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Where does the 6000 year old earth idea come from?

I'm curious as to how this whole anti-evolution belief arises. Some people see evolution as conflicting with the bible, and therefore evolution must be wrong. But where does the idea of this conflict arise? Particularly Young Earth Creationism. I'm no biblical scholar, but I don't recall there being a date for "let there be light."

So what verse or verses gives people the idea that the Earth can't possibly be much, much older? How did that interpretation come about?

Well there's a range of how some people read the bible. On one side are those that believe a lot of the stories are parables that ultimately provide a guid to how you should live.


then you have those that believe everything is 100% accurate and true and you can even find out how old the earth is by counting the generations in the Old Testament.
 
Right, but "fixing" that "error" would yield an even younger Earth, one so young as to probably be disprovable through mere written history alone. I suspect someone realized that and went "oh wait! They... must have lived longer, because the bible can't be wrong!"

Unless there's biblical support for 400 year old people that I'm not aware of.

Methuselah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are others.
 
This reminds me of a joke.
A devout man prays,"Lord is it true that a million years is but a second to you?"
To the man's surprise God answers back,"Yes"
The man then asks, "Lord give a million dollars to spread your faith".
Again God answers, "Sure, just give me a second!"
 
Interesting stuff. I'm surprised the calculation was so.. crude, but I guess I'm not sure what could be expected. It's unfortunate that so many people never consider the fact that this concept came from human interpretation of scripture and is therefore prone to error.

2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’
The problem with trying to calculate things is that you sometimes don't always know what a term really means. In the Creation story in Genesis, how long is each day? Now with the story of Jesus' second coming, it is suppose to happen around 6000 years, and then he will reign a thousand years in peace (like the seventh day of rest); and then Satan will be let loose again.

Rev.20
[1] Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain.

[2] And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
[3] and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.
[4] Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

[5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
[6] Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.
[7] And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison

[8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
[9] And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,
[10] and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Many try to predict the second coming, based on Scripture and what is happening around the world. But it says that no one knows the day except God.

Matthew 24:[29] "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
[30] then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;
[31] and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
[32] "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
[33] So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
[34] Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.
[35] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
[36] "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
[37] As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
[38] For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
[39] and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
 
I'm curious as to how this whole anti-evolution belief arises. Some people see evolution as conflicting with the bible, and therefore evolution must be wrong. But where does the idea of this conflict arise? Particularly Young Earth Creationism. I'm no biblical scholar, but I don't recall there being a date for "let there be light."

So what verse or verses gives people the idea that the Earth can't possibly be much, much older? How did that interpretation come about?

It comes from the same place as the belief in global warming.
 
I find it funny how people attribute the word "years" in the Bible to mean the exact same thing as our modern term "years" means. To the people during the biblical time period, a year could've been 30 of our modern days, it could've meant 4 of our modern months (roughly 122 days). We know very little, if anything at all, about how time was actually kept during the Old Testament period. The "Seven days" that God created the Earth, well, as it has been stated previously in this thread, a million years to God is but a second. Again, we have no idea how long a "day" is supposed to be.
 
Do you have to be an atheist to conclude that YEC is probably not accurate? I consider myself to be a pretty fervent believer in the God of Abraham, and I don't subscribe to YEC. I consider it to be false doctrine that was based on inaccurate translations, and a lack of understanding of good science at the time it was formed. The limited study I've done on the matter suggests that reasonable translations can be taken that actually align fairly well with modern science's current understanding of how the earth developed.

No, absolutely not. There are innumerable religious people who realize that this "literal" reading of the bible is wildly inaccurate.
 
I'm curious as to how this whole anti-evolution belief arises. Some people see evolution as conflicting with the bible, and therefore evolution must be wrong. But where does the idea of this conflict arise? Particularly Young Earth Creationism. I'm no biblical scholar, but I don't recall there being a date for "let there be light."

So what verse or verses gives people the idea that the Earth can't possibly be much, much older? How did that interpretation come about?
The genealogy from Adam to Noah, found in Genesis 5. Everything else is just a construct to validate this genealogy.
 
unfortnatly the geology of earth contradicts the bible. science and study of the planets geology pinpoints the age of the earth at around 4.54 billion years.
The bible doesn't offer an age for the earth, for sience to then contradict the bible.

Science contradicts Young Earth Creationism, which is just one of many theroies on interpretation.
 
Remember these are the same folks who think man and dinosaur frolicked together in early history. Not exactly known for their math or logic skills.

Or capacity to test things in their own kitchens. A test a 5 year old can conduct in his bathroom sink destroys YEC. YEC believers are frankly bat**** stupid.
 
The Earth is 5774 years old

"According to the Jewish calendar we are beginning the year 5760 which celebrates the beginning of the world from the creation of Adam. According to modern Rabbinical and many Christian scholars, it has been calculated that this date is inaccurate by 240 years. We are actually beginning the Jewish year 6000, perhaps 6001, which corresponds to the year 2000 on the Gregorian calendar."

Cal Goldberg, Messianic Leader, Beth Shechinah, The Feasts of the Lord - Rosh Hashanah: The Akeda and the Binding of Isaac
 
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It took me 14 years to create Adam.

The Messiah, 2.0 is in final testing as we speak.



"According to the Jewish calendar we are beginning the year 5760 which celebrates the beginning of the world from the creation of Adam. According to modern Rabbinical and many Christian scholars, it has been calculated that this date is inaccurate by 240 years. We are actually beginning the Jewish year 6000, perhaps 6001, which corresponds to the year 2000 on the Gregorian calendar. The actual year is difficult to determine because of when the first century began. Bible chronologists are beginning to conclude that the Biblical year 6001 begins this Rosh Hashanah (September 11, 1999). They have determined that the year 6000-6001 is somewhere in the 1994-2006 time because of the uncertainty of when Yeshua was born. Anywhere from 1-4 BCE
The Jewish teachers of Torah believed that just as there are seven days in the creation week so also there are 7000 years between the first day of creation and the last day of redemption. This is derived from the six days of creation equating 6,000 years and a final seven day of 1,000 years, known as the Sabbath Millenium. Maybe this is why Peter's final exhortation about the Lord's coming was (2 Pet 3:8), One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. I believe there is much truth to this reckoning of time and if so, that would mean we are coming to the end of the 6000 year and are about to enter into the 7,000th or we are already into it. Prophetically, that means we are on the verge of the Messiah's soon coming."

Cal Goldberg, Messianic Leader, Beth Shechinah", The Feasts of the Lord - Rosh Hashanah: The Akeda and the Binding of Isaac
 
I find it funny how people attribute the word "years" in the Bible to mean the exact same thing as our modern term "years" means. To the people during the biblical time period, a year could've been 30 of our modern days, it could've meant 4 of our modern months (roughly 122 days). We know very little, if anything at all, about how time was actually kept during the Old Testament period. The "Seven days" that God created the Earth, well, as it has been stated previously in this thread, a million years to God is but a second. Again, we have no idea how long a "day" is supposed to be.

It's equally as funny that people claim uncertainty about some things in the Bible (as your example), and yet claim other parts of the Bible are unquestionable fact. Jesus is the son of god who rose from the dead. Ironic huh?
 
I guess I don't understand how a 'mistranslation' can be off by billions of years. A few hundred years, fine. I don't understand either why the writers would bother with ages and 7 days creation and such if they didn't intend for it to be taken literally. Why bother with timeline at all if you know your audience will be conflicted about this later? It's not like they had video recording proving or disproving that someone lived 400 years, so how else is anyone to interpret that?
 
Or capacity to test things in their own kitchens. A test a 5 year old can conduct in his bathroom sink destroys YEC. YEC believers are frankly bat**** stupid.

Wait what can I do with my sink to identify the age of the earth?
 
A better question is why do so many intolerant people focus their hate on such a minute and innocuous subset of Christians?

I know hundreds of Christians and I've yet to meet a single one who says the Earth is a mere 6000 years old.
 
There are whackos in every religion. But creationists are basically harmless so I see no reason why anyone should feel obligated to set them straight. It's enough just to consider them an idiot and just leave it at that.

It's as harmless as believing in the Easter Bunny. (Makes about as much sense too.)
 
I guess I don't understand how a 'mistranslation' can be off by billions of years. A few hundred years, fine. I don't understand either why the writers would bother with ages and 7 days creation and such if they didn't intend for it to be taken literally.

You have to understand the meaning of the Hebrew word for day (yom). It can mean an indefinite period of time, even eons.

Genesis 2:4 literally reads, "in the day (yom) of the Lord God making (made) the earth and heavens."

The author of Genesis, who also wrote of the 'days' of creation, describes those 'days' as one day, or one time period. It's the same Hebrew word. The implication is clear - Moses' “day” (yom) in Genesis 2:4 refers not to a 24-hour day but, rather, to a much longer period of time—in this case, the entire span of creation events.

So you can't automatically assume the Hebrew "day" (yom) is a 24 hour period.
 
I have come to learn that when there is a choice between fact and faith, the religious types choose faith everytime.

That makes me wonder. Does it really matter what is fact and what is not? At the end of the day, we all turn to dust, so to speak. No matter what we believe and that's a fact.

Of course even their faith is off kilter and they are abusing the bible. The bible doesn't make mathematical arguments, and isn't a geology textbooks. The YECers are not only wrong about basic scientific facts; they're wrong about Christianity and how to read the scriptures. That's why the vast supermajority of Christians in the world consider creationism a heresy. It's only a problem here in America, home of the tea party.
 
Of course even their faith is off kilter and they are abusing the bible. The bible doesn't make mathematical arguments, and isn't a geology textbooks. The YECers are not only wrong about basic scientific facts; they're wrong about Christianity and how to read the scriptures. That's why the vast supermajority of Christians in the world consider creationism a heresy. It's only a problem here in America, home of the tea party.

Do you have some kind of credible backup to substantiate your claim that 'the vast supermajority of Christians in the world consider creationism a heresy'? I don't know any Christians who believe God didn't create the universe and mankind - mankind through divine-guided evolution or by direct creation.
 
I'm an atheist, you don't have to tell me, buddy. I'm just pointing out the reasoning the YEC fanatics use as to why they think the earth is 6,000 years old.

Every once in awhile a small sect of theists likes to try to put numbers on things apparently not understanding that by doing so, they're actually bringing it into the world of measurements. I think the seventh day advantists started as a dooms day cult. The world is going to end on X day. X day came and went, we were still alive, so they "revised"...forgot to carry the one or something, and came up with Y date. Y day came and went and we were all still here, so they had to change again to "well it will end someday". Now there's a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Anyway, it's the same deal with YEC. They wanted to put a date on it, they did. And pretty much just like every time religion brings something into the world of measurement, measurement doesn't support it. And we see that in the case of YEC. We know the universe and the Earth are well older than 6K years. Some want to fight it still and try to attack the observables as they're left with nothing else; but they're a dying breed.
 
Wait what can I do with my sink to identify the age of the earth?

Lol. Out of context. We were making fun of creationists in general.

What you can test with your kitchen sink are the properties of water that refute the flood.

Hydrological sorting sorts objects by size, density and angle of entry. Thus, smaller, lighter organisms should sink much slower than larger, much more dense organisms and organisms of the same size and density should sink at the same rate. Thus, we should find organisms like large dogs and small dinosaurs in the same strata. And animals like Elephants and medium sized dinosaurs in the same strata. We don't obviously. The kitchen sink is just an example of how YEC can be refuted by a 5 year old with a kitchen sink full of water, a lead ball and rubix cube. It's obvious which sinks faster and how water everywhere else will sort objects.
 
Every once in awhile a small sect of theists likes to try to put numbers on things apparently not understanding that by doing so, they're actually bringing it into the world of measurements. I think the seventh day advantists started as a dooms day cult. The world is going to end on X day. X day came and went, we were still alive, so they "revised"...forgot to carry the one or something, and came up with Y date. Y day came and went and we were all still here, so they had to change again to "well it will end someday". Now there's a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Anyway, it's the same deal with YEC. They wanted to put a date on it, they did. And pretty much just like every time religion brings something into the world of measurement, measurement doesn't support it. And we see that in the case of YEC. We know the universe and the Earth are well older than 6K years. Some want to fight it still and try to attack the observables as they're left with nothing else; but they're a dying breed.

If they were smart, which they obviously aren't, they would keep everything as vague as possible and separated from the world of science and measurements.
 
Do you have to be an atheist to conclude that YEC is probably not accurate? I consider myself to be a pretty fervent believer in the God of Abraham, and I don't subscribe to YEC. I consider it to be false doctrine that was based on inaccurate translations, and a lack of understanding of good science at the time it was formed. The limited study I've done on the matter suggests that reasonable translations can be taken that actually align fairly well with modern science's current understanding of how the earth developed.

The Genesis Enigma, by avowed agnostic Andrew Parker, who happens to be an evolutionary biologist.


Equally disliked by Genesis Literalists and athiests, as it draws the same, rough, rational conclusion that you do.
 
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