Planet Earth - How Old?

[Bob Crowley]

I'm not a scientist, although I'm sympathetic to intelligent design, since there's no way life arose by a bunch of fortunate accidents. Not a hope.

However i'm curious about one aspect of an old age universe. The universe is ackowledged to be a "sum zero energy" universe. This means that the universe effectively adds up to nothing. The is consistent with an "ex Nihilo" creation, and a universe which just disappears back to nothing at the Second Coming. It came from nothing, adds up to nothing, and will go back to nothing.

Links refer.

https://www.astrosociety.org/publications/a-universe-from-nothing/

What's the Total Energy In the Universe?

Now we also have the opinion that the universe is 95% "dark energy" (37%) or "dark matter" (68%), the reason being that the universe is expanding too fast for observable matter and energy to explain it. Scientists use the term "dark" for the simple reason that they can't find it. If they can't find 95% of the universe, I'd have to wonder if we're missing something - another dimension possibly.

Dark Energy, Dark Matter | Science Mission Directorate

An Israeli physicist called Moshe Carmeli proposed a fifth dimension to space - time, which would greatly shorten the time, and also do away with the need to invoke the mystical dark matter and / or dark energy altogether.

What gets to me is that if God's ultimate aim was the salvation of the human race by Christ, He's spent billions of years invoking and maintaining a "sum zero energy" universe (or 'nothing') for a single purpose.

God must have had nothing better to do for billions of years than to sit around and watch this "nothing" universe until He got to the bit He was really interested in.

 

[Bob Crowley]

As an addendum to my post above, I've included a Wikipedia link to Moshe Carmeli, who's theory I quote.

Moshe Carmeli - Wikipedia

For those of you who are mathematical gurus, the following paper seems to be based on Carmeli's theory. It's written by two staff (?) / students(?) at Stirling University in Western Australia.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0603067.pdf

 

[Bible2+]

CoolDude68 said in post #1:

Others in more of the religious sector say that Earth is more like a few thousands of years old.

It's often claimed the earth can't be more than 6,000 years old.

But note the Bible itself doesn't require the earth is only 6,000 years old. All it requires is Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. For various Bible verses make it possible to estimate the year BC that Adam, as opposed to the earth, was created, by working back from the year BC that Solomon's temple began to be built. Historians say it began to be built about 966 BC. And the Bible shows it began to be built 480 years after Israel's Exodus from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1). And Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt before the Exodus (Exodus 12:40-41). And Israel entered Egypt when Jacob was 130 (Genesis 47:9). And Jacob was born when his father Isaac was 60 (Genesis 25:26). And Isaac was born when his father Abraham was 100 (Genesis 21:5). And Abraham was born when his father Terah was about 70 (Genesis 11:26). And Terah was born when his father Nahor was 29 (Genesis 11:24). And Nahor was born when his father Serug was 30 (Genesis 11:22). And Serug was born when his father Reu was 32 (Genesis 11:20). And Reu was born when his father Peleg was 30 (Genesis 11:18).

And Peleg was born when his father Eber was 34 (Genesis 11:16). And Eber was born when his father Salah was 30 (Genesis 11:14). And Salah was born when his father Arphaxad was 35 (Genesis 11:12). And Arphaxad was born when his father Shem was 100 (Genesis 11:10). And Shem was born when his father Noah was 502 (Genesis 11:10 and Genesis 7:6). And Noah was born when his father Lamech was 182 (Genesis 5:28-29). And Lamech was born when his father Methuselah was 187 (Genesis 5:25). And Methuselah was born when his father Enoch was 65 (Genesis 5:21). And Enoch was born when his father Jared was 162 (Genesis 5:18). And Jared was born when his father Mahalaleel was 65 (Genesis 5:15). And Mahalaleel was born when his father Cainan was 70 (Genesis 5:12). And Cainan was born when his father Enos was 90 (Genesis 5:9). And Enos was born when his father Seth was 105 (Genesis 5:6). And Seth was born when his father Adam was 130 (Genesis 5:3).

Adding up the numbers of years above, we see Adam was created about 4114 BC. This lines up with the fact our current human civilization began about 4000 BC. If Adam was created about 4114 BC, this means 6,000 years since Adam's creation were completed back at the end of about 1886 AD, and the seventh millennium began about 1887 AD. (But this doesn't mean the Millennium of Revelation 20:4-6 has started yet.) Also, it's curious that the next year, 1888 AD, Blavatsky published her book "The Secret Doctrine", referring to the "New Age". Also, it's curious the Mayan calendar begins in 3114 BC, exactly 1,000 years after 4114 BC. Also, the numbers of years in the Bible verses referenced above show Abraham, who was first promised the land of Israel by God (Exodus 32:13), was born about 1,948 years after Adam's creation, just as the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 AD.

 

[Bible2+]

Halbhh said in post #3:

Scripture also does not say what time passed during [Genesis] verse 1 during the creation of the Universe, before Earth's first day.

That's right.

Also, Creationism can include what could be called a Double-Gap Theory, meaning there could have been two gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5. Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billion years ago, when God first created the planet earth and its atmosphere (the 1st heaven, in which the birds fly: Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 some 4.5 billion years could have occurred in which God allowed His own created process of evolution to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose naturally on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also gone outside of evolution and created new species miraculously whenever He wanted to (compare what evolutionists call punctuated equilibria).

Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only about 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm like a comet-strike had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), and had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space as a "rogue planet" (astronomers estimate rogue planets in our galaxy outnumber the stars in our galaxy). Genesis 1:3 to 2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six, literal 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.

Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; there the original Hebrew word translated as "earth" can refer to a certain "land": e.g. Genesis 2:11). After that, God created the plants of the local Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9), and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). Then God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). Then He created an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).

Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago based on Biblical chronology, yet there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as about 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens, or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, as far back as about 200,000 years. Also, all the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate or are as old as the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or coexisting hominid forms we don't consider to have been fully human like us, such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis, could have all been created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.

And this doesn't get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens, or similar or far more advanced life-forms, could have been created by God, or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution, billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about 14 billion years old, and it contains about 100 billion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars. So even if only one star out of every 10 billion has an inhabited planet, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And on most of these, God could have begun His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, billions of years prior to His beginning of His miraculous work, and the work of His created process of evolution, on the earth.

 

[Bible2+]

Halbhh said in post #12:

God's universe is wonderous and amazing. He created all that is, and it operates perfectly through His laws of nature!! Praise Him!

Amen.

Also, regarding "His laws of nature", an old earth and evolution can be true without contradicting Creationism, because evolution per se (random mutation and survival of the fittest) can coexist with miraculous creation, just as an automated process created by a human (for example, a computer program which makes random, colorful pictures which can be seen as art) can coexist with that same human sometimes performing a task himself, directly (painting some pictures by hand). That is, evolution per se can be a process created by God to allow new, adaptive species to arise naturally over time, and this process can coexist with God Himself sometimes creating new species miraculously. So with regard to Creationism and evolution, it doesn't have to be either/or, but can be both/and.

Some people ask why would God wait millions of years for something to evolve from a one-celled organism, when He could just create it instantly? He could do that for the same reason He has humans start out as a one-celled organism: a zygote in a mother's womb. God then has humans only gradually develop through natural means into an embryo, and then a fetus, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent and an adult. And God has other animals develop gradually in a similar way. And He has plants start out as seeds. So it must give God pleasure to see organisms develop naturally over time, just as it must give Him pleasure to also sometimes create plants and animals miraculously, instantaneously, already fully-formed, like He did in Genesis 1:11-13 and Genesis 1:20-27, during three of the seven, literal 24-hour days of Genesis 1:3 to 2:4.

 

[mindlight]

Science talks about how things are "millions and billions" of years old. Others in more of the religious sector say that Earth is more like a few thousands of years old. Is there proof in scripture of this or any mention?

True science provides us with repeatable experiments which we can duplicate to produce clear results. When it comes to arguing the age of the universe however we lack enough evidence and have not got testable theories in place to properly explain the gaps and their possible implications e.g the relationship between light speed ( measurable) , gravity ( partly understood) and dark matter / energy ( not really understood or properly explained).

Most cosmological proofs for the age of the universe come down to light speed and trigonometry. We calculate distances by triangulating known distances with unknown ones and with the assumption that light speed is a constant. If a star supernovas at a distance of over 6500 light years we then have the issue that either we have miscalculated its distance and the time light took to reach us or that star never existed in a young universe and therefore God merely implied its existence rather than actually creating a star. In 1987 a supernova was observed and the light speed calculated by observation of how long the light took to get to measurable points in that solar system. Light travelled at 186000 miles per second there also.

So if one is to doubt an old universe the grounds could be the following.

1) Gods miraculous intervention

2) Gods curse warping our ability to read and changing the fundamental nature of the universe( all of it) post creation ( such that what we observe now is no longer what was there originally.

3) we do not know how light travels in deep space nor the relationship of it with gravity and dark matter. It is possible that outside the gravity well of a star light travels differently. Since we rely on electromagnetic signatures to measure how light travels where these are not present we have no way of testing any experiments about this.

4) insertion theory. God created earth separately and then inserted it into a pre-prepared old universe as a part of the creation process

5) time warp theory. That earth time is different from time out there. So a day here may be a million years out there.

In short we cannot say whether the universe is young or old given a Christian understanding of miracle and curse and a lack of evidence and conceptual understanding of crucial unexplained elements of creation.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

How do you measure a day with not star or planet orbiting it? Obviously time is being measured differently.

Forgive me...

 

[mindlight]

How do you measure a day with not star or planet orbiting it? Obviously time is being measured differently.

Forgive me...

A period of light is followed by a period of darkness. Together they make a day. Light was created on the first day. Light and darkness were also separated then

So 2 explanations are possible.

1) the lights in the sky already existed and were simply made visible on earth on the 4th day.

2) God Himself provided the light the first 3 days and then created the sun and stars on the 4th day.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Another interesting thing comes into focus when we examine Genesis as the Hebrew would...

Genesis literally means "Of the Creation"

Gen 1:5

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day "Of the Creation".

Hard to pin this one down.

Forgive me...

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

2 Peter 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."

Forgive me...

 

[CoolDude68]

I can't make toast some mornings without burning it. Words cannot describe how awesome God is.

 

[SkyWriting]

Science talks about how things are "millions and billions" of years old. Others in more of the religious sector say that Earth is more like a few thousands of years old. Is there proof in scripture of this or any mention?

If you are seeking the most literal interpretation of scripture
then you must follow the clearest language and give the most
weight to the number of times the message is given and the
variety of sources or books the message is found in.

Deuteronomy 33:15 with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains
the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills; ...

Genesis 49:26 Your father's blessings are greater than the
blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.

Psalm 76:4 You are radiant with light, more majestic than ...
the everlasting hills. .

Habakkuk 3:6 Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, The ancient hills collapsed. ... The
age-old mountains break apart; the ancient hills sink down. ...

Genesis 49:26 Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the oldest
mountains and the riches of the ancient hills.

Deuteronomy 33:15 with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains ...the finest fruits from the oldest mountains, the best from the ancient hills,

Psalm 76:4 You are radiant with light, more majestic than the ancient mountains

 

[SkyWriting]

I can't make toast some mornings without burning it. Words cannot describe how awesome God is.

 

[Blade]

Science talks about how things are "millions and billions" of years old. Others in more of the religious sector say that Earth is more like a few thousands of years old. Is there proof in scripture of this or any mention?

You know.. MAN can still be about 6000 years told.. but the WORLD can be much older And the way they get the AGE... has so many flaws in it

 

[Open Heart]

Science talks about how things are "millions and billions" of years old. Others in more of the religious sector say that Earth is more like a few thousands of years old. Is there proof in scripture of this or any mention?

The scientific assertions are based on evidence, which is pretty overwhelming.

Now let's look at scripture. It's based on the lineages given, and estimations for how long people lived. The problem is this: not all the people are historical, and not all historical people in the geneology are listed.

Consider Jesus' parables. Let's take the good Samaritan. It's fictitious. It's a great teaching story because it teaches eternally true spiritual values. It doesn't need to be historically true in order to do that.

Same with Adam and Eve. The garden of Eden doesn't need to be historical for us to know there was a beginning to humanity, and that at one time we were innocent like animals, and then we came to know right from wrong and we are no longer innocent. The story is, like the Good Samaritan, a teaching story, category of deep myth. That's compliment btw, NOT derogatory, as anyone who studies myth can tell you.

The book of Genesis proceeds from myth to legend to history. And so, so does its lineage. Thus, figuring the age of the earth by the lineage in Genesis is woefully inaccurate.

It is best to remember that the Bible is a religious book. It is given to us by God to teach us morals and salvation. It is not a science text.

 

[Open Heart]

You know.. MAN can still be about 6000 years told.. but the WORLD can be much older And the way they get the AGE... has so many flaws in it

Modern man, as in our physicality, has existed for about 200,000 years. About 40-50,000 years ago, some kind of mutation happened and there was an incredible change where we suddenly began making art, jewelry, etc. We have no way of knowing exactly when humanity became morally sentient, but IMHO, that would be the first true Man as in Adam.

 

[Bible2+]

Bob Crowley said in post #21:

If they can't find 95% of the universe, I'd have to wonder if we're missing something - another dimension possibly.

What science today is missing, in its search for a "Theory of Everything" which can unify all the physical forces in the universe, is spirit. So by continuing to exclude the whole idea of spirit, science can never hope to understand the universe at its most fundamental level, or what its ultimate origin was: "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit . . . even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all" (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

The relationship between the spiritual and the physical may be analogous to the relationship between energy and matter. Just as the relationship of energy to matter is summarized by the equation e=mc^2, meaning that immense amounts of energy are congealed and compacted, as it were, in order to form each tiny particle of matter, so the relationship between spirit and energy could theoretically be summarized by the equation s=ec^3, meaning that immense amounts of spirit may be congealed and compacted, as it were, in order to form each tiny photon of energy. All energy being based on spirit would make sense, for God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and in Him everything consists (Colossians 1:17, Acts 17:28).

When science's equations regarding such things as the Big Bang singularity, black holes and quantum entanglement require the inclusion of infinities, these infinities shouldn't be seen as "failures", but as pointers to something going beyond the boundaries of the physical: that is, spirit. If science ever becomes able to describe spirit mathematically using proportional numbers rather than infinities, this could lead to new technologies (e.g. spiritual power plants, spiritual bombs), just as when science became able to describe atomic nuclei mathematically, this led to new technologies (e.g. nuclear power plants, nuclear bombs).

Just as energy consists of both particles (photons) and waves (electromagnetic waves) at the same time, so the basis for all energy, spirit, could consist of both particles (spiritons) and waves at the same time. If spirit is equivalent to consciousness, and consciousness consists of logic, emotion and memory, spiritual waves could consist of three different sine waves (logic waves, emotion waves and memory waves) interlocked at 60-degree angles, just as electromagnetism consists of two different sine waves (electric waves and magnetic waves) interlocked at a 90-degree angle. But by our current, strictly-physical-based mathematics, a spiritual wave or spiriton would show up in a calculation as an infinity, and so it could be mistakenly rejected by our current science as a "failure". It's possible that by creating a mathematics which involves five dimensions of space-time (instead of four), the apparently infinite value of a spiritual wave or spiriton could be reduced to a proportional value.

String Theory has shown it's mathematically possible space-time has more than three spatial dimensions. Because of observations such as Daniel 5:5, John 20:26b and Luke 24:31b the spiritual realm could be a fourth spatial dimension in which spiritual entities are able to move about without being seen by physical entities in our three physical spatial dimensions, because our physical eyes and light as we know it extend in only three physical spatial dimensions. The spiritual spatial dimension would be higher than our three physical spatial dimensions in the same sense a third physical dimension is higher than two physical dimensions. And so from the spiritual dimension, our physical dimensions may appear flat (or flatter), just as from three physical dimensions, something in two physical dimensions would appear flat. An entity with access to the spiritual spatial dimension could do such things as enter only part of himself into the physical realm (Daniel 5:5), or suddenly appear in a locked room (John 20:26b), or suddenly disappear (Luke 24:31b). This ability would apply not only to spiritual beings (1 Corinthians 15:44, Luke 24:39), but also to any spiritual wave or particle.

If spiritual particles exist, they could turn out to be "the God Particle" of science. While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has reached a high-enough energy level so a "God Particle" (a Higgs boson) has manifested itself, its observed qualities might ultimately be able to be described only by equations involving infinities, so its qualities and actions could ultimately be seen as "impossible" and "spooky", instead of science finally admitting the existence of a substance which is spiritual. And spirit wouldn't have to be seen by scientists as some weird, foreign substance, but as the most fundamental substance of even their own selves (1 Thessalonians 5:23). And could spirit also be the basis for the "dark matter" and "dark energy" which together make up 96% of the universe, but which science can't yet observe directly or explain?

The really sad and dangerous thing is even if science does eventually determine that "the God Particle" (or some other particle, detected at even higher LHC energy levels) is a spiritual particle, which science could come to call the "spiriton", some scientists could still refuse to believe in and submit themselves to YHWH God of the Bible, saying the existence of spirit per se doesn't require there's one infinite, conscious spirit-being called YHWH God (John 4:24, Mark 12:30, Deuteronomy 6:5). And in its subsequent experiments with spirit, science could come into contact with the evil spirit-being called Lucifer (Satan), who could manifest himself in some future, ultra-high-energy LHC experiment and claim he is the true, beneficent God of mankind and must be worshipped instead of YHWH. In this way, a nascent spiritual science could be hijacked and employed by Lucifer and his current worshippers as one part of their future deception by which the world will eventually be deceived into consciously and openly worshipping Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and his human son the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") as God (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36), instead of YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36).

--

The unity of mankind which will occur at that future time could be like the unity of mankind which occurred at the time of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:6). And there could even be a future equivalent to the Tower of Babel, which could be built in the literal, rebuilt city of Babylon (in Iraq). For Lucifer could show mankind how to build there a huge tower device, a spiritual machine the size of the Empire State Building, which will be able to send into the sky an incredibly powerful spiritual beam analogous to a laser. Near the end of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, Lucifer could tell mankind it will need to employ this huge weapon during an impending battle against YHWH (Revelation 16:14b, Revelation 19:19). Mixing some science fiction with some ancient lies of Gnosticism, Lucifer could tell mankind something like:

"YHWH will soon come down to the earth in his gigantic spaceship which is shaped like a Borg Cube [cf. Revelation 21:16]. He is coming to enslave you and turn you all into Borg-like drones. But this mighty Tower Device will be able to blow his Borg Cube and him to bits with its spiritual ray. Then we can focus the Tower Device on any point of empty space until it burns in space-time a hole, a portal through which I will lead your spirits out of this vile material universe which YHWH made to be our prison. And I will lead you back up into the purely-spiritual realm of the Pleroma [i.e. Heaven], where you can live as gods in bliss, doing what you please, forever, just as you had done with me for all ages past, before we by mistake fell into YHWH's trap of this material universe".

Before Jesus Christ's Second Coming, Lucifer could prove the power of the Tower Device to mankind by letting the Antichrist and his False Prophet (of Revelation 19:20) use it to blow up some large asteroids and even some moons of other planets, so mankind will go into its battle against YHWH in full confidence it will be able to destroy him. But when the battle comes, the device won't work against YHWH (cf. Psalms 21:11, KJV). Instead, Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30, Zechariah 14:3-4) will descend from heaven and take total victory in the battle (Revelation 19:11 to 20:6).

 

[Noxot]

God actually wants a more significant thing from us -- real faith, instead of merely and only observation alone. If the Bible said the Earth was 4.55 bn years old, and eventually we found proof in science, then there would be no place for faith, because faith is believing, trusting, without seeing proof.

Faith is powerful, but it's also relationship with God, even. Trust in Him. So it is precious. To preempt it would not be good, because faith itself is the goal.

yes spiritual matters are more important than lesser concerns about reality but there might come a point where you push others away with your self-faith rather than be a light to others. however that kind of stuff is up to and between you and God and it's each of our own fault if we don't pay attention to Gods will for us.

It's possible that by creating a mathematics which involves five dimensions of space-time (instead of four), the apparently infinite value of a spiritual wave or spiriton could be reduced to a proportional value.

scientist need to take things like NDEs more seriously. when people claim to go out of their bodies and see stuff and recount how things were that they could not have possibly accounted for, it already shows there is more to reality than we think.

but I do wonder how much we could even study this other realm or this part of reality. there is a back and forth between us and that world and yet we can't do things like go and look to see what is in the middle of our sun, so we might not be able to test this other world with normal and acceptable scientific standards.

 

[Halbhh]

yes spiritual matters are more important than lesser concerns about reality but there might come a point where you push others away with your self-faith rather than be a light to others. however that kind of stuff is up to and between you and God and it's each of our own fault if we don't pay attention to Gods will for us.

Amen. Is there more about that you wish to say, like more detail? We know about God's will at least, because that's from the Words of Christ, to us, all of His Words are all from the Father He told us. So, since love is the central command, repeated, it's the thing, the lead thing, right? We see more on that in 1 Cor 13 also, that's very helpful for me. Someone did observe recently in another thread that it seems as if too often love is missing in discussions. That should be a fire alarm.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Forgive me because I'm not a scientists but how can anyone measure or prove time?

There a number of ways to determine age in things, radiometric dating is a big one. Many confuse radiometric dating with carbon dating, but carbon dating is only one form of radiometric dating available; and carbon dating is only good for measuring things less than ~6,000 years old.

The way radiometric dating works is by measuring atomic radioactive decay, that is the decay of atoms into their most stable forms. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon that is found in living things, you, me, trees, parrots, etc; however when a living thing dies the carbon begins to decay into carbon-12, which is the more atomically stable form of carbon, it does this through decay. Atoms are typically comprised of three subatomic particles: the nucleus is formed of positively charged particles called protons, neutrally charged particles called neutrons, and are encased in negatively charged particles called electrons--the simplest and smallest atom is hydrogen comprised of a single proton and a single electron. Stable carbon, or carbon-12, is comprised of a nucleus of 6 protons and 6 neutrons (hence carbon-12), whereas carbon-14 is comprised of a nucleus of 6 protons and 8 neutrons (hence carbon-14), carbon-14 is less stable and so, over time, breaks down into the more stable carbon-12. Knowing the measure of this decay we can look at the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in a sample, something only a few years old will be rich in carbon-14 and low in carbon-12, something several thousands years old will possibly have had most of its carbon-14 already decayed into carbon-12. Beyond a certain period of time there is no carbon-14 left to measure the ratio, and so this form of dating is no longer viable.

But, as noted, carbon dating isn't the only form of radiometric dating we have. Look at a periodic table of elements and find uranium, you'll notice right next to it is lead. Lead is a naturally stable element, however uranium is naturally unstable--its radioactive decay into lead is what makes it dangerous, what makes it, well, radioactive. The time it takes for uranium to decay into lead is very, very long--billions of years. Which makes it very good at measuring very, very old rocks. And we have, we have studied rocks which contain crystals which formed in those rocks early in earth's planetary life back when the planet was very hot billions of years ago.

That's why we can say that the earth is about 4.5 billions years old. And, of course, radiometric dating isn't the only form of measurement we have, for example we can use ice core samples from Antarctica and see for about how long Antarctica has been covered in ice because these cores show layers of melting/freezing every year and these cores show a history that goes back hundreds of thousands of years. Antarctica wasn't always under ice, as we can tell by fossil remains, showing that it once was much greener because it also wasn't located on the south pole--continents drift slowly over time due to plate tectonics.

There's lots of ways these things are measured, which is why there is a great deal of confidence in the scientific community (and that includes religious scientists, there are many Christians who are scientists) to conclude that, on the basis of all of these evidences that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. There is no validly scientific reason to doubt these conclusions based on anything currently out there at the moment.

-CryptoLutheran