HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? By George Lujack This article will present a compelling case, according to Scripture and recent scientific discoveries, that there are many components of “the earth” - components that make the earth both young (around 6,000-years-old) AND much older. Young earth creationists and evolution theory scientists disagree passionately in their beliefs of the age of the earth. Young earth creationists generally believe that the universe, the earth and the first creatures were created upon the earth approximately 6,000-years-old. Evolution theory scientists currently believe that the universe is approximately 13.8-billion-years-old, the earth is 4.5-billion-years-old, and the first self-replicating life forms evolved upon the earth about 2.5-billion-years ago. GENESIS 1:1-2 (NKJV): IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. THE EARTH WAS without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. BERESHITH (GENISIS) 1:1-2 (HS Hebraic Translation): IN THE BEGINNING Elohim created the shamayim and the earth. And THE EARTH CAME TO BE formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. The word ‘WAS’ or the phrase ‘CAME TO BE’ are past tense indicating significant passage of time. Therefore there was a significant passage of time between IN THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1:1-2) and day-1 of creation week, when God created light for the earth (Genesis 1:3). The words “IN THE BEGINNING” and “THE EARTH WAS” are key phrases in understanding the timeframe of God’s creation and will be emphasized throughout this article. Genesis 1:2 states that THE EARTH WAS, that is, THE EARTH WAS in existence without (being) form(ed) (for life) and void (of life). THE EARTH WAS there, created IN THE BEGINNING, before creation week began in Genesis 1:3. THE EARTH WAS without form (water covered the planet) and void (of life) (Genesis 1:2). Creation week served to reform the earth, to make it suitable to support life, and to inhabit the earth with life. IN THE BEGINNING, when was that? Was it 6,000-years-age, 4.5-billion-years ago, or 13.8-billion-years ago? Young earth creationists and evolution theory scientists can argue and speculate over that question, but no one can know for sure (at this time) when THE BEGINNING of time and creation occurred. Scripture does not declare when THE BEGINNING of God’s creation was. We can reasonably conclude that IN THE BEGINNING represents a significant period of time and signifies an interval before God acted in creating light for the earth in Genesis 1:3. THE BEGINNING was therefore far longer than 6,000-years ago. During the creation week account in Genesis, there is no mention of God making the earth itself; that is God did not create the core, crust, dirt, mantle, mountains, rocks, soil or water of the earth during creation week. The land and water of THE EARTH WAS already in place before creation week began. The land and water of THE EARTH WAS created IN THE BEGINNING and was not made during the creation week of Genesis 1:3-22. THE GENESIS ACCOUNT OF CREATION: IN THE BEGINNING: GENESIS 1:1-2: IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. THE EARTH WAS without form, and void; … The heavens (universe) and the earth were created. CREATION WEEK (After THE BEGINNING): CREATION WEEK DAY-1: GENESIS 1:3-5: Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Light was created for the earth (Genesis 1:3-5). The light created on the first day was not the sun, nor the beginning of creation, nor the ‘big bang,’ but temporary light created to illuminate the earth before the illumination of the sun on day-4 of creation week. CREATION WEEK DAY-2: GENESIS 1:6-8: Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Atmosphere was made for the earth, referred to as ‘firmament’ and ‘heaven’ (Genesis 1:6-8). CREATION WEEK DAY-3: GENESIS 1:9-13: Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. … So the evening and the morning were the third day. Water (on earth) was gathered together and separated from the land. The water gathered together was called seas and the dry land was called earth. God also brought forth grass and vegetation upon the dry land. NOTE: On day-3 the waters and the dry land were not made or created. The waters and land were already in existence, as they were of the earth that was created IN THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1:1). God created the heavens and earth IN THE BEGINNING, not on day-1 of creation week when God created light, or on day-3 of creation week when God gathered the waters away from the land, causing the dry land (continents) to appear. The waters were GATHERED away from the land causing dry land to APPEAR. THE EARTH WAS in existence before creation day-3 (Genesis 1:2), and the earth consisted of water and land. God did not make the earth, the seas and the dry land on day-3; He gathered the already existing waters together and formed the seas and He raised the already existing land (which became dry land after the water was gathered away from it) causing the dry land to appear to form the continents (Genesis 1:9). CREATION WEEK DAY-4: GENESIS 1:14-19: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. … So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. The sun was illuminated and light was made to shine upon the earth - the sunlight for the day and the moonlight for the night. The sun and moon were also to be used for signs, seasons, days and years (dating and calendars) (Genesis 1:14-19). NOTE: God made the two great “lights” (Genesis 1:16). Many creationists proclaim that the sun and moon were created on day-4, but Scripture says God made “two great lights,” not the sun and moon. It is likely that He did not create the sun and moon on day-4, but instead ignited and illuminated the sun, creating the two great light sources for the earth; the sun for the day and the moon for the night. NOTE: He made the stars also (Genesis 1:16). “He made the stars also,” is more of a confirmation of what God had already done IN THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1:1), rather than a proclamation that He made the stars on day-4 of creation week. The sentence context within the paragraph structure of Genesis 1:16 is like saying, “General Motors made this new model car on day-4 (Wednesday). They made the GM factory also.” One would not logically conclude that General Motors made the factory on the same day-4 that they made their new model car, and we shouldn’t believe that God made all of the countless stars of the universe on the same day that He ignited the sun to illuminate the earth. All throughout the creation week account, when God created, Scripture records God’s actions in a consistent manner indicating an action done or having taken place. If God created the stars, all of them, on day-4 of creation week, Scripture would be more concise to say something like; Then God said, “Let there be many stars throughout the heaven’s.” And it was so. Scripture does not say this as Genesis 1:16 fleetingly proclaims, “He made the stars also.” CREATION WEEK DAY-5: GENESIS 1:20-23: Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. All the sea creatures and the birds were created. CREATION WEEK DAY-6: GENESIS 1:24-31: Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. … So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. All the land creatures and mankind were created. CREATION WEEK DAY-7: GENESIS 2:2-3: And on the seventh day God ended His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work that God had created and made. God rested from all His work that He had done. THE CREATION, IN SUMMATION: IN THE BEGINNING: God created the heavens (the universe) and the earth. CREATION WEEK DAY-1: God created light by saying, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). CREATION WEEK DAY-2: God made earth’s atmosphere (firmament/heaven) (Genesis 1:7). CREATION WEEK DAY-3: God gathered the existing water that was on earth to form seas and let the dry land appear. God then created the grass, herbs, fruit trees and all vegetation on the dry land. CREATION WEEK DAY-4: God made the two great light sources for the earth. He ignited and illuminated the sun to light the earth for the day and for the moon to reflect the sun’s light at night. The sun and moon were also to be used for signs, seasons, days and calendar years. CREATION WEEK DAY-5: God created all the sea creatures and all the birds. CREATION WEEK DAY-6: God created all the land creatures and mankind. CREATION WEEK DAY-7: God rested from all His work that He had done. The creation week consisted of seven 24-hour periods, NOT ages or periods of time. After every day of creation week was recorded, “And the evening and the morning were the first day,” … through the sixth day, indicating nights and days – 24-hour periods. YOUNG EARTH CREATIONISTS Many young earth creationists believe that the earth and the entire universe was created approximately 6,000-years ago. They base their calculations on the generations of Scripture going back chronologically to about 4,000 BC. Young earth creationists have incorrectly linked the age of the earth with the time that life first appeared upon the earth. They haven’t properly interpreted Scripture that proclaims that THE EARTH WAS in existence prior to the creation week IN THE BEGINNING. Thus young earth creationists err in proclaiming the earth to be young, about 6,000-years-old. Distant starlight, starlight that takes millions years to reach earth, is scientific proof that stars are much older than 6,000-years. Young earth creationists negate the observable science that measures and estimates the time distant starlight reaches earth, by citing the following verse: ISAIAH 42:5: Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out. God did create the heavens, and He did stretch them out. The cosmos are still expanding to this day and their expansion is accelerating, not decelerating. Young earth creationists believe that God created the stars on day-4 of creation week, then He stretched the stars outward while stretching their starlight back toward earth so that distant, otherwise unobservable, starlight would be visible on earth. Young earth creationist’s theory is that God stretched forth the light omitted from stars back to earth, while simultaneously stretching forth the stars outward faster than the speed of light throughout the universe, to account for distant starlight. What young earth creationists are proclaiming is that God supernaturally stretched forth the starts to make it appear that distant starlight takes millions of years to reach earth. God doesn’t trick us with the evidences and timeframes of His creation. Young earth creationist’s theory accounting for distant starlight that takes millions of years to reach earth is completely unscientific and should be outright dismissed. Scripture declares the heavens to be “of old,” which would contradict a young universe. 2 PETER 3:5: For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old… To believe that the entire universe, the earth and all matter came into existence 6,000-years ago, is a quandary itself and places God in a box. It limits God as a Creator to the past 6,000-years. God existed before time itself began. God created time, which did have a beginning… 2 TIMOTHY 1:9: His own purpose and grace that was given to us in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) BEFORE TIME BEGAN… TITUS 1:2: In hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised BEFORE TIME BEGAN… God also existed before the world was. JOHN 17:5: And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory that I had with You BEFORE THE WORLD WAS. To believe that all creation took place 6,000-years-ago would mean that God existed in a vacuum of space and time. God did create time itself, and matter. IN THE BEGINNING seems to signal the creation of time, the time the physical universe, as we know it, began. Time was created BEFORE creation week. Since Yeshua (Jesus) reigned with the Father in glory, BEFORE THE WORLD WAS, it would be a little hard to imagine that Yeshua (Jesus) would consider it ‘glory’ to be reigning with the Father in an empty, void universe. 2 PETER 3:8: With YHWH (the Lord) one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Being that time is relative - according to science (Einstein’s Theory of Relativity), and God lives outside-of-time, what may be billions of years to us could be a few days, weeks, months or years to Him. Young earth creationists often cite the following verse to support their belief that the earth and entire universe was created 6,000-years ago: EXODUS 20:11: For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. This solitary verse is the strongest argument creationists use as Scripture proof that God created the entire universe and the earth in 6-days, approximately 6,000-years ago. Upon careful examination of this verse, and with a precept upon precept comparison with other verses, this is not the case at all. The Hebrew word for heaven(s) is shamayim. Shamayim, or heaven, is used interchangeably throughout Scripture as meaning God’s dwelling place, the universe, the cosmos, the sky or atmosphere [1]. Scripture itself, in the Genesis account, reveals that the word “heaven” is used to refer to the firmament (atmosphere / sky). GENESIS 1:8: And God called the firmament Heaven. A correct interpretation of Exodus 20:11 should be understood to mean: EXODUS 20:11: For in six days YHWH (the Lord) made the heaven (firmament / atmosphere / sky) and the earth (suitable for life), the sea, and all (life) that is in them, and rested the seventh day. How can believers know that the entire universe and the earth were NOT made during the 6-day creation week? 1. Genesis 1:1-2 proclaims that THE EARTH ‘WAS,’ that the earth existed before the creation week. 2. Genesis 1:3-31 covers the creation week, but does NOT record the earth itself as being created on this week. On creation day 1 through 6, there is no verse that says God created the earth on any of these days. Planet earth existed before creation week began. God acted upon an already existing earth on creation days 1-6, when He made the earth suitable for life and inhabited it with life. 3. Yeshua (Jesus) was reigning in the cosmos / universe with God the Father before the earth (world) existed, BEFORE THE WORLD WAS reformed for life. THE GAP THEORY There are some theologians that understand the gap between IN THE BEGINNING and creation week day-1. However, some who proclaim the gap theory add to Scripture with their own personal opinions and theories that are unsubstantiated by Scripture. The gap theory proposes that the phrase “without form and void,” of Genesis 1:2 should actually be translated “ruined and desolate.” They suggest that Satan and his demons once inhabited the earth and God brought forth a divine cataclysmic judgment upon the earth, similar to the flood of Noah’s time. They further believe God would have never created earth in a ruined state and that the earth must have been destroyed as a result of Satan’s sin. Gap theory proponents cite Isaiah 45:18 as basis for their belief that God didn’t create an earth that wasn’t in a perfect state. ISAIAH 45:18: For thus says YHWH (the Lord), who created the heavens; who formed the earth and made it; who has established it, who did not created it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: … Isaiah 45:18 actually says God formed the earth (Genesis 1:9-10) AND made it (Genesis 1:1). God formed the earth on day-3 of creation week and made the earth IN THE BEGINNING. Beginning (definition): the point in time or space at which something starts. In the original creation, THE EARTH WAS made without form and void (Genesis 1:2). Satan and the fallen angels are created beings. They had a beginning. They did not exist before the beginning, as God did. God created the heavens and the earth IN THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1:1) and the earth was created void and without form IN THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1:2). Satan did not exist before the beginning, so he did not bring forth a divine judgment upon the earth in the past, before man inhabited earth. Scripture records that it was through man’s sin, not Satan’s that sin entered the physical world. ROMANS 5:12: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world… God has created many things and man doesn’t always know the purpose of all of His creations. Some of His creation has a more significant purpose, some less. God has created many planetary bodies in our solar system and throughout the universe that we are only now beginning to discover. These planets (such as Mars) may, at the moment, be unformed, but perhaps God will form them (for life) in the future. All this is speculation, of course. The gap theory errs in assuming that God could not have originally made an unformed earth, and then formed it afterward to be suitable for life. EVOLUTION THEORY SCIENTISTS YHWH (the Lord) questioned Job … and this question is relevant to modern evolution theory scientists, who think and act like they know all the answers. JOB 38:4: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Evolution theory scientists estimate that the earth is 4.5-billion-years-old and that the universe is 13.8-billion-years-old. In coming to these conclusions, earth’s rocks are tested using highly unreliable radiometric dating methods and the expanse of the universe is measured in reverse to try to come to a zero starting point of when the universe began in the ‘big bang.’ WHAT ABOUT DINOSAURS AND OTHER FOSSILIZED CREATURES; AREN’T THEY MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD? No. Dinosaurs, as land creatures, were created on day-6 of creation week. The first dinosaurs that lived were created approximately 6,000-years ago. As previously stated, radiometric dating methods are highly unreliable, and are completely unreliable past four thousand years [2][3][4]. The rate of decay of carbon and other isotope elements are used to date fossils and earth’s rocks to determine their age. Since fossils and rocks cannot be measured beyond a few thousand years, because we cannot assume the rate of decay beyond those unknown years was constant (among other factors), radiocarbon and radiometric dating is based on faith, not verifiable science. Scientists have often made a proclamation that a certain creature has been extinct for millions of years, and then afterward the so-called extinct creature is found to be alive and well, unchanged by evolution, and living somewhere on earth. Such was the case with the coelacanth fish. Coelacanths were thought to be extinct for over 50-million-years, but were rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938 [5]. Recent Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur bone examinations have revealed intact soft tissue and blood fragments [6]. These discoveries strongly refute the evolution theory scientist’s view that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago [7]. Yet in spite of this new scientific evidence, evolution theory scientists proclaim that it is amazing that blood and soft tissue from a 70-million-year-old dinosaur could have remained intact. It would be difficult for any creature’s blood and soft tissue to remain intact for 7-years, 70-years, 700-years or 7,000-years. It would be impossible for dinosaur blood and soft tissue to remain intact for 70,000,000-years! 70-million-years are a LOT of years for blood and soft tissue to survive intact on an active earth! Evolution theory scientists are in scientific denial about recent findings of dinosaur blood and soft tissue; scientific evidence that refutes their theory that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. Evolution theory scientists are so sure that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago that they cannot even grasp the concept that most of the dinosaurs died thousands of years ago in the great flood of Noah’s time. Even when presented with compelling blood and soft tissue evidence, they cling to their theory that dinosaurs died out 65-70-million-years-ago [8]. HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? The age of the earth is a complex question with no single answer. The earth is composed of different elements that have different ages. The earth itself (the core, crust, dirt, mantle, mountains, rocks, soil and water of the earth) existed since the beginning. The earth was in existence before God acted upon it during the 6-day creation week, to make it suitable for sustaining life and inhabited with life. From our perspective the earth is likely millions, or even billions of years old. The age of the earth is unknown, as Scripture does not reveal the earth’s age. The earth’s atmosphere, the majority of it, is approximately 6,000-years-old. God made the atmosphere (firmament / heaven) for the earth on day-2 of creation week. The earth, as a planetary body large enough to retain an atmosphere, would most likely have had some type of atmosphere from when it was first created IN THE BEGINNING. Therefore, the earth’s atmosphere is likely a mix of gaseous elements created by God on day-2 of creation week and the atmospheric gasses that were retained by the earth IN THE BEGINNING, perhaps from millions or billions of years ago. All life upon earth began approximately 6,000-years-ago. God created the grass, herbs, fruit trees and all vegetation on day-3 of creation week. God created all the sea creatures and birds on day-5 of creation week. God created all the land creatures and mankind on day-6 of creation week. These are currently the best-known age(s) of the earth and life upon it. 1. “Shayim,” BibleStudyTools; biblestudytools/lexicons/hebrew/nas/shamayim.html 2. Is Carbon Dating Accurate? Summary: Radiometric dating is a technique used to date materials using known decay rates. Are radiometric dating methods accurate? Amazing Discoveries, Professor Walter J. Velth, PhD, Feb. 19, 2009. amazingdiscoveries.org/C-deception-carbon_dating_radiometric_decay_rates 3. Is Carbon Dating Reliable? Fryman, Helen. carm.org/carbon-dating 4. ERRORS ARE FEARED IN CARBON DATING, The New York Times, Browne, Malcom W., May 31, 1990. nytimes/1990/05/31/us/errors-are-feared-in-carbon-dating.html 5. Lavett Smith, C.; Rand, Charles S.; Schaeffer, Bobb; Atz, James W. (1975). Latimeria, the Living Coelacanth, is Ovoviviparous. Science 190 (4219): 1105–6. sciencemag.org/content/190/4219/1105 6. T-rex bone blood not 70mil years old. https://youtube/watch?v=97jYngUaepA 7. “Dinosaur Shocker,” Smithsonian; smithsonianmag/science-nature/dinosaur-shocker-115306469/ 8. Soft tissue in dino fossils-nothing in science can allow this to be millions of years old. https://youtube/watch?v=ynXwAo9V_pY
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 00:52:15 +0000
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