Time and the Bible: (Jehovah's Witnesses, Egyptian, genesis, protestants)
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Okay here's a thought, I have heard many times that people believe that the Bible says the earth is 6000 years old and yet the earliest recorded year in history is 4236 B.C. and that is an Egyptian calendar that is based on a 365 day year. Now this is 2008 A.D., somewhere the numbers don't add up could somebody please explain this?
Very few Christians actually believe that. The Bible isn't a science or geography book.
I wouldn't say "very few" Christians believe the earth is only 6000 years old. It depends on what denomination you are talking about. Catholics and mainline protestants tend to accept modern views on science. When you get into fundamentalist circles, you will find that a lot, if not most people adhere to strict young earth creationism without compromise.
And the original poster is right...the numbers don't add up, especially when you throw in a global flood around 2000 B.C. Forget carbon dating, there is too much historical evidence to refute that timetable.
I wouldn't say "very few" Christians believe the earth is only 6000 years old. It depends on what denomination you are talking about. Catholics and mainline protestants tend to accept modern views on science. When you get into fundamentalist circles, you will find that a lot, if not most people adhere to strict young earth creationism without compromise.
And the original poster is right...the numbers don't add up, especially when you throw in a global flood around 2000 B.C. Forget carbon dating, there is too much historical evidence to refute that timetable.
If you want to know, seek and you will find. It's not very hard to find out how an ~6,000 year history of the universe is obtained.
Whether you agree with it or not was not the question. You wanted to know how the ~6,000 year age was arrived at and the link provides a basic understanding of how they did.
Okay here's a thought, I have heard many times that people believe that the Bible says the earth is 6000 years old and yet the earliest recorded year in history is 4236 B.C. and that is an Egyptian calendar that is based on a 365 day year. Now this is 2008 A.D., somewhere the numbers don't add up could somebody please explain this?
The main problem is people trying to reconcile their natural understanding of the world with God's Word. There's only a certain amount of our natural understanding that can be reconciled with the Word of God. Moving on to your question, there are several passages within 1 Peter as well as the Psalms which reference a day to God being reminiscent of 1000 human years. It's very possible that much of the unaccounted years can be explained by God's time being on a much greater scale than our own.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe Adam was created in 4026BC, but that the universe was created billions of years ago. 'In the beginning', before the creative days began...
Okay here's a thought, I have heard many times that people believe that the Bible says the earth is 6000 years old and yet the earliest recorded year in history is 4236 B.C. and that is an Egyptian calendar that is based on a 365 day year. Now this is 2008 A.D., somewhere the numbers don't add up could somebody please explain this?
The bible is clear that the earth was created by God 4004 BC. See Ussher who did an excellent job formulating this from scripture. That would put us in 6012 years from creation.
We do not go to the Egyptians for Biblical acuracy for they are a people who did not follow God except maybe during the times that they were ruled by the Jewish nation ie. during the time of Jacob, Moses or Solomon.
Even in the ancient Egyptian texts, they refer to the Great Flood, but we do not look at there writings as proving the Bible. The Bible is ultimate and these other documents merely aid our confidence in the Bible's acuracy.
People don't believe that the Bible says that the earth is 6000 yrs. old. The Bible states that the earth is 6000 years old from creation when we add up all of the ages. So, our belief does not change scripture.
Your confusion about the earliest date reccorded is that you do not understand the difference between relative dating and absolute dating. Absolute dating we use today but in the past they used relative dating. This is where it might say during the 3rd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzer. This date is relative until you can determine when Nebuchanezzers reign began. So there is no date of 4236 BC but rather a date like above. Based on this the Bible reccords the dates as early as 6004 +/- which trumps this Egyptian date.
The bible is clear that the earth was created by God 4004 BC. See Ussher who did an excellent job formulating this from scripture. That would put us in 6012 years from creation.
We do not go to the Egyptians for Biblical acuracy for they are a people who did not follow God except maybe during the times that they were ruled by the Jewish nation ie. during the time of Jacob, Moses or Solomon.
Even in the ancient Egyptian texts, they refer to the Great Flood, but we do not look at there writings as proving the Bible. The Bible is ultimate and these other documents merely aid our confidence in the Bible's acuracy.
People don't believe that the Bible says that the earth is 6000 yrs. old. The Bible states that the earth is 6000 years old from creation when we add up all of the ages. So, our belief does not change scripture.
Your confusion about the earliest date reccorded is that you do not understand the difference between relative dating and absolute dating. Absolute dating we use today but in the past they used relative dating. This is where it might say during the 3rd year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzer. This date is relative until you can determine when Nebuchanezzers reign began. So there is no date of 4236 BC but rather a date like above. Based on this the Bible reccords the dates as early as 6004 +/- which trumps this Egyptian date.
The bible isn't really clear on when the earth was created. It just states that "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." I think the Lord knew that there would be issues like this that would come about, which is why no exact date was given. What we can't understand through natural abilities, we have to reconcile with faith.
Very few Christians actually believe that. The Bible isn't a science or geography book.
What data do you have that supports your "very few" theory. You can't make broad statements like that.
The Bible is not a science book or geography book you are correct. But where the Bible touches on science and geography it is correct. But we must remember that the Bible also accurately reccorded history and this includes mans errors and failings not God's.
For example it says that the circumfrence of the baths made by Solomon where 30 spans with a diameter of 10 spans. We all know that Pie is 3.14 so the Bible is incorrect. But I am also incorrect because pie is actually 3.1414926 infact pie does not end but keeps going on into infinity. So the bible acurately records the measurement that someone made of the bath. Using a span around the Bath someone measured 30. If there was anything left over it was ommited. Of course the span is not an exact measuring device so we wouldn't expect them to come to some precise number.
Since the Bible reccords real events and histories of real people, then the geography falls in line too. When a person says they entered this city at a certain time, we can look and it falls in line with the body of scripture around it. And if the terrain is descibed it matches the terrain found at that geographical location during the correct season.
Scripture when analysed is very acurate and the stories plausible.
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