How can Christianity say that the Earth is only 6,000 years old?

the bible also says that a thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years. So whos measuring stick do we go by.

Is this one of those meaningless geneologies that people get hung up on to give them and excuse to not go farther.

He obviously rested on the 7th day, and only for the 7th day, as Sunday, the Sabbath, is that 7th day, and Sunday is just that: a day.

Because christianity is full of mistakes, guesses.. but umm, how can religions be living for “billions of years” when modern humans have only been around for about 200,000? there was no human fossil found to be 4.5 billion years old. the earth is around 4.5 billion years old, not even microbs existed then.

I think that many theologians agree on the 6000 year time span, since the creation of Adam and Eve, and that we are approaching the time of the Tribulation. After that, we can look forward to the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, with Satan being bound. This will be a glorious time, however, he will be loosed at the end of this time period, in order to test the people that were born during this time, that did not have to face him, afterwards, he will be defeated completely by Christ, and cast into the Lake of fire. That will be the end of evil upon earth.

When the bible talks about the very beginning as noted within its pages, it acknowledges that the world existed at that time, and that it was without form and void. Water covered the planet.

When God decided to populate the earth, he parted the waters, and caused the land to appear. This could very well be the explanation between scientists timelines and the bibles. The bible does not say how old the earth is.

Theologians came up with the 6000 years, by taking into account that a day is with the Lord, as a 1000 years, as scripture says, and also, by counting the generations listed in the bible.

However, at one time, man lived to be 950 or so years, then it was cut down to 120 years, because of continued sin upon the earth, then, it was cut again, to around 70 years, as it is today. So, that makes it pretty hard to count.

The thousand years is compared to the 7th day, and that being a day of rest.

I know that there are other Christians that see this differently, and that is ok, we truly will all have to wait and see exactly how things play out.

Me too, twigy. I’m a Christian and was never taught the earth was 6000 years old either. But a growing number of churches are getting into this ‘young earth creationism’, and the 6000 year old figure that bbb quotes is rather popular with them. It comes from Bishop Ussher’s reasonably successful (but not totally accurate) attempt to count back through Biblical events to work out when they all happened. It was a fairly good attempt for those days, but since then history has lead to a few minor adjustments (such as the year of Jesus’ birth) and science has lead to some major ones (such as the age of the earth). I worry when people claim historical interpretation like that as Biblical, but I know that some Christians here will disagree with me.

This answer is obtained by tracing the genealogies that are given in the bible. This number is false because Genesis was written around 1450 B.C.E by Moses long after the fact of any of what is described happening. Egypt formed c.3100 BCE and the earliest Chinese civilizations c.7000 BCE and Sumeria c.5300.

The reason why I say when these cultures are forming is because the Bible (as far as I know) makes no direct mention to the Chinese, and their civilization starts before humanity does as far as the bible is concerned. It is even more silly to think this when we know that the first modern humans (h.sapiens) have been around for 30,000 years.

Until this (6,000 #) is proven using outside credible scientific sources you cannot use the bible to prove itself. At any rate the Earth is around 4.5 billion years with evolution starting at around 300,000,000 years ago.

Well, I’ve never heard of the earth being 6,000 years old (im just going to say 6kyo instead of 6,000) but I did find out that they examined earth, and, as you said, it was around 4.5billion years old, but then they looked at some stars, and discovered that the stars where much much older. The stars were around 15- 20 billion years old, and what baffles the scientists, is how the stars could have been older than the earth. well, here was the problem: The scientists were observing the wrong thing. They werent looking for the age of the earth, but they were looking for the age of the galaxy, and the galaxy is, if I can remember correctly, only 12 billion years old. it wouldnt make sense to have stars that are older than the galaxy, or would it? I mean really! we have taken pictures of so many things, but there is nothing of any fact to prove what we know exists in these galxays. Now, I know this doesnt really relate to this question in particular, but in a way it does. Now, if you look at all the plantes in our solar system/ galaxy (the milkyway) you see different stages of evolution. They found a planet ( well, I guess it really wouldnt be called a planet unless they declare it one, but I might as well anyways) that they believe, is in the same stage earth would have been when it was still being created., like the gasses being formed, and the oceans being formed. Some of the plantes also show different stages of climate. one of the plantes is ice, and Mars, is like completely barren. it reminds me of different stages the earth has gone through, and the stages that it may possible have gone through before. what if Mars was once like earth? what if something happened that caused it to become ruined? If you;ve ever seen resident evil: extinction, it kind of reminds me of that. what if our history is just part of a chain of never ending events? Now,, I’m sure you’ve heard of the big bang theory? I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know the basics of the theory. ok, heres somehting to think about: How was there an explosion from nothing? how do you get something from nothing? if outer space was completely barren, the only logical explanation would be God, because as far as I know, you cant get soemthing from nothing. yes, there may be things that reproduce to create larger things, but those are still thing. Think about it. Absolutely nothing is there what so ever, and then, just randomly, there is a spontaneous explosion that ust creates everything? Earth would have probally started out as a ball of molten lava, and which, over time, meteors struck earth, and as each one hit earth, it would slowly build onto it, and become a crust, and the beggining stage of earth would become the core of the planet. now, how its possible a core can go dormant, I dont know, but I do know one thing, and that is that there is no way the earth is only 6kyo

The same degree of thought went into young earth creationism as went into your ‘God Exists’ rant. That’s how.

As I have posted earlier, carbon dating has its immense flaws. Biblical scholars put this year to be 5768, but it is not a matter of life and death for this SHORT time we are hear on this little planet. We are aliens on this place for such a short time compared to eternity living with Our Heavenly Father. If the earth is “around” 10,000 years old…big deal…Jesus will be our refuge and hope for time and time again, forever!

Good observation! And I’m sure hundreds of Christians that have been -barely- mentally capable of using the computer and the internet will swarm to your question in attempt to make a CONVOLUTED RATIONALIZATION as to why they are completely right, as well as their religion!

Use your brain like you have, ask questions, and set free of jesus and christianity. Life is much more fun, and you only live once, ESPECIALLY if you are christian (no reincarnation here folks) There is no fee to be atheist, no church to go to, no old people, no silly questions, and more rights!

* As I have posted earlier, carbon dating has its immense flaws.

Regardless of the falsehood of that statement, carbon dating is not used to date the earth.

Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he >>> rested <<< on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

We don’t know how long, He rested…Hope this helps !!

Actually- Here’s an interesting note to add to that. The origianal word used was erata (I’m not sure on the spelling, sorry - been a long time since I read this) The word broke down to mean “period of time” So god created the world in Seven “periods of time” It was translation that made the word into days, as it was the easiest concept of time. I’ve always believed in this theory because it explains so much. There it gives evidence for the bible for evolution; including the dinosaurs. I’m going to have to try to find that article again, it was very good.

Basically, Christians believe it because while we understand that human hands wrote the words, it was divinely inspired by God, and we don’t believe God would allowed Himself to be so wrongly quoted.

Hope this Helps!

Yea, because I go to church and I know a lot of christians and I never heard that once( about the earth being 6000 years. old). People, just because someone says something and they say they are a christian it doesn’t mean the whole christian nation agrees with it, or it might even not be true. Its the same with any group. People are just different and basically will say what THEY believe.

bbb - seriously, try reading the bible. If you add up the lifespans of those in the old testament, and then the time since Jesus, and the interim, it works out to about 10K years or so.

Of course as amblessed notes, there is no notion of how long he rested for…however, why would god need rest? :) That’s another discussion.

Simply add up the numbers in the old testament, you get more than 10K years. If you’re going to debate the bible OR Christianity, my advice is to get reading, learn some history, and THEN take a whack at it. Otherwise…people on both sides of the fence will shoot you down for your complete lack of knowledge.

I think the age of the Earth is more like 10,000 years. Here’s how I try to explain it to people. God created a universe (and an Earth) that was millions if not billions of years old! If there were not fossils (created with the earth) and canyons and mountains and all things that indicate an age greater than 10,000 years, there would be no science, another gift from God. It it like when you take a picture of your 99-year-old grandmother. She is 99 years old–but the picture is only 1 second old! God can do ANYTHING! He can create something that is BILLIONS of years old!

“attempt to count back through Biblical events to work out when they all happened. “

So because a man attempted to use math and did it however wrongly, our whole Belife system will now be under more question? yeah thats all we need.

My Grandpa always said. “Girl if I say something thats not in the bible and claim it as truth, you believe the bible and correct me ASAP.”

Well the bible never stated how old the earth is. And just because a few christians believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, dont mean we all do.