Jay Hall
Does Genesis give us a hint on how old the earth is? Some would say that the early chapters of Genesis are poetry, but research on a certain type of verbs indicates that it’s not poetical. As Andrew Kulikovsky aptly summarized, “In the case of Genesis 1:1-2:3, it was statistically classified as narrative with a probability of 0.9999. This is an extraordinary level of confidence that amounts to virtual certainty.” [1]
Bernhard Anderson, Emeritus Professor of the Old Testament at Princeton, tries to separate Genesis 1 from the rest of the book: “There is increasing agreement that the creation account belongs to the genre of story, not history. Even conservative ‘evangelical’ scholars are moving in this direction …” [2] But how can he fit this idea with the clear historical flow of Genesis we see in the testimony of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph? Many of the opponents of traditional creation (Creation Week, Global Flood, young earth) have not done their homework. Here is a helpful list of creation journals and resources. The 10 toledoths (“generations,” “historical account”) in Genesis appear at the end of a section. These tie the book into a unified whole and prove its real historical character.
There are at least 100 quotations or direct references to Genesis 1-11 in the New Testament and in each case it’s treated like a record of real events, not poetry.
During Creation Week there are days of forming and days of filling, but this does not argue against the literal reading. When we make things, we do so in an orderly manner. Building a house involves days of forming and days of filling. We are God’s image-bearers and imitate the work of Creation Week. When we build a house we do so in an orderly manner – first the foundation (with electric and plumbing lines), then the framing, windows, skylights, insulation, drywall, roofing and siding. We put plants, pets, an aquarium, ceiling fans and maybe some reptiles on the inside of the house – a virtual jungle. Even Gerhard von Rad admitted that, “The seven days are unquestionably to be understood as actual days and as a unique, unrepeatable lapse of time in the world.” [3]
The chronology of Genesis 5 and 11 shows that mankind is around 6,000 years old – there are no gaps. Christians who take Genesis as historical narrative should understand scripture as teaching creation in six standard days about six thousand years ago. Francis Turretin (d. 1687) proclaimed, “Nor does the sacred history written by Moses cover any more than six thousand years …” [4]
Notes:
1) “Higher Critical Hogwash” by Andrew Kulikovsky, Journal of Creation, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2008, p. 33, emphasis added.
2) quoted in Kulikovsky, emphasis added.
3) quoted in “Can Deep Time Be Embedded in Genesis?” by Trevor Craigen in Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), p. 203.
4) quoted in “A Brief Overview of the Exegesis of Genesis 1-11: Luther to Lyell” by David Hall in Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry
Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), p. 71.
Read Jay Hall’s book:
YES – Young Earth Science and the Dawn of a New World View
What is Young Earth Science (YES)? How old is the world? Are radiometric dating methods reliable? Is Darwinism substantiated by scientific evidence and valid arguments? How does the Renaissance of Catastrophism relate to the age of the Earth? Has plate tectonics occurred more rapidly in the past? These and other queries are answered in this exciting new fully documented work. This widely illustrated book features support from history, philosophy, geology, biology and physics. Discover this creative and multidisciplinary approach which provides affirmation that this planet is thousands of years old and not billions . . . (continue reading)
Hi Jay, I had to laugh at your omission of the walls in your hypothetical house building, but then of course you build houses differently in the US than we in the UK do, we actually build the brick walls before we put the roof on. My point is this; when you calculate the age of the Earth or the universe, what method are you using? There are two God-written books, the Bible and the Book of Nature, neither of those tells us the actual age of the Earth or universe, however the book of nature does tell us that the Earth is a little older than 6000 years.
Now I am certainly not an Old Earth man, but it is obvious to me that the Earth is at the very least tens of thousands of years old. Ignoring the flawed radiometric dating systems, we have one system that seems to me to be incontrovertible; dendrochronology. At this point in time, dendro can give us an unbroken time-line of around 14,000 years, rather more than twice your estimate of 6ky. If we accept that the flood, at around 4000 ybp actually destroyed everything, this surely add another four-thousand years to this record, taking us to c18,000 ybp.
The date of 23rd of October 4004BC has been banded around since the 17th century when Bishop James Ussher calculated the date somehow from the recorded genealogies in the Bible. Closer examination of these genealogies reveals that there are huge omissions, gaps in the sequence. Bishop Ussher calculated that creation took place at ‘nightfall’ on 22 October 4004 BC, which was a glaring omission, as up until God ‘let light be’ there was only darkness, so no possibility of ‘nightfall’. Also Ussher’s time-line is wrong because the lists he based his calculation on are not generational, but regnal, and the reigns of some kings coincided. Dates were recorded in terms of the rein of kings or events (i.e. “In tenth year of the rein of King X”), no one recorded or recognised birthdays right through to New Testament times. There are many other issues, but I just wondered how you had personally calculated the date of creation to 6kybp?
Dr. Blake:
Point taken, I just wanted to give an overview (50K’ perspective) and make a parallel. My father was a commercial painter so I know a lot about walls (I’ve done some tiling recently too). Please check out my book where I use history, philosophy and science to support a young earth: http://www.youngearthsciencebook.com/
I am glad you bring up tree rings – actually they are a friend of YES (Young Earth Science). Where are the fossil trees that are thousands of years old? Sequoias, Redwoods, Bristlecone pines, Junipers and Olive trees can live for thousands of years (YES – Young Earth Science, pp. 20, 21). Why are there no four thousand year old trees in the fossil record (older than recent)? If the earth is young this is no problem. This is truly an enigma for the old earth paradigm. Pine trees allegedly go back 140 million years, so ring producing trees have a long history.
Now, what about correlating the tree rings to get a longer chronology? Sometimes more than one growth ring can occur during a year. Also, . Two trees were dated by radiocarbon, the known ages were 580 AD and 575 AD, the C-14 dates differed by 400 years (http://www.icr.org/article/8050/)!
Tree rings point to a huge catastrophe just thousands of years ago. According to Edmund Schulman (Div. of Geological Sciences, Calif. Inst. of Tech.), “Sequoia gigantea trees … may enjoy perpetual life in the absence of gross destruction, since they appear immune to pest attack. … Does this mean that shortly preceding 3275 yr ago (or 4000 yr ago, if John Muir’s [figure is] correct) all the then living giant sequoias were wiped out by some catastrophe?” (YES, p. 110).
Here is my case for a tight chronology (no gaps) in Genesis 5 & 11 arriving at a youthful world:
http://adamslostdream.blogspot.com/2008/11/adam-to-abraham-a2a-dating-game.html
Blessings, Jay ╬
Is. 40:21
You’re looking at the computer screen before you turn it on; it’s black, it’s nothing, just a blank screen. Was that how it was before the Almighty created light? You press the on button and that energy makes the screen come alive with the background you chose. You see the pictures or diagrams of your favorite places to go, waiting for you to point to it pressing the button on the mouse. Who created those icons? How did they get there? What makes it tick? If it’s overloaded or the devise is old, you may see a tiny blue circle going round and round.
“This entire physical universe is made up of millions and perhaps billions of trillions of configurations of those tiny atoms and molecules. That computer is made up of different configurations of the basics of 1 and 0, millions or billions of those two basics in different bunches create the pictures, the software, the games within that cell phone and computer. Someone, or the entire office full of programmers figured out how to do it. That computer did not fall into place over millions of years by random happenings of 1 and 0, the electrical current of a positive and negative, a yes or a no, it’s on or it’s off. Nope, a designer made it appear alive and do what it does when you press buttons, and there are certain rules you must follow and be mindful of to use it correctly.
“The same with this universe: a master designer had to do it and we must take to heart and apply those rules for us to live correctly as the designer programmed, or we just go round and round in circles.