Bible Genealogy- Atheist's question

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A friend of mine does not believe in any religion and he asked me something. He said the bible traces the lineage of Jesus from Adam and Eve and it is around 6,000 years. If this were true that would mean humans have been in existence for 8,000 years or so. However most scientists believe humans colonies most of the world by 10,000 BCE or so. Would this disprove the bible in anyway? How would you answer this question?

It is easy to accept evolution as part of the biblical story, God could easily of set that in motion, but I was wondering what people thought of this.
 
JSomerville said:
He said the bible traces the lineage of Jesus from Adam and Eve and it is around 6,000 years. If this were true that would mean humans have been in existence for 8,000 years or so.
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Really?
I would ask if they can actually write out this geneology for me.
 
The bible is 100% inspired and accurate - for it’s intended purpose and message.

We have no evidence that the purpose of the biblical geneologies was intended to provide us with a scientific timeline of human history. It is provided to give us a framework tracing significant moments in salvation history and to demonstrate how all of salvation history leads up to the Incarnation of Christ.

I’m not saying I’m 100% certain that there were minor figures left out of that geneology or not. From God’s point of view and what He wanted to tell us, it is irrelevant.

Tell him that if that’s his biggest beef with the credibility of christianity, he might as well get dressed for baptism!
 
The Jewish calendar claims to go back to A&E, and the current Jewish year is 5772. Presumably, the rabbis achieved this result by counting back the genealogies of personae in the Tanakh (OT).

Yet, on territory held by Israel itself sits the city of Jericho, having archaeological remnants 10,000 years old!

This is not in any way a faith issue for me, still, I wonder how Judaism accommodates these historical records.

I’d imagine that Christians dating human life back 6000 years use the Jewish sources.

ICXC NIKA
 
Most of us are familiar with the Matt chap 1 genealogy of Jesus. That starts from Abraham and it’s repeated during one of the Christmas masses.
 
JSomerville said:
A friend of mine does not believe in any religion and he asked me something. He said the bible traces the lineage of Jesus from Adam and Eve and it is around 6,000 years. If this were true that would mean humans have been in existence for 8,000 years or so. However most scientists believe humans colonies most of the world by 10,000 BCE or so. Would this disprove the bible in anyway? How would you answer this question?

It is easy to accept evolution as part of the biblical story, God could easily of set that in motion, but I was wondering what people thought of this.
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Welcome to CAF! 👋

You’re friend seems to be making use of the popular strawman that equates all of biblical Christianity with the literalistic, creationistic interpretation of biblical geneologies.

The short answer is that Creationism is not Catholic teaching. The view is not condemned. People can view the world as being a few thousand years old if they really want to (though there isn’t much to back up such a view). But the Church doesn’t really comment on it because the age of the world is a scientific question, not a religious one.

There are many previous threads on this topic that are no doubt filled with links to helpful books and resources.
 
JSomerville said:
A friend of mine does not believe in any religion and he asked me something. He said the bible traces the lineage of Jesus from Adam and Eve and it is around 6,000 years. If this were true that would mean humans have been in existence for 8,000 years or so. However most scientists believe humans colonies most of the world by 10,000 BCE or so. Would this disprove the bible in anyway? How would you answer this question?

It is easy to accept evolution as part of the biblical story, God could easily of set that in motion, but I was wondering what people thought of this.
Click to expand...
The exact age of the earth and human race can become trivial, but we know that it is as old as when God first made it, and that Genesis is innerant and infallible.

Please note that in the right conditions populations can propagate at enormous speeds. Also know that the geneologies traced in the Scriptures tend to trace descent of patriarchs exclusively, much like older countries would trace the geneology of kings. It is by no means an extant record of all their descendants and relatives, as to include this would become preposterous and tedious. The descendants of Cain (for example) in the Scriptures are almost certainly all his heirs who ruled after him the cities he founded and ruled.

Also, the Bible teaches devolution, not evolution. Devolution holds that when a species deviates from its genetic mean the result is catastrophic, but that species have within their genetic library enormous variety e.g. in accidentals like height. Undoubtedly a large part of the reason for the catastrophic collapse in life expectancy after the flood was the consequence of the loss of over 99% of human genetic information. Essentially the loss of genetic diversity resulted in consequences no different than inbreeding. As we know, inbreeding is dangerous and becomes exponentially more dangerous the longer it is practiced, producing sickly persons.

The Bible’s teaching is perfectly in keeping with what we know about genetics: variety and diversity is good in a population; loss or reduction, bad. Catastrophic is deviation. Genetic disorder, after all, is a medical condition always in the negative.
 
Ask your friend if the mathematical works of Pythagoras are invalid because of Pythagoreanism [a cult he founded that was heavily shaped by mathematics].
 
Hi I am new to the forums,

I beleive that the bible should not be taken literally. the bible is designed to teach us about faith and is giving the future generations who were not there when Jesus lived, his teachings. I doubt that the bible was put together to tell us facts and numbers of cronology. If anything it is full of riddles for us to interprate for our selves and in doing so test the power of our faith.

So, i wouldnt use the bible as a measuring stick, and I do not beleive that science has disproved anything. This is what faith comes down to.
 
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