How Old is the Earth, Really?

There are times when I broach the topic of salvation with others in order to start a dialog.  More than once I get back the response (insert huge sigh first):  "You're not another one of those people who believe that the Earth is 4,004 years old, are you??"  My answer in return: "I don't really know how old the Earth, the Solar System, or Universe might be.  Besides, who cares because it's not really a salvation issue anyway."  This exchange usually marks the beginning of a discussion on why the other person cannot believe in the "fairy tale" of Christianity because he or she believes in ...science.

When it comes to having a core belief that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God and offers the only way to salvation many people, in their defiance, use science as a rebuttal.  Here are a few examples:

• The Big Bang proves definitively that the universe came into existence precisely 13.77 billion years ago
• Carbon dating (and now Argon Helium) have supplied dates for objects that go back millions of years in the past
• Fossils show an obvious progression of evolution
• A person can stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and physically observe rock strata that clearly demonstrate hundreds of millions of years of geological activity

There are groups of Christians who argue back that some of the same science clearly shows that the Earth can only be a maximum of 6,000 years old.

These arguments are pointless for a number of reasons but here are just two to remember.

Reason 1 - Receiving salvation and the only guarantee (no trial by works here) of spending eternity with your creator in heaven requires two things.  First, you have to believe that you are born of sin and incapable of ever doing/saying/being anything to change that fact.  You were born an imperfect being who can only live an imperfect sinful life and are thus deserving of death.  Second, you must accept that Jesus Christ was the only being in all of human history that came to Earth with the expressed purpose of bearing your sin for you.  You must accept the gift of redemption by allowing him into your heart and letting him cleanse your soul of all darkness so that you can be prepared for the day of judgment. Bear with us if you're not there yet. More to come to show why this is fact.

Reason 2 - All of our science today, from the most basic to the cutting edge, is based upon Empiricism.  This is the practice of forming scientific rules and practices based upon direct observation.  Every.Single.Bit.Of.Science.Today.Is.Based.On.Empirical.Observation.  The accepted practice for proving or disproving a scientific assertion is for an individual to publish his/her works in a way that allows others to duplicate them.  If you assert that you have found a new science advance or principle you will only be believed if someone else can duplicate your work.  Assertions about the past or other dimensional science are not provable today because they cannot be observed.

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Let's look at just a few truths:

• If you're a believer in carbon dating as a way to prove age, you're relying on a method that is less than 100 years old (it first emerged in the 1940s).  Can we actually prove the actual rate of decay for carbon-14 when we've only used it to date things since the 1960s?
• If you're a Christian who has looked through the Bible and used Scripture to "reverse engineer" time back to creation, did you observe history progress since before Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden?
• If you look at fossils and rock strata to prove the Earth's age, did you know that you are relying upon a "guesstimate"?    This process is referred to as "Relative Dating" and is does not provide actual dates for rocks, fossils, or anything?

The bottom line is that no human, now living or past, can ever claim to know the age of anything older than the recorded (hence observed) history back to around 1000 B.C. Again, by "observed", we mean recorded by multiple corroborated eyewitness sources.) Our foundation of empirical science is clear: if you (or someone that recorded it and corroborated it) didn't see it happen, then you are not allowed to draw conclusions of fact. 

There's one exception here. One set of documents/books is more corroborated than any other in the history of the world, with meticulous detail, with recorded history going back to the very first man. It doesn't mean we can exactly predict the age of the earth (more on this soon) but it does detail the important aspects of history that are relevant to US. How can we be sure of this? We will also go into this very soon. You may be surprised by the answer. The point here is, though...

Despite what you may hear about Christianity, there are no requirements for salvation other than a belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to Earth to pay for our sins that we may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, and a personal trust that he did that for YOU.

Don't get caught up in side arguments spawned by our flawed understanding of science.  These arguments are just meaningless distractions about what is truly important.

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The Bible leaves us all with so much evidence in the form of prophecies that came true, eyewitness accounts, and logical instruction.  Jesus Christ is the one true and only way to eternal life and salvation.  Why don't you begin a journey with him today?  Tell him that you love him, need him, and want to have him fill you with forgiveness and the light of the Holy Spirit.

If you don't know how, send us a message.  We are here to share what we have learned with all of our brothers and sisters.