Old Earth vs. Young Earth

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Hi everyone, there has been a question that has been on my mind for awhile now and I was hoping if anyone could help me. For the past few months I have been reading the scripture more but one day this question popped into my mind and that is, “Just how old is the universe?” I still haven’t been able to completely understand that question or its answers. So if anyone could shed some light it would be much appreciated.

Thanks you all in advance!
 
You won’t find answers to science questions in scripture, but the current scientific consensus seems to be around 14 billion years old.
 
Jesus says, in the story of Lazarus, the Rich Man and Abraham, that if we don’t believe
Moses and the Prophets, we won’t believe even if someone were to rise from the dead.
Jesus also says, “…and the Scripture can not be set aside,…”

Genesis clearly states that the Earth and the Heavens were created in Six Days. After that,
the ages of the first fathers were stated very specifically. At some point, God specifically limits our age to 120, with a few stated exceptions. I believe the Jews have calculated this age to somewhere around 6000 years or so. Their calendar, from Genesis, is around 5K-6K years.

Now, some might accuse me of being fundamentalist, but Moses must have learned these specific geneologies and ages from God while on the mountain. He didn’t just make them up, for that would be a very detailed lie.
 
This shoulded even be a debate! Open a science textbook!
 
Fairwinds said:
which of the two conflicting genesis creation stories are you backing?
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The only conflict in the two Creation stories is whether A) The animals were created before or after Man (and brought to him individually) and B) “He created them male and female”, as to whether one man was created then woman or whether He created “them” in plural.

I think Both stories are true.
 
bsroufek said:
The only conflict in the two Creation stories is whether A) The animals were created before or after Man (and brought to him individually) and B) “He created them male and female”, as to whether one man was created then woman or whether He created “them” in plural.

I think Both stories are true.
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everyone on this forum who isn’t an atheist believes the stories are true. what’s your point?
 
Banff9 said:
Hi everyone, there has been a question that has been on my mind for awhile now and I was hoping if anyone could help me. For the past few months I have been reading the scripture more but one day this question popped into my mind and that is, “Just how old is the universe?” I still haven’t been able to completely understand that question or its answers. So if anyone could shed some light it would be much appreciated.

Thanks you all in advance!
Click to expand...
Catholics are free to believe either. I myself think the old Earth makes much more sense, however Catholicism doesn’t require that we hold either position.
 
bsroufek said:
Jesus says, in the story of Lazarus, the Rich Man and Abraham, that if we don’t believe
Moses and the Prophets, we won’t believe even if someone were to rise from the dead.
Jesus also says, “…and the Scripture can not be set aside,…”

Genesis clearly states that the Earth and the Heavens were created in Six Days. After that,
the ages of the first fathers were stated very specifically. At some point, God specifically limits our age to 120, with a few stated exceptions. I believe the Jews have calculated this age to somewhere around 6000 years or so. Their calendar, from Genesis, is around 5K-6K years.

Now, some might accuse me of being fundamentalist, but Moses must have learned these specific geneologies and ages from God while on the mountain. He didn’t just make them up, for that would be a very detailed lie.
Click to expand...
Scripture likewise says, “With the Lord, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.”

The 6000 year figure is from the Fall, not from Creation. No one knows how long Adam and Eve were in Paradise before they fell.
 
The Bible often uses metaphor. It depends on what the word “Days” can be interpreted to mean. A day for the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day?

You have to admit, the scientific and Biblical processes are pretty close aside from the term “Days.” Both agree that the earth was formless and void before coming together, both agree that man was created from the mud, or dirt, of the earth(abiogenesis, the “Primordial Ooze”).
 
Fairwinds said:
everyone on this forum who isn’t an atheist believes the stories are true. what’s your point?
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Your question was which of the two conflicting Creation stories are you backing?
I back both is the answer.
 
Fairwinds said:
wonderful. you agree with everyone who isn’t an atheist.
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No, it seems to me that while I back the Creation stories and therefore believe, from the geneological ages, that the Earth is about 6000 years old, some people believe in the Big Bang, which is not a Creation story, but an accident, a denial of God’s Creation.
 
Christianus_Dei said:
The Bible often uses metaphor. It depends on what the word “Days” can be interpreted to mean. A day for the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day?

You have to admit, the scientific and Biblical processes are pretty close aside from the term “Days.” Both agree that the earth was formless and void before coming together, both agree that man was created from the mud, or dirt, of the earth(abiogenesis, the “Primordial Ooze”).
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Except for the part about plants being here before the sun and stars.
 
bsroufek said:
No, it seems to me that while I back the Creation stories and therefore believe, from the geneological ages, that the Earth is about 6000 years old, some people believe in the Big Bang, which is not a Creation story, but an accident, a denial of God’s Creation.
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Except the Big Bang was first theorized by a Catholic priest…
 
bsroufek said:
No, it seems to me that while I back the Creation stories and therefore believe, from the geneological ages, that the Earth is about 6000 years old, some people believe in the Big Bang, which is not a Creation story, but an accident, a denial of God’s Creation.
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So do you think that basically all science is a giant conspiracy against God?
 
ngill09 said:
Except for the part about plants being here before the sun and stars.
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Ask anybody in the world what a Day is: they know. St. Peter’s statement about the thousand years as One Day and vice versa is used to express God’s omnipotence, not to claim that Creation Days were long and present Earth Days are somehow short in comparison.
 
bsroufek said:
Genesis clearly states that the Earth and the Heavens were created in Six Days.
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Let me stop you right there. Genesis does not clearly say that the Earth and the Heavens were created in exactly six days or what we know as six days. For God, a day is different than a day is for us. Why is that? Because God is outside of time and is not bound by time or space.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” - Isaiah 55:8-9
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God’s days could be thousands or millions or even billions of years long. In this sense, it would make sense that the earth is older than 6000 years old. And it’s hard to refute the physical evidence the earth shows through fossils, dirt samples, etc.

And as pointed out above, there are two accounts in Genesis for creation. The one you are probably referencing is known as the poetic creation story. It has a poetic theme, painting a picture of creation that explains creation in an astounding and exciting way. Creation is split up into six days with certain things happening each day, but all following a similar scheme. A major theme is accomplished each day: organizing the chaos, creating light from darkness, creating vegetation, creating animals, and finally creating humans. It is a poetic version of creation.

That is the most important thing we must remember when looking at Genesis: what is the genre? Is it theological, is it literal, is it poetic, is it figurative? What is it?

The first account of Genesis is poetic, figurative, and most importantly theological. It is explains who God is and why we were created. It is not an instruction book on how God laid out the earth. It doesn’t necessarily go step by step. It is not a literal account. Instead it is an attempt for us as humans to explain how earth may have been created.
 
bsroufek said:
No, it seems to me that while I back the Creation stories and therefore believe, from the geneological ages, that the Earth is about 6000 years old, some people believe in the Big Bang, which is not a Creation story, but an accident, a denial of God’s Creation.
Click to expand...
So show us where the Church insists on 6 24-hour days of creation and a 6000 year old earth, and where the Church denies the Big Bang. Otherwise you’re just being more Catholic than the pope.
 
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