been around for a few thousand years. Those who take the bible at its word, believe that God created the earth and based on those historical records, he only did that a few thousand years ago.

Answer 9

Certain people in the bible (Jesus) have their genealogy traced all the way back to Adam. Adam was created 6 "days" after the creation of the universe. One adds up the lifetimes or generation times stated in the Bible, and makes a few assumptions about the times *not* stated, and gets to about 5,000 years.

This is more or less backed up by the Jewish calender.

Answer 10

Next time a religious friend tells you the earth is 400,000 years old, take them to the museum and whack them over the head with a dinosaur's bone!

Answer 11

Not all creationist believe this. This belief is called young earth. If you want to know the why check out answersingenesis.com.
Scientest say its billions of years old because thats what fits their theory, they even fudge their dates and data to make everything fit. Its just not very PC to say that.