The Junction: Science And The Bible.

THE AGE OF THE EARTH.

Geologists say the earth is 4 to 5 billion years old, with fossils dating back 500 million years. They say man has been on earth between 100,000 and 1,000,000 years.

Bishop James Ussher(1581-1656),an Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland worked out a chronology of the Bible using the genealogical tables in Genesis(the first book of the Bible) and other data. John Lightfoot (1602-1675) ,a Rabbinical Scholar and Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University worked further with Bishop Ussher’s figures and determined that the creation took place in the year 4,004 B.C. He even specified the month, day and hour. This will make the earth around 6000 years old.

Obviously there’s contradiction between these two views of the age of the earth. None of the views is necessarily accurate. The geologists depends on various scientific dating methods which assume that certain natural processes have always progressed at the same rate as they do now. If this assumption is incorrect, the resulting dates will be incorrect. Not all scientific data support a long age for the earth and the universe. For example, the depth of cosmic dust on the moon indicates an age of about 10,000 years. The use of tool making and cities by humans only dates back 5,000 to 6,000 years. On the Biblical side ,Bishop Ussher and John Lightfoot also made some assumptions that may not be sound. It was common in Bible times to leave out some generations in genealogies for sake of brevity. Some critics of the Bible argue that the ancient Hebrew language was not exact as our modern languages when dealing with numbers ,and that the numbers differ in some versions of the Old Testament that have come down to us. So there’s room in the Old Testament record for more than 6,000 years since creation.

Still, there’s a striking difference between the scientific and the Biblical ideas of the earth’s age. Several explanations have been offered by people to harmonize the difference.

For example:

1) Flood Geology: The idea that the fossils are the result of the flood in Noah’s time

2) The Gap Theory: Which says the fossils are the result of successive catastrophes on earth before the 6-day creation as we know it. It is pointed out that there’s room for any amount of time between the creation mentioned in Genesis 1:1 and the work of God on the first day starting in verse 3

3)The Age-Day Theory: This says, the Hebrew word “yom” which is translated “day” in Genesis 1 can also mean an indefinite period of time , and that the days of creation could have been long periods of time. With God one day is as a thousand years(2 Peter 3:8). Those who hold this theory say “evening” and “morning” mentioned in Genesis 1 are just poetic language describing the closing and opening of historical periods. Some people holding this view also believe in “theistic evolution”, ie , God used evolutionary process during these long periods to create the animals and man.

4) The ideal Time View: The idea that God created everything already grown to a certain age. When Adam was created, he may have looked like a 30 year old man. A scientist observing him but not knowing he had just been created would insist that he have been there at least 30 years. Trees have natural ages of hundred or even thousands of years, and mountains have many thousands of years. If they were created full grown, they would look to science as if they had been around long enough to grow naturally, when in fact their creation was recent.

All these theories hold possibilities, and all of them involve some problems. Please your views.

By :

Obourba Asante Taado