How old is the earth and how long did creation take?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deacon_Ed_B
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A 24-hour earthly day is one rotation of the Earth about its axis.

But, if the Earth wasn’t there at the beginning of creation, then how would one measure “a day”?
 
Al_Masetti said:
A 24-hour earthly day is one rotation of the Earth about its axis.

But, if the Earth wasn’t there at the beginning of creation, then how would one measure “a day”?
Click to expand...
Actually, I think the earth was there - or, at least, Genesis does not reference the creation of Earth itself, only of land and sea.

Though I highly doubt the human author of Genesis knew about 24-hour earthly days…but God did!
 
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (not the materials FOR them to “evolve”) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Ah, the earth WAS their on that 1st day) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (THUS SAYETH THE LORD, now in His love to you, He allows YOU to believe it (Him) or not). Yes, there are geneologies that can approximate the age. By the way, the author of Genesis was God.
 
Good afternoon,
does it matter whether we believe in the Creation as stated in the Bible or whether it was a very lengthy natural process? The way I see it is is that The Holy Spirit inspired the author(s), who were a primitive people after all, to write an explanation of God’s involvement with the Human Race. This had to be written or rather told in a form that simple minds would understand. God has taken millenia to reveal Himself to us. Coaxing and calling a rather rebellious creature - look at poor old Moses and the struggle he had. We have only recently come to the point where we know something of the earth’s history which to me makes Creation far more wonderful. Ok, so my ancestors may have been ape like beings who evolved until they arrived at a place in time when God decided that they would now be ready to receive knowledge of Him and be able to understand, or at least grasp the basic principle of relationship and soul. Certainly life as we know it is based on certain combinations of atoms and these were formed from the dust of the stars. The Miracle of Creation is that God instigated the Big Bang and in His Time brought life from chaos. I wonder what we will know about our solar system, the universe and our history in another two thousand years? I doubt that we will ever be able to repeat what God did although we might be a little closer to understanding the actual process of evolution by then.

I think it is naive to believe that Creation happened in 6 days. How do fundamentalists explain the fossils that have been discovered. Science may not have all the answers but it is useful in helping us explore the wonder of creation. If we accept the fundamentalist view then why didn’t early man have knowledge that would enable them to split the atom, cure certain illnesses etc? Don’t tell me, we EVOLVED in our knowledge to the point where we were able to identify and develop electricity and fossil fuels! If discovery or the acquisition of knowledge is seen as a process that enables us to evolve and test theories then I guess that it would be safe to say that yes, the creation story is simply that, “A story” meant for simpler minds but one that can still be used to teach us that creation was actually a process that happened over ‘time’. If God wanted to create why did He not do it all at once in a blinding flash? Why did it take Him 6 days? Why do we try to limit God and not to allow Him to use natural processes - after all it was He who formed them.

Does God have earth time in His eternal NOW? I think not. WE are the ones bound to being finite in this world but through His great gift of love have a part of Eternity within us (“Let us make him in Our Own image and likeness”). The Soul is that image not our corporeal exterior and I don’t expect to be resurrected into my earthly body at the end of time either. “WE shall see Him as He really is for we shall be LIKE Him” ie Spirit. I’m looking forward to my death. I think it’s going to be one heck of an adventure. No sitting around on fluffy clouds for me and being pestered by spirits with feathery wings (we have enough pigeons on earth thank you). I expect to be very very surprised by Who and What God is and the way in which I will be included into His Eternal Life.

Oops that was a diatribe, sorry. But I do have a beef about people who try to take things too literally and foist them onto our children when their education will quickly teach them otherwise. No wonder so many people drop away from Christianity. Their experiences or their reality will not match the Word of God and they then see it is a load of old hogwash. We need to teach children about symbolism and the wonder of it as it is expressed in the Old and New Testaments.

PAX
 
PAX, I find your reply to be narrow minded and simplistic and even somewhat gullible. For this being a website for Scriptural based dialogue you surely seem to except many sources for your “personal” truth other than His Word. Strange in your religion of evolution where is Adam and Eve? If you evolved from a monkey where is your missing link? Who says there was no electricity in the ancient world? “Forbidden History” J. Douglas Kenyon, (btw NOT a Christian nor “Fundamentalist” book by any means) show photos of huge electric cells found in the ruins of ancient Babylon. There are evidences that Hebrew peoples lived in ancient America and that the Phoenicians routinely traveled across the oceans a 1000 years before our Savior’s birth. There are carvings of Stegasaurs’ in ancient Ankar Wat in Cambodia and 1000’s of clay pottery from Mexico and Peru that are known to be 800-1000 years old of dinosaurs. “In the beginning God created” you asked, does it matter? As sure as your eternal soul’s destiny it does for the Bible is HIS Word, HIS plan for man and a record of His Son given for us for our salvation. You don’t accept the Bible literally or pick it apart then the Bible’s words judge your belief, “in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
 
wolfwredroses, Since you take the bible literally, please tell me whether you accept the creation account in chapter one of Genesis, or the creation account in chapter 2 of Genesis. I ask this because they are not the same. Which one is correct?
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
Deacon, your question is loaded and YOU know it! I ask YOU, do YOU take the Bible literally? If not, where not, if you do, where? Do you ever have the God given ability to reasonably discern when to do so and when not? Without question there are metaphors in the Bible, most are obvious. To the born again Christian such would be an insult to you as a practising catholic… (I speak of the body and blood of Christ). I don’t mean to insult you but there is nothing implied in either chapter’s one or two that creation as stated are not to be taken literally. I was not there, but neither were you, Job 38:4 God states, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding!” The Apostle Paul calls it “creation” in Romans 1:20, “For since ***the creation of the world ***His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Isaiah 42:5 "Thus says God the LORD, “Who created the heavens and stretched them out?” To call out of nothing as if they were! Created!
 
wolfwredroses said:
Deacon, your question is loaded and YOU know it! I ask YOU, do YOU take the Bible literally? If not, where not, if you do, where? Do you ever have the God given ability to reasonably discern when to do so and when not? Without question there are metaphors in the Bible, most are obvious. To the born again Christian such would be an insult to you as a practising catholic… (I speak of the body and blood of Christ). I don’t mean to insult you but there is nothing implied in either chapter’s one or two that creation as stated are not to be taken literally. I was not there, but neither were you, Job 38:4 God states, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding!” The Apostle Paul calls it “creation” in Romans 1:20, “For since ***the creation of the world ***His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Isaiah 42:5 "Thus says God the LORD, “Who created the heavens and stretched them out?” To call out of nothing as if they were! Created!
Click to expand...
There are two accounts of the creation story. One where God calls forth creation into existence and the other is where God actually works to create His creation. To meld these two different accounts together is difficult but the bottom line is God did create…period. To defend the Deacon, there are stories in the Bible that are diffucult to explain when the Bible does not explain them, such as the two different Creation stories. Which one to believe? Scholars have debated this for centuries but the bottom line is, I don’t think we will ever know this side of heaven why some things are in the Bible the way they are. To say we must just believe and not ask questions is intelluctually naive. God gave us our minds and intellect and we must ask the hard questions, even if we will never know the answer.
 
By your response, I understand that you do not take the bible literally. Please correct me if I am wrong in this conclusion. So too, I do not take the bible literally. If I did, I would have no eyes, hands, feet or tongue, as these have all been occasions of sin. Since we both agree that neither of us were around to witness creation, (which would have been wonderful to see) but both believe that God is the author of Creation and the creator of all that is, I would suggest we not try to put God in a box. He does not fit. He creates as he did, and point of fact is that neither of us know how he did it, (I believe it was by a single thought) or exactly how long a time (which is also his creation) that it took. (Also, God is not subject to time, which is his creation) As one much wiser than I put it, “The bible tells us how to go to heaven. Not how the heavens go.” I guess what I am saying is, that the salvation of my immortal soul does not depend on whether I believe it was seven calendar days as we understand it, or seven undetermined periods of time. (This in response to your earlier post).
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
Deacon,

Well stated! 👍 I have to qualify myself somewhat. I do take the Scriptures literally. I have to say I do this first, I do not do it with every word as though there were no metaphors (as I stated one is where I disagree with Catholic teachings on communion). That said I appreciate the heart to which you wrote. Intreging is that interpreted literally the Scriptures do show the earth approximately 6,000 years old, and if one day is as a thousand years to God, II Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” and if the seven days of creation are a reflection of human history. The last day, the day of rest being Christ millenium reign of peace on earth in Jerusalem… Well, just interesting food for fodder. Off to the golf course, take care!
 
wolfwredroses said:
where I disagree with Catholic teachings on communion). !
Click to expand...
I am so glad that you brought this up. I would ask that you read the Gospel of John Chapter 6:32-69 What most people miss is that when many of his disciples said “we cannot take this kind of talk” he let them go. So serious was he about what he said that he even turned to the 12 apostles and asked, “Are you going to leave me too”. Note, he did not change anything he said and did not back off. He was even prepared to let the 12 apostles go if they did not believe in his words. Just a little food for thought. Also look at James 2:24. This says most clearly that faith alone is not sufficient. Also note they are speaking of justification, not salvation.

I too have to go now, as I will be at a Divine Mercy Celebration (We celebrate it on the first Sunday of every quarter at the grotto here.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
Mister_De said:
Funny, I must of missed the newscast of you traveling through time in your time machine and witnessing what happened and how long ago.
Click to expand...
**God gave us a BRAIN and the ability to “connect the dots” to figure it all out. One doesn’t need a time machine to go back to the beginning to witness what happened and how long ago. But a measurable IQ helps. 😛 **
 
I think Chapter 11 of Genesis ends the time before our time. It is when the people get scattered and Abrahams father is introduced which is the rise of civilization as we know it. Abraham can be placed around 2000 BC. After the Flood it would have taken some time and a few generations to repopulate a society enough to build a tower as described.

Though I believe in the old earth I do not think evolution is responsible for the diversity of life. Each day of Genesis is a reasonable epoch division to get from one day to the next an though I think it fairly literal in the sense I believe God created each species of life on earth individually and introduced them at different times for reasons that might not be fully understood. As an example early earth life was bacteria only, that needed to be there in a natural way which was to be the food for the next species imparted to the Earth.

The fossil record shows only that life existed in many forms and despite the well reasoned theories of evolution it doesnt answer the human question.

I have often wondered however about your specific question: how long did creation take? In one sense it is still taking place for each flower, or baby that is born, new life is created, but Genesis states that God rested and blessed the 7th day indicating He stopped whatever efforts He was doing for His part in creation.

Tolkein wrote a story that describes his fantasy world’s view of its creation and truth be told I like his view in some ways to apply to our own creation.
 
Wolfwredroses.

I thank you for your reply but I think you might have misinterpreted my meaning. I believe that God created all things! Otherwise He would not be a Creator God. How Hi did it and over what time frame is of no matter to me. None of us know the mind of God as creator. He speaks to His people at different levels according to their ability to receive His word and understand it. Just as I accept that God was Creator because the bible tells me so I also believe that Christ gave us His crucified body through the Blessed Sacrament - how he does it, other than through the words and actions of the priest is the Mystery of Transubstantiation. We cannot understand it but yet we believe.

The Word became flesh and lived among us but the Father and Holy Spirit remain in non corporeal states. That is why we are told that what we are yet to be has not yet been revealed. But we shall see Him as He is because we too will be like Him.

I object to your suggestion that I pick and chose what to accept. I don’t! But I do have a God given brain and it is that gift I use to try to understand the books of the Bible, not only in their ability to tell of relationship between God and the Chosen People in times past but also as relevancy to my own time and my own Journey towards Him. So, perhaps I might spend longer in the “desert” than you but if that is the Father’s wish for me then all I can say is “FIAT”. AS for my soul’s destiny I will commit that to the Love, Mercy, Compassion and Understanding of the Triune God. I trust in Him and believe that He has the power to wrest my soul from death.

You state that you accept metaphors why can’t the creation story be told in a metaphor?

PAX
 
PAXWales said:
Wolfwredroses.

I thank you for your reply but I think you might have misinterpreted my meaning. I believe that God created all things! Otherwise He would not be a Creator God. How Hi did it and over what time frame is of no matter to me. None of us know the mind of God as creator. He speaks to His people at different levels according to their ability to receive His word and understand it. Just as I accept that God was Creator because the bible tells me so I also believe that Christ gave us His crucified body through the Blessed Sacrament - how he does it, other than through the words and actions of the priest is the Mystery of Transubstantiation. We cannot understand it but yet we believe.

The Word became flesh and lived among us but the Father and Holy Spirit remain in non corporeal states. That is why we are told that what we are yet to be has not yet been revealed. But we shall see Him as He is because we too will be like Him.

I object to your suggestion that I pick and chose what to accept. I don’t! But I do have a God given brain and it is that gift I use to try to understand the books of the Bible, not only in their ability to tell of relationship between God and the Chosen People in times past but also as relevancy to my own time and my own Journey towards Him. So, perhaps I might spend longer in the “desert” than you but if that is the Father’s wish for me then all I can say is “FIAT”. AS for my soul’s destiny I will commit that to the Love, Mercy, Compassion and Understanding of the Triune God. I trust in Him and believe that He has the power to wrest my soul from death.

You state that you accept metaphors why can’t the creation story be told in a metaphor?

PAX
Click to expand...
Personally, I believe that the Infinite God has an equally Infinite sense of humor. And that He DELIBERATELY creates puzzles to make us crazy.

You know … the platypus.

One L Lamas, Two L Llamas and Three L lllamas.

And the braided rings of Saturn … [ok, you earthlings, go figure THAT one out.]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top