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I've always found the whole creationist movement interesting. I don't agree with it personally, but it seems there is a sizeable group of people who do.

My personal belief is that God created the universe billions of years ago. The story of Creation in the bible is a parable describing the process in a simplified way for people who didn't have an understanding of astrophysics, carbon-dating, biology etc. As we learn more about science, the general outline of the creation of the universe remains the same, we're just able to "fill in the blanks."

So, two questions:

1) How do folks who believe that the world is 6000 years old explain carbon-dating?

2) What about fossils of things like dinosaurs etc. that are hundreds of millions of years old?

I've always found the whole creationist movement interesting. I don't agree with it personally, but it seems there is a sizeable group of people who do.

Yeah. There are also people who believe that we never landed on the moon either. And then there is that that bridge in Brooklyn that I've been meaning to sell . . .

Frankly I have yet to discover how the fundies can take the two separate and distinct Creation Stories found in Genesis literally and yet "when their hand offends them" they fail to cut it off.

It is a mystery deeper than that of archaic man.

My personal belief is that God created the universe billions of years ago. The story of Creation in the bible is a parable describing the process in a simplified way for people who didn't have an understanding of astrophysics, carbon-dating, biology etc. As we learn more about science, the general outline of the creation of the universe remains the same, we're just able to "fill in the blanks."

That's a commonly held belief. The thing is that God could easily have said it was billions of years old and came from a big bang. He could have said that he formed life forms over millions of years. Man was much much more sophisticated 3000 years ago than a lot of people realise. Therefore the theistic evolution model makes God out to be a fibber. IMHO.

So, two questions:

1) How do folks who believe that the world is 6000 years old explain carbon-dating?

Carbon dating is not reliable. It depends on as assumption about the original ration of radio isotopes and them makes a simple math equation about the current ratio.

On a similar note: If scientist were to examine Adam 1 minute after he was created, how old would they say he is? Science is blind and helpless to prove the supernatural because science is natural science. There are lots of C vs E threads on the FR. Ask any of them what science says about a big bang? There is no natural science that explains that.

2) What about fossils of things like dinosaurs etc. that are hundreds of millions of years old?

Fossils are formed under certain very special circumstances. If an animal dies it does not fossilize it decays. This is always the case... unless it is compressed under tons of silt. This is what happened 4000 years ago with the big flood. There are whales fossilized vertically through "hundreds of millions of years of stratta" as if they stood on their heads for hundreds of millions of years. Not likely.

Good questions. I don't claim to have all the answers, or even to be able to argue the issues conclusively, but here are a couple of points to ponder.

1) Carbon dating makes an assumption (key-word) that the naturally occurring levels of C-14 have been consistent throughout all of history with what we can measure today.

2) If you can believe that God is powerful enough to create the kinds of very complex life forms that we observe around us every day, why is it so difficult to believe that He was powerful enough to create it instantaneously, or that He could have created a mature planet, complete with fossils?

3) How do folks who believe the world is billions of years old explain the discovery of items such as a fossilized (petrified) tree trunk that extends vertically through a number of layers of strata, that would otherwise be described as representing "millions of years" of layerization?

Many Creationist who believe in the 6,000 year old earth believe that dinosaurs existed with man, and were wiped out by the flood. This is one version I've heard.

Another interesting version by Creationist is that God created the heavens and earth separately from the creation in Genesis. If you read Genesis 1, it states that in the beginning he did this. Then it goes on to state that on the fist day he created light. The interpretation here is that God created the earth, and dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures that lived before man. These went extinct, and the earth was void. This could have taken place over millions of years. Then, 6,000 years ago he created light, dark, plants, animals, and man according to the Genesis account. I think some interpretations claim that the creation of light was actually lifting the cloud cover from the earth to reveal the stars and such. There is quite a variety of interpretation.

Personally, I think the same as you. Many scholars attribute the authorship of Genesis to Moses, some Noah. Either way, they weren't there. If the story of creation were inspired by a vision, or dream, or some other revelation, the author would have written it according to his interpretation. In Genesis, there are passages that are worded such as, "the earth sprang forth plants," and ,"the earth sprang forth life," and also, "man was formed from the dust of the earth." Cellular organisms would appear to be invisible. In a vision, or dream, creation might resemble life springing forth from the earth.