Joe Whitten Blog : Theology, Rants, Photography, Politics, Denver, Colorado

How may views and opinions exist today on this topic? Probably one are more for each time the the Earth has revolved around the sun. Surely most people can agree that Earth has made that trip several thousand times at least.

Where would someone get the idea that the earth is only four to six thousand years old?

What leads someone else to conclude that our world is hundreds of thousands, even millions to billions of years old?

The answer to the first question is most certainly the Bible. People believing the Earth to be only 6 thousands years or so old usually arrive at that figure by counting the generations (arguably without any real accuracy but possibly accurate within a thousands years) since Noah built the Ark and escaped the flood. Anyone seeking evidence for this can easily do a search on the WEB and find numerous pages written by people with various theories about events that have transpired and the proper way to interpret scripture so one can arrive at the proper age of our world. Many of these pages are well thought out and present many interesting facts.

The answer to the second question is science. There is currently a great rift between obstinate people from both groups; those who believe in God (christians) and those accused of not believing in God (scientists, especially evolutonists). Evolutionists claiming that Earth is millions or billions of years old may be correct. They may be completely incorrect however about how we came to be here. How could any form of life possibly exist long enough for a male and a female to evolve? Why would a male and a female evolve without some type of influence? Scientists often speak of nature being the guiding force, but what exactly is this “nature” they refer to? The reality is that cells don’t just happen, eyes don’t just form. Animals don’t develop stripes and colors that camouflage their presence on their own. How could they? How could a lizard deduce that if it blends in with the bark of a tree that birds cannot see it? Even if it could, does the lizard make the change to its own genome so the next generation of lizards are born with these changes?

People have been misinterpreting the Bible for about as long as they have been reading it. Countless people sit in pews week after week nodding off as they listen half-heartedly to someone who may or may not have a good grasp on the scriptures telling them what they should believe. Many people spend months looking for a church with a preacher who teaches what they want to hear. (Itchy ears) It’s not uncommon at all to hear “christians” refer to the King James Bible as God’s inspired word to mankind. All of the books in the King James existed long before the good (that’s debatable) king decided to have it interpreted. Why should anyone conclude that the King James interpretation is the correct one? Because that is what they have been led to believe most of their lives. People just don’t take kindly to having their deep rooted beliefs disputed, especially if those beliefs are religious in nature.

Is it possible that people who think they understand the Bible don’t really understand it at all because they don’t read it for themselves? Is it also possible that many people who deny that God created us do so because they cannot deny scientific evidence that indicates the earth is far older than a few thousand years and have been misled or taught incorrectly about what the Bible says? Is it possible that they fabricate theories about evolution from primitive life to complex life in an attempt to explain something that is far too complex for them to ever understand? How many generations have believed that they were on the edge of understanding everything about the world because they made great discoveries? It wasn’t so long ago that the cell was thought to be the smallest unit of life. Then molecules were discovered as microscopes became more powerful. Then atoms were discovered even though they were not directly observable in the beginning. How many generations will pass before we realize that we can never reach the end of the knowledge highway? One fork in the road always leads to more forks and each of those forks to even more, exponentially.

In Genesis, God either makes or creates Earth (more on this later). The traditional thought is that this takes six days and then God rests on the seventh day; the Sabbath. God also creates the light and the Sun and moon that give light by day and night (of course we realize now the moon merely reflects the sun’s light). But wait. What is really said in Genesis? God creates the light on the first day and divides it from the darkness. Genesis 1:3. He doesn’t create the moon and the sun until the fourth day. Genesis 1:16. Yes, no doubt there are many explanations for this, but the facts are there for anyone willing to read what the book really says. Is it possible the light referred to on the first day is not the light we think of as the sun? Or maybe the two great lights created on the fourth day are not really the sun and the moon but something else. How many people notice, much less bother to give any serious thought to this?

The intent of the previous paragraphs is to cast doubt on any argument about the age of our world. This article is not intended to answer the question of Earth’s age but, rather as a catalyst to make a few who read it stop and think about the validity of what most people currently think. It’s difficult to cast away teachings that have been ingrained in thought for years, even decades, but sometimes that’s just what is necessary to approach a topic with a fresh view, wipe the smudges off of the lens through which we perceive reality and see elements of the world through a clean lens. If all that you believe is true, then an unbiased study of facts will lead you back there, but you should not set out to arrive back at your starting point, but at the truth. It’s better to discover that what you believe is false and deal with it than to die never coming close to discovering the truth. Satan takes great joy in seeing everyone confused. It doesn’t matter what we believe as long as it is not the truth, as long as it keeps us in the dark and at odds with one another.

Part 2