by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
A recent conversation with an atheist who was honest enough to admit a point I had made was from a perspective she hadn’t heard before. May we all be as honest!<\/p>\n
The information below is more than what I discussed with the young lady:<\/p>\n
In doing campus evangelism, I asked a young lady what persuaded her to become an atheist. She had once gone to a “church of Christ” and had even been baptized. She said that the Bible contradicted science, and science could be proven. So, I asked for an example. She stated that the Bible shows a young earth, but science proves the earth is extremely old.<\/p>\n
I shared the following with her: The Bible does not contradict that the earth is old<\/em> because the record in Genesis shows how age was created<\/em> into the earth. For example, how long would it take the light from the stars to reach the earth? Whatever the answer is in lightyears, the light from the stars would not immediately be visible on Earth the very day the stars were created. And yet the Genesis record shows how the stars were immediately visible (Genesis 1:14-19). Therefore, when God created the stars, he created them with age because he created the stars (i.e., the source) and the light (i.e., energy) proceeding from the stars.<\/p>\n How many years is one light year? A light year is the distance light travels in one Earth year, which is about 6 trillion miles. (That is a 6 with 12 zeros behind it!)<\/p>\n I suggested an easier example: When Adam and Eve were created, does the Genesis record say they were created as babies or as adults? The answer is adults. Therefore, Adam and Eve were created with age built in.<\/p>\n Getting more technical, the appearance<\/em> of great antiquity, which admittedly the earth has, is explained in terms of “pro-chronic or ideal time” by Philip Henry Gosse, as referred to by Ramm as follows:<\/p>\n “Every object of creation has two times. That which is before time or instantaneous in coming into existence is pro-chronic. That which consumes time is diachronic. All processes during the course of the world since its creation are diachronic. All things at the moment of creation were pro-chronic.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gosse also uses the terms real-time and ideal time. At the moment of creation, Adam’s real-time was zero – actually, he did not exist until then. His ideal time was, say, for the purposes of illustration, thirty years old. A tree in the Garden of Eden would appear fifty years old (its ideal time), whereas it had just been created (its real time).<\/p>\n In other words, when God created each object, He created it to appear as though it had passed through the usual stages of development. Thus, the earth looked very old at the moment of creation.<\/p>\n Logically and physiologically, this must be true: Some types of matter are defined by their age. For example, coal versus diamonds; oil as residue from animals (if that is the origin). As another example, Adam would logically be created with age since his existence did not begin with sperm and egg.<\/p>\n Is there both “real” and “ideal” time seen within Genesis 1? Absolutely!<\/p>\n How is all this possible? God’s creation is a miracle. For example, in John 2:1ff, Jesus turns water into wine. In real-time, the wine is only an instant old. But in an ideal time period, by definition, the wine is old enough to have gone from seed to fruit, to picking, to squeezing, etc.<\/p>\n This appearance is not evidence of a deceptive God. God could not create what He did without it being what it is! Nor is this appearance of an old earth only to test our faith. God had no choice. You cannot create a rock that is not old, for a rock by definition is old, just as God could not create a square circle because a circle by definition is round.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Perry Hall A recent conversation with an atheist who was honest enough to admit a point I had made was from a perspective she hadn’t heard before. May we all be as honest! The information below is more than what I discussed with the young lady: In doing campus evangelism, I asked a young…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[83,302],"class_list":["post-68559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-age-of-the-earth","tag-creation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-people-believe-a-text-written-by-uneducated-people-when-science-has-proven-the-bible-to-be-completely-false\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":0},"title":"Why do people believe a text written by uneducated people when science has proven the Bible to be completely false?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There are many scientific discoveries and explanations that prove that the teachings of the Bible are completely false. One for example is dinosaurs, which are proven by radiometric dating to be over 60 million years old. How could this be if the world is only 10,000 years old? When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-science-and-skepticism\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":1},"title":"The Bible, Science, and Skepticism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Psalm 33:4-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A literal reading of the Bible tells us that God created the world, that the universe was created in six days, and the world is about 6,000 years old. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet the literal reading is often rejected, not on the basis of Scriptural teachings, but because it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-create-the-earth-in-one-literal-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":2},"title":"Did God Create the Earth in One Literal Week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Dann via The Gospel Anchor, May 17, 2000 On the first page of the Bible, we read, \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/seven-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":94926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-foundations-of-radioactive-dating-methods\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":3},"title":"The Foundations of Radioactive Dating Methods","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by John Walton via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 4, December 1994 A recent Bible study class focused on the topic of the \"age of the Earth.\" Considerable discrepancy exists between the age of the Earth as determined by some scientific methods and that indicated by the Bible. The accepted age\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-is-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":4},"title":"How old is the world?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How old is the world? Is the scientific way correct? In science, the world is around 40 billion years old. How old is the world in the Bible? Answer: Dating in the Bible is a bit difficult because, for the span of time that the Bible covers, a universal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61051,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-believe-in-the-god-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":68559,"position":5},"title":"Why Believe in the God of the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Billy B. Norris via Gospel Guide, Nov. 1995 One may be a believer in the One God; an atheist, a disbeliever in any god; or a heathen, a believer in many gods. Let's examine each of these positions: Heathenism In its plural number of gods, heathenism is confusing and divisive.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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