Earth: Rock of Ages or Young Planet?

Inspire Tomorrow ^ | Dec. 15, 2010 | Rosemarie Thompson

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” (Exodus 20:11a KJV)

According to evolutionary scientists, the earth is over 4 billion years old; but Biblical chronology dates the age of the earth at about 6,000 years. In an attempt to reconcile the two extreme positions, many creation scientists have used 2 Peter 3:8 to state that the six days mentioned in the Genesis account were not literal 24-hour days. However, if we used the “a day is as a thousand years” formula, we would have the six days of creation plus the day of rest equaling 7,000 years, at most. Hardly a good reconciliation with 4 billion years. So, how old is the earth?...

Fifth article in a series about Creation by Rosemarie Thompson.

Comments welcome!

[PIF]

Sorry - Not enough Espresso - was thinking two things at the same time — age of solar system and age of univese — the later lost. :)

[gop4lyf]

“What would be the population of the Earth after a million years if none of the people died?”

To answer yours, two. They didn’t procreate until they were removed from the Garden.

[UCANSEE2]

and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.

You've got to admit, it's a darn good thing Adam spoke English.

[tacticalogic]

Wonder what happens if you carbon date the lava?

You'll get varying readings depeding on whether or not that particular bit of lava settled over some organic matter and cooked it while the lava solidified.

Radiometric dating is an atomic-level measurement. Melting and re-solidifying it doesn't change it's atomic structure. They're playing an apples-and-oranges game.

[Larry Lucido]

I read the Bible too. Don’t get paranoid about getting a multiple choice question wrong on the final. Saved people can disagree and do on interpretation. They remain saved. Stop being paranoid. God didn’t set anyone up to fail. Jesus told us what is important.

We’re all going to be AMAZED at who is there at Heaven’s reception center. There will be a whole lot of “YOU got in too????” Our pea brains miss a lot of important things while we focus on minutiae.

[stormer]

Quite alright, an easy conflation. At least you didn’t say 6,000. I always enjoy these types of thread, and if I didn’t have to go to the dentist this AM I’d stick around and offend the YEC crowd. Alas.

[Larry Lucido]

Jesus said what we must do to be saved. It covers young earth and old earthers equally.

But while you’re studying for your final exam, don’t forget the one about angels dancing on the head of a pin. The answer is 1000.

[UCANSEE2]

Now you are just being silly.

Christ rising isn’t a detail, it’s a concept.
One of the most major ‘concepts’ in the Bible.

There are arguments over his exact appearance, the exact timing, the manner in which the boulder was moved, who got his clothes, but those are the details that hardly matter.

Details can be important. But when there is a conflict in details because of the variety of sources(translations/versions), it should be obvious they aren’t the important part of the MESSAGE.

[Bayard]

Yet, Jesus was both human and God. You and I are saying very similar things here, but think on this a bit.

Can one submit themselves to God’s will without that submission itself being and act of the will which God gave him? Did Jesus not humble himself to death in his humanity as well as his divinity? Was it not his full submission that of a supreme act of love? Love requires real freedom or it not self-giving. I think we can both agree that Jesus gave his entire self in submission and death.

Additionally, if God gives man his gifts, don’t you think it a bit pointless for him to do so and not make use of them? Why did God give man a will and an intellect if he did not intend for him to use it? When it comes to his Biblical word, is it not a cooperation with the spirit that inspires the message that allows the message to be one from the spirit?

[UCANSEE2]

can you take Obama back with you when you leave?

Wish I could, but he's on the NO FLY LIST.

[UCANSEE2]

I think you are in over your head here ...

That's how the dinosaurs became fossils.

[paladin1_dcs]

I understand, since I used to take this position, but considering the gravity of what is at stake, I’m not leaving anything to chance. If man’s understanding disagrees with God’s word, I’m siding with God’s word. I don’t care if the rest of the world laughs at me, I only care if God sees my desire to trust Him.

[eastforker]

You said:....,To answer yours, two. They didn’t procreate until they were removed from the Garden............................................................Then why did god put a mark on cain so that threst of thw world would know what he had done. Also, Why would god have given them the ability to procreate when he made them if the original intent was for them to live forever and no need to procreate? Why would gender even have been an issue to god since the Father, and Holy Ghost are both the male gender? Think about that for a moment.

[Vegasrugrat]

One of the three scientists that decoded the Human Genome once said that you’d have just as much of a chance with a hurricane plowing through a junkyard and leaving a fulling functional Jumbo-Jet than life on Earth being an accident of nature.

His name is Dr. John Sanford of Cornell University. Sanford is the author of more than 80 scientific publications and has been granted more than 30 patents dealing with genetics. He was largely responsible for creating the "gene gun" used for genetic engineering technology. Sanford has been twice awarded the Distinguished Inventor Award by the Central New York Patent Law Association, in 1990 and again in 1995.

Sanford explained that Charles Darwin knew virtually nothing about genetics. As a consequence he could articulate a scientific hypothesis that at that time might have seemed reasonable but that today should be recognized as impossible.

[paladin1_dcs]

Yes, the resurrection is a concept, but the details are what matter, otherwise He wouldn’t have fulfilled the prophecies about it and wouldn’t have been recognized by the first believers.

Tell me this, would it matter to you if Christ was not born of a Virgin, or if He didn’t live a sin-free life? These are details that are important, but you’re saying that concepts are more important than details. What about the detail of “no way to the Father but by me”?

Details put the power in the concepts.

[paladin1_dcs]

What about packing him in a wheel well? I never said he had to fly first class, or even inside the ship.

[geologist]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

GAP

Then there is the creation of the first day. There is a gap. The time of the first two verses is separated from the 6 days of creation following.

So the first two verses could be any length of time.

Interestingly this is a teaching from one of the Calvary Church It was on the radio locally for a long time. Still going in other markets. It was a dozen or so great teachers around America teaching ex positionally day by day. All were already in differing areas of the Holy Bible. I listened daily. G.Vernon McGee, Greg Laurie, Alistair Begg,-—— Smith, and several others

Makes sense to me.

[UCANSEE2]

They're playing an apples-and-oranges game.

Which seems to be a very popular game. The mind grasping for 'any' answer to explain something currently beyond our comprehension.

[paladin1_dcs]

Agreed, He said we have to Believe Him. I agree that it covers YECs and OECs equally. The problem is that I don’t see how you can believe Him without believing the books that He handed down to us.

What kind of pin are we talking about here anyway? Hat pin, clothes pin, push pin or cotter pin? These things matter, after all.

All or nothing.

[Matchett-PI]

“
Most of what you say is based on fundamental ignorance. The Jews, who wrote the Bible, do not count time from the creation of the universe. They count it from the creation of the Neshama, the soul of human life, or the creation of the soul of Adam. On Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, Jews blow the Shofar three times during the Musaf service, and proclaim, “Hayom Harat Olam - today is the birthday of the world.”” ~ Hootowl

Exactly.

http://aboulet.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/ancient-near-eastern-thought-and-the-old-testament/

Ancient near eastern thought and the old testament

John Walton (Ph.D., Hebrew Union College) is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. His new book, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament is a fascinating study into the background of the cognitive environment of the world of the Old Testament authors. His purpose is to use the literature and cultural artifacts of the ancient Near East in such a way that is sheds light on the world in which the Old Testament authors lived. His logic is as follows:

If someone outside the language/culture matrix wants to take advantage of information that is communicated within the language/culture matrix, cultural education is required–the individual has to adapt to the unfamiliar language/culture matrix (20).

[snip]

Comments:

jason Says:
7 July 2007 at 3.07 pm

If you have time, I’m curious how he argues that “ontology in the ancient world was more connected to function than to substance. In other words, something exists when it has a function, not when it takes up space or is a substance characterized by material properties.” What evidence does he provide for that point?

aboulet Says:
10 July 2007 at 12.46 pm

Jason: Walton beings this point in his fourth chapter (”The Gods”) where he shows that the origins of the gods in the ANE (in Egyptian literature and in epics like Atrahasis Epic and Enuma Elish) are always connected with (1) being separated from other matter, (2) being given a name, and (3) being given a function or jurisdiction in some area (defined by the destinies decreed for them). Since the ontology of the gods was function oriented (i.e. a god would not exist unless he has a jurisdiction over something and a function to perform), a god who does not function or act fades into nonexistence. In chapter seven (”Cosmic Geography”) he makes the point that according to ANE literature, this “function oriented” ontology applies not only to the gods, but to everything in the cosmos. He cites Egyptian literature and Mesopotamian iconography. The application he makes is in the creation of man and woman. In the second creation narrative, Adam is created to care after the garden. In the creation of Adam: you see dust being separated from other matter and becoming man and man being given a function. In the creation of Eve you see the rib becoming separate from other matter and becoming woman and her being given a function (to be man’s partner). This is right in line with other creation narrative in the ANE as function is always part of the creation. Of course, Walton says it much better than I just did.