Do you think all Christians believe this?

[No Rub Locon phugle]

I've seen a number post comments that would indicate they think Christians believe the Earth is 6000-10,000 yrs old. Do you think all or most Christians believe this? This would be ridiculous to believe. I know many Christians who understand the Genesis acct to mean 7 periods of time. Not 24 hr periods. Like when you say "in our day people commented in online forums" it's a period of time, not 24hr days.

[katzenjammer]

So how old is the earth then? I mean according to your interpretation of the bible.


PS Welcome to these sometimes brutal boards!

[No Rub Locon phugle]

So how old is the earth then? I mean according to your interpretation of the bible.


PS Welcome to these sometimes brutal boards!

I believe what science knows. The Earth is billions of years old. Each creative period could be billions. The Bible uses a Hebrew for day that clearly means period of time. Many religions seem to be false friends of the Bible, by promoting things that are clearly wrong. Religions also killed people for saying the earth isn't the center of the universe too. Its frustrating to see so many blame the Bible for being wrong , when in fact is the religions.

[steven lloyd]

I've seen a number post comments that would indicate they think Christians believe the Earth is 6000-10,000 yrs old. Do you think all or most Christians believe this?

Whether we’re talking about welfare recipients, drug users or addicts, or even Christians, there are a whole bunch of posters here who like to think they got it all figured out by making sweeping generalizations of an entire group based on a stereotypical idea or the availability heuristic. Admittedly, it is human nature and one of the short cuts the mind uses when thinking will take too much effort. We all do it. It is an automatic default response while thinking is a conscious decision.

[No Rub Locon phugle]

I've seen a number post comments that would indicate they think Christians believe the Earth is 6000-10,000 yrs old. Do you think all or most Christians believe this?

Whether we’re talking about welfare recipients, drug users or addicts, or even Christians, there are a whole bunch of posters here who like to think they got it all figured out by making sweeping generalizations of an entire group based on a stereotypical idea or the availability heuristic. Admittedly, it is human nature and one of the short cuts the mind uses when thinking will take too much effort. We all do it. It is an automatic default response while thinking is a conscious decision.

This is true. It seems these sweeping statements abound. I just wanted to let people who don't trust the Bible because of these things the Bible so call teaches, that the Bible doesn't say the earth is 10k yrs old , or 6K anywhere. Religions say it.

[Glacier]

I believe what science knows. The Earth is billions of years old. Each creative period could be billions. The Bible uses a Hebrew for day that clearly means period of time. Many religions seem to be false friends of the Bible, by promoting things that are clearly wrong. Religions also killed people for saying the earth isn't the center of the universe too. Its frustrating to see so many blame the Bible for being wrong , when in fact is the religions.

Welcome to the forums!

Science knows that the earth is billions of years old today, but a few decades ago, science knew that the earth was millions of years old, and before that thousands. It is quite conceivable that science will know in the future that the earth is trillions of years old.

The Bible, on the other hand, makes no such claim about the age of the earth, although, one can understand why people have jumped to the conclusion that it does.

[Nebula]

This is true. It seems these sweeping statements abound. I just wanted to let people who don't trust the Bible because of these things the Bible so call teaches, that the Bible doesn't say the earth is 10k yrs old , or 6K anywhere. Religions say it.

No. People say it. And as in many other things in life, there are leaders and there are followers.

[steven lloyd]

I just wanted to let people who don't trust the Bible because of these things the Bible so call teaches, that the Bible doesn't say the earth is 10k yrs old , or 6K anywhere.

What’s to trust about the Bible ? Most people don’t appreciate that it is a collection of books and writings written thousands of years ago by men (not God) who lived in a very different world than the one we live in now – and that many of these stories were finally written down after first being passed down through generations of oral tradition (see preface of New English Bible). It is open to all kinds of interpretation, and literal interpretation leads to the greatest failure of understanding. Even after interpretation, language meaning was different then and needs to be placed in historical context for understanding. For example, “spare the rod and spoil the child” and “passing the camel through the eye of the needle” are two quotes from the Bible that have lost their true meaning through literal translation. The Bible (particularly the Old Testament) is a story of the history of a people and their beliefs of their relationship with God. Truly, in that sense, it is quite presumptuous.

[janalta]

I think that the only things that ALL Christians believe in are God and Christ, everything else is up for debate and prone to interpretation.
That said, there are religious fundamentalists that do indeed take everything in the bible at face value, and despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, still thumb their noses at evolution.

[tryscotty]

Its true about the fundamentalists. They seam to think the Earth was created in 6, 24 hr days. As far as evolution goes, when science is 100% agreement on that , I'll agree with it too. That wont happen. I agree with everything that 100% of scientists agree on. There are many such facts, evolution just isn't one of them. They're always changing their thinking on it and its a never ending debate. gravity isn't a debate. I agree with that. But this thread isn't about that.

[Nebula]

Its true about the fundamentalists. They seam to think the Earth was created in 6, 24 hr days. As far as evolution goes, when science is 100% agreement on that , I'll agree with it too. That wont happen. I agree with everything that 100% of scientists agree on. There are many such facts, evolution just isn't one of them. They're always changing their thinking on it and its a never ending debate. gravity isn't a debate. I agree with that. But this thread isn't about that.

So, are you saying you prefer to believe in a young earth theory, for which there is zero evidence, because 100% of scientists don't agree with the theory of evolution? Did I get that right?

[tryscotty]

I don't believe in a new earth theory. Maybe it's not accurate to say 100% of scientists maybe more of there being an overal agreement by 99%. My point was I don't disagree with facts that are provable. I'm not aware of scientific studies that prove the earth is relatively new. You would have to agree there's a always changing debate within the scientific community on evolution, how, when and so forth. No debate on the rotating of the earth.

[janalta]

How much evidence do you need that the earth has been evolving and changing for millions or years?
There is indisputable evidence that species have evolved over time to adapt to the ever changing earth. Some may well still dispute Darwin's theories...but one can not dispute evolution as a whole.

I think one of the most distrubing things I've ever seen on TV was an episode of that obnoxious family with 20 kids....where they took all of the kids to this fundamentalist park that told the stories of the bible in Disney like fashion. One of the displays attempted to explain dinosaurs by having them playing in the Garden of Eden with good old Adam and Eve.

Indeed, a lot of scientific proof that dinosaurs and humans frolicked together at the beginning of time.

[tryscotty]

How much evidence do you need that the earth has been evolving and changing for millions or years?
There is indisputable evidence that species have evolved over time to adapt to the ever changing earth. Some may well still dispute Darwin's theories...but one can not dispute evolution as a whole.

I think one of the most distrubing things I've ever seen on TV was an episode of that obnoxious family with 20 kids....where they took all of the kids to this fundamentalist park that told the stories of the bible in Disney like fashion. One of the displays attempted to explain dinosaurs by having them playing in the Garden of Eden with good old Adam and Eve.

Indeed, a lot of scientific proof that dinosaurs and humans frolicked together at the beginning of time.

I'm sure from my comments you don't think I believe Adam and Eve played with dinosaurs right? I understand there are many religious people that believe things that are proven wrong, like your example, but we all don't believe those things.

[Nebula]

I'm sure from my comments you don't think I believe Adam and Eve played with dinosaurs right? I understand there are many religious people that believe things that are proven wrong, like your example, but we all don't believe those things.

Here's a thought. I understand that you do not believe in a young Earth. I also understand (unless I am way off base) that you are Christian.

You commented above that you hoped the previous poster doesn't think you "believe Adam and Eve played with dinosaurs". Clearly you were setting the record straight that you do not believe Adam and Eve were around at the time dinosaurs walked the Earth. However, you did mention Adam and Eve. Do you believe they walked on the Earth?

What I'm getting at is this: I'm curious why someone would believe one thing, but not another, when both come from the same source? Certainly you could say, "Wait a minute, the young Earth theory comes from an 'interpretation' of the bible, while the story of Adam and Eve is pretty clear. On the other hand, couldn't one read the bible and 'interpret' that the Adam and Eve story is nothing more than a fable?

I'm not trying to be condescending here. I'm sincerely asking, How do you choose which parts you believe?