Thank you for letting me tell what I have learned about the biblical genealogies, most of it in the past year. I hope you will find it interesting. First let me introduce myself by telling you a few things about myself. I was born in Council and was raised on a cattle ranch there. I had a strong interest in science and in electricity and radio. My father, even though he had only an 8 th grade education had similar interests. He built a neutrodyne radio in the early 20’s and built a hydro plant on the ranch in the mid 20’s so we had electricity 25 years before Idaho Power arrived. I went to the U of I and got a degree in electrical engineering in I took all of the computer courses offered by the EE department which wasn’t much. No digital, just analog computing. I went to WSMR where I used my analog computer training to program a large analog computer to do missile flight simulation. I have been learning new computer techniques ever since. Print: 3-17, 19-26, 28-47

Over the years I have been collecting information about my family. I have learned that I have several interesting ancestors: A Menenite family who took their religious conviction against killing so seriously that they would not shoot at the indians who surrounded their house. The indians burned their house and killed some of the family and took three of the men as slaves. Alexander Mack, a German, who founded the Church of the Brethren. He was an anabaptist at a time when his life could be taken for being baptized in river as an adult. One of his friends was killed. My great grandfather, John Hancock Gould was born in 1833 and was a contempory of Charles Darwin who was born in He considered himself to be a “free thinker” and was a follower of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Draper, Buckle, & Lyell. I cannot trace my family farther back than Europe in the late 1700’s. But tonight I will tell you about some of my ancient ancestors. People such as Adam and Eve and Noah. They are your ancestors too. We are all related to each other.

COMPUTING THE AGE OF THE EARTH FROM THE BIBLICAL GENEALOGIES Presented at the meeting of Foundations in Genesis of Idaho November 30, 2000 Roy E Gould

How I Got Interested in the Genealogies Up until the recent past, when I had read genealogies in the Bible, they had made little sense to me but I wondered why they were there. My friend Mark (a Byzantine Catholic) questioned me several times over a period of years about why Matthew and Luke are different and why Matthew’s arithmetic is wrong. A couple of years ago I attended a Precept Bible class by Kay Authur entitled Genesis 1. We did some simple family trees and did some time calculations. I had been doing my family genealogy with my 87-year old Aunt Lucille using Family Tree Maker. I wondered how it would do on the Biblical genealogies and last February decided to give it a try. I found it worked well and was a big help in making sense of the genealogies. I started making family trees and found them to be interesting. Family Tree Maker was able to take bits and pieces from various sources and put them together to make a complete picture.

I began the family tree by first entering the genealogy in Luke since it begins with Joseph and ends with Jesus. I thought I could use it as a backbone and build off of it. I used the NIV text from the SeedMaster Bible which is a wonderful help in searching for names. I can search for the name of the person I am researching and SeedMaster will display all of the verses where that name appears in the Bible. I used copy and paste of names from the SeedMaster Bible directly into Family Tree Maker and into Excel to eliminate typing errors. I used Excel spreadsheets to reformat, re-organize, and to compare several genealogies from different sources. I also used it to do time calculations. After spending a few days entering information I had a large enough collection of people to be able to produce some very interesting family trees that helped me to understand the relationships in several of the families of the Bible that I had heard about all my life. Here are some family tree examples: Family Trees

Note: Adam and Eve were created in year 0 but Family Tree Maker will not accept dates earlier than 100

Marrying Close Family Members Many times I have had someone ask me “Who did Adam and Eve’s Children Marry? Their brothers and sisters?” Of course the answer has to be yes. The family trees reveal that marrying close family members was still going on in the time of Abraham. The world in the time of Abraham was in a population rebuilding phase. Abram was born 191 yrs after Peleg while Peleg was still alive. The population was being rebuilt after Babel. People apparently did not like people who spoke a different language. This is apparent from the way wives were chosen for Abram, Isaac, and Jacob. They all married close relatives. Gene 28:8 (NIV) Esau then realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his father Isaac; 9 so he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had. This was OK with God. The law had not yet been given prohibiting such marriages.

Discoveries About Time A piece of information that Family Tree Maker wanted was the birth and death dates of each person. For most people this information was not available, but I noticed that for many of the people in Genesis that the age of their father when they were born was given as well was their length of life. Given this information, I could compute their birth year from the creation of Adam. I made an Excel spreadsheet to do these calculations and began entering date of birth and date of death for everyone for whom I had this information into Family Tree Maker. I was surprised to find that I could do this all the way from Adam to Jacob. This meant that I could calculate the time interval from Adam to Jacob. Family Tree Maker will not allow a date earlier than 100. That is why it shows that Adam was born in 100 and not 0.

Print the time-line chart from the timeline.ppt file From Excel. Insert 8.5 x 14 inch paper into the printer. Set the printer paper size to 8.5 x 14. Check the box to select “scale to fit paper size”. If you want to print the time line on x 11 sheets, print them directly from Paper Port. Drag “timeline with overlap” to the printer icon.

Then I realized that if I knew when Abraham was born I could compute the age of the earth. I remembered that my Bible had a time line chart, so I looked in my Bible and then in my wife’s Bible. This is what I found. They both seem to agree that Abraham was born in 2166 BC. The Age of the Earth

Time Lines in Two Bibles Since Genesis is very clear about the time interval from Adam to Abraham why are the time lines from these two modern Bibles drawn the way they are? Why do they say that the time of creation is undated? Disciple’s Study Bible Holman, 1984 Life Application Bible, Zondervan 1988

Using this date I computed that Adam was created = 6112 years ago. This seemed to be a reasonable result since I have heard from time to time that the Bible says the earth is about 6000 years old. But there is more to the story. I began to look at other references to see when they said Abraham was born. This is what I found. The date from the Bible time lines is earlier than the other references. Where did they get that date? I don’t know. First Cut at Age of the Earth

Bob suggested to me that I should check out age of the earth calculation done by Archbishop Ussher. This is what I found out. (see next page) Ussher says that the earth was created in 4004 BC. I also found that John Lightfoot refined Ussher’s calculation to Oct 26, 4004 B.C.E. at 9 A.M. in Mesopotania. Therefore the earth is = 6004 years old according to Ussher. Ussher’s Creation Time

Ussher, James ( ), Irish prelate and biblical scholar, who established a long-accepted chronology for the Old Testament. He was born in Dublin and ordained an Anglican clergyman in About 1603 he became chancellor of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and, in 1607, professor of divinity at the University of Dublin, a position he held for 13 years. He was made bishop of Meath in 1620, privy councillor for Ireland in 1623, and archbishop of Armagh in Ussher went to England to conduct research in 1640; soon afterward the English Revolution broke out, and his property was confiscated. He therefore remained in England, writing and preaching. Upon his death the Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, gave him burial in the Erasmus Chapel of Westminster Abbey. Of Ussher's numerous writings the most important is the Annals of the World (2 volumes, ; trans. 1658). In that work he established his biblical chronology, with the creation fixed at 4004BC, a date widely accepted and included in the page margins of many editions of the Authorized, or King James, Version.[1][1] [1]"Ussher, James," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. [1]

Ussher’s Chronology in a KJV Bible Although Ussher’s Chronology was left in the margin of this King James Bible (School and Library Reference Edition, The John A. Hertel Co, Chicago 5, IL, copyright 1923 – 1963) the editors state the following about Ussher’s chronology:

Sometime in the past I had heard that there was a Hebrew calendar but I did not know anything about it. After a discussion last February with my Jewish friend Karl, I decided to find out more about it. This is what I learned: According to the Hebrew calendar we are now in the year 5761 from the creation. The Hebrew Calendar

What is the Hebrew Calendar? Several other calendars based on religious doctrine can also be described. For example, the Jewish calendar, derived from the ancient Hebrew calendar, has remained unchanged since about AD 900. It is the official calendar of the modern state of Israel and is used by Jewish people throughout the world as a religious calendar. The starting point of Hebrew chronology is the year 3761 BC, the date for the creation of the world as described in the Old Testament. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar, based on lunar months of 29 days alternating with 30 days. An extra month is intercalated every 3 years, based on a cycle of 19 years. Dates of the Jewish calendar are designated AM (Latin anno mundi,”the year of the world”) and BCE (before the common era). "Calendar," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. For Hebrew Calendar connect to: bcalmonthview.html

Print the example of the Hebrew Calendar (December 2000) directly from Paper Port where the image is stored. Power point cannot print it in color, but can print it in gray scale if the image is imported here. Import directly into PowerPoint by dragging on the Paper Port screen.

When was Abraham Born and When was Adam Created? Notice that Ussher says that Abram was born in 2056 BC. If you add 2056 to 1948 you will get 4004, Ussher’s date for the creation of the earth. Therefore the number I calculated for the birth year of Abram from the creation (1948) must be the same number used by Ussher. We differ on Abraham’s birth year.

The Case for the Hebrew Calendar As we have seen, the age of the earth given by the Hebrew Calendar makes the earth a little younger than some other dating methods. I think this age is reasonable. The Hebrew Calendar is a living calendar that has been used by the Jews for thousands of years and is currently the official calendar of Israel. It is the Calendar used by the Bible. The names of the months appear in the Bible many times: Nisan – 2; Iyyar (Ziv) – 2; Sivan – 1; Tammuz – 1; Tishri (Ethanim) – 1; Marchesvan (Bul) – 1; Kislev – 2; Shebat – 1; Adar – 9. Since the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana (New Year) is widely publicized, I can keep track of the current age of the earth. I have chosen to agree with the Hebrew calendar and say that the earth is 5761 years old.

The Genealogies of Genesis Genesis contains two main genealogies but has genealogical information scattered throughout. Therefore, it is necessary to assemble information from multiple locations to obtain the complete picture. The genealogical information contained in Genesis is different from the other such sources in the Bible in that it includes birth and death dates for most of the main characters in Genesis. This dating information begins with Adam and ends with Jacob who was renamed Israel. It is amazing to me that God saw to it that the information required for us to be able to compute the date when Adam was created was included in the Bible. When we know the time span from Adam to Abraham we can compute the approximate length of time between our current date and the creation of Adam because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are historical figures whose birth dates are approximately known from many sources.

Exod 24:1 (NIV) Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him." 3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." 4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. Exod 33:9 (NIV) As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Where Did Moses get his Information? 1)The tradition of the Hebrews 2)Direct revelation from the LORD

A Jewish Perspective "No book in human history has engendered a richer and more varied interpretive literature than the Bible, and that statement is particularly true for the Tanakh. Contrary to what one might think, "fundamentalist" Judaism does not engage in a strict, literal reading of the Hebrew Scriptures. Although Orthodox Jews believe that the Bible is the Revealed Word of Adonai, dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that even the Oral Law is God-given, they do not limit themselves to a reading of scripture as narrow or as literal as that practiced by fundamentalist Christians. Perhaps that's because they can read Hebrew and know how multilayered and ambiguous a text the Bible really is.“ Tanakh: A relatively modern acronym for the Jewish Bible, made up of the names of the three parts of the Torah (Pentateuch of Law), Nevi’im Prophets, and Ketuvim (Writings). Essential Judaism, George Robinson, Pocket Books, 2000, page 299

The Genealogy in Matthew Matthew presents a straightforward genealogy from Abraham to Jesus. The main question is about his arithmetic. This is the question that my friend Mark asked: “Why does Matthew the tax collector, who should know how to do arithmetic, count the generations incorrectly?” I think this is only a matter of interpretation. I will explain later. Matthew explicitly states that this is a genealogy of Joseph.

Matt 1:1 (NIV) A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

The Genealogy in Matthew

The Genealogy in Luke Luke gives us a genealogy beginning with Joseph and working backward to Adam. It is unique in that it proceeds backward instead of forward (except for a portion of 1 Chronicles) as all of the other genealogies do. Luke’s genealogy is the only one in the Bible that traces continuously the line from the beginning (Adam) to Jesus. Luke’s genealogy introduces a question in that it includes an individual (Cainan) who appears not to be included anywhere else. This has often been sited as being an error in the Bible. I will address this later on. Luke’s genealogy from David to Jesus is entirely different than Matthew’s version. The logical explanation is that it is the genealogy of Mary, not of Joseph. But Luke is not clear on this point.

Luke 3:23 (NIV) Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Comparing Luke & Matthew David ruled c B.C.E. 36 yrs/gen Matthew 24 yrs/gen Luke

The Genealogy of 1 Chronicles The first chapters of 1 Chronicles contains a very extensive genealogy beginning with Adam and continuing on past David that is too lengthy to include in it’s entirety here. This is an example. 1Chr 1:1 (NIV) Adam, Seth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. 4 The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. 6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. 7 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim. 8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. 9 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 10 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on earth. 11 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 12 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. 13 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, 14 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 15 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 16 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. 17 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech. 18 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber. 19 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

Comparing Genesis, 1 Chronicles, Luke & Matthew

Where Did Luke Get Cainan? Answer: He read it in the Greek Bible Gene 10:24 (NIV) Arphaxad was the father of {[24] Hebrew; Septuagint father of Cainan, and Cainan was the father of}Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber. Gene 11:13 (NIV) And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. {[12,13] Hebrew; Septuagint (see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. [13] And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters} 1Chr 1:24 (NIV) Shem, Arphaxad, {[24] Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts Arphaxad, Cainan (see also note at Gen. 11:10)}Shelah, 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah 27 and Abram (that is, Abraham).

Septuagint, name given the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. The term is derived from the Latin word septuaginta (“seventy”; hence, the customary abbreviation LXX), which refers to the 70 (or 72) translators who were once believed to have been appointed by the Jewish high priest of the time to render the Hebrew Bible into Greek at the behest of the Hellenistic emperor Ptolemy II. The legend of the 70 translators contains an element of truth, for the Torah (the five books of Moses— Genesis to Deuteronomy) probably had been translated into Greek by the 3rd century BC to serve the needs of Greek-speaking Jews outside Palestine who were no longer able to read their Scriptures in the original Hebrew. The translation of the remaining books of the Hebrew Old Testament, the addition to it of books and parts of books (the Apocrypha), and the final production of the Greek Old Testament as the Bible of the early Christian church form a very complicated history. Because the Septuagint, rather than the Hebrew text, became the Bible of the early church, other Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek were made by the 3rd century; these are extant only in fragments, and their history is even more obscure than that of the Septuagint. Contributed By: Rev. Bruce Vawter "Septuagint," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

THE APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA The Tanakh was assembled gradually, over several centuries. The earliest writing may date back as far as the eleventh century B.C.E., while the latest ones probably were written as much as eight hundred years later. But sometime around 100 C.E., the rabbis recognized that they would have to determine which of the many books of sacred and religious writings were to be included in the Tanakh, given the imprimatur of the sages, and declared holy. The canonization of the Hebrew Bible was essentially carried out by the school of Talmudic sages at Yavneh. Once the canon was established, no further books were to be added. The books that fell outside the canon and which were therefore omitted from the Hebrew Bible are of two types, the Apocrypha (“hidden books”) and the Pseudepigrapha (books written by someone other than the author to whom they were ascribed). The books from both groups date from the period between the composition of the Tanakh and the New Testament, probably between 300 B.C.E. and 100 C.E.

The Apocrypha include books that are part of the Greek translation of the Bible, the Septuagint. As such, they are a part of the canon of the Bibles of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Among the books in this group are the four books of the Maccabees (including the story of Hanukah), Tobit, Judith, Baruch, The Wisdom of Solomon, Jubilees, the Sibylline Books, and others. These books were written in a variety of languages, including Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Since Talmudic scholars did not accept them in the canon, these books were preserved only in Christian churches or in the libraries of the Dead Sea sect, those famous scrolls found in the cave at Qumran, with the exception of the book Ben Sira, which is quoted in the Talmud. Because they are part of the Catholic and Greek Orthodox canon, the number of books in the Apocrypha is frozen. By contrast, the Pseudepigrapha keep growing all the time. The texts discovered at Qumran, the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls, include many new books. Reference: Essential Judaism, George Robinson, Pocket Books, 2000, pages

Conflicts Caused by the Year Old Earth According to Genesis Of course we are in irreconcilable conflict with the scientists who say that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and that our evolution took millions of years to complete. We are also in trouble with Egyptologists who say that the great pyramid was build during Khufu’s reign between 1210 and 1233 AM. As we have seen, the flood did not occur until 1656 AM. I am tempted to say that the Egyptologists are off in their dating by 700 to 1000 years. The largest pyramid ever built, King Khufu’s, is often called the Great Pyramid. It lies in the desert west of Giza, accompanied by the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure (Khufu’s son and grandson). The Great Pyramid was built during Khufu’s reign (2551 BC-2528 BC). "Pyramids (Egypt)," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Where the Genealogies Lead We have seen that the Biblical genealogies begin with Adam and end with Jesus who is called the Chosen One, the Messiah, the Christ. They take us from the beginning through the history of man on the earth and end with Jesus, the Son of Man and the Son of God. God provided the information required to compute the age of the earth in the genealogies. He has not left us ignorant of his creation.

Our God is powerful enough not only to create the heavens and the earth in six literal 24 hour days, he is powerful enough to speak light into existence. Isn’t it amazing that in spite of his incredible power that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”? (John 3:16) God’s Power and Love for Us

Merry Christmas

What Does the Bible say about uniform processes? An assumption that is made by cosmologists, geologists, and evolutionists and probably all other scientists is that of uniformity i.e. physical processes occurred the same way in past as they do now. This is how they are able to extrapolate into the past. The Bible seems to say that uniformity is not true because people lived much longer immediately after creation than they do now. Also, the Bible says that initially it did not rain and the earth was watered by dew. Clearly things were different in the beginning than they are now. One question is: was this true because natural processes changed, or was it because people changed? In any case the Bible tells us that life on earth was much different before the flood than it was afterward and that the earth’s atmosphere was very different then than it is now.

What effect does this have on dating? Radio carbon dating depends upon knowing the initial condition i.e. the initial amount of carbon 14 in the air (see next slide). Since the Bible tells us that conditions immediately after creation were quite different than they are now the usual radio carbon dates from that time are not correct. But this does not mean that radio carbon can’t be used. It just has to be recalibrated. For example, the dates of Monte Verde and Black Water draw of about 12,500 years ago are probably more like 4000 years ago. The other dating methods also must be recalibrated to reflect that the earth is no older than 6,000 years. Mt. St. Helens has already cast doubt on some of these dating methods since it has been reported that recent lava flows from Mt. St. Helens have been dated to be as much as a million years old.

Intimidation of our Faith by Science Very few modern Christians would follow Paul’s example before the Areopagus in Athens where he debated with perhaps the most learned men alive in the world in his time. This is because we would be laughed at and be considered to be religious fanatics since science knows that Genesis cannot possibly be true. Acts 17:18 (NIV) A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, … 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:… "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth… 25 … he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Instead we try to reinterpret Genesis to fit science. I suggest that we should be doing it the other way around.

Believing in Creation is no More Fantastic Than Believing in the “Big Bang”, Evolution, and Many Other Ideas of Modern Science The cosmologists who say there was a big bang admit they don’t know why it happened. They think that some events happened much faster than the 6 day creation. Martin Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal, says in his latest Book, Just Six Numbers, that in the 10e-35 sec following the big bang, that the universe grew much more quickly than it did later. Those who believe in Evolution must believe that life occurred by self-organization due to natural processes. Science has revealed that life is extremely complex requiring this belief to have tremendous faith in something that has never been observed and is contrary to our scientific observations The time warp caused by black holes seems to be a natural phenomena that is difficult for us to understand. Time slows down and stands still in the black hole. Steven Hawking, “A Short History of Time”

Just Six Numbers by Martin Rees THE UNIVERSE IS UNLIKELY. VERY UNLIKELY. DEEPLY, shockingly unlikely. “Its quite fantastic,” says Martin Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal, … In his newest book, Just Six Numbers, Rees argues that six numbers underlie the fundamental physical properties of the universe, and that each is the precise value needed to permit life to flourish. In laying out this premise, he joins a long, intellectually daring line of cosmologists and astrophysicists (not to mention philosophers, theologians, and logicians) stretching all the way back to Galileo, who presume to ask: Why are we here? As Rees puts it, “These six numbers constitute a recipe for the universe.” He adds that if any one of the numbers were different even to the tiniest degree, there would be no stars, no complex elements, no life.” Reference: Discover Magazine, November 2000, Why is there life?, page 64

God Spoke Light into Existence Gene 1:1 (NIV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. What is the definition of light in Gen 1:3? There are many definitions of the word light. I think the one that makes most sense in the context of Gen 1:3 is this: PHYSICS: visible electromagnetic radiation: electromagnetic radiation in the range visible to the human eye, between approximately 4,000 and 7,700 angstroms Encarta® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1999 X-ray ultravioletlightinfrared microwaveCell-phone Digital TVFM broadcastTV (2-6)Short wave radioAM radio wavelength Some Electro-magnetic radiations

What is light? I believe that on the first day, God did not limit his speaking of light into existence to light only, but he caused the entire electromagnetic spectrum to come into being. The only difference between light and radio is the wavelength. As far as I know, the physicists still tell us that they don’t know exactly what light or electromagnetic radiation is and have two different models for it—the wave and the photon theories. They do however know a lot about how light behaves. If man cannot fully understand what light is then how can man expect to fully understand the creator of light? To quote a Jewish thinker who is quoted in Essential Judaism: “If I could describe God, I would be God”