How Old is our Earth?
-Based on study of different views on Age of the
Earth within Bible believers
1. Age of earth is not a Biblical
doctrine (1) like the Trinity, Virgin birth of Jesus, baptism,
etc.
2. The book of Genesis perhaps doesn’t give a date
to the creation.(2) Gen. 1:1 says, “In the beginning…”and
the scripture doesn’t reveal how far that
beginning was. However, it is consistent with modern science that
even time had a beginning (3) and God created time,
matter, space and energy! Genesis 1:1-3 reads, “In the beginning (time)
God created (energy) the heavens (space) and the earth (matter)…then
God said let there be light (energy)” Today, science explains the
universe in terms of time, space, matter and energy.(4)
3. Ex-nihilo: created out of nothing (use of Hebrew
word ‘Bara’ in Genesis 1:1). God created the world out of nothing (science
agrees today with this)(5). It remarks God’s creative power and his
sovereignty, his glory, his mighty intelligence.
4. God created the world (universe) in 6 days as Genesis account of
creation states but a point to be noted that it is 6 literal 24
hours days, not ages of period as nowadays some scholars and
theologians put forward their opinions to correlate with science.(6,7)
5. Adam was made by God on 6th day and hence the
calculation of 6000 years begins from Adam to modern era. However, the Genesis
is a summary and there is only necessary and adequate chronology given but not
whole chronology and information about all the generations and their ages. So,
the length of this time span can be more than 6000 years as well but doesn’t
allow for millions of years to add in.
6. Day-Age theory: Old earth creationists prefer this
approach of harmonizing the Biblical creation days with modern scientific
discoveries of aged earth. They hold that 6 creation days were not of literal
24 hours day rather they were of long ages that can be million or billions of
years as well. They bring their opinion that the Hebrew word Yom can
also mean undefined length of time period with a beginning and an end.
Generally, 2 Peter 3:8 is often used by them to support their theory.
Furthermore, since the Sun and the Moon were created only on 4th day
they claim that the earlier three days should have been long ages (8).
However, scholars insist that Hebrew word Yom if used
with cardinal number, it always refers to 24 hours literal day. There are of
course several other meanings of Yom but the context of
Genesis demands 24 hour literal day. Second, 2 Peter 3:8 is just a way of saying that, for God time is
not of any particular length as He is in past, present and future. Also what we
consider short can be a long one in his plans and doing while what we consider
long can be a very short time for Him. One day implies a
short time and 1000 years implies a long time in the Biblical language. It may
not be a specific period as we consider time and days. This is used all through
the Bible, especially in the Psalms. Hence, we cannot be sure if this can be
implied in context of Genesis. Furthermore, does evening and morning used
for each 6 days really refer to the beginning and the end? Young Earth
creationists insist that the Sun is not even necessary for that since light was
already created on day one. The morning and evening occurs due to light and
rotation of the earth. The opponents bring Revelation 21:23 to refute this
theory (8).
7. Space-Time Relativity: It
is the effect of the stretching of space-time, based on Einstein's general relativity (8).The
Holy Bible says the world was created in six literal 24-hour days.
Exodus 20: 11 “For in six days the LORD made
the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them.” These are 24-hour literal
days. But, the Holy Bible also indicates that these were not from the
perspective of earth:
In Genesis 1:14-19, sun and moon were made and appointed for days and seasons only from
the fourth day.
If sun and moon were made (asah[i] in Hebrew not bara[ii]) the point of reference from only the fourth
day, it could not have been the solar days from the perspective of earth.
The point of reference is outside the
earth? Does it make a difference? Yes, according to Albert Einstein’s theory of
relativity.
There are billions of points in the
universe, where a 24 hour day in earth can be billions of years over there or a
24 hour day over there, can be billions of years in the earth.
Now, as we are used to taking time as
constant, it might be difficult for us to understand. But that is what the
science says.
In layman’s language time can be
compressed and expanded. If there are billions of points in the universe, where
our one day is equal to billions of years or vice-versa; what would be the
correct point of reference when the Holy Bible speaks about the creation of
universe.
It would be the point of big bang or
let us call it as edge of the universe in layman’s language.
Is there a way for us to know what
would be the equivalent of one day at the edge of the universe to that of the
earth?
Yes! Dr. Gerald L Schroeder, a PhD in Physics from MIT, a distinguished
scientist and a Jewish theologian, in his book, The Science of God: the
Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom, uses the scientific data and
calculates what would six days with 24 literal hours at the edge of the universe
mean for earth?(9)
Practical example that shows time is relative, is the longitude and
latitude system of the earth, Greenwich meridian time and others. Time
dilation[iii]has also been verified scientifically
and experimentally using atomic clock.(10)
Hence, due to expanding of universe(11)(Job 9:8, Isaish 42:5, 44:24,
45:12, 51:13, Jeremiah 10:12, et.al.), keeping point of reference on the
beginning point of the edge of universe, the 24 hour literal day here
correspond to the millions of years on earth from earth’s perspective and as
universe was stretching, the time changed relatively from the perspective of
the earth resulting to passing away of billions of years on the earth whereas
the 24 hour literal day time was same on the beginning point of reference. The
final calculation till 6 days gives each 24 hours of time but billions of years
on the earth. Namely, that from the
perspective of the point of origin of the Big Bang,
according to Einstein's equations of the 'stretching factor', time dilates by a
factor of roughly 1,000,000,000,000, meaning one trillion days on earth would
appear to pass as one day from that point, due to the stretching of space. When
applied to the estimated age of the universe at 13.8 billion years, from the
perspective of the point of origin, the universe today would appear to have
just begun its sixth day of existence, or if the universe is 15 billion years
old from the perspective of earth, it would appear to have just completed its
sixth day. (8)
On cross-checking, the creation account of Genesis and what the modern
science has discovered seemed amazingly corresponding. Furthermore, creation
activities of each 24 hour literal day as Bible reveals was found corresponding
to the same events in that corresponding ages of period on the earth as science
says. This gives credibility for believers to confidently accept 6 days literal
creation by God and no barrier to what science has discovered in modern era.
This investigation, analysis, study and calculation was done and well explained
by Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder in his time.(12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19)
However, this approach of solution to harmonize Bible and Science on
argumentative issue of how old our earth really is has several problems.
According to this approach, the Sun and the moon were not the point of
reference for 24 hours literal day since they were created on 4th day.
If so, the law relativity about space-time can only work till the third day and
then the point of reference should have been solar days after 4th day.
This seems one problem. Next, it is unclear whether the Sun and the Moon were
created in Genesis 1:1 or on 4th day. If they were created on
Genesis 1:1 and made only visible on 4th day, then this
approach fails to harmonize the conflict. As Dr. Schroeder said that on the
basis of looking forward in the time from day one, we are indeed at late 6th day
and the Shabbath is near to come i.e. 7th day. Is it really
consistent with the Bible? Is this modern world also a continuation of the 6th day?
His calculation is based on modern scientific result of age of earth and the
universe but it is necessary to note that even none of the scientific
conclusion are so far made to really appoint the accurate age of our planet.
According to the Sakshi Apologetics Network video on this, he calculated with
every available data of his time and now we have more data on this. But, a
billion years is a huge time period! Addition of next few decades and even centuries
with more new data has no such considerable effect on age of our home planet.
This also seems to be one problem. This approach can be a kind of mixed
theories like day-age theory, 7000 years of God’s plan approach, vast gap
between consecutive days etc. if the law of relativity is not properly
understood. You can study a detail criticism on this this approach from an
article available on Further Study section.
8. Age appearance theory: Some Young Earth believing
Christians give this opinion to the objection that Earth has been found very
old by science. This theory holds that the creation was accomplished in 6
literal days but God had created everything in appearance of their mature age
or fully grown age or old age. Hence, by scientific analysis, the earth and the
geological, vegetation, lithological and other components on it was found to be
very old although they were actually not older than several thousands of years.
Every piece of scientific evidence supporting an old earth can be explained
away by saying that God simply created it to appear old.(20)They say that if
Adam was tested scientifically then he would be around 20 years old yet he was
just less than a day older!(21)The same logic they apply to other things of
creation like plants, trees, rocks, and so on i.e. God had created the universe
in such a way as if everything look very old. However, this theory is not
credible and God doesn’t deceive us by showing so-made long ages looking earth.
Why would God want to create the earth in such a way as to mislead humans into
incorrectly concluding that the earth must have formed several billion years
ago?(20) A careful examination of the Hebrew words used clearly refutes
this theory (22) except for the case of human as they might have
been created by God in form of mature age.
9. Gap theory: This is also known as Ruin-Restoration
Creationism.(23)The creation activities in 6 days are parallel to origin of
the earth in billions of years as science says but the Gap
between Gen.1:1-2 only allows ages of period (can be billions
years!) before the creation days and the attempt of Gap theory is indeed to
interpret 6 days literally.
The gap theory is related with original creation, fall of Lucifer, God’s
judgment on the first/original creation, destruction of pre-Adam civilization (some
explanation or version of Gap theory teaches that there was pre-Adam race in
original creation but others teach that after the fall of Lucifer, he and his
angels destroyed the original creation and left the earth empty and
formless (24)) and reconstruction/new beginning of the
earth again. The fall of Lucifer is however true (Read Ezekiel 28:12-19 and
Isaiah 14:12-17) and the event might have taken at some indefinite time but
from perspective of science, it is indeed billions of years have passed since
the beginning to the appearance of first human life on the earth and Gap
theorists insist that this earth is probably billions of years old as indicated
by Genesis 1:1. Some of the version of gap theory states indefinite period of
time between Genesis 1:2 and 1:3 as well. Meanwhile, some scholars also argue
that the grammar of Genesis 1:1-2 doesn’t allow any considerable gap of unknown
time period to fit in.[iv](25,26,27)
10. Some preachers also give their opinion that those 6 days are indeed
6 steps of creation and Bible nowhere says the world is 6000 years old rather
the seven days signify God’s seven thousand years plan for human beings. They
teach that on basis of Gen. 1:1, our Earth can be very old and about 6000 years
age calculation is from Adam.(28)
11. There are other many theories (29)(30) but we
do not deal here. This is not emphasizing of the Bible.(31)
12. Sadly, at present time, there are two major groups within
Christianity: Young Earth Creationists and Old Earth
Creationists[v].Neither
of them teaches that the Bible is wrong. Generally speaking, both aspects
believe in the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of God’s Word. What
differs between these approaches is one’s view on what the Bible is, in fact,
saying. It’s a matter of interpretation.(32)
Note: There is one more group called Theistic
Evolutionists but this one has not been discussed here. They simply
put their view that God might have used evolution for the origin of the
universe over millions of years. Visit ref. no. v.
13. Old Earth Creationists also hold Genesis account of creation as true
history just as Young Earth Creationists do.(33)
14. The controversy between these two groups hinges on several issues.
Among the issues, the meaning of the word ‘day’ used in the Genesis account of
creation-Hebrew word ‘yom[vi]’. Other different
issues include ‘unknown span of time between Genesis 1:1-3 and whether or
not Gen.1:1 is a part of first day’, God’s creation of the earth as
if everything looked too old, branches of applied science such as
radiometric dating, stellar astronomy, universal expansion, decay of earth’s
magnetic field, geology, petrology, and many modern scientific laws and
theories come up with the conclusion showing the earth necessarily very old!(33),
the claim of Young Earth Creationists that worldwide ancient cultures
and civilization had record of almost Biblical age of the Earth(34).However,
some ancient cultural legends and religious stories also show the ages of old
Earth.(35)and so on. See more http://www.faithbyreason.net/creation-age-of-earth-fbr-podcast-11/
15. Further argument between both sides goes to use of figure of speech.
In the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, different figure of speech has been
used i.e. different sorts of literary techniques like hyperbole, figurative
language, anthropomorphic, allusion, alliteration, and so on.(36)Thus, Old
Earth Creationists do hold that even the creation account of Genesis may have
use of such languages. Young earth
creationists question why, if the rest of Genesis is historical, should the
first two chapters be interpreted differently? Old earth creationists question
why, if the Bible uses symbolism in many other books, can’t metaphor be used in
Genesis?(37)
16. Young earth creationists argue that
the scientific data supporting a billions of year old universe is being
interpreted incorrectly. They view old-earth arguments developed by
naturalistic scientists as primarily being a defense for Darwinian evolution.
However, a great number of Old Earth Creationists actually debunk the theory of
Evolution and Darwinism. (37)Young Earth Creationist also advocate that to
believe the Earth billions of years old is to deny the gospel. Even age of time
span since the creation to present era is an important topic for them. They put
forward their opinion that people believed Biblical age of the Earth since
ancient times and the idea of age of Earth as billions years is very recent and
new.(38) In contrary to this view, secular Old Earth believing people
bring their view forward that the idea of few thousands of years young Earth is
rather recent and new but since old times the Earth was believed to
be too old.(39)
17. According to young Earth creation advocators, thinking biblically,
we can see that the global flood in Genesis 6–8 would wipe away the
concept of millions of years, for this Flood would explain massive amounts of
fossil layers. Most Christians fail to realize that a global flood could rip up
many of the previous rock layers and redeposit them elsewhere, destroying the
previous fragile contents. This would destroy any evidence of alleged millions
of years anyway. So the rock layers can theoretically represent the evidence of
either millions of years or a global flood, but not both. Sadly, by about 1840,
even most of the Church had accepted the dogmatic claims of the secular
geologists and rejected the global flood and the biblical age of the earth.(34)
18. One problem for the Young Earth is
that genealogies in the Bible have some considerable gaps in them and we cannot
be certain as to how many extents of time gaps are there and how many
generations are missing, because God only caused to be recorded those names
that were important for His purposes. Moreover, the genealogies are certainly
not given for the purpose of doing chronological calculations. One problem for
the Old Earth is that there are doubts and uncertainties about the dating
methods. Over the past five decades opinions have changed in the
secular scientific circles regarding the age of humans. During the late 1950s
it was put at 5-15 million years. By mid 1970s it came down to 5-7 million. By
late 1970s it came further down to 1 million. During mid 1980s it was thought
to be 800,000 years and finally by late 1980s it came down to 50,000 to 200,000
years.(40)
19. The problem with the issue doesn’t
just end there! There are two conflicts here and not one: First, an
internal one (between the young earth and old earth Christian views) and
second, a conflict between what some Christians think the Bible is teaching
(the young earth position) and the scientific view. At the higher level the
conflict is between the biblical view of creation by intelligent design and the
scientific view of evolution. The internal conflict between the young earth
creationists and the old earth creationists is centered on the interpretation
of the length of ‘days’ in Genesis 1. The former say that the six ‘days’ of
Genesis 1 are twenty-four hour days and the later say that they are rather six
long periods of time (millions of years) during which God carried out the
creative activities described in Genesis 1.(40)
20. This issue has been almost
unsolvable issue not because the Bible is silence on this and science
dominates over and over but because even Bible believers are two sided on this
issue standing with strong Biblical as well as scientific evidences in favour
of them.(31)
21. To be sure, the issues dividing
young and old earth creationists are both complex and significant. However,
this issue should not be made a test for orthodoxy. There are godly men and
women on both sides of this debate. In the final analysis, biblical
creationists—both young and old Earth varieties—have a great deal in common
and should work together to defend the historical reliability of the
Genesis account.(41)
22. We are to learn that God created world out of nothing, he
created everything perfectly and in right sequence, right order, right
orientation, right location, right quantity, right purpose and with right
motive. All that he had created, he did with right and good purpose with a
proper plan. The scientific evidences regarding these all aspects provide
enough and astonishing fact that there must be some intelligent cause (Creator)
to the effect (universe).
23. It can be also known from the book of Genesis that was indeed God
himself who established family and not by human themselves. Adam and
Eve were the first human beings.
24. The goal of Genesis indeed is not dealing with ‘when’ but who
created and why and how we are meant to relate to the creator.(42) The
goal of Genesis is to provide a message that God exists and this universe has a
beginning (consistency with modern science). It is God who created everything
systematically and in such a way that the environment supports the survival of
living creatures. Genesis account of creation was not being revealed
and written with an intention to notify age of earth.
25. We do learn God’s love, his greatness, his intellectual and creative
power from the chapter of Genesis. Beyond this information, other issues have
given rise to different conflicting theories that can be consistent according
to scripture as well or out of the periphery of the revelation.
26. Genesis is a true event and history. It was God who himself revealed
to Moses (Emphasize: 2 Timothy 3:16)…
27. It is indeed necessary to lay aside
our differences over the age of the universe, earth, and humanity and cooperate
much more in amassing the extremely strong arguments and evidences for creation
by intelligent design and help people to come to know the Creator God. This
will be possible only when the Christian theologians and scientists on both
sides of the debate become more open and willing to talk to each other without
hostility, emotional accusations, personal attacks, and a spirit of condescension
or academic pride.(40)
28. We are follower of Christ and are
Christians/Believers but not Old Earth Creationists or Young Earth
Creationists Christians (Both of these groups provide strong
scientific as well as Biblical evidences to support their views). Every
Christians must make sure that taking hold of any one of the issue either few
thousand years or few billions years of age doesn’t have any impact in our life
and this is not related to salvation, eternity and relationship with
God. Main focus is our origin, meaning to our life, morality: how
shall we live our life, and where are we going after end of life? I.e. Origin,
Meaning/purpose, Morality/ethics and destination.
29. Finally, despite of all the different kinds of theories propounded
with an attempt to reconcile the Biblical account of creation and evidence from
science, we do just hold 6 literal 24 hour days of
God’s creative acts and 6000+/-1000 or even some more several thousands
of years of human history on the earth although
it is not certain whether the creation days were 24 hour literal days or
undefined ages of period. The creation account was indeed a true revelation
but not a biblical doctrine to cling with and Science view of
aged old earth has been already seen as an unstable assumptions, changing
calculation of time periods since history and based on research and
investigation of fallible human methodology. Our trust and faith is on the
Bible which is inspired and Word of God although Bible doesn’t even implicitly
says anywhere that our home planet is several thousand years old. Bible
believers should not be dogmatic on this and it’s their freedom of choice. The
Bible is not open on the issue whether the earth is very old or much younger
since both the Old Earth and Young Earth Creationists have solid evidences for
their arguments. We are to be united in fundamental doctrines and not trivial
issues. All the approaches introduced so far for harmonizing Biblical creation
account and scientific evidences have both strength and weaknesses. It doesn’t
matter if the earth is several thousand years old or even billions of years old
as this is not the purpose for which the book of Genesis has been
written.
30. Our focus is now on end times and eagerness in sharing the gospel
and not looking backward in time and dissolving to that history where mere men
were created at the end and who knows how God has created and when ? We trust
the word of God and the revelation He has given us that is adequate for his
purpose.
Conclusion
To claim that Scripture is being re-interpreted to fit the latest
results of science is not correct. Church fathers, including Augustine, did not
interpret the creation days as 24-hour days. Augustine noted that the seventh
day of creation is not described in the manner “and there was evening, and
there was morning”, the seventh day. The Genesis account simply indicates that
God “rested on the seventh day from all His work which he had done”. The
conclusion reached by Augustine is that the day of rest continues to the
present, a conclusion also reached by many recent Hebrew scholars. Although
Augustine did not have the benefit of modern science to base his judgments on,
he did appeal to reason in interpreting this account, something we should all
do. In retrospect, from a modern scientific viewpoint, this conclusion appears
to be confirmed, since we do not see any new acts of creation taking place,
such as new species of life arising. We are witnessing only the extinction of
many species in increasingly rapid fashion. God appears to be resting from his
creative work (34).
In short, it does not appear that the Bible was intended to convey the
age of the Earth in the creation account. In fact, the Bible seems to downplay
the significance of time concerning the works of the Lord. Passages such as
Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in thy sight are like yesterday when it passes
by, or as a watch in the night”, and II Peter 3:8 indicate that God’s time
frame may well be different from ours. In addition, we note that He was the
only one present during all of creation. Other writers have attempted to give
some details concerning how the Genesis 1days corresponds to a history provided
by a modern scientific account of the Earth and universe. However interesting
things might be, this very quickly requires some speculative measures that are
difficult to firmly establish. Even with modern science it remains difficult to
establish the time frame of the Genesis 1 days (34).
Let me remind the reader that although science is a human enterprise,
conducted by fallible human beings, the scientific evidence is being gleaned
from the universe, which is the handiwork of God. Psalm 19 has promised us that
the heavens are declaring the glory of God. I take that to mean that the
physical realm we live in is telling us something that we need to hear or see
yet. The scientific evidence provided by the universe can lead someone to a
personal search for the One who created it. We should not deter people from
this search by requiring them to reject the very science that is prompting
them. We should welcome that independent voice as another reconfirmation God is
giving to a skeptical generation of His handiwork. It speaks of a God who can
be known, since He cared enough and give such consistent messages to us. The
Bible speaks not only who God is, but how we can know Him personally through
Jesus Christ, His Son. Once that is settled, the age of the Earth becomes a
minor issue in comparison (34).
To conclude, there is indeed no way of precisely and accurately
measuring the age of earth and the accurate lists of generations
passed after Adam are not provided for us to calculate the time span and come
up with the age of how far old our earth can be. The issue of 6000 years old
earth is indeed the time span from Adam to present time. However this
calculation cannot be taken as the authentic age of the earth since there are
considerable gaps in the generations enlisted in Genesis and the creation of
earth is mentioned in Gen.1:1 (Additionally, there are some existing debates on
Genesis 1:1 whether it was a summary of creation, a creative act of God, a part
of 1st day or not a part of 1st day.). Hence,
the time span from Adam to present day can range from 6000+/-1000 years or even
more several thousands of years considering the gaps in generations.
The age or time span from Adam to present generation is hence considered
around 6000 years but the exact time span or the age of the planet
earth is unknown.(31) The theories dealing this issue have been
changing time wise. One thing we should all keep in our mind that the
age of the Earth is not the foundation to Christian faith in my
opinion. Bible believing Christians shouldn’t be dogmatic on
this issue (31) since this is not the Biblical doctrine.
We should not find this issue challenging and problematic; thinking this issue
can put gospel at higher degree of risk. We should not worry regarding how to
convince people in this issue. If people know science well then no
contradiction they can find between bible and science.
Our God himself is complex (triune God) and so is his created universe!
By study of science, we can now understand that universe and everything in it
are really complex and mighty ranging from their function, nature to their
design! To study the complex universe, people should know the complex science
and not general science. Complex and deeper study of science indeed
show that Genesis account of creation is no more adversary with the modern
scientific investigations and conclusions.
Our focus is on God’s love and his grace in our life.
Our focus is having eternal relationship with our loving eternal God.
Our focus is Christ. Our focus is to live a life like Jesus.
We are given responsibility to preach gospel around world. We
are his ambassadors and letter of Christ.
Remember the alerting message for us in 1 Timothy 6:20, 21!
Let us not deviate from our assigned ministry on this earth by
struggling with non-doctrinal issues. Let us not bend ourselves from our
absolute goal. Otherwise, the time is not so far when we may lost again totally
in this world. What Jesus says us is to be Alert always and keep praying and be
the believer until the end of life. Amen!
Further Study:
1. Day-Age Theory:
2.
Effect of Stretching of Space-Time
based on Einstein’s theory of Relativity by Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder:
http://geraldschroeder.com/wordpress/?page_id=53, https://ladderofjacob.com/2016/10/28/genesis/, https://youtu.be/GjtHqxhwNgk,
3.
Weaknesses of Effect of Stretching of
Space-Time explanation by Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder:
4.
Appearance of age:
5.
Gap theory, perspective of observer:
Listen to the audio onhttp://www.faithbyreason.net/creation-age-of-earth-fbr-podcast-11/,
https://books.google.com.np/books?id=ALI3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT3&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false,
Lesson 34: The Creation Story on http://www.mcssonline.org/missiontheology/ron/100blag-dtf.pdf
6.
Inconsistency and unreliability of Gap
theory:
7.
6 days of creation and 7000 years of
God’s plan:
8.
Different views on Creation:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/creation.cfm, https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_831.cfm,https://www.bibleandscience.com/science/creation.htm
9.
Recommended short book on Age of Earth
by a Christian Physicist Steven Ball, Ph.D, The Purpose of the Scripture,
Understanding the Scripture and Accepting the Evidence:
10.
Study of Hebrew term ‘Yawm/Yom’
translated as day (Old Earth Creationism):
11.
FAQ on Genesis creation days, different
views on creation, age of Earth, etc.:
12.
Does the Bible give an age to the
earth?
13.
Brief discussion on reconciliation of
Biblical 6 days creation and billions of years period of origin of earth by
science, the problem in interpretation of the scripture not inspiration of the
scripture:
14.
Genesis One and Age of Earth (Old Earth
Creationism):
15.
Critiques of Young Earth Creation
Science:
16.
Age of Earth and Universe:
https://www.bibleandscience.com/science/ageofearth.htm, https://www.bibleandscience.com/science/ageofuniverse.htm
17.
Articles for Age of Earth:
18.
How old is Earth? Will you trust what an all-knowing God says on the
subject or will you trust imperfect man’s assumptions and imaginations about
the past that regularly are changing?
19.
The Biblical Age of the Earth:
20.
What is the age of the Universe, the
Earth and man (a Nepali article)?
21.
Was it 6 days of creation or 6 long
ages of creation?
22.
Can you be a Christian and believe in
an Old Earth?
23.
Genesis The Book of Beginning, Dr.
Brian J. Bailey:
24.
Genesis:
25.
Creation:
26.
Read the description box of this video
and some articles i.e. not all world culture conclude several thousand
years old universe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKNjVjBH7fU, https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~goyal/age_of_universe.php, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_cosmology
27.
Age of Earth, Old and Young Earth
Creationism:
28.
Bible and Science, An analysis of the
agreements and disagreements on some important issues:
29.
How Science figured out the Age of
Earth?
30.
How old is the Earth? Today’s
Science is Tomorrow’s Superstition:
31.
Christian views of Science and Earth
History, A Balanced Perspective:
32.
Apologetics and the Age of the
Universe:
33.
Evidence for Young Earth:
34.
Evidence for an Old Earth:
35.
Watch videos on Genesis, Evolution vs
Creation and Age of the Earth and the Universe by:
Kent Hovind, an American Christian Fundamentalist Evangelist who is a
Young Earth Creationist,
Hugh Ross, an Astrophysicist,
John Lennox, a Mathematician,
Dr. Gerald L. Schroeder, an Orthodox Jewish Physicist,
Ken Ham, the President of Answers in Genesis and is also Young Earth
creation advocator along with Christian Fundamentalist.
36.
Lesson 34 The Creation
Story from 100 Bible lessons by Alban Douglas:
37.
How would have ancient Hebrew readers
understood Genesis 1? And Detail analysis of Genesis 1:
https://www.bibleandscience.com/otherviews/hovind.htm, https://www.bibleandscience.com/bible/books/genesis/genesis1_toc.htm
38.
For Old Earth Creationism:
39.
For Young Earth Creationism:
https://answersingenesis.org, https://www.icr.org/who-we-are, https://creation.com/genesis-verse-by-verseet.al
40.
An important lesson on: ‘The Bible and
Science: Do the Bible and Science Agree?’
[i]Means to fashion, to
appoint, etc. to fashion something out of an existing material, to appoint some
existing thing for a purpose
[ii] Create out of
nothing
[iii]To understand what
Time Dilation is, we need to learn the Law of Relativity propounded by famous
scientist of all time Albert Einstein. His law has brought
drastic change in the way how we can perceive this universe, space, time,
matter and energy. To put simply, time dilation means when a body moves in near
to light’s speed then it seems smaller in size, heavier in its mass and the
time for it passes much slower in contrast to the time compared to its
environment. Modern science says that time is also under the effect of gravity,
extension of space and so on. Please, study law of Relativity and Time
dilation.
[iv]Some scholars say
that verse 1 is an independent clause and verse 2 is composed of three
circumstantial clauses (explaining the condition of earth when God began to
create). There is no break between verse 1 and 2. For this reasoning, please
visit this site and download the book: https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-big-book-of-bible-answers-e34351681.html?fbclid=IwAR2k_HjzQpz1xqTV7XsAPn3mrzsdnd0Yib1ibzTgOFhNJ0-gV0nNRyflRVwHowever,
there are other scholars who strongly claim that verse 2, as it is mentioned in
original Hebrew language, gives something hint to the reader that certain event
must have occurred between verse 1 and 2 that put Earth into state of formless
and empty. They advocate that Gen. 1:1 refer to original creation and then
after fall of Lucifer, the destruction of original creation affected the Earth
which has unknown time span. Earth was ruined and God restored everything again
in 6 literal days. https://books.google.com.np/books?id=ALI3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT3&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=falseand lesson
34: The Creation Story on http://www.mcssonline.org/missiontheology/ron/100blag-dtf.pdf
[vi]The Hebrew word yom can
mean literal 24 hours day, long periods, sessions, a part of day, and other
meanings as well depending upon the context. However, the context of creation
account of Genesis demands 24 hours literal day not ages of
period.According to the scholars, even of Hebrew language, theological and
Jewish, whenever a cardinal number is used before the word, it always means 24
hours literal day.https://www.gotquestions.org/old-earth-creationism.html, http://www.oldearth.org/word_study_yom.htmand https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-big-book-of-bible-answers-e34351681.html?fbclid=IwAR2k_HjzQpz1xqTV7XsAPn3mrzsdnd0Yib1ibzTgOFhNJ0-gV0nNRyflRVw
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Reviews:
Rev. Elder Amar Pandey, Navajeevan AG
church, Kupondole, Lalitpur
Hi Kevin, I read your work. Overall it's fine.
However, you seem to be pushing for around 6000 year old human history. I am
not sure that is necessary. Also, I think it is not appropriate to say that
'this is not a biblical doctrine.' I think it is better to say, like you have
said at some points in the writing, that the Bible is not dealing with the
issue of the age of creation. The Bible's primary interest is
theological---that God is the Creator of the good creation--as you have
acknowledged. I am not a science student (I studied science until 12th
standard), so, I cannot comment much on science. What we have to keep in mind
though is that the Bible is not a scientific document and it is not a product
of a scientific age. The people of that time did not ask scientific questions.
So, Genesis was not written to answer scientific questions. To ask scientific
questions to the Bible and compel it to answer them is to miss the point. It is
a misunderstanding of the biblical writing. Scientific discoveries do not
disprove the biblical claim that God is the Creator of the good creation.
Anish Dangol,
Anish Dangol,
Hello Kevin,
I
went through your recent post on the blog regarding science and Bible. I
applaud your effort for meaningful conclusion at the end.
Yes
contradiction is a part of life. Even in a most unified family. We find
contradiction in their belief system. But it is possible to remain disagreeable
in certain matters and still live in peace and harmony. The topic you have
raised about the age of the Earth is one of those and had been a burning issue
for long time in christian community. But this should not create chaos in the
mind of the people and they must understand God is perfect in all of His ways.
Whatever , however and whenever .. he has done all things perfectly.
Thank
you for putting all things so brilliantly and concluding them with a message of
unity among the christians and emphasizing the core message of Gospel which is
LOVE.
I
hope many will be blessed with your post . I pray that God will use you
mightily for his Kingdom in coming days.
2. Pastor Arbin Pokharel
I
have read your article "age of earth"
I
am amazed at how you like to reach and reflect on theology and even write. this
is a commitment, even if you do it for fun!
Here
are my suggestions:
1.
Do seek out a formal training that will help you in academic disciplines, like
higher studies in theology, English literature, etc. which will help you in
logic, arguments and English writing skills. I do see that you understand
English very well and also can write, just needs the academic disciplines and
with your keen interest like this, you'll benefit a lot and can contribute to
wider audience both in Nepal and outside.
2.
I love your concern for the gospel, faith in Christ and for the church, which I
admire. Take that to next level by being committed to studying both theology
and science and keep writing, but do get some formal training. Because, people
not only see your argument but also credibility.
There's
much more to be said about your writing and the topic, but let me keep it to
this much for now.
I
know you are young and eager. May the Lord bless you are you pursue these
disciplines.
3. Elder
P.A. Thomas
Bhai,
Finally
I have gone through your write up and tried correcting the langauge. But it seems
tedious and as you have cut and pasted lot of materials, it is not that
important. only what you have written has to be looked into.
you
have done great research work on these issues but they may be just a part of
the whole exploration which is going on for ages. That is the job of education
and curious scientific exploration. That will not end even by the time of the
return of Jesus. But that do not have much bearing on who and what a Christian
is.
I
am little confused about the intention for this write up, as it provides a lot
of information from various sources but your conclusions are just yours,
nothing based on historical theology or on the teachings of Jesus or His
apostles. Also you are exposing the reader to a lot of contrasting details there
on the web but not of any value to our Christian life and commitment. This can
be dangerous as people can take on tangents instead of committing to a real
daily Christian life- walking with Jesus with the help of the abiding Holy
Spirit.
It
is not knowing what we are after but experiencing the refreshing life in Christ
and the endowment of wisdom from above to live in this contradicting and
corrupt world here and now. Answering the questions and issues you have raised
with a lot of hard work do not have anything much to do with a Christians life
in reality. We do not walk by what we see and understand but in faith.
Thank
you.
In
Christ,
PA Thomas
Note: Any further changes will be revised, edited and updated.
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