How Old Does the Bible Say the Earth Is?
Genesis 5:3-5
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
We have all heard or read about a scientist from some university declaring that a certain rock or fossil is millions of years old. But what do these pronouncements do to the Bible's history that begins with creation? Has modern science proven that the Bible's history is inaccurate?
Nowhere in the Bible do we find an exact statement that says precisely how many years old the earth is. However, the Bible is filled with statements that, if added together, can give us a fairly accurate age for the earth. You see, in ancient times people did not receive pretty picture calendars from the local bank. Their calendars were much different from ours today - but they were very accurate. These calendars are recorded in the Bible.
Many people find little use for the lists in Scripture that say so and so begat so and so, who begat so and so when he was 70 years old. But these are not lists. They are the ancient calendars, preserved for us today in the Bible by God. Even the Chinese preserve their calendar by genealogies. If we chain all the "begats" together and add up the results, we find that the earth cannot be much more than 6,000 years old. Even if there might be a few gaps between some of the "begats" (which seems unlikely), the earth still cannot be much more than 7,000 years old.
There are actually more scientific dating methods that support this young age for the earth than support the most ancient ages. The Bible's history stands unchallenged by modern science!
Prayer:
Dear Father; I thank You that Your Word is trustworthy. Forgive me when I begin to think that our modern age has more truth than previous ages, and especially more than Your Word. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
