How old is the Earth?

[Eternally Grateful]

The question isn’t how old the Earth is.
The question is when the Breath of God entered it.

We weren’t handed a geology textbook —
We were given Logos.

And Logos didn’t erupt into flesh until roughly 7,000 years ago, in the Garden of Eden.
That’s when the dust — also made by God, and standing upright long before — finally realized it was dust.
And God called it man.

That’s when humanity was formed not merely in biology,
but in spirit — in the image of God, with conscience, reason, and moral weight.

Everything before that?

Irrelevant.
Beautiful, mysterious, ancient, but pre-Logos.

To say the Earth is only 6,000 years old isn’t just bad science,
It’s bad theology, dressed in panic and preaching to Darwin’s ghost.

um Preaching to Darwin's ghost?

Its bad theology? Says who?

Ironically, by clinging to a young Earth to “refute” evolution,
many Christians grant Darwin the very premise he demanded:

Actually most who cling to a young earth cling because that is what we see..

That Genesis must be geological to be true.

It isn’t.

It’s revelation, and the divine clock doesn’t start with rocks.
It starts with Word and Logos.

Stop playing Darwin and the Dragon’s game.
By outrageously claiming that the Earth is only 6,000 years old,
you make us all look unhinged.

You’ve traded eternal truth for a false choice —
And in doing so, you’ve let the serpent define the terms.

And by allowing that,
you’ve helped drive millions away from Christ —
people who never even stopped to hear the Gospel,
because they saw a Church shouting nonsense about the Earth being younger than a bristlecone pine.

lol. This is a weak argument. Many have come to Christ because of what we have discovered in the last century..

You didn’t defend the truth.
You were manipulated by the Dragon to discredit it and turn people away from it.

This is the problem with people. you were not there. everything you say and believe is a theory itself.

This is what drives people away from God. christians. who are supposed to represent Gods love. talking to each other like we own the world. belittling and degrading them over something that is not proven, because no one was there.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

I agree to a point... the age of the earth is not important.

However, there's a problem that has arisen because science and religion disagree so drastically. The church is viewed from without as caring more about tradition than truth. And if the church doesn't have the truth...

thats why the resurgents of scientists looking at real science, without any bias. is bringing to light many things.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

The archaeological record for intelligent humans goes back at least 12,000 years.

What do you do with the stuff we've dug up that's older than 7,000? Things like Gobekli Tepe show that the builders possessed human intelligence well before the 7,000 year mark.

how do we know they are 7000 Years or older. What evidence do we have?

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Carbon dating isn't the end-all be-all. It's a good bit of science, that has unfortunately been frequently mis-used.

But, the record of human civilization in northeast Turkey and Armenia is a continuous unbroken record stretching back much further than 7000 years.

Carbon dating is only good back to a certain time period.

It is also dependent on many things.. You have to assume all things are as they have been since the beginning of time..

There was a worldwide flood. that according to Peter destroyed what was.. Anything pre-flood can not really be determined because no one lived there to know anything scientific. to determine rate of decay of anything..

 

[Eternally Grateful]

No, their incorrect records may date back further, but they do not. Same with chinese records dating back supposedly 10,000 years. When fully scrutinized, they are scaled way way back.

again, how can their be any records pre flood still in existence. they would have had to come on the ark.. I know some believe Noah had records from adam, Others believe God told him what to write.

but in either case. Chinese records? 10,000 years?

Impossible (China did not even exist 10,000 years ago)

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Thank you for your post.

So, your position is that because the Bible, and the Bible alone, contains the sole truth about the past, all other dating methods—radiology, ice cores, sedimentary rocks, archeology, . . . , must be flawed. That is quite astonishing, given the God did not intend the Bible as a scientific text.

Genesis begins by revealing that God, and only God, is the creator of the universe, and that He is outside of space and time. In the Bible, God lays out His expectations for people, along with His promises for obedience. He has been completely trustworthy in that regard.

But God never gives us scientific information—neither facts nor theories. Medicine, engineering, . . . have all advanced over the centuries because of human investigations. God helps us crucially to correlate facts and inspires theories, but the investigations we must painstakingly carry out. To assert the Bible as science Is contrary to the character of God.

Note: all modern radiology depends on our knowledge of quantum physics. Quantum theory puts limits on precision at the atomic and nuclear levels. It does not throw doubt into applications: otherwise, we would not have working computers, or lasers, or medical radiation techniques.

Peace.

yet amazingly science proves what we are told happened in the bible over and over again.

in fact. not one time has science proven something in the bible was in error

 

[Eternally Grateful]

But if you reject how He created (in six days 6-10K years ago) why do you accept that He created! It seems you want the bible to be a buffet where you pick and choose what to believe based on what those outside of the Bible conclude.

but it could be said that there was a gap of time between gen 1: 1-2 and this 6 day creation (called the GAP theory)

 

[Eternally Grateful]

I struggled with this.

Ultimately, I did some studies that gave me a better understanding of the text. Comparing it to the OTHER creation story in the Bible was helpful. It's in Job, chapters 38-42. I also compared it to other creation stories from around the same period.

Long story short... the point of Genesis 1 is that God-is-the-Creator, but the timeframes there are not important to that fact. The more important theological point is that God-brought-order-to-chaos. He is a God of order.

That idea doesn't clash with science. Actually, science is pretty interested in the question of how-does-order-arise-out-of-chaos? That doesn't seem to happen naturally. Nature generally goes the other way - entropy tends to create chaos-out-of-order.

My $0.02

what did God bring to order in the creation narrative, that was chaos before.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

I think you are missing some literary context. The sequence of 7 days with repetitive phrases is a poetic form. We know this is true because archaeologists dug up a bunch of other poems from the same period and area that use the same exact poetic structure.

If you'd like to read some, the book Stories from Ancient Canaan (Coogan) contains at least two. It's also just generally an interesting read.

Paul literally tells us to ignore the genealogies... twice. The New Testament spends multiple chapters developing the idea that heredity is NOT determined by genealogy, but by behavior.

If your idea of Biblical inspiration requires you to ignore what the text of the Bible says, is it really serving you well?

The evening and morning were the XXX day.

Moses gave us a literal time and event of what happened.

This poem theory just makes things worse.

On the 7th day we are told the lord rested.

later we are told to obey the sabbath, because in 6 days the lord created and on the 7th he rested.

This alone shows us that even God wanted us to understand it was 7 literal days

 

[Eternally Grateful]

The absence of a number of generations from an ancient genealogy is NOT an error!

Problems arise when we try to shoehorn ancient literature into modern ways of thinking.

who is doing this?

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Thank you for the discussion.

Curious: if the Earth is only ~6,000 years old, how will you date the layers found in Middle East archeological digs?

What created those layers?
when were they created.

Top: earliest iron tools ~3,200 years ago
Next down: earliest bronze tools ~5,500 years ago
Next: earliest pottery ?years ago
Next: earliest agriculture (crops, domesticated herds), stone tools (Neolithic) ?years ago
Next: gathering & storing wild grains, following wild herds (Mesolithic stone tools) ?years ago
Next: hunter-gatherers (Paleolithic tools) ?years ago.

Although it took over 2,000 years to go from bronze to iron tools, you have a mere ~500 for all of the others.

Peace.

Or where these ages all things which were deposited in a year during a catastrophic flood.. in the days of noah?

 

[Bob]

how is this so?

why do people make these assumptions?

Thank you for all of your comments on this contentious topic.

Unfortunately, the above questions are enigmatic.

How is what so? What does “this” refer to?

What “people“ make what “assumptions”?

Blessings.

 

[Bob]

What created those layers?
when were they created.

Or where these ages all things which were deposited in a year during a catastrophic flood.. in the days of noah?

Thank you for the questions.

At archeological sites one finds layers of sediment as well as debris from years of habitation. How can we date these layers?
The thickness and composition of each layer provides information about how and when it was deposited, but absolute dating requires other information.

Analogy: tree rings—the thickness of each ring, one year’s growth, is indicative of the environment that year.

The question posed above describes archeological layers in ME digs. Is it credible our ancestors progressed from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists to fired pottery to metallurgy in ~500 years?

Peace.

 

[Bob]

yet amazingly science proves what we are told happened in the bible over and over again.

in fact. not one time has science proven something in the bible was in error

Thank you for the comment.

Science confirms that various historical events described in the Bible took place. The disagreements are about when they took place.

Peace.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Thank you for the questions.

At archeological sites one finds layers of sediment as well as debris from years of habitation. How can we date these layers?
The thickness and composition of each layer provides information about how and when it was deposited, but absolute dating requires other information.

Analogy: tree rings—the thickness of each ring, one year’s growth, is indicative of the environment that year.

The question posed above describes archeological layers in ME digs. Is it credible our ancestors progressed from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists to fired pottery to metallurgy in ~500 years?

Peace.

or again, as I said

they were all laid down in a flood;.

in ever instance. You may be correct. or the flood answer may be correct.

we were not there. so again, We can not know

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Thank you for the comment.

Science confirms that various historical events described in the Bible took place. The disagreements are about when they took place.

Peace.

Have you studied the new science about the grand canyon.

It is giving evidence about alot of what I am talking about. (a theory)

of what happened. when it happened, and and how.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Thank you for all of your comments on this contentious topic.

Unfortunately, the above questions are enigmatic.

How is what so? What does “this” refer to?

What “people“ make what “assumptions”?

Blessings.

My point was no one was there

Old Earth creationists take evidence. and say this proves they are right

New earth creationist take the same evidence and say they are right.

a good example I use is found in Gen 1: 14

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great ights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

so we have two general theories which come from this "day 4" occurrence.

1. The day age theory - this day is not a literal 24 hour day, but could be millions of years. As God set a star in the heavens, the light which came from that light would take light years to reach the earth.

2. The literal day theory or the "aged earth". God created these lights to separate the day and night, He also set the stars in the sky for signs and seasons, for days and years etc etc. who needs to see these signs? well they were there for us.. so If God created them for us.. so God did not put them there and have to wait. He created all of this by his word. By his word he could have the light appear on earth the moment he put the star in place.

here is the problem.

Both views are in essence valid.. Science says the light takes this long. And God does do miraculous things, and could make the light appear on one day.

yet no one was there. so both are guesses.. theories. and neither can be proven. Until we ask God, it is all conjecture.. so why do we as Christians tear each other apart on things which no one can prove?

Remember, there was no man on earth who witnessed these events. so we can not even ask Adam how it happened. He was not created yet

 

[Bob]

or again, as I said

they were all laid down in a flood;.

in ever instance. You may be correct. or the flood answer may be correct.

we were not there. so again, We can not know

Thank you for responding.

When sediment is layered after a flood, the heaviest items settle first, etc., with the lightest on top. That is not what is observed.

Peace.

 

[Bob]

Have you studied the new science about the grand canyon.

It is giving evidence about alot of what I am talking about. (a theory)

of what happened. when it happened, and and how.

Please provide a link to the “new science” about the layers in the Grand Canyon.

 

[Bob]

My point was no one was there

Old Earth creationists take evidence. and say this proves they are right

New earth creationist take the same evidence and say they are right.

a good example I use is found in Gen 1: 14

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great ights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

so we have two general theories which come from this "day 4" occurrence.

1. The day age theory - this day is not a literal 24 hour day, but could be millions of years. As God set a star in the heavens, the light which came from that light would take light years to reach the earth.

2. The literal day theory or the "aged earth". God created these lights to separate the day and night, He also set the stars in the sky for signs and seasons, for days and years etc etc. who needs to see these signs? well they were there for us.. so If God created them for us.. so God did not put them there and have to wait. He created all of this by his word. By his word he could have the light appear on earth the moment he put the star in place.

here is the problem.

Both views are in essence valid.. Science says the light takes this long. And God does do miraculous things, and could make the light appear on one day.

yet no one was there. so both are guesses.. theories. and neither can be proven. Until we ask God, it is all conjecture.. so why do we as Christians tear each other apart on things which no one can prove?

Remember, there was no man on earth who witnessed these events. so we can not even ask Adam how it happened. He was not created yet

Thank you for answering.

The Bible was never intended as a science textbook. It is a book about God (although Pastor Begg says it is really a book about Jesus). God reveals His character, expectations, promises, warnings, . . . . Are there any references to technology changes from Abraham to Jesus, other than a passing reference to the introduction of iron implements?

If no person witnessed an event, we cannot deduce what happened? If true, how could we solve any crimes without witnesses? Solve the reason an airplane crashed? How has science verified the occurrence of events described in the Bible (e.g., King David’s occupation of Jerusalem)?

Does it matter? Atheists have slowly taken over the public square by taking no hostages in the culture wars. It doesn’t need to be that way. Science can be taught as God-centered, instead of as random and purposeless.

Peace.