I was wondering if anyone can set me straight on this issue. I have reacently read "The Case for Christ" and for the first time a lot of the little doubts I have had about Jesus and his life have been put to rest with powerfull arguments.
I watch a lot of the Discovery, History, and Learning channel shows that talk about the earth and the latest ancient human remain finds. I also am in college in a natural resource major so I here a lot about the earth and the origin of all the things on it. Naturally all of these sources lead to the general consensus among scientists that the earth is very very very old and the human race is fairley old (sorry for the generalities but I don't see the need to look for exact numbers).
Although I have not read anything as of yet for myself the general theme I hear among Christians is that the world and the human race is no more than 3,000-5,000 years old I think. I assume these numbers are based off the ages of the first people on earth listed in Genesis and elsewhere in the bible.
If I am correct with this general Christian viewpoint this leads me to a confused place. I absolutley believe in the one true GOD and his son Jesus Christ. All I have read and heard about the earths geology, fossils, and carbon dating make the argument for a very ancient earth extremley convincing.
Are all of those scientists simply mistaken? Is it possible the dates and ages of people in the Old Testimate are taken out of context? Is it possible that time and events as eluded to in Genesis shouldn't be taken literal? Sort of like the 40 days expression so often used in the Bible (I may be wrong here too)?
Again I haven't really dove into this subject and read any counter arguments by Christian thinkers. Forgive me if I am ignorant anywhere in my post. Regardless of how old the earth and the human race is, I still believe that GOD was the creator of it all. So I welcome anyones viewpoint on this and if you could back up your views with some facts or scripture that would be much appreciated.
Thank you
I watch a lot of the Discovery, History, and Learning channel shows that talk about the earth and the latest ancient human remain finds. I also am in college in a natural resource major so I here a lot about the earth and the origin of all the things on it. Naturally all of these sources lead to the general consensus among scientists that the earth is very very very old and the human race is fairley old (sorry for the generalities but I don't see the need to look for exact numbers).
Although I have not read anything as of yet for myself the general theme I hear among Christians is that the world and the human race is no more than 3,000-5,000 years old I think. I assume these numbers are based off the ages of the first people on earth listed in Genesis and elsewhere in the bible.
If I am correct with this general Christian viewpoint this leads me to a confused place. I absolutley believe in the one true GOD and his son Jesus Christ. All I have read and heard about the earths geology, fossils, and carbon dating make the argument for a very ancient earth extremley convincing.
Are all of those scientists simply mistaken? Is it possible the dates and ages of people in the Old Testimate are taken out of context? Is it possible that time and events as eluded to in Genesis shouldn't be taken literal? Sort of like the 40 days expression so often used in the Bible (I may be wrong here too)?
Again I haven't really dove into this subject and read any counter arguments by Christian thinkers. Forgive me if I am ignorant anywhere in my post. Regardless of how old the earth and the human race is, I still believe that GOD was the creator of it all. So I welcome anyones viewpoint on this and if you could back up your views with some facts or scripture that would be much appreciated.
Thank you
