External Evidences

There has been a great deal of focus in the popular press about the discoveries of the Hubble telescope. These discoveries are being interpreted in light of old age for the universe bias. Remember, most scientists today believe that life evolved from inanimate matter and this process would take vast eons of time. So, each new discovery is interpreted in a way to support a long period of time. This does not rule out other possibilities as being the right answer; it simply gives one explanation. Well, this question of how old the earth is, is an important one, for if it is not billions of years old, then evolution could not have had time to occur. Let's look at what we can know about how old the earth is.

First, the Bible does not tell when the earth was created! But when the Bible gives information that relates to the passing of time, IT IS NOT WRONG! It does this in the genealogies given in Genesis 5:1-2, Chronicles and the New Testament. By taking the ages given here, it is possible to get a time frame on how long ago the creation was. This number comes out in the 6,000 to 10,000 year range. This is a far cry from the 4.5 billion estimated by evolutionists. Is each of the genealogies exact in the names and dates given, no, but the problems that we know about are because of other lists that point them out. There may be some unfilled gaps in the chronology given in the Bible, but they do not give billions of years of time! What should the Christian believe?

One, realize that knowing the exact time of creation has nothing to do with our salvation. Have faith that it happened in the way God said it did, that Jesus and the inspired writers believed it and that obedience to God's commands is the most important thing we can do. Two, we can have questions and look at the evidences from the physical world around us but need to remember that when an explanation is given that disagrees with what God's Word says, we can know it is wrong, no matter how many scientists believe it. The Bible's answer is the right one and that should end it. Three, realize that there are many evidences that indeed show the earth is not billions of years old. These evidences are not well known because the evolutionary scientists do not want them to weaken their case so they do not mention them. Four, even the historians have now dated with accuracy the events of the Bible back to the time of Abraham. This does not leave many generations back to Adam for the millions and millions of years to occur if we try to hold onto evolutionary dogma and the Bible. There have been many in the religious world and indeed some in the churches of Christ who have tried to accept the interpretations of the evolutionists and make them fit what the Bible says. This is sad and very dangerous, because it questions what God has said. We should take the Bible as fact first and then examine the evidences to see if and how they might fit into what happened. Let us strengthen our faith to believe "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."