Question
If God created everything in 6 days and man was created on the 6th day, how can we explain how old the earth is? Scientists say the earth is millions of years old but from what I understand it cannot be that old. Can you explain?
Answer
Nobody knows the age of the earth. When I took geology in college, we were taught that the earth was between 1-2 billion years old. Now they say that life began about 3-4 billion years ago (so the earth is 4-6 billion years old). The earth has aged billions of years over the last few decades! The point is, science is very inexact. Today’s “facts and truths” are tomorrow’s myths.
In an attempt to reconcile scientific theory with Genesis 1, there are several ideas circulating. Among these is the idea that there was a race of beings prior to Adam. This is supported by tradition and by the possibility that the verb used in the sentence “…and the earth was without form…” can be translated “…and the earth became without form…” meaning that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (with its life and inhabitants before Adam) then the earth, for whatever reason, became waste and void, then God said “let there be light” and started all over again. This idea permits greater flexibility in allowing more time in the overall age of the earth, while accepting the literal creation time-sequence beginning with the first day after the earth “became void” that is, from the day of the creation as we know it, so that life as we know it began about 6,000 years ago, but other life forms could have existed long before Adam. Such an idea is possible of course, but the problem with this theory is that it is largely speculative. The Scriptures give no real support for a pre-Adamic creation.
But regarding science and its theories, it should be clearly understood that the entire theory of evolution depends upon the accuracy of the dating system. The earth MUST be hundreds of millions of years old if the theory of evolution is to “have a chance.” And in this matter, the dating system itself is subject to speculation. The process of dating assumes that the elements used in the dating have always decayed at the same rate as they can be observed today and that nothing has happened to interfere with that decay,such as a comet ripping open the atmosphere and exposing the earth to extensive radiation. Dating methods rely upon the current knowledge of the “half-lives” of elements. Let’s say for example, that we can determine that a certain radioactive isotope looses “half its strength” over a period of say, one million years. Now we find a rock out in the field and when we measure the presence of that isotope in a the rock we find that it measures 25%. Assuming the starting point of 100% and knowing that the element “breaks down” by one-half every million years or so, we conclude that our sample rock would be about 2 million years old (100% to 50%=one million years; 50% to 25%=1 million years). But how do we know the original starting point? It must be assumed based upon observations of the present.
There are many other inconsistencies and assumptions which plague current scientific theory. If these things are “fact” as we are often led to believe, then why are the “facts” continually changing? Do not be quick to accept what is based upon assumption. I believe the Genesis account because the Bible has ample evidence to prove its source of origin, and its accuracy in other things. The scope of that evidence and the weight of evidence against evolution is far beyond a question/answer page such as this, although in our articles things such as this are addressed from time to time. There are some links that you may wish to explore. The Creation Research Society can be found at: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/crs/crs-home.html Bob West has some good links also at: http://www.BiblePage.org/links.html In addition, keep checking back on Gary’s site also, as we may be offering bibliographies and other information from time to time regarding these things.
By Doug Focht
