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Young Earth Creation theory put to rest!

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stahrwe

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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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geo wrote:
tat tvam asi wrote:
There are those who believe that the world was created 4004 BC and in six days literally. That makes the world six thousand years and provides an insight into the millenium of Revelation as making for a 7 thousand year old earth - six thousand years followed by a thousand years of peace for a Sabbath rest before the Lake of Fire and so on...
Maybe Stahrwe can answer this question regarding Young Earth beliefs. Some Creationists say the earth is about 6,000 years old, but Stahrwe has said that it's actually about 8,000 years old. For the moment I won't comment on the absurdity of guessing the age of the earth based on texts that were written 2,000 years ago. But I do wonder what weird ideological permutation accounts for this discrepancy.

Take 8 billion and drop the last six zeros.

Sorry, feeling a bit giddy this afternoon with all the birthday wishes.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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Even atheists wish people happy b-day sometimes.

No seriously, what in the Bible says the earth is 8,000 years old? Where is it?
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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I've read through a lot of horrible apologetic attempts at Genesis 1. None of them ever solve the contradiction.There's ton of twists and everyone seems to have one. But what they all have in common is that something other than the literal interpretation of the bible is required, so the literalism fails apart anyways. They have to try and twist around the words of the bible which comes becomes self defeating in the long run. One good example is saying that the sun was created on the first day when God made the heaven and the earth. These apologies suggest that the sun, moon, and stars existed on the first day when the heaven was created, but they remained invisible until the fourth day at which point they could be observed from the earth.

But, there was no life on the earth on day 4 in order to observe or not observe the sun. Now that's just plain horrible! Because the bible contradicts itself by having the heaven created at the beginning of the first day and then the sun created later on day four the sun has to be considered as "invisible from the earth until the fourth day". Invisible to what? There was no observers any ways. This twisted apology requires diverting away from what the bible literally says as the bible doesn't literally say anything about the sun existing as invisible and then later becoming visible from the earth on the fourth day.

The answer is obvious, day 1 and day 4 are being used for a mythological purpose. It's the environment of space (heavens) without any sun, moon, or stars to inhabit space yet, just the realm of space and the void formless earth. Later, after the three environments are created their matching inhabitants are created to dwell in the environments of inhabitation, all of this being fixed to the sacred mythological number 7 for mythological purposes - so creation is rendered as 7 days reflecting reverence for the 7 visible celestial orbs that our ancestors have been observing for countless eons of evolution on the planet. It's funny to see what happens when people try and divert away from the mythological origins of the creation story. It creates quite a mess.
Last edited by tat tvam asi on Sun May 09, 2010 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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tat tvam asi wrote:I've read through a lot of horrible apologetic attempts at Genesis 1. There's ton of twists and everyone seems to have one. But what they all have in common is that something other than the literal interpretation of the bible is required, so the literalism fails.

One good example is saying that the sun was created on the first day when God made the heavens and the earth. The sun, moon, and stars existed on the first day when the heavens were created, but they remained invisible until the fourth day at which point they could be observed from the earth.
Would you please provide a link to that explanation? I would like to see who came up with the one.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth ... g1tZ8H3VSr
Day 4

Many people believe that the text about day 4 says that God created the Sun, moon and stars on the fourth day. This is not what the text actually says, so let's read it again.

•Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; (Genesis 1:14)
•and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. (Genesis 1:15)
•And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. (Genesis 1:16)
•And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, (Genesis 1:17)
•and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:18)
How can a day be longer than 24-hours?
Even though the Genesis text clearly indicates that the days are longer than 24-hours, some Christians insist that any interpretation of Genesis 1 that deviates from 24-hour days is not literal. The problem is that the Hebrew word yom17 has three literal definitions - 12 hour daylight period, 24 period of time, or a long, but indefinite period of time. A careful reading of the Genesis creation account reveals that the 24-hour interpretation is ruled out by the actual Genesis text. The first definitive example of a day that is longer than 24-hours can be found in the beginning of the Genesis 2 creation account, which says that the entire six days of creation are one day.18

In verse 14 we have that unusual construction again of "let there be." It is not a statement of creation, but a statement of appearance. At this point, the clouds present at the initial creation of the earth were completely removed so that the bodies themselves appeared for the first time on the surface of the earth. The passage tells us that the lights were allowed "to be" so that they could be signs of the seasons, days, and years. It was necessary for the creatures of day 5 that the heavenly bodies be visible. We know that many of the migratory birds (created on day 5) require visible stars to navigate, hence the need to actually see these bodies. Verse 18 gives us another hint. The lights were placed in the sky to "separate the light from the darkness." Does this sound familiar? It is the exact Hebrew phrase used for God's work on the first day when, "God separated the light from the darkness" (Genesis 1:4) By using this phrase, the text is recounting the formation of the Sun, moon and stars from the first day. If we accept that God created the Sun, moon and stars on the fourth day, then He didn't really create the heavens in verse one. So, the 24-hour day interpretation suffers a contradiction between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:16.
So because the Bible contradicts itself, he feels the need to go back and try to make it not contradict itself. The heavens of day 1 are the environment of space. Each environment is laid out and then the inhabitants for each environments are created. He has no idea that day 1 corresponds to day 4 as the heavens and then that which inhabits the heavens. Just as day 2 establishes firmament from sea and day 5 brings that which inhabits the sea and firmament. and Just as day 3 establishes dry land and day 6 brings that which inhabits the dry the land. This is mythological pairing of environment and inhabitants and to neglect to see and understand this is to neglect to understand the writing style of Genesis 1. The above apologist has fallen into that trap and suffers for it.

He wants to assert that "let there be" isn't a statement of creation, rather the sun, moon, and stars already existed and simply became visible on day 4. So what of the living creatures? Elohim (Gods) said "let the waters teem with living creatures", and "let the earth bring forth living creatures" as well. So then we must conclude that he didn't create them on the 5th and 6th days if "Let there be" doesn't indicate the sun, moon, and stars, being created on the fourth day because it's not an act of creation. He's digging a deeper hole for himself. So yes, the sun was created on the fourth day as the bible states and so no amount of "years" could have gone by before time keeping was established on the fourth day when the sun was created. Because he fails to see the day 1 / day 4 mythological pairing of space (heavens) with the celestial orbs that inhabit space (heavens), and how this theme runs through each of the other days exactly the same way, he gets further and further away from the meaning of Genesis 1.

Finally he comes around to conclude:
We are left with only one internally consistent interpretation for the days of Genesis one. The literal, clearly indicated, meaning of yom for Genesis one must be an unspecified, long period of time. Since the Genesis text says that the third day must be at least several years long, none of the other days would be expected to be limited to 24-hours. All or nearly all of the other creation days would seem to require long periods of time, although the text does not clearly indicate the specific amount of time required.
So he comes to an OEC theory in the end. This guy's all over the place! The root of the problem - which solves the whole thing - is that Genesis 1 is a mythological creation story that does not give any concrete information on either the age of the earth nor how life emerged on the earth. It's a mythological creation story, not live CCN coverage of the dawn of creation. Trying to present it as such only results in problems stacked upon more problems that require stacking ever more problems until the amount of pure bunk involved is so blindingly obvious that it reduces the proponent of such ideas to a deceptive force loose in society! Whether they realize it or not.

The blind leading the blind further along into the darkness (ignorance)...
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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Just an observation born from my curiosity--
There are 16 or 17 intelligent posts in this thread, all intended to debunk the foolishness of YEC myth. My mind boggles at the amount of detail and research.

I wonder, would anyone put the same amount of effort into debunking:
Flat Earthers?
The efficacy of witchcraft, sorcery, fortune telling, or levitation?
Alien Abduction stories?
The creation stories of American Indians, Hindus, or any of hundreds/thousands of other such tales?
Extra terrestial's having built Stone Henge or the pyramids?
Any of the mythical monsters such as Nessy, Champy, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Yeti?
Demonic posession?
Astral Projection?
Transubstantiation?

If the answer is "no" then I can only wonder why this one particular myth, which owes to pre-scientific ancients' superstitions, is worthy of such attention. Science has demonstrated through multiple scientific diciplines' corroborative and cumulative evidence that big bang (or similar event) and evolutionary theory is the cause/ reality.
If the deluded said disease was caused by satan, and hurricans were god's wrath would you put the same effort into that as well?

Just a thought.

(PS: just by calling YEC a "theory" you have already given it more credence than it is due. "Transubstantiation Theory" ? "Woman into pillar of Salt Theory"? ... )
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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Bart wrote:Just an observation born from my curiosity--
There are 16 or 17 intelligent posts in this thread, all intended to debunk the foolishness of YEC myth. My mind boggles at the amount of detail and research.

I wonder, would anyone put the same amount of effort into debunking:
Flat Earthers?
The efficacy of witchcraft, sorcery, fortune telling, or levitation?
Alien Abduction stories?
The creation stories of American Indians, Hindus, or any of hundreds/thousands of other such tales?
Extra terrestial's having built Stone Henge or the pyramids?
Any of the mythical monsters such as Nessy, Champy, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Yeti?
Demonic posession?
Astral Projection?
Transubstantiation?

If the answer is "no" then I can only wonder why this one particular myth, which owes to pre-scientific ancients' superstitions, is worthy of such attention. Science has demonstrated through multiple scientific diciplines' corroborative and cumulative evidence that big bang (or similar event) and evolutionary theory is the cause/ reality.
If the deluded said disease was caused by satan, and hurricans were god's wrath would you put the same effort into that as well?

Just a thought.
I think (though I can't speak for everyone debating here) that it would come down to a question of evidence. What evidence is there that aliens built Stonehenge? None. Therefore, it's hardly even worth debating because there is nothing to debate once you get past the specific person arguing for it. Whereas the Bible is a physical written document that has survived for thousands of years and has most of the world believing in it or accepting it to some extent who are willing to do anything in their power to prove that it is true, and some have even contributed evidence that convinces some people but not all, and this is where the difference lies: While there are no historical documents citing alien involvement in the building of Stonehenge, there are historical documents, however accurate or inaccurate they may be, that surround the Bible. The argument here is between those who take it literally and those who believe it to be a moral guideline for earlier societies but not necessarily literal truth.

They're not discussing whether or not the Bible exists, but whether or not it is factual. That's the difference.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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If the answer is "no" then I can only wonder why this one particular myth, which owes to pre-scientific ancients' superstitions, is worthy of such attention. Science has demonstrated through multiple scientific diciplines' corroborative and cumulative evidence that big bang (or similar event) and evolutionary theory is the cause/ reality.
If the deluded said disease was caused by satan, and hurricans were god's wrath would you put the same effort into that as well?
With replicators, the ones that are viral and harmful usually draw a lot of attention. Terrible diseases require powerful antigens, a powerful immune system perhaps. Immunity to viral memes is skepticism. With the more powerful viral memes, you see more skeptical attention in opposition.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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Bleach said:
"What evidence is there that aliens built Stonehenge? None. "
Which is exactly the same evidence there exists for YEC.

If one attributes pre-scientific scripture as "evidence" , then the B Gita is evidence of the Hindu version of creation. Then the papyrus describing the Lower Egyptian creation story is "evidence"; and the Higher Egyptian Creation story...also evidence. Ad nauseum...

And yes, there is documentation, volumes of it, that present the "theory" of Aleins as the builders of stone henge and the pyramids. Does the fact that they are post scientific age discredit them? Only prescientific age documents are worthy "evidence"? Isn't that bass-ackwards?

Or does the number of people who foolishly believe in something make that thing a valid "theory" or worthy "belief". Millions believe in alien civilization contributions to earth's civilizations (Scientology); millions more that jesus was in the new world (LDS)... the list is endless, and without evidence or scientific merit , regardless of L Ron Hubbard's or Jos. Smith's books.
Last edited by Bart on Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Young Earth Theory put to rest!

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bleachededen wrote:
Bart wrote:I can only wonder why this one particular myth, which owes to pre-scientific ancients' superstitions, is worthy of such attention.
it would come down to a question of evidence.
No, there is no evidence for YEC. The reason why YEC deserves attention is one of power, wealth and politics, that many powerful and wealthy Americans believe that the world was made in 4004 BC, that the world is due to end soon in a nuclear conflagration, that the "faithful" will then live with Jesus for ever in heaven, and that this deranged prediction is preordained and good. This YEC doctrine is entirely wrong, idolatrous, blasphemous, unbiblical and evil. Yet it provided the basis for the mass accumulation of nuclear weapons by the USA in an entirely delusory effort to gain "security". If the USA was really concerned about security, it would have prevented Hurricane Katrina from destroying New Orleans, it would have a just policy towards Israel and Palestine, it would not waste trillions of dollars on the military, and it would be taking real steps to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and address world poverty. However, the influence of the evil doctrine of creationism destroys the moral standing for the USA in world politics, presenting the main danger to the world. YEC is hostile to all evidence, and enables its adherents to live in a fantasy bubble that threatens the extinction of life on our planet. This foul YEC idea is believed by nearly half of all Americans. It is extremely scary.
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