[nyg4168]

Obviously, there is much physical evidence to dispute the argument that God created the universe in six days some 6,000 years ago. The religious response to that seems to be that God created a "mature" universe that looks to us like it is billions of years old when in fact it is not.

My question, then, is why would God try to trick us like that? Seems a bit cruel to me, and conflicts with my understanding of a God who loves those he created in his image. So, to the extent one believes that God had a hand in creating the universe, it seems one must acknowledge that the six days mentioned in Genesis are a metaphor for the eons of time that have passed since creation.

[DannyTN]

'The religious response to that seems to be that God created a "mature" universe that looks to us like it is billions of years old when in fact it is not. "

That's not the only religious response. I think we have misinterpreted the data and when rightly understood it won't show billions of years old at all.

[jdhighness]

If it the evidence for God's existence took no effort to see and were completely un-rationalizable, then one would be insane to not follow the Judeo-Christian religion's every command, and to the T.

What would the challenge be in that?

[antihannityguy]

I suppose the documeted evidence of rocks that formed during the mt. st. helens erruption and are less than 25 years old and have been dated at 220,000 years old might have something to do with it

[bondserv]

My question, then, is why would God try to trick us like that? Seems a bit cruel to me, and conflicts with my understanding of a God who loves those he created in his image.

It is about perspective.

Adam was created as a mature adult. God describes stretching the heavens like a curtain. When He stretched the light waves across space instantaneously He wasn't trying to trick us. He explained how He did it.

Isa 40:22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

In this scientific passage God describes how the earth is a sphere, and that from His enormous capacity the living things on the earth are insignificant. Letting us understand that creating a universe is no more difficult for Him, than stretching out a curtain would be for us. Billions of light years instantly. Hurling galaxies 200,000 miles per hour, like a Nolan Ryan fastball.

Why limit His capacity when He says otherwise.

[JohnnyM]

"The religious response to that seems to be that God created a "mature" universe that looks to us like it is billions of years old when in fact it is not"

My answer is God created a mature Adam. Adam was not created as a baby. Why would creating a mature Earth be somehow off limits for Him?

JM

[Messianic Jews Net]

For 6,000 years, until recently, most people did not regard the physical evidence as suggesting a universe billions of years old. Recently, scientists found ways to claim certain lines of evidence suggest an old earth, against the relatively uniform testimony of history and prior science. The scientific argument is going on in this thread.

But the objection you cite is really religious rather than scientific. I trust that you are asking as a seeker rather than a skeptic. Skeptics who ask that question believe they are wiser than God, that their model of what God should do is wiser or more truthful than what God appears to have done. But consider Genesis 1, which has been witnessed throughout history as a reliable description of what God did, and which has survived scientific inquiry so far (and will survive the latest round).

IOW God is not tricking anyone when he tells mankind from the start exactly what he did. However, at this date, he has certainly made clear that doubts should arise in the minds of many for his own purposes in history. He is not cruel to leave men free to idolize their doubts even to their own destruction. If we are instead pursuing him alone, he will reveal all we need.

If you seek God, he will show himself true and the false evidence false. Evolution was promulgated for the express purpose of denying God (Huxley, Shapley), and the billions of years are only necessary if evolution is believed. Nature will never ultimately conflict with the Bible's plain meaning; if it appears to, seek God and he will resolve the conflict.

[patriot_wes]

"Obviously, there is much physical evidence to dispute the argument that God created the universe in six days some 6,000 years ago. The religious response to that seems to be that God created a "mature" universe that looks to us like it is billions of years old when in fact it is not. My question, then, is why would God try to trick us like that?"

A trick me thinks not. Is the sky really blue or does God trick our eyes???