Posted on 03/26/2009 7:20:22 PM PDT by GodGunsGuts
‘But the New Testament does not make a big deal out of the Age of the Earth…’
by Peter Milford
...
The issue of the age of the earth parallels circumcision. In my experience, the first response from Christians who do not accept the age of the earth that the Scriptures indicate, is to say something like “The New Testament does not make a big deal out of the age of the earth” or “It is not the purpose of the Bible to give the age of the earth”. Their point is that (1) the issue of the age of the earth is a non-essential, and (2) therefore not something we should argue about. They believe we are free to hold whatever view our conscience permits. They are right in the first part. In and of itself, the age of the earth is not a central focus of Scripture. But the distortions a long-age view brings to the gospel message make them wrong on the second part...
(Excerpt) Read more at creation.com ...
...Do not be a fool.
God is not bound by time. Time is defined as the change of the physical objects in relation to other physical objects; therefore, because nothing that was made was made without Him we can safely say that TIME is a created thing.
Therefore, if time is created, God must be outside of it. (Although this does not preclude Him permeating it.)
What makes you think I am a fool?
Is it foolish to believe the words that God Himself inscribed with his own hand on the tablets on Mount Sinai?
Do you doubt that God is capable of creating the earth and all life upon it in 6 days?
Can you show me any biblical authority that he took longer than that to accomplish his creation?
Yeah I read it.
Do you have any biblical authority for your assertion?
And why do you call me a fool?
And I have trouble balancing my checkbook.
That means I’m fully qualified as Speaker of the House or Leader of the Senate!
2 Peter 3:8 — But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
This means that God is eternal, as such He is outside of time.
I was rather hasty in calling you a fool because I was angry; it seemed to me that you were not trying to talk about the thing/idea, but merely tell me that I am wrong.
Let me put it this way: I believe God is greater than time, if He were to tell me “The six days were simply a euphemism.” I would nod and accept it. If He told me “Those were literally 24-hour days.” I would accept that too.
Now, right there I know you’re dying to jump on me and say “But He DID say it right there in Genesis!” but the narrative text can be read figuratively, just like the phrase “In the day of King Darius...” does not refer to a single 34-hour day but “the time when he was around/in power” like the saying “Back in my day...” means a time-period not a literal 24-hr day. Since this can be so clearly seen in the linguistics of English, which ‘day’ tends to be more literal (but is not necessarily so) how then can you argue that the Hebrew word used, “yom” which means period/age/day MUST mean a 24-hour day?
God is eternal whether he is outside of time or not. Just because God is eternal it does not mean that his statement in Exodus or the account in Genesis is not to be taken literally.
Frankly what I find interesting is the way people go out of their way to insist first that God did not create the world in six days and then as time goes on they begin to doubt the whole idea of creation and buy into the whole idea that the universe is self existent and that God had nothing to do with his own creation.
The fact of the matter is that when you read the Exodus account and the Genesis story, it is clear that God intended to convey the idea that while he could have created the whole universe in a nanosecond, he took HIS time and did it in 6 days.
Foolish? Perhaps.
(1Co 2:14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
The NT does make a big deal out of the inspiration of the OT....therefore out of the creation stories.
Jesus cited them as literal examples: “God made them male and female.”
You need to learn to balance your checkbook with other people's money.
Do you believe that despite what is stated in Genesis and Exodus and the clear statements of Jesus on the subject, that man is, in fact, the product of a natural evolutionary process?
If you believe that God is eternal, then you already have the answer to that question.
That is a better question.
He did state that He created the heavens and the earth in 6 days, did he not?
After he did that, did he change the clock? Or is he still using the same one?
But reading the Bible for physics is like reading Principia for theology.
Using it as a science text devalues the Scripture.
If the scripture presents false information, then it has no spiritual value.
Jesus walked on water.
If he did not do that, if He did not have the power to override the laws of physics, then he was not divine and his disciples, who recorded the event, were all lunatics or liars.
Jesus commanded the sea to calm and the wind to stop. If the seas and the wind did not obey his command, then he was a liar or a lunatic, as were his disciples.
As I understand the current rules, I can do that as either a Republican or a Democrat.
“...there is nothing separating the creation of the heavens and the earth from creation week.”
Except all of the observational evidence to the contrary, of course!
That is funny ! ( the financial system bit)
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