Earth Only About 6000 Years Old?

I just watched a few teaching videos put on by Answers in Genesis over the last few days. It explained various things like the geological evidence for the flood and how, contrary to popular views, the earth is indeed young. Like 6000 years young.

Is this surprising to anyone? Offensive to anyone?

I have to confess, I know people who would role their eyes at this post. “He went there. I cant believe it.” <shaking of head> “What a sad unenlightened fundy lemming”. At least that’s the response I imagine from a certain kind of person. I was once featured in a blog as being an imbecile for believing God created the world in six days… by someone I considered a friend who also happened to be a pastor. That hurt. So this blog post was influenced with these people in mind.

Seriously. Does it matter if we believe in a young earth or not? Isn’t this just another  non-essential issue of the Christian faith? Many think so, but to think that flirts with dangerous ideas regarding the authority of God’s word.

I am not presenting this as an essential to the faith, but what I will say is that if you believe the essentials of the faith, biblically presented views of origins become an inevitable conclusion. It’s much like a mathematical proof.

I take the Bible at face value. I do this because Jesus did. He seemed to think Scripture was the actual word of God and was utterly trustworthy down to even the very tense of a single word.

These days it seems difficult to present and prove a case for something and convince anyone of the truth even when there are many Scriptures from both the old and new testament that plainly teach on a subject (can you think of an example of this?). But Jesus and the apostles often make a solid argument out of a single word or even the tense of a word!

What kind of world do we live in that cares nothing for truth or reality or the way things really are? No one is actually submitting themselves to the truth and this is sad because at the core of truth is love.

Why do I bother writing a blog about the age of the earth? Even if I can prove it, (and it can be proven) would anyone care? Could I change a single mind on the subject and why would that even matter?

I have a Christian friend who refuses to even think through the whole issue of origins or take a position on the subject because so many of his Christian friends believe in some version of theistic evolution and he doesn’t want to cause those relationships undue stress. It doesn’t matter to him.

I know other Christians who will mock and ridicule you for believing what those whacked out fundy’s like Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis teach. Besides, over half the scientists believe in and preach a big bang and millions of years.

Yes, there is definitely a majority among the scientific community who believe this devil inspired whacked out religion. This is because this “community” is very careful about who it lets in. (Ever watch Expelled? Great film by the way.) Would it surprise you to learn that almost half of scientists do believe in a Creator aka Intelligent Design? (To my knowledge “Intelligent Design” is the label they use to dispel the notion that their views are “religiously motivated”. Come on, who are they kidding?)

I will tell you why I think the whole issue of origins matters and why a young earth is true. Personally I wouldn’t care if the earth was millions of years old. I’m not sure why the Bible insists on it, but it does and the evidence is there to back it both Biblically, historically, and scientifically.

ORIGINS MATTER

The whole notion of macro evolution and millions of years is a ridiculous fable, a grand deception meant to distance the creature (you and I) from the Creator. In reading through the Bible I am struck over and over by the references to God being our Creator. God is almost always the one bringing it up. It’s as if he constantly needs to remind us where we came from, who is our source, and where are origins truly are.

Did you realize that Jesus is introduced by the apostle John as the Creator? Just read John 1 and see for yourself:

“In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
² He existed in the beginning with God.
³ God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

Then Paul writes this in Colossians 1:

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.”

Have you ever thought of Jesus himself personally being the one who created all things? The one who personally created you?

HIGH VIEW OF SCRIPTURE

As mentioned earlier, I take the God’s word at face value. God cannot lie. He would not deceive us. The trustworthiness of Scripture is verified and affirmed by none other than Jesus himself and Jesus is verified by his resurrection from the dead. It can be proven biblically that the earth is about 6000 years young. (This is actually really old, but of course, not when you compare it to millions of years.)

It seems that the earth is actually a few days older than the sun, moon and all the googolplex of stars. This shows us that his plans for the physical world started here, with us, with earth, with you and me. The earth and every person created in his image is the center of God’s focused attention. You are the center of God’s attention and care. Do you realize how special that makes you and I?

Let’s not forget the character of the Creator. He is pure and unadulterated love. God is love and He created you to love you. You are created by love for love, to belong to love, to be loved and then to love. All you need is love. (Had to throw that in there. Did anyone else read that to the tune of the Beatles song?)

Honoring our Creator has profoundly personal and wonderful implications for you and I.

If you believe in the resurrection of Christ then you must believe that Jesus is who he says he is. He is God and the Messiah who attested to the veracity and reliability of Scripture as his true and reliable word. It’s time we think through the implications of that and start viewing Scripture and what it teaches in the same high regard as Jesus did.

Jesus believed in creation in six literal days. How ridiculous it is to say “he believed it” when he was the One who did it!

THE PROOF

Genesis 1 spells it out, ““And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day…the second day… etc…” Genesis 1:5 and following.

And the again in the Ten Commandments written by the very finger of God (Jesus) himself,  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20: 8-11

Jesus on creation:
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’” Matthew 19:4

Jesus on the flood:
‘Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the Flood came and destroyed them all.’ Luke 17:26–27

ALL of history is accounted for in Scripture and other historical accounts and places the earth at no more than 6000 years old.

If you are still not convinced, here is one final thought (not that there aren’t many other thoughts on this issue). Many seem to believe the days of creation were eons of time to accommodate for all those really brilliant haters of God scientists reliable and infallible interpretations of the “evidence” that makes it absolutely certain that the world and universe is in fact, actually and verifiably, millions of years old. If the days were eons of time, then how long was the seventh day? How long did God rest? An eon of time or a single day?

Adam was created on day six. We know his age was 930 when he died. He would be an eon older than his contemporaries if day seven was an eon. Think about it.

MADE BY HIM, FOR HIM

Let’s get back to that Scripture in Colossians 1 which tells us that everything was made through Jesus and for Jesus. I absolutely love this!

I was created by Jesus for Jesus. You were created by Jesus for Jesus. We are incredibly special to him and meant to belong to him.

Say it out loud: “I was created by Jesus for Jesus.”

Isn’t that powerful? You find your purpose and meaning in belonging to him, connecting to him, knowing him and nowhere else.

May the LORD bless your relationship with him today and increase your awareness of how loved you are. Allowing Jesus to love you is your primary responsibility.

Let him love you today! Spend some quality time with him and pray for me that I can do the same.

Related articles

• Creation Science, Oxymoron
• http://creation.com/how-old-is-the-earth
• Answers in Genesis – Creation Geology (sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com)
• Answers in Genesis, Did Jesus Say He Created in Six Days? http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/au/jesus-say-six-days
• Answers in Genesis: Are Ghosts Real? (sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com)
• Credit where none is due; creationist colleges and courses (3quarksdaily.com)
• The Adam and Eve debacle continues: science drives theologians into a frenzy of fabrication (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)