Is there evidence for the Earth to be only 6,000 years old
or is there evidence for the Earth being older. I was discussing
this with an atheist on the weekend. I wish I had the evidence to
talk to him about it. I believe in the earth being 6,000 years old.
Bible references would be great for me to learn from so that I have
pertinent information next time..
I would be happy with opinions as well.
God Bless.
The physical world was created as the signature of God's infinite strength.
For example:there's a relationship between a certain quantity of (invisible) energy and a certain quantity of (visible) material.
Mathematical formula teaches that in one thousandth gram of material is 'enclosed' with an amount of energy having the potential to heat a private house during one year. Thus, when considering that the earth has a mass of about a million times a million times a million times a million kilogram – an unimaginable quantity of material – we quickly become awestruck by the tremendous quantity of energy which is accumulated therein.
And the above example merely speaks about the composite of our relatively 'small' planet earth; what should we think then of the entire physical world ... the universe?
In any event. all that energy arises from God. It becomes 'converted' into mass when He creates the earth and the entire visible world is called into being through His word. What a 'moment'! God's power is revealed. The earth appears. It crystallizes from the invisible into the visible. The angels witness all of this. They jubilantly sing together. They shout for joy (Job 38:7).
We can only understand and comprehend the God's creative powers through faith. Hebrews 11:3, says: “By faith we understand that the universe is formed at God's command, so that what is seen is not made out of what is visible”. The NBV translates this same verse as: “By faith we gain a clear insight into the fact that the world has been arranged by the word of God so, that the visible has come into being from the invisible”.
The Bible does not express itself about the period of time in which this coming into being of the earth (and the universe) has taken place. The first day only takes effect after God creates heaven and earth. We therefore would do well not to speculate about it.
God creates and arranges. He calls into existence, joins together and builds up. He forms material, He brings the elements into being, He makes the entire material world appear. He creates it in a 'beginning' condition, (Gen 1:1), and having an initial appearance: unordered, inhospitable, as void and formless, (Gen 1:2). The English translation of the Septuagint says: unsightly and unfurnished: not beautiful/graceful and 'without furniture'. Therefore, as not yet dressed, not yet provided with the necessary things.
Genesis 1:2 describes the external appearance of the earth after God lays its foundations. The verse gives sight on the condition of the earth before God, in the following verse, goes on with it. From verse 3 on God dresses it for man and makes it hospitable and habitable for him. Much more, God gives the earth a splendid shape. He makes it into a 'paradise' surrounding for mankind, (His future sons and daughters).
Science discoveries have revealed that the remainder of the visible, material world is still in its 'primary form'. I've often thought that the universe seems to be waiting for further development and furnishing; perhaps until the time that mankind begins to live in full glory as partner of God; a time when their collaborative efforts might further create and arrange together with Him.
It's incorrect to think of a chaos when considering the words 'unordered' and 'formless'. After all, our God is not a God of disorder; but of peace and order, God does not create a mess, (1Cor 14:33). This becomes instantly obvious when studying the inside of the earth and looking together with science at the structure of mass. God has built up the material world in an ingenious way. He has formed elementary raw materials and an endless series of connections. If you examine it, you see the same miracle everywhere: an awe-inspiring complexity and an enormous order. Impossible to comprehend and impossible to describe.
In every large and small section, the infinite greatness of God's work appears throughout all parts of His creation. Scientists are continually astonished. They make new discoveries again and again. The universe, the macro-cosmos, seems to be infinitely vast. It does not seem to know any boundaries nor 'ceiling'. At the same time every small substance of material is composed of smaller particles. These particles constitute even smaller bits. This micro-cosmos too does not appear to know any boundaries nor any 'bottom'.
We read that, at the earth's beginning situation, a great flood covered the earth's surface and a deep darkness was over the surface of the deep, (Gen 1:2). God separated the waters in a later phase. Then later on again, God makes the dry land emerge. This 'primeval flood' does not indicate something negative.
Likewise the reign of the darkness over the primeval flood does not indicate the presence and dominion of a realm of darkness, but only the absence of light. God does not yet speak of light in the beginning phase. There are not yet any sources of light to make separation between light and darkness. That also happens later. There is no realm of darkness in the beginning stage of the earth. That comes into being later, only after God creates man. It comes into being because Lucifer – and a number of angels with him – refuses to serve the first human couple and all of mankind which originated from them.
Genesis 1:2 ends with: the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. Clearly, this shows that God is actively present everywhere and bears everything in His hand. All His works are surrounded with His Spirit. After this 'laying the foundations' of the earth, God continues to create and bring to order. As a skilful master builder, He builds on the foundation which He laid and provides the earth with everything that He deems necessary.
God prepared the earth step-by-step. Genesis 1 describes these days of creation. It would be incorrect to perceive this period of days as lasting 24 hours. The Bible teaches: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day”, (2Pet 3:8). A day merely indicates a specific 'phase' in the plan of God.
Each day of creation begins with a speaking of God. In a 'fullness of time' God reveals His plan for the coming phase. During a new 'dawn' God makes known which part of the great whole will be executed on that 'day'. After this speaking of God in the 'morning', God's words happen. God works out His plan for that 'day'. At the end of such a period of time - in the 'evening' of such a 'day' - everything is accomplished. God's word then has accomplished what He desires. It has achieved the purpose for which He sent it, (Isa 55:11).
At nightfall God sees that it is good. Everything which has occurred complies with His expectation. It fits entirely with His being. In this manner it grows again towards a new fullness of time. Towards a following 'day' in which God again speaks and works once more and again adds more to the increasingly beautiful and magnificent whole. At every new morning, heaven experiences a new climax. When God speaks, the angels hold their breath, as it were. They raise a cheer and rejoice over the new things that God announces for that day. The angels continue to follow these developments closely. With great joy. They have an intensive and eager longing to contribute to it in every way that God might indicate.
God still continues to work in this same manner in this very day. He speaks at each fullness of time, in the 'morning' of each new 'day'. It is with this principle that God works out the spoken words through His Spirit. His word brings it about. God does the things publicly and, not surprisingly, with absolute clarity and openness, which characterizes Him. Amos prophesied: “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets, (Amos 3:7).
At the beginning of the first day God says: “There be light, there must be light” (Gen 1:3). Once again, a miracle of creation occurs: there comes light, there arises light. Some people wrongly interpret this verse spiritually; they incorrectly spiritualize these verses. While it's true that a spiritual reality rightly belongs to the origin of the light on earth, it is not a spontaneous accidental happening on earth. Rather, it's a process that elapses and which God sets in motion and controls from heaven.
What light, what kind of light comes on the first day? In this phase, God seems to make sources of light of which only the shine becomes visible on earth. At that moment there is not yet a firmament separating waters under and above this expanse of heaven. Consequently, a haze surrounds the earth. Everywhere a mist is present.
Genesis 2:6 speaks of this vapor, haze and mist. Only diffuse light reaches the earth. The sources of light themselves remain invisible.
On the fourth day God speaks words of which can be interpreted saying: Let the sources of light hiding behind this haze now become visible on earth, (Gen 1:14, (marginal note). In that phase the sources of light receive their 'visible' place. In this manner, God completes the process, which He, on the first day, set in motion.
The creation of sources of light can be understood as the making of celestial bodies, (which were already created earlier on), to sources of light. By adding energy, 'material' can begin to radiate light and heat. By doing so material 'objects' can attain a higher energy situation and begin functioning as a source of light. A complete system of light giving celestial bodies came into existence then in the universe. Reflecting about it, one is, once again, impressed by the infinite flow of energy, which can flow from God.
By calling the light into existence, God made separation between light and darkness. In great wisdom, He determined that the light will not always and everywhere shine on earth. There will also be periods without light. So, then it is dark. God creates day and night. With that He cares for a healthy and welcome change in the life on earth. The entire nature becomes harmonious to the rhythm of day and night. From their origin, darkness and night are not negative because they are actually functional and beneficent. They contribute to the rest that is meant by God. The natural world 'originally' needed it. When the Bible, at a later stage, uses the light (the day) and the dark (the night) to clarify a new, originated reality in the spiritual world, it is quite a different matter.
On the second day God says: “In the midst of the water there must come an expanse which separates the volumes of water. A firmament amidst the water, to separate water from water, (Gen 1:6). God created a dome surrounding the earth. He called into existence an expanse, a firmament of clouds, of which our current atmosphere is a 'reminder'. With that God defines a part of the space around the earth. He separates the water on earth and within the atmosphere – the volumes of water beneath this expanse – from the water above, the volumes of water outside the atmosphere. In that way He surrounds the earth and cares for a constant temperature and a stable climate on the whole earth. Only those parts of the radiation of the sources of light around the earth, which are subservient in the future life on earth, are allowed to come through.
God calls this expanse 'heaven'. With the appointment of this visible, material covering of the earth He points to a still greater, invisible, spiritual covering of the world: the heaven. The 'place' where God lives and works, from where the divine covering takes effect and the climate of life, meant by God, originates.
It therefore becomes true that, when seeing the visible heaven, people may become aware of the invisible heaven. The heaven of their Creator, God.
On the third day God proceeds further with His immense water works. He concentrates in this phase on the waters on earth: The water under the sky must flow towards one place, so that dry ground appears, (Gen 1:9). It comes about. God makes separation between land and sea. Great parts of the surface of the earth become dry. He makes the earth habitable and hospitable and prepares it with great care and love in order to bring about life.
Our present world does continue to show much of God's above mentioned work; only the 'remnants' of it.
The Flood left little evidence of the original firmament. Because of that, a great part of the protection of the earth is omitted and the paradise climate on earth disappeared. The Flood brought about a very different partition between land and sea. The inhabitable and inhospitable of the earth became seriously decreased through that Flood event. Nevertheless, even in this 'remnant' of God's work of creation, God's greatness and goodness continue to remain visible. God's eternal power and divine nature in the creation remain perceptible for the human mind, (Rom.1:20). It fills us with reverence and awe for Him, our Creator.
On this third day of creation God speaks for the first time about 'life': Everywhere on earth young vegetation starts growing: seed-bearing plants and all kinds of trees that bear fruit with seed in it, (Gen.1:11). This is new. This goes further than calling into existence of material. God creates life. He begins a process which surpasses all earlier processes in 'lifeless' nature. He processes an order which exceeds the organization of the micro- and macro-cosmos. For the first time there is question of an organism: a composition/structuring which can maintain itself.
The organism can grow and develop. It can produce fruit and multiply itself: to pass on 'life'. This 'life' can hardly be described; much less, fathomed. In living material processes go by which are many times more complex than those in lifeless material. They cannot be imitated in a test tube. Presently, bio-scientists are able to slightly influence these processes of life. They are increasingly making advances in the field of 'genetic manipulation'. But life itself remains 'elusive'. This is because of an invisible working of spirit in material which possesses a link to both the visible and invisible things.
On the third day God brings about the 'first' and 'lowest' form of life on earth. The world of the plants: young vegetation, seed-bearing plants, and all kinds of trees that bear fruit with seed in it (Gen.1:11b).
With His speaking and acting, God lays 'centers of growth' in the earth and brings them into being. After some time the result of it becomes visible: the first vegetation appears further and further, more and more. Grass, trees, bushes, plants, fruits, seed- bearing plants, etc, in all kinds of species and forms, colors and variations. It is unimaginably great and beautiful. God dresses the earth. God brings the earth to fertility: she is bringing forth fruit. Magnificent!
In the next phase of creation the sources of light on earth become visible. Sun, moon and stars get their definite place and function: to serve and to support the beginning life on earth. The world of plants can optimally develop itself through it and expand all over the surface of the earth. God lets everything connect with each other and lets it function with each other in great harmony.
After that God, on the fifth day, creates the first animals on earth: all kinds of fishes and birds.
They receive a 'higher' form of life from Him, with new, more enhanced possibilities than those of vegetation, plants and trees. Fishes and birds are not restricted to a particular area. They can freely move. They learn to swim and/or to fly. They have instinct. They are able to learn or to unlearn something. They reproduce by mating. They are developed beings. God has already prepared their 'place' on earth: the water and the air. Their 'food' has already been prepared: the world of plants forms for them an inexhaustible source of food.
On the sixth day it still continues further. God then creates an even richer form of life, the remaining animals: livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals, each according to its kind. And here again God creates them in all kinds of forms and variations and with even more proceeding possibilities than the birds and the fishes. When passing on 'life', for example, mammals do not lay eggs. They give birth to and breastfeed their offspring. They are able to learn more and undertake more than the lower animal species.
With the increasing richer of forms of life there is even more 'spirit' interwoven in 'matter'. More and more possibilities arise for the representatives of life on earth. Nevertheless, in spite of all spiritual workings in their natural form of existence, all plants and animals are and remain 'material'. Their time of life is limited. They stem from the earth and are all formed by God from matter. At the end of their existence they return to the earth. To the dust, (Ps.104:29, Prov.3:20-21).
The animals obtain from God the green herbs to eat for nourishment, 'every green plant for food', (Gen.1:30). By using the flora and the fauna, God develops an ingenious and dynamic 'bio-system' on earth which is in perfect balance and maintains itself.
Genesis throws light on God's work of creation from a number of points of view:
Chapter 1 marks the great outline. It speaks about the first beginning and about the days afterwards: the consecutive phases in continuing creating and ordering of God. Genesis 2 throws light on various details once again. This chapter shows close-ups, which we may fit in into the line of chapter 1. Genesis 2:4b and 6 clarify the first verses of Genesis 1. The same applies for Genesis 2:19a: this verse completes 1:20-21. God creates the birds at a single occasion. Both parts describe the same event. So we may connect Genesis 2:9a with Genesis 1:11-12. That way there comes insight from Genesis 1 and 2 an overall picture of God's work in the beginning. The book Revelation has been built up in the same way. We will refer to this in the fifth part of this series of books.
God looks at everything that He makes with great joy. He sees that it is good, very good. You may also translate: He sees, how good everything is! The angels too see it in the same manner. They stand before God's throne, full of praise and worship, in great expectation and deep admiration. They are filled with joy and gladness.
At the approach of every new fullness of time, a great expectation reverberates among the angels in the heavenly spheres: what will happen now, what is God bringing about now? God continues further and further. It is becoming more beautiful and fuller. Each fullness of time surpasses the previous ones. The angels perceive it. They shout for joy and rejoice and give glory to God with everything that is within them.
On the sixth day God is ready with the making of all preparations. Heaven is ready and willing to come into action in favor of man and the mankind, originating from that. The earth finds itself in a paradisaical situation and is completely ready to receive man, the crown of God's creation.
