How Old is the Earth?

Creationist time line 1 inch = 750 years Noah 4400 yrs ago 2400 world wide flood 6000 years ago Creation 4000 BC Jesus birth “0” Today 2007

Creationists believe that that the earth was created instantly approx 6000 yrs, (or at least under 10,000 years old). Young Earth Creationists.

Evolutionist time line 1 inch = 2,500,000,000 years 4.6 Billion years ago Earth forms 3 Billion years ago Life forms Man evolved 3,000,000 Years ago Big Bang 20 billion years ago

Evolutionists claim that the earth and the solar system is about 4 Evolutionists claim that the earth and the solar system is about 4.55 billion years old (give or take 1%). They believe this amount of time was necessary for life to evolve.

Which is right? No-one was there to see and it cannot be repeated so we have to look at the evidence.

Geology Rocks! There are rocks all over the world in layers Lets look at Mrs Thomson’s holiday videos!

The rocks are in layers, and the lowest layers would have to be put down first…but how long ago? This is what creationists and evolutionist disagree on.

Counting tree rings If care is taken, tree-ring counting gives us an accurate absolute method of dating going back for 8200 years. Therefore we know beyond reasonable doubt that the world was not created in 4004 BC.

The Radiocarbon Clock Radiocarbon dating can only be applied to organisms that were once alive and is a means of determining how long ago they died. By measuring how much radiocarbon remains in ancient organic materials, it is possible to calculate how long ago they died. Is Radiocarbon dating reliable? Read 2.5

How old is life on Earth? The evidence that the Earth is 4600 million years old is very strong. Bacteria fossils -3000 million years old.

Sea snail fossils 600 million years old Primitive fish 400 million years old

Dinosaurs 200 million years ago Man built the pyramids only 4500 yrs ago!

Not all former life was preserved as fossils, in fact the vast majority simply vanished without trace.  The most likely materials to survive fossilisation are the hard parts such as shells and objects which in life were constructed from resistant materials, such as Coral.  In order for softer materials to survive, the conditions must be extremely favourable. 

Creationists believe the Earth is only 10 000 years old or less Creationists believe the Earth is only 10 000 years old or less! How can they believe this in the face of the evidence? They have three different answers: They claim radioactive dating is inaccurate.

2) They believe fossil evidence can be explained away by the massive flood in Genesis. (Huge waves travelled around they earth and deposited mud animals etc, when compressed by the weight of the water they formed rocks.) A huge flood would/ could have changed the way the world looked very quickly)

3. They believe in the Theory of Apparent Age. This theory states that God did create the Universe in 6 days, but he made it so that it appeared old i.e. tree were created fully grown with tree rings.

Logically it is impossible to tell the difference between: A world which is really very old and II. A world which is young but has been given the perfect appearance of age.

However using common sense (I) must be preferred to (II). Even from a Christian point of view why would God deceive us by leaving old fossils lying about? Question? Did Adam have a belly button?