What's your Religion?

So scientists estimate the earth to be 4.54 billion years old but it wasn't even formed until 9 billion years after god created the universe.

Then after almost the entire existance of the earth god waited until 2.5 million years ago to create the genus Homo that didn't much look like humans until another 2.3 million years passed.

All living creatures had been living in this garden of eden up until this time and the god final chose 2 of these humans to let himself be know as the rule maker?

Or how do you see those first 6 days?

 

I disagree... If I took my truck offroad and it failed, I'd blame myself as the owner (or creator, since i'm turning into a heavier duty vehicle) for taking it offroad, or, I'd tow it home and make it better so it didn't fail next time.

I do agree with your statement about time. Time in relationship to the rotation and orbit of the earth is how we choose to perceive and calculate it. It didn't have to be that way. Light subsequently affects how things grow and age, so we chose to relate time to it, by which the sun is the source. That's a whole different discussion, let's not get sidetracked, that one can go just as deep.

 

"Back in my first 6 days..."

 

Keepin' it light eh!

 

Trying.

 

Very good point....

2 of EVERY living creature, there was so much room on that Arch, an aircraft carrier probably wouldn't even come close to the size of that thing, I mean since it would have been carrying the dinosaurs as well as every current living creature

 

I'm actually starting to think this creator god thing must be the explanation.

But now I'm thinking the creator is so complicated he must have been created. Now who is that guy, I want to believe in him.

Creationists believe the world is too complicated to have evolved, but a creator just appeared from nothing?

I'm blowing my mind.

 

If you believe 4500 year old world, you gotta believe every species made it in that Arch. Hopefully Hoosiertaco can help us understand that?

 

You know what else is interesting ? We find fossils of living creatures from THEN which don't exist NOW, but we don't find fossils of living creatures NOW which also existed THEN... Anybody care to explain that ? Since evolution doesn't happen and all.

 

The Bible does not say how long the earth existed before God put humans on it, but if you use the lifespans of individuals in the Bible, reigns of kings mentioned in the Bible and use pivotal dates that mark the beginning of the reigns of those kings and other points in time then you come to about 6000 years. Now that is not for the age of the earth, but just humans. Interestingly, the recorded history of man is only about 5000 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history

The Genesis account states that animals were created before man was (Genesis 1:20-25 for the animals and 1:26 for humans). This leaves untold millenia for all sorts of animals to have been on the earth before humans. Including dinosaurs and the animals that provide fossils with similarities to humans.

Adam and Eve were the first creatures that the Bible tells us were created in his image, that is with his qualities of love, creativity, etc. Animals live largely on instinct. So, yes, these two would have been the first two that would have been able to comprehend what was being said.

 

Exactly my point. You would have turned the truck into something else that it was not originally designed to do and the fault would be your own not Toyota's. Man changed his purpose into one that he is not designed for and cannot be modified to fulfill - self direction apart from his creator.

 

I am pretty sure that the dinosaurs were extinct by then. But the ark described in the Bible would have been quite large! Assuming that a cubit was about 17.5 inches, the ark would have been roughly half the size of the QE2 (about 438 feet long).

As for animals, keep in mind that fish, amphibians and sea mammals would not have been necessary nor would insects and some reptiles. Additionally, since there would be room for these animals' hidden traits in their genetic makeup and in-breeding to allow for the variety of animals we have today - not evolution but simple variety within a kind of animal.

Also, some of the animals actually had 7 of each brought on board.

 

That is actually a very good question and I look forward to having the answer when all is said and done.

 

Yet science finds lot of evidence of humans identical to us back to 200,000 years ago. Carbon dating is reasonably accurate to 60,000 years and modern humans are found from throughout that range, is science all wrong on such recent history? Yes carbon dating can be inaccurate but the only people saying it is so wrong that human evidence is no more than 6000 years old are relying on religion, not science.

 

Radiocarbon and potassium argon dating have their pitfalls and detractors as well as supporters. There are countless papers both pro and con The main issue is that certain assumptions have to be made that cannot be proven since there was no one alive at the time that could record measurements for us to refer to today. I recall reading about one potassium argon test of newly formed lava from a volcano that dated to some 60,000 years + but it had just been formed. Another issue is that radiocarbon dating can be off by orders of magnitude rather than just a few years. 200,000 years can become 20,000 or even 2,000 (and yes 2,000,000 even).

All I can say is that I will take the Bible's record. In earlier posts I mentioned where critics called into question whether individuals that the Bible mentions ever even existed and thus said that the Bible was wrong. Later, archaeological evidence surfaced naming the individuals (Belshazzar and Pontius Pilate being two of them), thus proving their existence and the accuracy of the Bible.

 

^

So yes, you believe that science will never have a way to accurately conclude that humans lived before 6000 years ago?

For me, even if every timeline you say is accurate in the bible is indeed verifiable by other records, that doesn't help prove a creator. Possibly an accurate history of some events, nothing more.

 

docbrown, I am liking all the info you have posted here, very interesting. I have never read the bible and consider myself Agnostic. I am curious if you have taken any higher education classes in theology? Regardless, you have a lot of insight and I thank you for your contributions in this thread.

 

the bible was an interpretation of a chain of interpretations throughout the existence of mankind. also, other religious texts were created in the same fashion. explaining why the different religions are so alike, but have alternate explanations. the bible is neither right, nor wrong. it has exaggerations of the truth, not complete accuracy or complete fiction. ask yourself this: which religion is the "right" religion? why? what about the others? are they wrong?

they are related. and where do they all come from? research that! then you will be closer to the truth

 

I believe that there were living creatures on earth before 6000 years ago, perhaps with some similarities to humans (much the same as apes have some similarities to humans). However humankind has only been here for for the aforesaid 6000 years.

If the timeline is accurate, that gives added weight to the rest of the Bible. If it is accurate in history, why not accurate in the claim that the creator inspired it?

Just food for thought.

 

Thank you. I have no formal theological training, just an average guy who was blessed with someone spending the time to show me what the Bible really teaches. I do not knock anyone that has a theological education, but from what I can tell, that kind of education can actually hinder an understanding of the Bible because it focuses to much on man's thoughts rather than the Bible's actual words.