How many years ago?

[Remus]

About the genealogies: I see your point. But can I confirm something: some creationists have said that there are missing people in the genealogies, i.e. that "Adam fathered Seth", say, really meant "Adam was an ancestor of Seth" ... is that a mainstream view or not? Also I don't think we can account for more than, say, 500 years at the max with that. But it's a start.

I'm not sure if it's mainstream or not, but it can be argued that there are some in the line that are missing. For example, Luke lists Cainan twice where Genesis only list him once. Some believe this to be a copiest error in Luke while others believe it to indicate that the geneologies in Genesis skips some of the line. Either way, it difficult to argue that any skips would make any difference since the ages are given when each person became the "father/ancestor". Even if there were someone in between Arphaxad and Salah, Genesis still says that Arphaxad was 530 years old when Salah was born.

Which common dates do creationists use? The ones that come easily off the top of my head are:

1. Dates during the reign of Kings David and Solomon, if evidence of their kingdom from other nations they traded with can be reliably dated.
2. Exile dates, since there is again quite substantial historical evidence of the Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations.

Any others?

I've only seen the date of the Babylonian exile used, but then I haven't seen many so I'm sure there are others.

 

[Buho]

Interesting topic.

On the radio where I live they're pushing this new book that came out titled "Time Has an End: A Biblical History of the World 11,013 B.C. - 2011 A.D." There are two problems I have with this title. One, 11,013 B.C. doesn't mesh with 6000 years ago or 9000 years ago. Secondly, I can't believe the author has the gall to say he can predict the end of the world!

I have one side question: When you all say 6000 or 9000, are you talking "B.C." or "years ago"? I always get confused over this. There is no standard on how this is said. Seems to me "B.C." should be used consistently. 6000 B.C. = 8000 years ago.

 

[shernren]

Normally it means years ago. i.e. 6-9k years ago = about 4-7000 BC.

 

[mark kennedy]

One of the problems with setting exact dates using the geneologies is that for one thing they are based on a lunar calander. One of the other problems is that there might be gaps in the linage like there are in the ones in the gospels. You have to realize, they were not establishing a record of a timeline as much as they were recording a bloodline. Most creationists would put it at about 6-10 thousand years ago depending on what you are trying to determine and how.

In evolutionary theory they place the common ancestor for chimpanzees and human beings from 6-10 million years ago and no one seems to mind. History is notoriously sketchy so our estimations are going to be allowing for broad margins of error. I personally, am comfortable with the 6,000 year estimation but I understand why some Bible scholars think it is probably more like 8 thousand and could be as long as 10 thousand years.

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[BarbB]

You might want to commune with dead cave painters from 40,000 years ago and inform them they were painting on French caves 34,000 years before the caves existed, LOL.

ROFL - and you date those paintings how?

 

[BarbB]

One of the problems with setting exact dates using the geneologies is that for one thing they are based on a lunar calander. One of the other problems is that there might be gaps in the linage like there are in the ones in the gospels. You have to realize, they were not establishing a record of a timeline as much as they were recording a bloodline. Most creationists would put it at about 6-10 thousand years ago depending on what you are trying to determine and how.

In evolutionary theory they place the common ancestor for chimpanzees and human beings from 6-10 million years ago and no one seems to mind. History is notoriously sketchy so our estimations are going to be allowing for broad margins of error. I personally, am comfortable with the 6,000 year estimation but I understand why some Bible scholars think it is probably more like 8 thousand and could be as long as 10 thousand years.

Grace and peace,
Mark

LOL, Mark - what common ancestor of the chimpanzee and human beings? Not in my family tree?

I think from the viewpoint of time here on earth there is wiggle room. Time passes in space differently from here on earth. So 6000+ years for this YEC, but whether it's space years or earth years I couldn't tell you!

 

[shernren]

... unclear exegesis. There might be a little room (just a little) for an argument that since the sun did not exist until day 4, days 1-3 were not earth days. But the genealogies describe people who were living on earth and who naturally would have measured their lifetime by earth years, which would be very clearly defined by then. The only wiggle room there is whether they are solar or lunar years, and if I understand correctly there's probably a difference of about 5% or possibly less between the two.