Young Earth v. Old Earth

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algran

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There have been many evangelicals lately who hold to the Young Earth theory, that the earth is 6,000 years old. They deduce this from scripture. I would like to know what some of you CF members think of this theory. It seems to me that science has provided considerable evidence that shows the contrary: that the earth is very old. About 4.5 billion years. Please render your comments on this subject. Thanks.
 
algran said:
There have been many evangelicals lately who hold to the Young Earth theory, that the earth is 6,000 years old. They deduce this from scripture. I would like to know what some of you CF members think of this theory. It seems to me that science has provided considerable evidence that shows the contrary: that the earth is very old. About 4.5 billion years. Please render your comments on this subject. Thanks.
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Old Earth! Definitely. There is too much proof otherwise. I remember telling a non-Catholic, culturally Jewish friend, actually that I learned Evolution in Catholic School and she seemed really surprised. I think Religion and Science can coexist and I do think the Earth is as old as

I think about it this way, to God, time is irrelevant. To Him millions of years is nothing. 😉

Sad thing was that I was sitting with my cousin, former Catholic, now Independent Fundamental Baptist and we looked up some rock formations in the nearby area which were dated at 30 Million years or so, which she disputed because the Earth isn’t that old. I really was surprised she believed this as she’d been raised pretty much in the same way as I and how could she just dismiss it all so easily? Then she told me about some Indian Ruins where the people up and vanished, apparently, taken up to heaven or something.

Don’t know why I went off on that ramble.
 
It seems that fundamentalist Christians take the days or periods of creation as limited literal concepts. Others understand the period of times in God’s creation as being more evolutional. God is not constricted from the latter. In the face of the evidence, I’d be a ‘non-believing’ fundamentalist if I believed as they do. A priest I knew asked a pastor from a fundamentalist Christian faith how he reconciles science and his view of creation. He replied, “I keep them in separate mental compartments.” This may not be response of all Fundamentalist Christians. They are surely uncomfortable when their children study science or are confronted by dissenting documentaries. I always spare them a sympathetic thought when confronted by such things…or even the Grand Canyon, or Petrified Forest…
 
algran said:
There have been many evangelicals lately who hold to the Young Earth theory, that the earth is 6,000 years old. They deduce this from scripture. I would like to know what some of you CF members think of this theory. It seems to me that science has provided considerable evidence that shows the contrary: that the earth is very old. About 4.5 billion years. Please render your comments on this subject. Thanks.
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We are free to believe in either. However, I believe in the 4.5 billion years old Earth and think a 6,000 years old Earth is simply nonsense.
It tends to be hardline Protestant Bible fundamentalists who believe in the young earth.
 
algran said:
There have been many evangelicals lately who hold to the Young Earth theory, that the earth is 6,000 years old. They deduce this from scripture. I would like to know what some of you CF members think of this theory. It seems to me that science has provided considerable evidence that shows the contrary: that the earth is very old. About 4.5 billion years. Please render your comments on this subject. Thanks.
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scripture tells the story of creation in poetic language, and science, several thousand years later after Genesis was written is finally able to assert with some confidence that the order of creation is as described in Genesis. the bible says nothing about the age of the earth, or the time elapesed for the various stages of creation. the poetic use of “day and evening followed” suggests an ordered creation, not a literal length of time. It would be absurd to assert that the first “day” of creation was 24 hours since our sun, but this account had not yet been created, so the solar day, as we measure time on earth, the standard for measuring earthly time, did not yet exist.

since the bible, whose realm is faith, not science, is silent on age of the earth, we look to science, whose realm this is.
 
Genesis teaches an Old Earth type creation. Not our scientific evolution per say.

Evolution is scientifically impossible, by laws as we currently understand. Today’s scientist can’t conclusively prove that evolution could work … as their theory now proposes.

However, God’s ‘spiritual energy’ has given the impetus at various points in creation process … to enable physical laws to transform the earth over millions/billions of years.

Evolution [w/o a creator] is dead.
 
Psalm 90:4

“For You, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours.”
 
I’m not going to get into a debate here or anything - I promised myself I wouldn’t do that anymore. But I will state that I believe in a young earth.
 
Mister_De said:
I’m not going to get into a debate here or anything - I promised myself I wouldn’t do that anymore. But I will state that I believe in a young earth.
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I would still be interested to know why you think that considering science proves it is over 4 billion years old and there is NOTHING in the Bible about the age of the Earth.
 
Sad thing was that I was sitting with my cousin, former Catholic, now Independent Fundamental Baptist and we looked up some rock formations in the nearby area which were dated at 30 Million years or so, which she disputed because the Earth isn’t that old. I really was surprised she believed this as she’d been raised pretty much in the same way as I and how could she just dismiss it all so easily?
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Is incredible how fundamentalism brainwashes the gulible and the weak of mind.:mad:
 
inthecloud said:
Is incredible how fundamentalism brainwashes the gulible and the weak of mind.:mad:
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Yes. It’s truly sad. She stayed with me for a while and we didn’t really didn’t talk much about religion, until one night when I asked her to tell me about her religion and while she believed in it so strongly, it just reaffirmed my beliefs in Catholicism.
 
Trishie said:
It seems that fundamentalist Christians take the days or periods of creation as limited literal concepts. Others understand the period of times in God’s creation as being more evolutional. God is not constricted from the latter. In the face of the evidence, I’d be a ‘non-believing’ fundamentalist if I believed as they do. A priest I knew asked a pastor from a fundamentalist Christian faith how he reconciles science and his view of creation. He replied, “I keep them in separate mental compartments.” **This may not be response of all Fundamentalist Christians. They are surely uncomfortable when their children study science or are confronted by dissenting documentaries. **I always spare them a sympathetic thought when confronted by such things…or even the Grand Canyon, or Petrified Forest…
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Many of them homeschool their children, I honestly think this has a lot to do with why they homeschool. It may not be the only reason but it is definitely one of the reasons.
 
thistle said:
I would still be interested to know why you think that considering science proves it is over 4 billion years old and there is NOTHING in the Bible about the age of the Earth.
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For the record, I personally reserve judgement on old v. young earth as my faith and theology doesn’t turn on it. Each day could be a literal day, 1,000 years or each day could be an “age”.

As to young earth and science - there actually is a fair amount of sciene behind it and many books written to support it. Its a combination of the flood affecting our understanding of the fossel record - changes in atmoshphere, etc affecting carbon dating - and then believing that God created the universe with the appearance of age.

Its a lot to overcome in the face of what modern science tells us - but modern science is only a few hundred years old and could be wrong.

The key (IMO) is the belief/faith in the accurracy of the genesis story - that God is the creator and created man in His imagine and in the order described in the Genesis account.

We’ll find out in heaven, and our salvation wont turn on whether we are right or wrong on young earth or old earth.

Blessings,

Brian
 
algran said:
There have been many evangelicals lately who hold to the Young Earth theory, that the earth is 6,000 years old. They deduce this from scripture. I would like to know what some of you CF members think of this theory. It seems to me that science has provided considerable evidence that shows the contrary: that the earth is very old. About 4.5 billion years. Please render your comments on this subject. Thanks.
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Hi, algran!

…though I do not believe that science, the technical abilities of today, can be as exact as it claims to be, the Bible gives no reference to the Earth’s age. We know from Scriptures that Yahweh God Created everything that exists from nothing. And we know, also, that He is Spirit and Omnipotent and Omniscient… we also know that God Created the universe and the Earth and all that exists within them in stages… put it all together and you have a fantastic power bringing forth matter from energy: the Earth could be as young as a few thousand years or as old as millions or billions of years.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
inthecloud said:
Is incredible how fundamentalism brainwashes the gulible and the weak of mind.:mad:
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To be fair … modern science has just as surely ‘brainwashed’ the minds of many, who put their trust evolution w/o a God.
 
thistle said:
I would still be interested to know why you think that considering science proves it is over 4 billion years old and there is NOTHING in the Bible about the age of the Earth.
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Science doesn’t ‘prove’ any such thing.
 
BRB said:
To be fair … modern science has just as surely ‘brainwashed’ the minds of many, who put their trust evolution w/o a God.
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Modern science makes no such attempt. It does not address the supernatural realm wherein God exists. It merely explains the physical world as evidence permits. The fact that some believe evolution negates God is but a personal conclusion. Surely recent Popes who embrace the concept of evolution do not negate God, nor do most people who embrace evolution. Technically this thread is not about evolution but the age of the earth. YEC are mostly fundamentalist in their approach to faith, and the Catholic Church does not support a fundamentalist reading of the bible.
 
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