SUBJECT: IS THE EARTH 6,000 YEARS OLD?
READ: GENESIS 5:1-32
Archbishop Ussher proposed that the
earth came into being in the year 4004 BC. In some AV Bibles, you will
have the date 4004 BC beside Genesis 1:1 You can thank Archbishop
Ussher for this. He went further and stated the month (October) and
again he went further and tacked it all down to the exact date: 23rd.
Who was Archbishop James Ussher? He was installed as the Anglican
primate for Ireland in the early 17th century and a very godly man. To
the horror of his fellow prelates, he was a good friend of the Scottish
Covenanters and preached for Samuel Rutherford. He was a learned man
and wrote on Biblical/Theological subjects. We are not talking today
about the findings of a fool or a mere enthusiast.
We have 2 questions to ask and answer:
[i] Was he fundamentally right when he said that the earth is only 6,000 years old and
[ii] Does science prove him wrong?
You will notice the careful wording of the 1st question: Was he
fundamentally right? I am in no position (nor have I the desire) to try
and defend him in his position of tacking the whole matter down so
minutely to a day or even a year. I am willing to defend him in his
assertion that the earth is a relative young earth - about 6,000 years
old. Secondly…where does science stand on the matter?
3 thoughts will greatly help us: [1] What saith the scriptures? [2]
What saith the sceptics? [3] Surprisingly(?) What saith the scientists?
1) WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?
Ussher proposed his dates on the basis of how he interpreted the
genealogies of Genesis 5/11 along with other significant dating
passages (Egpytian/Babylonian captivities etc)
A/ You views on this will depend on your views of Scripture. What does
the Bible mean to you? Nothing more than a book of Jewish myths? Jewish
history - but only really for intellectuals? Literally classic - but
not for you?
B/ Need to bear John 5:45-47 in mind. This includes Genesis & the
genealogies also. Genesis part of 2 Timothy 3:16 We expect God to be
able to tell us about the age of the earth because: Job
38:4….Genesis 1:1
C/ By working out the different details given…we see that Adam
was created about 4,000 BC +2,000 years since Christ (b. 4BC) = 6,000
Scripturally: Ussher on safe ground.
2) WHAT SAITH THE SCEPTICS?
2 types of scepticism:
A/ THE RELIGIOUS SCEPTICS:
Tell us that the Book of Genesis is full of poetry & is not to be
taken literally. ANS:- Read down line by line (& there are over 100
lines the genealogies of Genesis 5/11) and give me a poetical
interpretation that evidently overrides any thought that these
genealogies were meant to convey literal births and literal deaths with
literal lives lived in-between. I accept that there are difficulties in
the genealogies:
Andrew Fuller said: "Chronology is a surely cur that has bitten many a
man’s fingers." But they are important, for they help establish
the historical testimony of Jesus Christ, and incidentally…help
us understand a young earth.
B/ THE SECULAR SCEPTICS:
I call them secular because many of them are outside the Christian
Church (Although their views are inside as well) but this does not mean
that they have no philosophy or creed. They tell us that man was not
created by special act of creation by a God who does not & could
not exist… but that he evolved from primeval soup/jelly &
eventually through a slow torturous process became as he is known
today. All this needed time & so (they say) the earth is
4½-5 billion years old. Makes 6,000 years look very young
indeed. In order to uphold this view the secular sceptics look to
science …and so will we.
3) WHAT SAITH THE SCIENTISTS?
Or more precise…What saith science?
True science does not work on theories, but on observable facts. You
may have a theory and seek to prove that theory (acceptable thing to
do) but you cannot force the facts of science to bow before your
theory. If you cannot reconcile them…your theory falls to the
ground. You don’t twist science.
A/ Those who believe in an ancient earth (4½ -5 billion years)
do so to bolster belief in evolution. [I believe this is an attempt to
deny God and justify sin] They approach science with this view in mind.
Bias. They need all these years because 6,000 years is not long enough
for evolution to take place.
B/ Sometimes their dating processes involves circular reasoning: We go
to the rocks. The massive hills that no one can remember how/when they
got there. Ancient. Explore the rocks - find the fossils. Can we not
work out the dates from fossils/rocks? If we can find just 1 thing that
is millions of years old - the Bible record is either wrong/hopelessly
useless on this matter: Unfortunately the evolutionist needs circular
reasoning: The rocks are dated by the fossils, the age of which is
determined by evolution. Prove Evolution: The proof of evolution is the
age of the rocks in which the fossils are found. Circular reasoning.
C/ Sometimes their different dating processes (Called radio carbon
dating) gets it all radically wrong even by own standards: When the
blood of a seal, freshly killed at McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic was
tested by carbon-14, it showed that the seal had died 1,300 years
previously. In another case, a basalt rock in Nigeria was dated at 95
million years by the potassium-argon method, whilst the uranium-helium
method decreed the same rock to be 750 millions years old.
D/ In Job 12:8 God encourages us to study the earth. It is wrong to say
that Bible faith & science do not mix. Many great scientists
(indeed greatest scientists) were Christians/Creationists. When we do
so, we find a young earth. Probably 6,000 years old. Science (with all
its limitations) does not contradict it, although it contradicts the
thought of billions of years old: Prof. T.L. More (Vocal Evolutionist)
said:
"The more one studies the fossil record the more certain one becomes that evolution is based on faith alone."
Evidence of the fossils show a sudden dramatic disaster (Flood?)
The world is running down.
Sun is shrinking - if it shrunk at the same rate it is shrinking now…you would have no sun.
Salt in the sea …many similar things.
Earth’s population: 4.5 billion which is in keeping with a period
of around 5,000 years - the time when 8 people stepped off the ark.
A THOUGHT IN CLOSING:-
If Genesis is right...what about the thought of a personal Creator?
Adam's fall (chapter 3)
What about Exodus and the 10 Commandments?
What about Noah finding grace in God's eyes?
What about Jesus Christ?
What about your soul?