User talk:68.156.159.120/Missive

How old is the Earth? Now is not the time for opinions, just open minded facts. This is NOT a religious argument, just keep reading as I must thoroughly explain for the sake of some religious people’s beliefs. Some religious people say that the Earth is about 10,000 years old because of Genesis chapter 1 in the Bible when God created the Earth and everything in it in 6 “days”. Some believe each day was 24 hours. And some believe each day was 1,000 years. That’s because in Psalms 90:4 a day is described as a “1,000 years to the Lord.” But the Hebrew doesn’t say that 1 day is as 1,000 years but more accurately, 1 day is like 1,000 years to God. However after researching more in the ancient Hebrew this term “1,000 years” most likely meant a long period of time, not specifically the amount of exactly 1,000 years. Ancient Hebrew had no such word for millions or billions, it was not even in their vocabulary at that time. Maybe a day is like (but not specifically) one million or one billion years to God. Besides, Psalm 90:4 isn’t even talking about the creation story, so you’d be taking that verse out of its intended context anyways. The book of Genesis says that God created everything in 6 days. In only a small percent of the time is the Hebrew word day (yom) used in the Bible referring to a 24 hour day. It often marks the beginning or end of a significant event. The ancient Hebrew language (having 9,000 words) wasn’t like our modern day English (having millions of words) and I doubt there was such a word for millions or billions back then. And nobody could have said for sure how long God took to create everything since no eyewitnesses were there except God. After the 6 days of creation are explained, Genesis 2:4 says, “This is the history of the heavens and earth when they were created, in the day (not days) that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” To think that everything was created in 6 literal “days” or in periods of 1,000 years contradicts this verse. This verse used the word “day” to describe the entire creation story. Clearly none of these 6 “days” were referring to 24 hour days or 1,000 year periods. Even when it says, “So the evening and the morning were the first day.” The words “evening” and “morning” in the Jewish culture signify the beginning and end of a day or possibly the beginning and end of a significant event. Isn’t a 24 hour day the time it takes for Earth to rotate facing the Sun? Earth’s rotation, orbit, and view of the Sun could’ve been much different back then. And is your God stuck here on Earth bound by our definition of a day? Later in Genesis 2:17 God warns Adam not to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, “for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” But in Genesis 5:5 it describes how Adam continued to live to 933 years old though he obviously ate the fruit from the forbidden tree well before his death. The word “day” definitely could have meant an age, era, or a significant period of time.

There are many ways to view the Biblical creation story in Genesis. Another piece of evidence is on the 6th day of creation when God made all land walking creatures including man (Adam). On this “day” Adam named every living creature. Then God put Adam in the garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:20, Adam couldn’t find a mate comparable for him after searching among the animals. Then God put Adam in a deep sleep and made Eve. All of this happened on the 6th day. Well Adam seemed to be very busy on the 6th day unless it was much more than a 24 hour time period. How many species did he name that “day”? How long and how far did he search for a suitable companion? How long was he asleep while God made Eve? If each day meant 24 hours, then what did the animals eat for food with only 2 day old plants just barely sprouting from the recent Earth? Did Moses who wrote the book of Genesis actually witness the creation with his own eyes? If Moses knew that God spent billions of years creating, there wasn’t even a Hebrew word for “billions” at that time. Hebrews 4:4-10 hints that God is still resting from the 7th day after the creation. That verse was written 4,000 years after the creation story. God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the forbidden tree or they would experience death. How could Adam and Eve have been able to understand death if they had not lived long enough to see it? The most popular theory among many religious people is that during every “day” of creation, a period of millions or billions of years took place. This theory can easily explain the creation story while not conflicting with the scientific evidence that our universe is billions of years old. Genesis says that all of the plants were made on the 3rd day though the Sun wasn’t created until the 4th day. That would be a problem for plant life if each day meant millions or billions of years. But the 4th day could’ve just meant that the Sun and stars had gradually become brighter or more visible on the 4th day. Or the atmosphere was still clouded with volcanic ash leftover from the land formations created from the 3rd day and then awhile later the plants were created. The moon was made on the 4th day also and is believed to have collided with Earth changing the rotation speed and orbit knocking us closer towards the Sun, thus making the Sun, moon, and stars more visible. This collision and change in Earth’s orbit would verify the “seasons” and “years” also created on the 5th day. This makes sense since God had already created light (stars) on the first day. This theory stands up to every critic and agrees with every scientific discovery. Another idea is that God could have been planning calculations each “day” (or billions of years) which resulted in the Big Bang producing Earth and all life by way of evolution. Throughout Genesis chapters 1 and 2 it says that God made every living thing out of the “ground” or “dust” of the Earth, which is basically what evolution teaches. God tells Adam later, “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” It could be possible that Adam and Eve evolved from the other animals created earlier that “day” and they were the first real humans. Maybe Adam was the first intelligent and upright walking human species. The story tells that apes (mammals) were created right before humans. Maybe something changed from eating a certain fruit that doesn’t exist anymore. I’m not saying any of this theory is true or not, it makes no difference to me. But I am saying to be open minded.

So even if you believe in God, I think all of this would make more sense than demeaning your God like some half mortal mythological Earth dwelling God who is in hurry of some kind to create life. Moses didn’t know how to scientifically explain the creation story, so just try not to dwell on every detail. And nobody could have been an eye witness to the creation but God. I’m not saying that the Bible made a mistake, but maybe when God spoke to Moses, it’s possible that not everything in the Bible is necessarily God’s exact words. Or maybe man’s interpretation was not worded properly for lack of scientific understanding and vocabulary. The creation story never mentions the formation of the angels, so why is their existence recorded all throughout the Bible? The Bible is meant to be a historic book recording events, stories, and the relationship between God and man. Keep in mind that God is considered to be outside of time. In fact that’s the true meaning to Psalms 90:4. If not, then what would really be a day to God? Isn’t a day to us the amount of time we make one rotation on Earth. If the universe was only thousands of years old then why can we see stars that are billions of light-years away. That light wouldn’t even be visible to us by now if the universe wasn’t at least billions of years old. The ancient American Indian writings date back around 9,500 B.C., Australian Aborigines date back around 25,000 B.C., and European cave drawings date back to 30,000 B.C. Don’t be confused by the claim that Adam lived about 4,000 years ago. He might have eaten from the forbidden tree 4,000 years ago, but the Bible explains that Adam didn’t have the punishment of death until he ate the forbidden fruit. I see no reason why Adam couldn’t have lived for a very long time before that happened and he still could’ve been the first human. But in the same way that God created the animals in great numbers, maybe God made other humans in large numbers around the same time throughout the whole Earth. Adam is only made out to be the first human and the first of God’s chosen people, the Israelis. Also the name Adam is translated as man in ancient Hebrew, sometimes meaning mankind elsewhere in the Bible and even in modern day languages. God most likely would have created many men throughout the Earth just as he did with fish, birds, and other mammals. Genesis 1:26 quotes God saying, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion...” God is quoted as speaking of multiple men not just one. Even though this verse is debatable, did Adam have enough frequent flyer miles to travel the Earth and verify that he was the only human on Earth? And Moses wrote the book of Genesis but was born a long time after Adam. Other Biblical accounts seem to hint at this also. Some main points of the Genesis story was to show that God created everything and that mankind are special to God more than the animals. Please be open minded and remember that whichever God you believe in, if any, would not be bound to our Earth standards of time. So please don’t be self centered thinking your God is like you and highly educated scientists, paleontologist, cosmologists, astronomers, and geologists have all been wrong just because someone thinks that God’s days are defined as 1,000 Earth rotations. If anything a day to God would not be comprehensible to us. Just spend 5 minutes trying to imagine an eternal God and then give up like I do. It’s impossible for us to fully understand. The age of the Earth does NOT prove or disprove the existence of God, OK!