How Old Is the Earth?
By: Robert Berch
Note: Robert is the preacher at the Clinton church of Christ, and I want to say thanks to him for contributing to the blog. This article can also be found on the Clinton church’s website. Remember, anyone of you can contribute an article to the blog. Just e-mail it to me.
Beginning with history…
The Assyrian Eponym Lists and the Black Obelisk (858-824 BC; discovered in 1846), lists the death of Ahab (I Kings 16:29) to be 853-852 B.C. So we begin with that date.
The reign of Solomon (40 years – 1 Kings 11:42) can be dated at 971-931 B.C. According to 1 Kings 6:1, 480 years before Solomon’s fourth year of reign (967-966 B.C.), Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The date of the Exodus is 1446/1445 B.C.
To this date we add the years of sojourn in Egypt (430 years, Exodus 12:40), producing the date of 1876 B.C. as the year Jacob entered Egypt. Interestingly, the Bible records Pharaoh’s query of Jacob’s age (and Jacob’s answer – 130 years) in Genesis 47:8-9. This would make the year of Jacob’s birth 2006 B.C.
Isaac’s age at Jacob’s birth was 60 years (Genesis 25:26). Abraham was 100 years old when he begat Isaac, giving the date of 2166 B.C. for Abraham’s birth (Genesis 21:5). According to Genesis 12:4, Abraham was 75 when he left Haran, presumably after Terah died at 205 years; thus, Abraham was born when Terah was 130 years old. So, the birth date of Abraham is around 2166 B.C.
Now we go to the beginning of creation and work towards Abraham.
Creation to Abraham
Creation to Seth (Gen. 5:3) – 130
Seth to Enos (5:6) – 105
Enos to Cainan (5:9) – 90
Cainan to Mahalaleel (5:12) – 70
Mahalaleel to Jared (5:15) – 65
Jared to Enoch (5:18) – 162
Enoch to Methuselah (5:21) – 65
Methuselah to Lamech (5:25) – 187
Lamech to Noah (5:28-29) – 182
Noah to the flood (7:6) – 600
Flood (6-8) – <1
Arphaxad’s birth after the flood (11:1) – 2
Arphaxad to Selah (11:12) – 35
Selah to Eber (11:14) – 30
Eber to Peleg (11:16) – 43
Peleg to Reu (11:18) – 30
Reu to Serug (11:20) – 32
Serug to Nahor (11:22) – 30
Nahor to Terah (11:24) – 29
Terah to Abram (12:4; 11:32) – 130
Adam to Abram – 2,018
Abram to Christ – 2,166
Christ to Present – 2,011
Age of the earth: Approximately 6,000 years old
Even if we missed a year or two here or there (or even a millennia or two), the earth is still between 6 – 10,000 years old; a distant figure to what evolutionists proclaim today (4.6 BILLION years old!).
Click here to find a church in your area.
August 14, 2007 at 2:14 am
I honestly didn’t follow all the math there, but sounds good
August 14, 2007 at 2:20 am
hey… there’s supposed to be two columns from adam to abraham… but it’s butted up against the first.
I had that in a table… which didn’t register when you copy/pasted.
August 15, 2007 at 7:16 pm
What do you mean, two columns?
August 27, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Wow…6,000 years? Are you offer your rocker. I can understand believing in God…but to believe the earth is only 6,000 years old is insane. There are mounds of evidence in artifacts that easily dispute such a claim. Even if it isn’t billions then it is easily tens of thousands or millions. To say it is only 6,000 is naive. It’s ludicrous and uneducated.
August 27, 2007 at 5:17 pm
You do realize that by believing the earth is 6,000 years old you’re not only denying evolutionary biology, but also physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, cosmology, molecular biology, genomics, linguistics, anthropology and archeology.
August 27, 2007 at 8:59 pm
The chronology depends on the Bible being the inerrant word of God. How do we know God wrote the Bible? The Bible says so. And it has to be correct, because God wrote it. And we know God exists, because the Bible says so.
Only the brain dead accept that sort of circular reasoning in defiance of logic, common sense and the scientific method.
What part of Alpha Centauri do you come from?
August 28, 2007 at 9:38 am
By your reckoning, the earth was created after the domestication of canines.
You, sir, are an idiot and I claim my five pounds.
August 28, 2007 at 9:39 pm
HAHAHAHA….this blog is sooo freakin funny. It’s pure comedy.
August 29, 2007 at 8:13 pm
I am honestly saddened to see someone estimate the age of the earth by using ancient texts as the derivative source for their approximations.
I really think faith will be the surmise of our likelihood as we know it. And it’s such a shame. Especially with all the potential reasoning holds within it’s grasp it’s simply mind boggling that anyone, especially in today’s time, can even look at what’s written in any holy book and say that it makes perfect sense, or that it’s logical. It blows my mind.
August 30, 2007 at 3:56 pm
This is extremely saddening. I urge you to look for facts in textbooks rather than in holy books of whatever sort.
September 1, 2007 at 2:31 am
Matt, I am very sad as I read your blog tonite. I am sad that someone urged you move textboos ahead of the precious word of Jesus. I am sad than someone has decided that the teaching of Gods word is comedy to someone, even to the point of using profanity. I am sad to learn that you and I and millions of others, including the likes of the Apostle Paul, the disciple that Jesus loved are brain dead. Do not become weary in well doing. You know what your future holds., love, Ken G.
September 3, 2007 at 8:07 am
Yes, those pesky textbooks with those facts and crazy laws of science. Don’t believe those. Instead, believe some dudes word from thousands of years ago which was written down by someone else which has ben translated and translated some more. Take that as the 100% holy truth. Forget about rationality and all of the stuff we have learned in the mean time.
September 3, 2007 at 2:56 pm
i have read and re-read my most recent comments. altho i did find a couple of typos, i failed to find any reference to textbooks being pesky, nor did i say they are never to be believed. my name is ken gardner my address is kennethlgardner@yahoo.com why not send me your name and email address and lets begin a friendly and meaningful dialogue.
September 3, 2007 at 3:20 pm
“The chronology depends on the Bible being the inerrant word of God. How do we know God wrote the Bible? The Bible says so. And it has to be correct, because God wrote it. And we know God exists, because the Bible says so.”
Is this why you don’t believe in the Bible as the inerrant word of God? Is this how you have heard believers reason? If so, I can understand where you’re coming from. I believe in the Bible because of its prophecies and historical accuracies. I believe in the Bible becuase of its consistent flow and foresight. I believe in the Bible becuase of the testimony that so many contemporaries of the times of the Bible present, even those who did not believe in Jesus.
Scientists can and have been wrong. My faith doesn’t hinge upon popular theories here and there.
You all bash us as idiots. Maybe we are just fools for Christ’s sake (1 Cor. 4:10).
“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” (1 Cor. 3:18-20)
September 4, 2007 at 4:54 pm
No, no. I have no use for talking with such brainwashed folks. I could talk with a believer that doesn’t actually believe the earth is a mere 6,000 years old. That would likely mean they hadn’t been completely brainwashed. But, you my friend have unfortunately gone off the deep end and it is too late to help you. Gooday.
September 5, 2007 at 4:19 am
Dude the bible actually says rabbits chew cud. It says the earth is flat. How can you think it is inerrant???
September 5, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Wow… so many anonymous critics.
It is funny to me that they call you brainwashed when they have blindly accepted a theory that is portrayed as fact, a theory which cannot be tested by the same scientific process that many of them feel has been attacked.
And I would like to know where the bible says the earth is flat. That would be interesting to read.
September 6, 2007 at 3:00 am
i had hoped that anonymous would contact me. perhaps he could unbrainwash me. i, too, would like to know where the bible states the world is flat. the truth is the bible states that the world is round in Isaiah 40:22. do you wonder how that “old dude” knew this a couple of thousands years before the writers of our textbooks did? science in recent decades discovered that we are all of one blood. ever wonder how the apostle paul knew this 2,000 years ago? acts 17:26. also i wonder how Job knew that the Lord “hangeth the world on nothing” 4,000 years before our scientists and textbook writers figured this out? how did the psalmist know about the “shipping lanes” thousands of years efore matthew maury made this discovery. i have more if you would like to hear about them. no, i am not brainwashed. i just want to go to heaven and i have learned that our destiny will be determined by the word of God and whether or not we followed it. John 12:48. on that day even your knee will bow and even your tongue will confess. Phillipians 2:10-11. ken g.
September 7, 2007 at 10:02 pm
How have I gone off the deep end?
Because I call myself a fool?
Let me explain my foolishness. I’m only a fool in the sense that you think I am a fool. You have the wisdom of the world, which is only wisdom because you think it is wisdom.
Really, I am wise on this issue and you are the fool. You may have knowledge, but you have no wisdom. You can “discern the face of the sky” but not “the signs of the times.”
1 Corinthians 1:20-24:
“Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”
Now I want to ask, how have I gone off the deep end? Because I believe the world is approx. 6000 years old. Give me a break. The age of the earth is a small matter compared to belief or unbelief in God. Nick said there is some sort of contradiction in the Bible about rabbits. Do you think I take that kind of claim seriously in front of the gamut of biblical truth?
What is happening here is that two groups of people with totally different religious backgrounds are (not surprisingly) calling each other crazy wierdos. It would have been better to find common ground from the beginning, instead of finding an obviously Christian blog only to immediately pout and insult because we don’t think like you do.