Earth Age?

I just wanted to know what you all thought about the age of the Earth? Are you a traditionalist who thinks its (I think) 14,000 years old. Or do you think that its 4-7 billion years.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christian gentry on July 21, 2012 at 9:09am

As previously stated

1.Grand canyon wise it was made because of several phases of being under water not just one.
2.How come we have no record of coexistence?
3. What about stars whose light has been traveling to reach us for billions of years?

Permalink Reply by Sydney on July 21, 2012 at 8:40pm

1. We are taught that it was made by several phases under water. So it's common belief. It's taught alongside millions of years and evolution. However, biblically it happened during the Great Flood. The power of the flood was magnificent. Enough to split apart continents and create the Grand Canyon.

2. What do you mean?

3. Refer to article in last post ...also keep in mind that the universe is continually expanding.

Permalink Reply by Christian gentry on July 21, 2012 at 9:08pm

1.If you go to the grand canyon you'd find that it is built in layers with many layers of limestone which is made because of water
2 . Why do we have no other evidence of co exsistance between humans and dinosaurs

Permalink Reply by James Michael DeMaio on July 21, 2012 at 7:10pm

Thanks for taking the time to keep answering Sydney. I delight in mutually respectful debate. I read the article you sited, and your explanation of the contradiction, but found neither to be convincing.

If verse 5 says that water is necessary for plants, than it also says that humans are necessary for plants. Which would be a contradiction to chapter ones order. Also verse eight and nine both name God creating plants after the formation of the first man. (I am certain it could be assumed that there were other plants existing, but this idea is not directly supported by the Genesis 2 account.)

More generally, I find the fact that there is far more to know about God than can be contained in the Bible both exhilirating and pleasantly enough Biblical: "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Last verse of John.

Permalink Reply by Sydney on July 21, 2012 at 8:51pm

No problem. I have a couple of questions for you though..

1. How do you think the earth was formed?

2. If you cannot believe Genesis, then how do you believe the rest of the Bible? Or know that it is true?

Verse 5 says humans are necessary for plants. And just that... necessary. It does not say that humans were created. God created humans the next day. Water was created before the plants.

Verse 8 says "God planted". However, that does not mean Eden was where the only plants were and it does not mean that the plants were created on that day. It simply means God planted a Garden in this place and he put Adam there.

The Genesis 2 account is focused solely on the creation of man. Genesis 1 tells us the order in which the earth and everything in it was created. Genesis 2 is the creation of man in more detail.

Yes, there is a lot about God we do not know. And I agree with that verse in John. We have no idea what other things Jesus did while on this earth. But one thing I know for sure is that the Bible is a complete historical account of the world and everything in it should be taken for absolute truth.

http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/genesis-deuteronomy/dont-genesis...

Permalink Reply by James Michael DeMaio on July 22, 2012 at 7:02am

Both of the articles you've sited start with the presupposition that if Young Earth creation is in any way possible from what we know, then it must be true. I operate under the belief that whatever the evidence supports best is what I should believe. This means for me that I find the who and why for the existence of the universe (and a poetic description of how) in Genesis, I find the details of how in science.

1. As modern science theorizes, after the big bang matter pooled and gravity pulled it into a mas of super heated gas which hardened as it cooled.

2. I can believe Genesis 100%. I just don't need something to be factually true to still be true. Just like the parables are true even if they never happened. There is more to stories than the facts. The factual truth is easy to twist and to turn to mean anything you want. Story truth is more likely to make it's desired meaning clear and uncontested.

Permalink Reply by Sydney on July 23, 2012 at 5:39am

1. This theory does not make any coherent sense. Where did this matter come from? Who put it there?

2. No you cannot. The Bible is to be taken as absolute fact. Genesis is not a parable. The events that occurred in Genesis actually happened. The Bible is not just some fairytale book of stories. As Christians, we need to take the Bible as absolute truth.

You believe old Earth theories, which are wordly. They are secular and were created to rival the belief of Christians, which is creationism. The facts for evolution are not solid and evolution has a hard time being explained. I used to believe these theories as well until I realized there is not possible way for it to have been truth. There is a divine creator and that creator is God. There is no other explanation than what happened in Genesis actually occurred.

Permalink Reply by James Michael DeMaio on July 23, 2012 at 12:45pm

1. First off, You asked how do I believe the earth was formed not where did matter come from. The answer to that is from the first mover, ie God, ie that which always was, always is and always will be.

Second, the Big Bang theory is internally consistent and successfully predicted things found in the universe that were as of yet unknown (such as Cosmic Background Radiation). Whereas many other theories lack the same level of evidence. To believe otherwise without evidence or argument otherwise is to be disingenuous to my mind.

2. Well, you can't really tell me what I can and cannot do. I think that it is atrocious that my mom insists on removing all pink from her tuna steaks, and yet she does it. Absolute truth is a finnicky concept. We do not all have the same understandings of the same words because we have different experiences and different brains. Even if we could get to some agreeable definition for any term there is no certainty that we understand that defninition in the same way. In this sense, absolute truth is unconveyable. Of course despite this we continue to communicate with the understanding that we can articulate our thoughts well enough. That said, it is often easier to get a point across by telling a story rather than simply stating facts. Okay, so now that I've rambled about absolute truth too much let me ask you a few questions:

1. What evidence does the Judeo-Christian young earth creation myth have over any other creation myth? (People believing it and faith don't work because people believe many other creation myths. [Myth here means story explaining how things are, not necessarily a fictional story]).

2. How does it change somebody's life to hold my version of Genesis vs. yours?

Lastly, please take any and all attempts at humor as attempts to lighten the mood, not be condescending. I have been warned I can come across that way, but believe me I value you as another intelligent being far too much to think anything but the highest for someone who is willing to engage me in this conversation.

Permalink Reply by nathan on August 2, 2012 at 9:23am

4-7 billion for sure.

Permalink Reply by Abigail Thompson on August 2, 2012 at 8:02pm

i believe it is an old earth. i do believe God is the reason for all that is but i think the creation story in genesis is more or less a creation myth. it took humanity a long time to figure out the solar system and the galaxy and the limitless scope of the universe. i do not think the early hebrews would have bought into the modern theroy of evolution and creation, so like other cultures they made a myth. is that a stirctly catholic idea..no...big NO. but it is what i think