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Many scientists today insist that the earth is billions upon billions of years old.  The Bible, on the other hand, indicates that the earth is only about six thousand years old.  For Christians, the age of the earth really shouldn’t be in question.  God’s Creation account is crystal clear and the passage of time thereafter is meticulously documented by the genealogies found in Scripture.  These detailed birth and death records provide us with a chronology through which biblical scholars have calculated the earth to be thousands and not billions of years old.

Some criticize those who believe in a young earth, pointing out that the Bible doesn’t tell us explicitly how old the earth is.  That is true, but then how could it?  The Bible was written for people of all ages.  If it gave a specific age for the earth, that age would only be true for one point in time and untrue for all others.  Since God’s Word is truth, the Bible must be accurate yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Accordingly, the Bible gives us a means by which we may reliably establish the age of the earth, but it does not give us the age of the earth directly.

Why should Christians be concerned with old-earth theory and the fact that it contradicts the Bible?  Old earth ideas are foundational to the theory of evolution and related scientific theories.  Taken together, these theories deny that God created life, the universe or anything in it. Without billions and billions of years, however, none of these theories makes sense.  Old-earth theory is so essential to modern scientific thought that it must be defended at all costs.  For that reason, we see much of the physical evidence that contradicts old-earth theory - and there is a lot of it - being ridiculed, swept under the rug or explained away with even more theories, some of which are truly ridiculous.

As discussed in the essay, “Evolution Versus Creation Science,” which may be found in this blog, the theory of evolution challenges the authority, accuracy and truthfulness of God’s Word as recorded in the Bible.  This is why it is important for Christians to know what they believe regarding the age of the earth and why they believe it.  Here is a short list of affirmations concerning the true age of the earth:

  1. The Book of Genesis is a historical account involving real events and real people.
  2. The Book of Genesis is not myth or allegory.
  3. The days mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis are literal, 24-hour periods.
  4. The days mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis do not represent ages or acts in a drama played out over long periods of time.
  5. The genealogies in Scripture provide a record of time as it elapsed following the six days of Creation.
  6. The earth and the universe are not billions of years old.
  7. The earth and the universe are approximately six thousand years old.
  8. Supposedly conclusive evidence that the earth and the universe are billions of years old is either misinterpreted or invalid.
  9. Many people believe in an old earth at least in part because of what they have been taught about dinosaurs and radiometric dating.
  10. Much of what modern science teaches about dinosaurs and radiometric dating is false.
  11. All radiometric dating methods, including those based upon carbon-14 levels, are flawed, involve critical assumptions and do not prove old-earth theory.
  12. Old-earth theories involve educated guesses and are subject to change, but the Bible never changes.
  13. Scientific theories do not prove or disprove anything.  It is the theories themselves that remain to be proven.
  14. Scientific theories are not validated by consensus of opinion.
  15. Some theories cannot be tested and must forever remain theories.
  16. God created dinosaurs along with the other land animals on Day Six of Creation.
  17. Paleontologists say that dinosaurs became extinct about 66 million years ago.
  18. Dinosaurs became extinct thousands of years ago, not millions of years ago.
  19. Noah’s flood really took place, just as it is recorded in the Bible.
  20. The great flood of Noah took place about 4,500 years ago.
  21. The geological and fossil evidence is very consistent with a worldwide flood.
  22. In the days before the great flood and for a while thereafter, dinosaurs and humans walked the earth simultaneously.
  23. The worldwide, cataclysmic flood of Noah clearly and adequately explains the fossil remains and rock formations scientists find today.
  24. Millions and billions of years of gradual change are inconsistent with much of the fossil record and many of the geological formations scientists find today.
  25. There is no conflict between the physical evidence found in the earth and the biblical record.
  26. Science has disputed but never disproved any claim in the Bible.
  27. Although a minority among scientists, some highly qualified scientists today openly reject old-earth theory.
  28. There is a sizable body of credible, scientific evidence supporting the biblical view of a young earth, created by God approximately six thousand years ago.