How old is the earth?

Platte said:

My point is people who didn’t understand, thought the things Jesus did was from Satan too. Once they understood, they begin to realize what was actually happening and it had nothing to do with sorcery

Click to expand...

FredVB said:

I can accept the earth, within the universe, is much older than several thousand years, along with it. It would be while the earth was what the Bible says was formless, or as I understand it to mean, unformed. So as there was the creation week with six days of everything on this world being created, before that, however long it was, the world was just a barren planet like others are, with nothing on it distinguishing it much. But God chose this planet to be where he would house the life we can now see here, and he made it all with the very hospitable environments, within the six days there was creation being done by God as we see described. And this was then the one thing that God said was very good, in the whole Bible. No harm or problem was in it, before the rebellion at the fall of humanity with sin.

Click to expand...

SavedByGrace3 said:

I have also asked this question. But God is a master illusionist, and if He wanted to trick us, He certainly could. And if He succeeds (which He always does) and we are fooled, that would only glorify Him, and we would have to praise Him for the success. But the question remains, why would He do this? Moreover, we would also have to ask if He is tricking us in other places also. Are we believing things that are not true? What about the gospel? Has He led us to believe this gospel when it is not true? He wants to trick us to show He can and then condemn us when He is successful in His ruse? Are we believing in a salvation which is a ruse? I think you may see why I do not believe that God deceived us by creating a world and universe that appears to be billions of years old, but is only a few thousand years old. We can only have faith in God because we trust He tells us the truth and never deceives us. If He deceives us, we can't have faith.

Click to expand...

• "Was" vs. "Became": This is a critical point. While the KJV (and most modern translations) says "The earth was without form, and void," some Old Earth creationists, particularly those who hold to the "gap theory," argue that the Hebrew word hayah (הָיְתָה) can also be translated as "became" or "had become." If translated as "became," it would imply a change in state – that the earth was not initially "without form, and void" but became that way after an initial creation (Genesis 1:1) and before the six days of creation. This "became" implies a ruin or judgment that necessitated a renewal.
• "Tohu wa-bohu" (without form, and void): These Hebrew words literally mean "desolation and emptiness" or "chaos and waste." In other biblical contexts (like Isaiah 34:11 and Jeremiah 4:23), these terms are used to describe the aftermath of a judgment or destruction. So, to some, seeing these words in Genesis 1:2 suggests that the Earth was already in a state of ruin or disarray, not merely a pristine, unformed void from God's initial creative act. This state would then require a reformation to become habitable.
• The Context of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." If Genesis 1:1 is a complete, initial creation of a perfect heaven and earth, then Genesis 1:2 describing it as "without form, and void" seems contradictory unless something happened in between. This "something" is where the "gap" and the idea of a pre-Adamic world or a Luciferic flood often come in for those who interpret it this way. The subsequent six days would then be a restoration or re-creation of what was ruined.
  

1. Light Travel Time: The initial light and heat from the Sun would reach Earth very quickly – about 8 minutes and 20 seconds at the speed of light. However, this is just for the energy to arrive; it's not enough to warm the planet.
2. Absorption and Reradiation: Once the solar radiation (including visible light and infrared energy) reaches Earth, it needs to be absorbed by the planet's surface and atmosphere. Absorbed radiation is then transformed into heat. The Earth then re-radiates this heat back into space as infrared radiation.
3. Achieving Radiative Equilibrium:A planet's temperature stabilizes when the amount of incoming solar energy absorbed is balanced by the amount of heat it radiates back into space. This state is called radiative equilibrium. The time it takes for a planet to reach this equilibrium depends on several factors:
   • Initial Temperature: If Earth started extremely cold, it would take longer.
   • Atmosphere: The presence and composition of an atmosphere, especially one with greenhouse gases, would significantly affect warming. A thick atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping heat. Without an atmosphere, temperature swings would be extreme between day and night.
   • Surface Composition: Darker surfaces absorb more heat than lighter ones.
   • Thermal Inertia: Different materials heat up and cool down at different rates. Water, for example, has a high thermal capacity and takes longer to heat up and cool down than land.

• Initial Surface Warming: The very top layer of the Earth's surface would begin to warm almost immediately upon receiving sunlight. You'd feel the warmth of the sun within minutes or hours.
• Atmospheric Warming and Circulation: As the surface warms, it heats the atmosphere above it through conduction and convection. This would lead to the development of winds and weather patterns, which help distribute heat around the planet. This process would take days to weeks to establish significant global circulation.
• Ocean Warming: The oceans, being massive bodies of water, would take much longer to warm up. Deep ocean currents and the sheer volume of water mean that full oceanic warming to a stable temperature could take hundreds to thousands of years, if not longer.
• Geological Time Scales: If Earth started as a completely frozen, inert body, the processes that led to its current "normal" temperature, including the outgassing of volatiles to form the atmosphere and oceans, took millions to billions of years.

Richard.20.12 said:

One aspect of Creation that has always perplexed me is why God didn't create the sun before the Earth. How do you create anything without the sun first? Yes God could have created the necessary warmth for things to exist but why not just create the sun first?
Genesis 1:12 KJV: "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
The temperature in outer space is -270°C or -454°F. Something none of us can even fathom.
Why create this world in this order? Why not just create the sun first? Well then I thought about if that was the case how long would the sun take to heat up a frigid, barren wasteland like the earth?
I asked AI as it's pretty good with science.
******************
If the Sun were created first, and Earth was a cold, "formless and void" body as described in Genesis 1:2, it would take a significant amount of time for the Sun's warmth to heat the Earth to "normal" (meaning a temperature range conducive to liquid water and life as we know it).

Here's a breakdown of the factors and timescale:

1. Light Travel Time: The initial light and heat from the Sun would reach Earth very quickly – about 8 minutes and 20 seconds at the speed of light. However, this is just for the energy to arrive; it's not enough to warm the planet.
2. Absorption and Reradiation: Once the solar radiation (including visible light and infrared energy) reaches Earth, it needs to be absorbed by the planet's surface and atmosphere. Absorbed radiation is then transformed into heat. The Earth then re-radiates this heat back into space as infrared radiation.
3. Achieving Radiative Equilibrium:A planet's temperature stabilizes when the amount of incoming solar energy absorbed is balanced by the amount of heat it radiates back into space. This state is called radiative equilibrium. The time it takes for a planet to reach this equilibrium depends on several factors:
   • Initial Temperature: If Earth started extremely cold, it would take longer.
   • Atmosphere: The presence and composition of an atmosphere, especially one with greenhouse gases, would significantly affect warming. A thick atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping heat. Without an atmosphere, temperature swings would be extreme between day and night.
   • Surface Composition: Darker surfaces absorb more heat than lighter ones.
   • Thermal Inertia: Different materials heat up and cool down at different rates. Water, for example, has a high thermal capacity and takes longer to heat up and cool down than land.

How long would it take?

• Initial Surface Warming: The very top layer of the Earth's surface would begin to warm almost immediately upon receiving sunlight. You'd feel the warmth of the sun within minutes or hours.
• Atmospheric Warming and Circulation: As the surface warms, it heats the atmosphere above it through conduction and convection. This would lead to the development of winds and weather patterns, which help distribute heat around the planet. This process would take days to weeks to establish significant global circulation.
• Ocean Warming: The oceans, being massive bodies of water, would take much longer to warm up. Deep ocean currents and the sheer volume of water mean that full oceanic warming to a stable temperature could take hundreds to thousands of years, if not longer.
• Geological Time Scales: If Earth started as a completely frozen, inert body, the processes that led to its current "normal" temperature, including the outgassing of volatiles to form the atmosphere and oceans, took millions to billions of years.

In the context of Genesis 1:
The biblical account describes God bringing forth light on Day One, and then separating the light from the darkness. The sun, moon, and stars are created on Day Four. This sequence implies that a form of light and a warming process occurred before the direct action of the sun on Earth as we know it. The idea of a pre-existing or diffuse light that warmed the planet prior to the sun's full appointment on Day Four bypasses the issue of Earth being frozen for an extended period.

In summary, while the initial light from the Sun reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, the process of heating the Earth to a stable, "normal" temperature, especially including its vast oceans, would be a gradual process taking from weeks for surface and atmospheric effects to thousands or even millions of years for the entire planet to stabilize depending on its initial conditions and the development of its atmosphere and oceans.

Click to expand...

Richard.20.12 said:

One aspect of Creation that has always perplexed me is why God didn't create the sun before the Earth. How do you create anything without the sun first? Yes God could have created the necessary warmth for things to exist but why not just create the sun first?
Genesis 1:12 KJV: "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
The temperature in outer space is -270°C or -454°F. Something none of us can even fathom.
Why create this world in this order? Why not just create the sun first? Well then I thought about if that was the case how long would the sun take to heat up a frigid, barren wasteland like the earth?
I asked AI as it's pretty good with science.
******************
If the Sun were created first, and Earth was a cold, "formless and void" body as described in Genesis 1:2, it would take a significant amount of time for the Sun's warmth to heat the Earth to "normal" (meaning a temperature range conducive to liquid water and life as we know it).

Here's a breakdown of the factors and timescale:

1. Light Travel Time: The initial light and heat from the Sun would reach Earth very quickly – about 8 minutes and 20 seconds at the speed of light. However, this is just for the energy to arrive; it's not enough to warm the planet.
2. Absorption and Reradiation: Once the solar radiation (including visible light and infrared energy) reaches Earth, it needs to be absorbed by the planet's surface and atmosphere. Absorbed radiation is then transformed into heat. The Earth then re-radiates this heat back into space as infrared radiation.
3. Achieving Radiative Equilibrium:A planet's temperature stabilizes when the amount of incoming solar energy absorbed is balanced by the amount of heat it radiates back into space. This state is called radiative equilibrium. The time it takes for a planet to reach this equilibrium depends on several factors:
   • Initial Temperature: If Earth started extremely cold, it would take longer.
   • Atmosphere: The presence and composition of an atmosphere, especially one with greenhouse gases, would significantly affect warming. A thick atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping heat. Without an atmosphere, temperature swings would be extreme between day and night.
   • Surface Composition: Darker surfaces absorb more heat than lighter ones.
   • Thermal Inertia: Different materials heat up and cool down at different rates. Water, for example, has a high thermal capacity and takes longer to heat up and cool down than land.

How long would it take?

• Initial Surface Warming: The very top layer of the Earth's surface would begin to warm almost immediately upon receiving sunlight. You'd feel the warmth of the sun within minutes or hours.
• Atmospheric Warming and Circulation: As the surface warms, it heats the atmosphere above it through conduction and convection. This would lead to the development of winds and weather patterns, which help distribute heat around the planet. This process would take days to weeks to establish significant global circulation.
• Ocean Warming: The oceans, being massive bodies of water, would take much longer to warm up. Deep ocean currents and the sheer volume of water mean that full oceanic warming to a stable temperature could take hundreds to thousands of years, if not longer.
• Geological Time Scales: If Earth started as a completely frozen, inert body, the processes that led to its current "normal" temperature, including the outgassing of volatiles to form the atmosphere and oceans, took millions to billions of years.

In the context of Genesis 1:
The biblical account describes God bringing forth light on Day One, and then separating the light from the darkness. The sun, moon, and stars are created on Day Four. This sequence implies that a form of light and a warming process occurred before the direct action of the sun on Earth as we know it. The idea of a pre-existing or diffuse light that warmed the planet prior to the sun's full appointment on Day Four bypasses the issue of Earth being frozen for an extended period.

In summary, while the initial light from the Sun reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, the process of heating the Earth to a stable, "normal" temperature, especially including its vast oceans, would be a gradual process taking from weeks for surface and atmospheric effects to thousands or even millions of years for the entire planet to stabilize depending on its initial conditions and the development of its atmosphere and oceans.

Click to expand...

AaronClaricus said:

In natural history the earth is created along side the sun in the same event. Depending on definitions and future research there's a good chance the earth was formless and void(fiery and chaotic but still covered in water) when the sun was still dim. New stars are basically invisible(except for x ray beam) for 10s of millions of years.


In terms of it being cold this is unlikely because of the way planets form. They are their own heat source due to radiation and gravitation energy.

Click to expand...

BeyondET said:

Then there's pure gold which is only produced from the death of a star.

Click to expand...

Richard.20.12 said:

One aspect of Creation that has always perplexed me is why God didn't create the sun before the Earth. How do you create anything without the sun first? Yes God could have created the necessary warmth for things to exist but why not just create the sun first?
Genesis 1:12 KJV: "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
The temperature in outer space is -270°C or -454°F. Something none of us can even fathom.
Why create this world in this order? Why not just create the sun first? Well then I thought about if that was the case how long would the sun take to heat up a frigid, barren wasteland like the earth?
I asked AI as it's pretty good with science.
******************
If the Sun were created first, and Earth was a cold, "formless and void" body as described in Genesis 1:2, it would take a significant amount of time for the Sun's warmth to heat the Earth to "normal" (meaning a temperature range conducive to liquid water and life as we know it).

Here's a breakdown of the factors and timescale:

1. Light Travel Time: The initial light and heat from the Sun would reach Earth very quickly – about 8 minutes and 20 seconds at the speed of light. However, this is just for the energy to arrive; it's not enough to warm the planet.
2. Absorption and Reradiation: Once the solar radiation (including visible light and infrared energy) reaches Earth, it needs to be absorbed by the planet's surface and atmosphere. Absorbed radiation is then transformed into heat. The Earth then re-radiates this heat back into space as infrared radiation.
3. Achieving Radiative Equilibrium:A planet's temperature stabilizes when the amount of incoming solar energy absorbed is balanced by the amount of heat it radiates back into space. This state is called radiative equilibrium. The time it takes for a planet to reach this equilibrium depends on several factors:
   • Initial Temperature: If Earth started extremely cold, it would take longer.
   • Atmosphere: The presence and composition of an atmosphere, especially one with greenhouse gases, would significantly affect warming. A thick atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping heat. Without an atmosphere, temperature swings would be extreme between day and night.
   • Surface Composition: Darker surfaces absorb more heat than lighter ones.
   • Thermal Inertia: Different materials heat up and cool down at different rates. Water, for example, has a high thermal capacity and takes longer to heat up and cool down than land.

How long would it take?

• Initial Surface Warming: The very top layer of the Earth's surface would begin to warm almost immediately upon receiving sunlight. You'd feel the warmth of the sun within minutes or hours.
• Atmospheric Warming and Circulation: As the surface warms, it heats the atmosphere above it through conduction and convection. This would lead to the development of winds and weather patterns, which help distribute heat around the planet. This process would take days to weeks to establish significant global circulation.
• Ocean Warming: The oceans, being massive bodies of water, would take much longer to warm up. Deep ocean currents and the sheer volume of water mean that full oceanic warming to a stable temperature could take hundreds to thousands of years, if not longer.
• Geological Time Scales: If Earth started as a completely frozen, inert body, the processes that led to its current "normal" temperature, including the outgassing of volatiles to form the atmosphere and oceans, took millions to billions of years.

In the context of Genesis 1:
The biblical account describes God bringing forth light on Day One, and then separating the light from the darkness. The sun, moon, and stars are created on Day Four. This sequence implies that a form of light and a warming process occurred before the direct action of the sun on Earth as we know it. The idea of a pre-existing or diffuse light that warmed the planet prior to the sun's full appointment on Day Four bypasses the issue of Earth being frozen for an extended period.

In summary, while the initial light from the Sun reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, the process of heating the Earth to a stable, "normal" temperature, especially including its vast oceans, would be a gradual process taking from weeks for surface and atmospheric effects to thousands or even millions of years for the entire planet to stabilize depending on its initial conditions and the development of its atmosphere and oceans.

Click to expand...