Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the statement you have probably heard a million times over. I believe that this statement is literal in its interpretation and that it is 100% true in its validity. I also believe that the world as we know it today is only 6000-8000 years old.
At least that is what I have been told all my life. I personally am not sure how old the earth is. On the one hand we have scholars of the Bible that say the earth is 6000-8000 years old to their best calculations. On the other hand we have fossils that are millions of years old according to our best attempt at carbon dating. Neither side wants to admit any wrong on their part. I do believe that both sides of this argument have done the best that they can with the abilities and technology that they have been given to come to their conclusions as well.
But this is about what I think. I personally tend to sway towards the Biblical theory more than the scientific. Mainly because the foundations of my religious beliefs and what I have committed my life to also dwell in the Bible. Having chosen a career as a minister of music I look to the Bible for my answers and use science to support those answers. When the two contradict I will choose to follow the Bible for my answer.
Fortunately I am not a scientist (Music minister actually) and because of that I will not have to deal with this question from other scientists in my life. I will however have to justify my beliefs to people I am witnessing too and in that I think both careers face the same issue.
So could the world be billions of years old? Yes. I am not questioning that at all. Could the world be only 8000 years old? I also see validity to that statement. My next question is the reason for the whole debate. Why does it matter? Will the foundations of my faith crumble if I find that without question the earth is billions of years old? To many Christians it might but my faith runs deeper than that one question. Frankly though, I think science would have a much harder time answering the opposite of that question than Christianity would.
To sum things up, I believe that the earth was created in seven days (with God’s union labor time off on the seventh!) But I am fully willing to accept and actually research into why science believes that the earth is billions of years old. Frankly, I think a lot of us will be wrong about a lot of things when we get to Heaven. The ironic thing is that when we get there all these questions will seem meaningless once we stand in front of the Savior. Sure we might get answers to the question, but who will care?
