Why Creationists Believe in a Young Earth

[Huram Abi]

He cannot verify (and by that I think he means demonstrate) that God exists, or that Jesus is the only way to reach God. The inability to verify however, does not stop him from believing it, and that my friend, is called faith.

Win!

 

[Zaius137]

Most YEC creationists say that the Earth is roughly 6,000 years old - some go as high as 10,00 and some go as low as 4,000. Why?


We cannot say "Because the Bible says so" because the Bible does not mention the age of the Earth or the universe at all. I suspect part of the reason it's hard to get an accurate date is because Creationists themselves don't know where these figures come from. Various people thought the world began ...

• 3761 BC (Jewish Calender)
• 3952 BC (Bede, 8th century monk)
• 5199 BC (Roman Catholic church)

One man - Archbishop Usher of Armagh, 1650 - went even further and calculated many of the major events of the Bible:

• Creation began on Sunday 23rd October 4004 BC
• Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden on Monday 10th November
• Noah's Ark reached dry land on Wednesday 5th May 2348 BC
• Christ was actually born in 4 BC, exactly four thousand years after the begining of creation

Say what you will, you can't accuse him of not being thorough.
Most modern creationists take the simplier approach. 2 Peter 3:8 and Pslam 90:4 both say that one thousand years is like a day with the Lord. The Earth and the universe were created in six days, ergo they are only 6000 years old.

Do creationists, who base the age of the Earth on Biblical chronology, realise the influencial people they're disagreeing with?

As for the chronology between Adam and Christ the Bible makes a very clear time line.

http://www.biblestudy.net/Helps/Condensed_Timeline.pdf

Before Adam the Bible only states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; until Einstein the problem of the greater universe and what we observed from earth seemed an incongruity.

There can be a reasonable explanation reconciling a 6000 year old creation and the apparent age of the universe by assuming a Cosmological General Relativity Model that also conforms to Special Relativity on smaller scales. The model need not be any more speculative than the Big Bang; which really isn’t saying much.

I believe that the current science seen threw the perspective of the Bible can provide adequate evidence for a YEC paradigm.

I find influential people and there perspectives dwarfed by the Bible… I don’t care.

 

[Jazer]

those are the (denomination), they think they are the only ones here.

That is very common. I remember once a friend of mine was so proud that he converted a JW to a Baptist. He did not think JW's were saved. It is not the denomination that saves, it is Jesus that saves people. In fact when Jesus talks to the 7 churches we are told that people needed to overcome. Rev 3:12 "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,"

 

[AV1611VET]

That is very common. I remember once a friend of mine was so proud that he converted a JW to a Baptist. He did not think JW's were saved. It is not the denomination that saves, it is Jesus that saves people. In fact when Jesus talks to the 7 churches we are told that people needed to overcome. Rev 3:12 "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,"

Yup -- and what is an overcomer?

1 John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

[Jazer]

Christ was actually born in 4 BC, exactly four thousand years after the begining of creation

There was 4,000 years from Adam to Christ. We have the generations listed in the Bible and the science of population genetics is able to verify that to some degree.

Remember Adam lived in the Middle East in the fertile crescent. As it turns out science tells us that there were other "hot spots' in addition to just the middle east. But this is where farming and animal herding (domestication) began. So in a lot of ways the good Bishops History of the World is a very accurate book. Also very valuable because he gives us information from books that are no longer available.

There is a reason why his book is still in print after over 400 years. I have a copy of it and as a history book it is very good. Even there are free ebook copies but they can be difficult to find on the internet. The art work in the hard copy is well worth the price as far as I am concerned. Also it does come with a time line disk for the computer. To cover 4,000 years of man's history is quite an accomplishment.

4004 BC - Creation
2349-2348 BC - Noah's Flood
1921 BC - God's call to Abraham
1491 BC - The Exodus from Egypt
1012 BC - Founding of the Temple in Jerusalem
588 BC - Destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon and the beginning of the Babylonian Captivity
4 BC - Birth of Jesus

 

[AV1611VET]

Remember Adam lived in the Middle East in the fertile crescent.

You were there?

I'm under the impression that Adam lived in China.

Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden;* and there he put the man whom he had formed.

This man-from-Mesopotamia interpretation is plotting Noah's family, not Adam's.

* Eden = Pangaea

 

[Jazer]

Yup -- and what is an overcomer?

1 John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

Believers we are told show the love of God and keep the commandments of God.

Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"

So to believe means to walk in love and follow the teachings of Jesus.

 

[AV1611VET]

Christianity means racism, lies and bigotry, where were the "CHRISTIANS" when the black people were being mistreated in the US?

According to you -- we were right there, eh?

most of the 'so call CHRISTIANS' were doing the mistreating.

Are you answering your own question?

I bet less than 1 tenth of the people in the US who say they are "CHRISTIANS" are in fact Christians.

Then what's the problem?

Are you saying the other 90+% who engaged in racism, lies and bigotry were atheists?

 

[Split Rock]

As for the chronology between Adam and Christ the Bible makes a very clear time line.

http://www.biblestudy.net/Helps/Condensed_Timeline.pdf

Yet there are mulitple geneologies in the bible that do not match. Nor is it clear that all geneological entries in the bible are single generation, or that some may not be mythical or legendary.

Before Adam the Bible only states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; until Einstein the problem of the greater universe and what we observed from earth seemed an incongruity.

There can be a reasonable explanation reconciling a 6000 year old creation and the apparent age of the universe by assuming a Cosmological General Relativity Model that also conforms to Special Relativity on smaller scales. The model need not be any more speculative than the Big Bang; which really isn’t saying much.

The only reasonable explanation is to not assume we can determine the age of the earth by reading scripture.

I believe that the current science seen threw the perspective of the Bible can provide adequate evidence for a YEC paradigm.

What evidence? You are conflating rationalization with evidence.

I find influential people and there perspectives dwarfed by the Bible… I don’t care.

I find creationist paradigms dwarfed by the reality exposed by scientifc investigation... I don't care.

 

[SkyWriting]

As for the chronology between Adam and Christ the Bible makes a very clear time line.

Not a clear time line. Just a clear connecting line.
If you want to show a clear "time line" cite the passage
where the time is clear. Remember, not every reader
of the scriptures is literate.

 

[SkyWriting]

Originally Posted by Jazer
So to believe means to walk in love and follow the teachings of Jesus.

But very few Christians do.

None do. Its the nature of fallen man. Adam got to walk with God for a time.
Nobody else has had that situation. But we have the choice to walk with Jesus.

Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;

 

[SkyWriting]

But most US Christians don't even try.

We try to follow your example when ever we can.
You complete me.

 

[Zaius137]

But most US Christians don't even try.

Let me suggest no matter how the Christian stands there will always be criticism. The difference between Christianity and all other religions is the doctrine of forgiveness. The true Christian is not perfect only forgiven.

Mark 3:28
New International Version (NIV)
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,

 

[Mr Strawberry]

Let me suggest no matter how the Christian stands there will always be criticism. The difference between Christianity and all other religions is the doctrine of forgiveness. The true Christian is not perfect only forgiven.

Mark 3:28
New International Version (NIV)
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,

Isn't Allah "all-forgiving"?

 

[Keachian]

Let me suggest no matter how the Christian stands there will always be criticism. The difference between Christianity and all other religions is the doctrine of forgiveness. The true Christian is not perfect only forgiven.

Mark 3:28
New International Version (NIV)
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,

The difference between Christianity and other religions is that we claim that we killed our God.

 

[SkyWriting]

The greater the lie the more it's believed, Christians believe that Christianity is too big a lie not to be the truth.

Most of Jesus's disciples were martyred based on their testimony about Jesus which they reused to recant.
In history, not one person has ever died because they refused to recant what they knew was a lie.
This doesn't prove that Jesus was the Son of God. But it provides evidence that Jesus said He was the
Son of God, and that at least 10 of His closest followers believed in what He said, to their dying breath.

 

[Zaius137]

I also have good reason to believe in the Genesis flood (YEC) because of a recent discovery… I believe for good reason soft tissue from dinosaur bones can not last 70 million years (it is impossible).

“Dr. Mary Schweitzer, assistant professor of paleontology with a joint appointment at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, has succeeded in isolating soft tissue from the femur of a 68-million-year-old dinosaur. Not only is the tissue largely intact, it’s still transparent and pliable, and microscopic interior structures resembling blood vessels and even cells are still present.”


News Release: NC State Paleontologist Discovers Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones

 

[driewerf]

Scientists like to boast of their discoveries, sans God; but I have to wonder where they would be today on the technological scale if they would all worship God and let His Holy Spirit guide them "into all truth."

Cancer, for example would probably be a thing of the past by now, ya think?

au contraire...

 

[driewerf]

Science has overstepped itself in our time. It involves itself in the theological debate by positing there is no God

It does NOT. the existence of god is not a scientific question. individual scientists may express their disbelieve, "science" doesn't.

and ridicules believers.

Science doesn't. Again, individual scientists may do so, "science" doesn't.

At the same time, however, religious people must understand that science plays an important role in our lives.

Correct. And science is'nt a shopping mall where you can take what you like, and leave behind what you dislike. You can not accept the results of radio activity at Fukushima at one momentt and discard radio active dating the next moment. Not without big cognitive dissonance, that is.

 

[USincognito]

I also have good reason to believe in the Genesis flood (YEC) because of a recent discovery… I believe for good reason soft tissue from dinosaur bones can not last 70 million years (it is impossible).

“Dr. Mary Schweitzer, assistant professor of paleontology with a joint appointment at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, has succeeded in isolating soft tissue from the femur of a 68-million-year-old dinosaur. Not only is the tissue largely intact, it’s still transparent and pliable, and microscopic interior structures resembling blood vessels and even cells are still present.”

1. The "fresh meat" characterization by Creationists is incorrect. The femur was fossilzed and the parts of blood and marrow found inside were fossilized as well. Dr. Schweitzer had to paintakingly rehydrate them before they became elastic.
2. The discovery is not new. She published her paper in 2006 - long enough for Creationists to glom onto and mischaracterize it and long enough for her to decry them doing so.
3. There are still some questions about what she actually recovered. I'm inclined to think that soft tissue parts deep in the giant femur of a T-Rex could survive long enough to fossilze themselves rather than it being contamination.