From the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female.” Mark 10:6
The idea of God creating the earth 15 billion years before placing the first people on earth doesn’t add up. But it makes sense if He placed people on earth shortly after He created it.
When did God create our earth?
As summarized in The Foundations, by Ken Ham, the following two accounts of history are complete opposites:
Evolution/Millions of Years Biblical Creation
Big bang No big bang
Billions of years Thousands of years
Death has always been here Death is an intrusion—it’s an enemy
Man and woman from ape-like creatures/Man from dust; woman from his side
No global flood Global flood
No purpose and meaning Purpose and meaning
Strong Evidence for a Young Earth
Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, teaches that the Bible clearly teaches a young earth and universe.
- We have the preservation of God’s eyewitness account of the earth’s history along with Jesus Christ’s repeated endorsements during His earthly ministry.
- Given God’s careful chronological details of the universe’s creation in six literal days, as well as the unbroken genealogies from Adam to Jesus, Ken writes: “We have absolutely no doubt that the earth is only around six thousand years old.”
- Although there are hundreds of dating methods to age-date earth things, there are problems when it comes to dating our universe. For it to work one has to: 1) know something about how it started, and 2) how it has changed over time. The problem is, we weren’t there in the beginning, or there to check over all those years. Ken Ham writes: “Of all the dating methods you can use to age-date things on the earth, 90% of them actually contradict billions of years.”
Honestly, I haven’t always given this question much thought—whether the earth is billions of years old or new (4,000 – 10,000 years old). It was never an issue for me; it certainly isn’t a salvation issue. But After viewing Ken Ham’s The Foundations DVD series and beginning Henry Morris’ book, The Genesis Record, God is challenging me to sharpen my view of this account in His Word. . . . The following is what I find most disturbing.
Destroyed Foundations
Ken cites that the foundations of God’s authoritative Word in Western culture have been destroyed, beginning with one’s interpretation of Genesis 1-11. And that the hot social issues of today—abortion, moral relativism, gay marriage—are really symptoms of not adhering to God’s absolutes found in His Word.
The millions of years/evolution is the curriculum used in most of our public schools. The church at large has changed foundation by adopting man’s word into the Bible—adding millions of years/evolution—instead of using God’s Word as the starting point.
Two thirds of our young people leave the church when they reach college age. Why? A main reason is their view of the church’s hypocrisy. They see the church compromising God’s Word with the pagan religion of the age instead of taking God’s Word literally as the recorded six 24-hour days of Creation week, (and one day of rest).
Their reasoning: If the Bible can’t be trusted here—Genesis 1-11—then the remainder of the Bible can’t be trusted either. This not only undermines the very Word of God and turns people away from it, but also undermines the history foundational to all doctrine.
Secularists see this and are seizing the opportunity to win our young people’s hearts and minds.
Ken says, “Instead of watering down the Word and increasing entertainment programs, we need to teach our children to stand on the authority of Scripture and what God said He did.”
Links for further study: Searching for the “Magic Bullet”, Creation: Where’s the Proof?, Get Answers, Two Histories of Death, The Evolutionizing of a Culture
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