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[quote:2fn7sfhe]Mr. Weathers, you asked:
[quote:2fn7sfhe]
Ron said earth is only 6 thousand years old(should I believe him??)
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and
[quote:2fn7sfhe]What is this telling me about how old the earth is?? I think if I’m not mistaken(getting a little absent minded at my age)the oldest person in the Bible was about 900years and there was a couple of reasons for that,number 1 they used a different way of measureing days and another I heard was there was not as many diseases then(I don’t know which is correct) [/quote:2fn7sfhe]
If you look at Luke’s genealogy it goes all the way back to Adam from Jesus which is 2000 years ago and takes approximetly about 4000 years or so. The people live longer not because of a different type of measurement, but because the canopy that protected them is not over us since the flood. If you look at the first couple chapter of Genesis, you will see that the measurements are the same – sun in the day, moon and star at night – seven days a week.
PS – once you believe me on this subject, then maybe you’ll believe me in Scripture as well.[/quote:2fn7sfhe]
[color=blue:2fn7sfhe]From one of my Bible Study friends[/color:2fn7sfhe]
you are correct in holding to the view that the solar system is about 4.5 billion yrs old. and the universe is thought to be about 14 billion yrs old. there is one thing that bothers me about these numbers, however: we have no measuring stick that lies outside the system being measured. when i measure my weight for example, i have a standard that is extrinsic to me. so far as i know we have no such way of measuring anything in “years’ before there was a sun or an earth to go ’round it. moreover, the length of a “year” has not been uniform since the solar system was formed. i have, however, talked to people who are knowledgeable in such things (i.e. physics and cosmology) and they contend that this is not a problem. so, in the absence of any greater knowledge on my part, i take their word for it. as to your correspondent’s contention, the “canopy” is an interesting idea. there is, of course, considerable evidence suggesting a universal flood (perhaps having someting to do with the melting of the ice at the end of the last ice age). but there is nothing to suggest that the earth is only 6000 yrs old or that we have been around for only 6000 yrs. genesis is, i would contend, to be taken as true in the theological sense, but not in the literal sense. the message is true certainly but the cosmology isn’t literally true. as to the human speciies, i don’t think there is any reason to doubt that we have been around for several hundred thousand yrs; yet, at some point there had to be a first human couple. the point in genesis is that we were created in God’s image and that something went terribly wrong. this, of course, is an oversimplified commentary, but i hope that it helps some. tom st. martin