“How old is the Earth?”
That question has created numerous theories and endless arguments. It’s not as simple as saying that religious people believe one thing and science people believe something else. Even within both groupings are numerous subsets of beliefs about the age of the Earth.
Within broad groupings, the scientific community dates the Earth’s age as older than what biblical genealogies and sorts point to regarding as a timeline. Can these two coexist? Can we know the age of the Earth?
While this short article will not solve all questions, I want to offer you something to consider. When it comes to the age of the Earth, I suggest an experiment that might open your mind to a helpful scenario.
What would it look like on paper if you drew the Earth on day one?
I have asked people to do this before. Get out a blank sheet of paper and draw the Garden of Eden if you are the religious type. Without variation, everyone I have ever asked to do this draws a garden with tall trees, healthy bushes, developed animals, and middle-aged humans.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
Whether it is an artistic masterpiece or a personal sketch that you develop, all versions look something like this painting. If you look at the garden, you discover trees that look as if they are at least decades old. You find animals that are far beyond the immature state. And within the garden, you always find Adam and Eve looking and functioning like 30-year-olds.
While these are just concepts, we know the Bible to teach that God created trees, not seeds. He developed landscapes instead of wastelands. He made all living creatures without the need to be carried or fed by a more experienced being.
When Adam appeared like a grownup and operated as a 30-year-old, he was 1-day-old.
So God created man in his own image,
Genesis 1:27
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
When the Earth looked like it had been around for centuries, the dust was still settling.
Fossils deepened into the ground under immense pressure when a catastrophic flood covered the land. The damage of the water considerably aged the world.
Due to how God created it and the devastation it experienced, I have no problem believing that the world looks much older than it is. I think God made it on day one to look established, and I believe that damage was done to decrease its stability.
So, how old was the Earth on day one? It was one day old, but it looked a lot older. The Bible and science aren’t opposed to one another, and it seems with discoveries, the biblical message goes still unvanquished.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
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