All scripture is taken from the New International Version.  Zondervan Bible Publishers.

 

Most people that do not believe in the Biblical historical account of creation believe that the universe is 13 billion years old and the earth is millions of years old.  They call this belief science.  The problem is that science is always in the present and only knows what is observable, testable and repeatable.  And history that is not recorded in the Bible can only go back 5,000 years.  All so called knowledge, outside of the Bible, further than what history documents and science can observe is guess work, it is what people believe.  What does the Bible say about the age of the universe?

 

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

                        Genesis 1:1

 

In the beginning God started time.  God created space (heavens), God created matter (earth).  Before Genesis 1:1 there was no time, space or matter, only God.  This happened about 6,500 years ago.  How does the Bible come up with this number? We have to look outside of what science can tell us and look at history.  We read the genealogy of Jesus in Luke chapter 3.

 

    Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.  He was the

    son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli…

                      Verse 23

    the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

                     Verse 38

 

We know from history that Jesus lived 2000 years ago.  Historians have calculated that 2000 years plus the genealogy found in Luke 3 from Jesus back to Adam is about 6,500 years ago.

 

What do the stars tell us about the age of the universe?

Watch short video clip.  www.icr.org/thatsafact.   Scroll to Blue Stars.

 

Many Christians want to believe in millions of years because the scientists that don’t believe in the Bible say that science proves that age.  But they also want to believe the Bible, so they believe that the days of creation are long periods of time. 

Let’s look at the word day in the first chapter of Genesis.

 

    The land produced vegetation; plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees

    bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good.

    And there was evening and there was morning the third day.

                     Genesis 1:12-13

 

 

If you look at the context we know that these days are 24 hour days.  What do I mean by context?  The word day can have more than one meaning.  How you use the word in the sentence will tell you the meaning.  If your Grandfather told you that in his day it took 4 days to drive to Florida, which of the two words “day” in the previous sentence mean a 24 hour day?  Yes, the days it took to travel to Florida.  How did you know that?  Because of the number in front of the word day.  At the end of the verses of creation, each ends with a number and “there was evening and there was morning”.  When the text has that, it means a 24 hour day.  The Word of God clearly teaches these days as 24 hour days.

 

    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 20:11

 

Allow scripture to interpret scripture.  The truths of what the Bible teaches can usually be backed up by other Bible passages.

But wait, there are other Christians who believe that there are millions of years between Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 and 2.  When Genesis was first written there were no chapters or verses and there is no indication that anything happened between the first two verses in Genesis.  These Christians who believe in millions of years want to force their beliefs into the Bible.  What we, as Christians, need to do is trust the Word of God as truth and take our beliefs out of the Bible.

 

Watch short video clip.

https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/christians-accept-millions-years/

 

There is a lot of time difference between 13 billion years and 6,500 years.  Are there scientific studies that point to what the age of the earth really is?  True science cannot tell us for certain because the scientific method of observation can’t be applied.  There is much evidence for a young earth.

There have been about 80 studies trying to figure out how old the earth is and all but a few point to a young earth.  Here are a few examples.

Everyone has heard of high tides and low tides.  There are high tides because of the gravitational pull of the moon.  This, in effect, causes the moon to spiral outwards very slowly.  Because of the known rate of the moon’s movements over time, scientists have calculated that the moon has moved away from the earth about 800 feet in the past 6,000 years.  If the earth and moon were millions of years old, the moon would be far out in space away from the earth by now, but it’s not.

Around the world topsoil is generally under 2 feet thick.  Scientific studies show that it takes about 100 years for an inch of topsoil to build up.  If the earth is millions of years old the topsoil would be hundreds of feet thick.

 

 

Watch short video clip.

https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/fossils-rock-record-long-ages/

 

Scientists found bacteria in a salt crystal that they believed to be 250 million years old.  They were surprised to find that the bacteria’s DNA was very similar to modern bacteria’s DNA.  If the bacteria were actually 250 million years old, evolution should have changed the DNA based on time and change that evolution demands.  Plus, the bacteria should have decayed or at least broken down long ago.  It would be impossible for the bacteria to remain as is was for 250 million years.

The earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that protects us and all living things from the sun’s solar radiation.  Without a strong magnetic field, life on earth would die from the sun’s radiation.  But the magnetic field is getting weaker over time.  Scientist began measuring this field back in 1845 and they are still taking measurements.  They have determined that the magnetic field has been decaying at a rate of 5% per century.  Knowing the rate of decay, the magnetic field can only be a few thousands of years old, not millions.

 

Watch short video clip.   www.icr.org/thatsafact.   Scroll to Population Growth.

 

Everybody knows that when you drill for oil, the oil will shoot out of the ground because of the pressure.  What you may not know is that studies show that this pressure cannot last more than 5,000 – 10,000 years.  But most scientists insist that it took millions of years for oil to form.

A scientist that looks for dinosaur bones, by the name of Dr. Mary Schweitzer, discovered a thigh bone of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Montana.  She found it in a canyon and the only way to lift this huge bone out was to break it in half.  The inside of the bone was studied under the microscope and to her amazement, the bone showed blood vessels and these contained red blood cells.  The bone marrow contained flexible tissue.  The scientist “dated” this bone at 68 million years, but soft tissue with blood vessels and red blood cells could not possibly last that long.

 

What does the great variety of animal fossils tell us about the age of the earth?

Watch short video clip.   www.icr.org/thatsafact.  Scroll to Cambrian Explosion, found on “next page”.

 

If there is strong evidence that the earth is young, and the Bible clearly states that the earth is young (a few thousands of years old), why do so many people believe that the earth is billions of years old?

 

    For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to

    suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to

    say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the

    truth and turn aside to myths.

                            2 Timothy 4:3-4

 

Sinful mankind naturally pushes away from God.  A belief in billions of years makes the belief of evolution believable.  Suppose you were a high school student assigned to write a term paper for your biology teacher.  Imagine the look on his face when you create a theory that states that man evolved from a single-cell amoebae in just 100 years.  He would say that the theory was foolish and rightly so.  But you don’t want to dismiss your theory just yet, so you make an adjustment.  You go back to your teacher and change your time frame from 100 years to 10 million years.  Your teacher is very excited and exclaims, “that is something I can believe in”.  See what happened?  The unbelievable became believable by adding time.  Adding time does not change a thing; evolution is still impossible, unobservable and untestable.  Remember that God was there in the beginning and He knows what, how and when creation happened.  We need to trust that what God put in His Word is true.  It is sin that tempts us to doubt what the Bible clearly teaches and Satan loves to use that doubt to separate us from God.  We need to remember that even Christians battle sin, but as we learn what the Bible teaches us about creation and how science verifies what God tells us, those doubts vanish.

 

Most scientists that believe in an old earth claim that the earth looks old.  Well, how old does the earth look?

Watch short video clip.

https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/how-old-does-earth-look/

 

    For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us.  Our offenses

    are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities; rebellion and treachery against

    the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies

    our hearts have conceived.

                              Isaiah 59:12-13

 

What you believe affects how you see things.  For example: when a young earth Biblical creationist visits the Grand Canyon he will see a canyon carved out by a lot of water in a short amount of time a few thousand years ago.  Now, if you believe in evolution and millions of years, you will see a large canyon carved out slowly over millions of years by a little amount of water.  Both people are seeing the same Grand Canyon, but because of differing beliefs, they see the same canyon differently.

Pretend that you are in a high school cafeteria and you are overhearing a conversation between two girls.  They are talking about the basketball game that they watch the night before in that their high school team won.  They are talking about one of the players, the top scorer, named Luke.  One of the girls obviously liked Luke and made the claim that he played very well being the top scorer.  The other girl did not like Luke at all and made the comments that he did miss some shots and was showing off.  Both girls were at the same game at the same time watching Luke playing basketball.  And yet saw that Luke played very differently.  Do you see how a different belief can alter your views?

Scientist do the same thing in regards to the age of the earth.  There is no real evidence for our world being billions of years old; yet because of their belief in an old earth they see rock layers and fossils as being millions of years old.  Fossils that we see in the present do not have a tag on them telling us how old they are.  And no one was there to log in the date when that animal died.  Scientists and teachers sound like they know, but in a framework of real science they do not.  Remember that real science needs to be observed in the present.  It is true that we see an earth that is young (6,500 years old) and because of our beliefs we see things in that light, but we trust in a God that was there and wrote down when this happened.

 

Does Radiometric Dating prove millions of years?

Watch short video clip.

https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/science/radiometric-dating/

 

Watch short video clip.

www.creationminute.com   Click on number 6: Young Earth Evidence.

 

Why is the age of the earth so important?

https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/in-six-days-clip-time/