1. Standard memberamannion
    Andrew Mannion
    Melbourne, Australia
    Joined
    17 Feb '04
    Moves
    53702
    25 Oct '06 04:05
    Originally posted by EcstremeVenom
    i dont remember that in the bible.
    It's not atually in the bible.
    The bible makes no reference to dates or times - or little anyway. Which kind of makes sense if you accept that it was written by many people over an extended period of time and went through many changes. Dates would've got in the way of telling good stories.

    What the 6,000 years or 10,000 years that people are referring to are some calculations made by a guy a few hundred years ago - Paley I think, maybe in the 1700s or 1800s?
    He tallied up all the generations that were listed in some of the biblical stories - from Adam through Noah and Abraham and Moses and so on to Jesus - added 1700 years or so for good measure and got a figure of 6,000 years or something like it.
    Other people have done the same with varying results depending on how long each generation is and which generations you count - remember the bible isn't one book but many, so there are quite a few contradictions.

    Clearly doesn't match the scientific interpretations of geology, radiometric dating, palaeontology and evolution so there's the tension.
  2. Donationrwingett
    Ming the Merciless
    Royal Oak, MI
    Joined
    09 Sep '01
    Moves
    27626
    25 Oct '06 04:17
    Originally posted by amannion
    It's not atually in the bible.
    The bible makes no reference to dates or times - or little anyway. Which kind of makes sense if you accept that it was written by many people over an extended period of time and went through many changes. Dates would've got in the way of telling good stories.

    What the 6,000 years or 10,000 years that people are referring t ...[text shortened]... tations of geology, radiometric dating, palaeontology and evolution so there's the tension.
    It was Bishop James Ussher, not Paley, who came up with that one. In 1650 he calculated that Earth was created at nightfall preceding 23 October, 4004 BC. He was only off by several billion years, or so.
  3. Standard memberamannion
    Andrew Mannion
    Melbourne, Australia
    Joined
    17 Feb '04
    Moves
    53702
    25 Oct '06 04:18
    Originally posted by rwingett
    It was Bishop James Ussher, not Paley, who came up with that one. In 1650 he calculated that Earth was created at nightfall preceding 23 October, 4004 BC. He was only off by several billion years, or so.
    That's right, Paley was the watchmaker dude wasn't he?
  4. Donationrwingett
    Ming the Merciless
    Royal Oak, MI
    Joined
    09 Sep '01
    Moves
    27626
    25 Oct '06 04:23
    Originally posted by amannion
    That's right, Paley was the watchmaker dude wasn't he?
    Yes. William Paley. If we find a watch on the beach, we can infer the existence of a watchmaker. And by the nature of the product, we can infer the nature of the creator.

    Or so the argument goes.
  5. Cape Town
    Joined
    14 Apr '05
    Moves
    52945
    25 Oct '06 07:27
    Originally posted by rwingett
    Yes. William Paley. If we find a watch on the beach, we can infer the existence of a watchmaker. And by the nature of the product, we can infer the nature of the creator.

    Or so the argument goes.
    Why does nobody realise that we can also infer the nature of the former owner of said watch. We can also infer that the watch is either lost or useless or the owner thinks that the beach is a good place for it.

    The creater of the watch was probably some machines owned by a business man in China who copied the design off someone else. The usuall assumption that the watch maker is some highly intelligent painstakingly carefull designer with thick glasses and some tiny screwdrivers is false.
  6. Standard memberRBHILL
    Acts 13:48
    California
    Joined
    21 May '03
    Moves
    227331
    26 Oct '06 23:02
    Originally posted by amannion
    It's not atually in the bible.
    The bible makes no reference to dates or times - or little anyway. Which kind of makes sense if you accept that it was written by many people over an extended period of time and went through many changes. Dates would've got in the way of telling good stories.

    What the 6,000 years or 10,000 years that people are referring t ...[text shortened]... tations of geology, radiometric dating, palaeontology and evolution so there's the tension.
    For one thing it give peoples ages throughout the O.T. and we know that it was about 800 years from the last book to Christ.
  7. Standard memberXanthosNZ
    Cancerous Bus Crash
    p^2.sin(phi)
    Joined
    06 Sep '04
    Moves
    25076
    27 Oct '06 00:33
    Originally posted by RBHILL
    For one thing it give peoples ages throughout the O.T. and we know that it was about 800 years from the last book to Christ.
    Answer the questions I asked on the previous page RB.
  8. Standard memberscottishinnz
    Kichigai!
    Osaka
    Joined
    27 Apr '05
    Moves
    8592
    27 Oct '06 03:38
    Originally posted by RBHILL
    For one thing it give peoples ages throughout the O.T. and we know that it was about 800 years from the last book to Christ.
    Why are you ignoring Xanthos' questions? Why did God create a world which looks to every investigator to be around 4.5 billion years old? Why did he make people inquistive enough, or smart enough, to find out?
  9. Joined
    11 Jul '06
    Moves
    2753
    27 Oct '06 04:231 edit
    Originally posted by scottishinnz
    Why are you ignoring Xanthos' questions? Why did God create a world which looks to every investigator to be around 4.5 billion years old? Why did he make people inquistive enough, or smart enough, to find out?
    And the funny answer I saw in another thread somewhere was that God has a different sense of 'time'. When it was stated 6 days in the bible, it might have meant a much longer time than the 'time' that we know. Oh how convenient! Always the tendency to twist an ordinary word with such a straight-forward meaning to mean another thing, just to uphold the 'accuracy' of the holy book.
  10. Standard memberBigDogg
    Secret RHP coder
    on the payroll
    Joined
    26 Nov '04
    Moves
    155080
    27 Oct '06 06:01
    Originally posted by ckoh1965
    And the funny answer I saw in another thread somewhere was that God has a different sense of 'time'. When it was stated 6 days in the bible, it might have meant a much longer time than the 'time' that we know. Oh how convenient! Always the tendency to twist an ordinary word with such a straight-forward meaning to mean another thing, just to uphold the 'accuracy' of the holy book.
    It is funny how some christians who think the 'weeks' in Daniel 9 are 'weeks of years' will not admit that the 'days' of creation might not be literal days.
  11. Standard memberRBHILL
    Acts 13:48
    California
    Joined
    21 May '03
    Moves
    227331
    28 Oct '06 15:54
    Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
    It is funny how some christians who think the 'weeks' in Daniel 9 are 'weeks of years' will not admit that the 'days' of creation might not be literal days.
    Well to God a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
  12. Joined
    23 Jul '05
    Moves
    8869
    28 Oct '06 16:06
    Originally posted by RBHILL
    Well to God a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
    Have you asked him personally?
  13. Standard memberRBHILL
    Acts 13:48
    California
    Joined
    21 May '03
    Moves
    227331
    28 Oct '06 16:35
    Originally posted by Bad wolf
    Have you asked him personally?
    2 Peter 3:8
    But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

    2 Timothy 3:16a
    All Scripture is God-breathed
  14. Joined
    23 Jul '05
    Moves
    8869
    28 Oct '06 17:08
    Originally posted by RBHILL
    2 Peter 3:8
    But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

    2 Timothy 3:16a
    All Scripture is God-breathed
    So, you are believing the bible because the bible tells you that god tells you to believe it?
  15. Standard memberRBHILL
    Acts 13:48
    California
    Joined
    21 May '03
    Moves
    227331
    28 Oct '06 17:30
    Originally posted by Bad wolf
    So, you are believing the bible because the bible tells you that god tells you to believe it?
    The way I see it is that it is God talking to use.

    believing it brings me no fear because fear is sin.

    And that verse in Peter all it means is that God is not on our time table.
Back to Top

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.I Agree