A study on the age of the universe from a Biblical perspective. How does the Bible come up with 6,500 years as the age of the earth, sun and stars? How does the earth look young? Why can’t the universe be billions of years old? An explanation of why people are so passionate about billions of years as the age of the universe.
Required Resources:
Book - Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation by Dennis R. Peterson - http://creationtoday.org/product/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-creation/
DVD - Check This Out - https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/check-out/
DVD - Flood Geology - https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/flood-geology/
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. Remember, 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?
Read Genesis 1:1-2. In the beginning God started time. God created space (heavens), God created matter (earth). Before Genesis 1:1-2 there was no time, space or matter, only God. This happened about 6,500 years ago. How did I come up with that number? How can we know when God created? We have to look outside of what science can tell us and look at history. Tell students to turn to Luke 3:23-28. 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 6,500 years ago, more or less.
What do the stars tell us about the age of the universe?
What 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.
Have students look at the first chapter of Genesis. If you look at the context we know that these days are 24 hour days. What do I mean by context? If I told you that in my Grandfather's day it took 4 days to drive to Florida, which of the two words "day" in the previous statement mean a 24 hour day?
That's right, the days it took to travel to Florida. How did you know that? Because of the number in front of the word day. Look 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.
Read Exodus 20:11. Allow scripture to interpret scripture. But wait, there are other Christians who believe that there are millions of years between Genesis verse 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.
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? Notice I said point to, we need to look at what the evidence shows us, since true science cannot tell us for certain.
Doesn't the order of fossils in the rock record favor long ages?
Watch clip https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/fossils-rock-record-long-ages/
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 stars and planets were billions 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.
Scientists found bacteria in a salt crystal that they believe 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.
But don't fossils take millions of years to form?
Watch DVD - Flood Geology: Chapter - Fossilization (2 minutes and 17 seconds long)
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. Scientists 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 billions.
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 video clip. www.icr.org/thatsafact. Scroll to Cambrian Explosion. Found on "next page"
Ask students: If there is 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?
Study Romans 8:7 and 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Talk about these verses.
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 clip. https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/how-old-does-earth-look/
I want to make sure that you understand something important. There is very little evidence for a universe that is billions of years old. There is a lot of scientific observational evidence that point (not proves) to a universe that is only a few thousands of years old. Remember that people are born into sin and that because of sin they do not want a God telling them what they can or cannot do. We as sinful people enjoy our sinning too much to have a holy God telling us that what we are doing is wrong.
Study Isaiah 59:12-13
A universe that is billions of years old can bring a belief of evolution that is plausible and believable. Once you believe in evolution, you can push God aside and do whatever you want without the guilt of sin.
I know we studied this Bible passage before but we need to look at it again.
Study Romans 1:18-22
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.
Do a role play to help understand the importance of beliefs.
Pick two girls and one boy. Line them up in front of class with the boy in the middle. We will call the boy Brandon and the two girls Jen and Britney.
Brandon is the best basketball player on the school team. He makes great layups and is such a good shooter that he is the top scorer on the team. Jen and Britney both go to see the next basketball game and as usual Brandon scores the most points. Jen and Britney talk about the game after it's over. Jen likes Brandon and thinks he did a great job; a real asset for the team. Britney does not like Brandon and thinks he was just showing off and talks about the shots he missed. Both girls watched the same game at the same time and yet had different opinions about how Brandon did. 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 DVD: Check This Out - Radiometric Dating.
Book - Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation - Page 52.
Show students the picture of the watershed of the Mississippi. Read 'Rivers Tell a Story Too".
Also page 53. Show students the picture of Niagara Falls and read about it.
And… page 50. Show students the picture. Read "How old is the moon?" Page 51 Read "NASA's Biggest Worry.
Watch video: Young Earth Evidence - https://youtu.be/Qi-tL2b9uOg
Can living things verify earth's age?
Book - Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation. Page 55, read What do population studies show?
Or watch video clip. www.icr.org/thatsafact. Scroll down to Population Growth.
Why is the age of the earth so important?
Download video: https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/age-of-the-earth/in-six-days-clip-time/