"Old" Earth - Genesis 1:1-2

15,364 Views | 149 Replies | Last: 28 days ago by Howdy, it is me!
BusterAg
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AG
dermdoc said:

FTACo88-FDT24dad said:

dermdoc said:

BusterAg said:

An existentialist view on creation:

On what "day" did God create time?

Was time in existence before light? Are light and time made up of the same basic thing (arguably so)?

The speed of light is constant to all observers. The speed we experience time, the shape of space, are both beholden to that universal law, but light is also bound by, and influenced by, gravity, and gravity also impacts the speed we experience time. When you put that all together, why things work the way they do becomes simply incomprehensible.

When it comes to creation, I do think that we have some limitations as temporal beings to deduce things based on a set of assumptions that we can't always see that we are relying on.

There is no reason to believe that the way time was experienced during the creation is the same as the way that we experience time now. If you loosen up that assumption, contemplation on how creation actually worked starts to get fuzzy, and logic and deduction cease to be helpful.

I don't see how believing in an old earth versus a young earth has any impact on your daily life.

That said, I tend to believe more of an old earth, but am flexible enough to believe that maybe time was very different during creation than it is now.

Agree.


Read The Science of God by Gerald Schroeder. Schroeder is an MIT astrophysicist and a Hebrew Bible scholar. He makes the point you guys are making about the nature of time, especially at the very beginning of creation.


It is kind of like the ages the early OT characters lived to. I think time was interpreted differently then.

Sorry for the long-time bump, but was looking for the thread that had this book, and saw this post for the first time.

Do you think it is completely impossible that Methuselah had some Nephalem blood? Would make Moses at least part Nephalem, but, why not?

Speculation and potentially blasphemy, but interesting to thing about. The three choices are:
1) In the time of Noah, we kept track of time differently. Year might really be months, or something like that. Most likely, in my mind.
2) Some humans just lived that long back then. Our telomeres didn't wind down so quickly. We weren't there, how are we supposed to know.
3) These great "men" were something more than what we know to be homo-sapiens today. Another potential stretch, but how are we to know? Was Goliath part Nephalem? The Hebrew has some hints that he might have been.

I mean, in a world where giant tic-tacs are scaring the bejeezus into everyone on board the USS Nimitz, its hard to rule anything out.
Mostly Peaceful
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A fourth option and the one I tend to believe is that shorter life spans were a result of the flood radically changing the earth and its atmosphere.

I do think one of Noah's daughters-in-law may have some nephalim blood which is how they appeared again after the flood.
Sapper Redux
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Mostly Peaceful said:

A fourth option and the one I tend to believe is that shorter life spans were a result of the flood radically changing the earth and its atmosphere.

I do think one of Noah's daughters-in-law may have some nephalim blood which is how they appeared again after the flood.


Yeah none of that is scientifically logical or possible. You just have to throw out everything that we can see, study, and measure on earth.
dermdoc
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I believe science is the explanation of how God does things. A lot of great scientific discoveries were made by devout Christians. Newton, Mendel, etc.
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AGC
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dermdoc said:

I believe science is the explanation of how God does things. A lot of great scientific discoveries were made by devout Christians. Newton, Mendel, etc.


Is that biblical?

I'll show myself out.
dermdoc
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AGC said:

dermdoc said:

I believe science is the explanation of how God does things. A lot of great scientific discoveries were made by devout Christians. Newton, Mendel, etc.


Is that biblical?

I'll show myself out.


I laughed. Thanks.
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h1ag
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AG
Sorry if I missed it or am missing something in the discussion. I'm coming back into faith after a long post-childhood wander.

I recently ready 2 Peter 3:8 and seems like it answers the mail, even though the verse isn't explicitly talking about creation. Am I misunderstanding the scripture here?

"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."

I understand the context is different but it seems like the message is still "Gods timekeeping is independent from your expectation ."
BusterAg
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AG
Mostly Peaceful said:

A fourth option and the one I tend to believe is that shorter life spans were a result of the flood radically changing the earth and its atmosphere.

I do think one of Noah's daughters-in-law may have some nephalim blood which is how they appeared again after the flood.


I have read that maybe we got more of a certain type of radiation after the flood, be it cosmic or geo. I would think you would need to prove that we could live for 900 years without radiation, though.


As for Nephalem, is there a biblical argument that no new nephalem were made after the flood? Not sure. Doubt it.
BusterAg
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AG
h1ag said:

Sorry if I missed it or am missing something in the discussion. I'm coming back into faith after a long post-childhood wander.

I recently ready 2 Peter 3:8 and seems like it answers the mail, even though the verse isn't explicitly talking about creation. Am I misunderstanding the scripture here?

"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."

I understand the context is different but it seems like the message is still "Gods timekeeping is independent from your expectation ."


I mean, it supports the idea that time is part of creation and God is outside of creation. That is for sure.

And God was changing all kind of natural laws during creation. It's arrogant to conclude decisively he wasn't mocking around with time.
Howdy, it is me!
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AG
So glad to hear you're coming back to the faith and studying His word - praise the Lord!

To address your question:
This verse is not meant to be applied to Genesis 1 and the creation story.

2 Peter 3 is in regard to Christ's second coming.

Peter is having them recall what they should know from Psalm 90, where verse 4 says: For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

The verses from Psalm 90 and 2 Peter 3 are meaning to show us the irrelevancy of time as we know it in the view of God.

Sometimes, just one day can feel like a long time, especially in the midst of hard things, such as wandering in the wilderness or being persecuted for our faith. (A day is like a thousand years) However, once days and years have gone by, and we look back, it seems short. (A thousand years is like a day). Think of the commonly used phrase when discussing children: "The days are long, but the years are short."

Part of Peter's purpose in writing this letter was to encourage believers regarding endurance. They had expected Jesus to return quickly. Christians were being persecuted and things were getting hard and ugly for believers. People were becoming discouraged that Christ had not yet returned.

Peter was reminding the people that though it seems like they had been waiting a long time for Christ's return, time does not hold the same meaning to God as it does to us. He has an infinite amount of time and we should adopt the same eternal view of time.

Verse 8 is a simple comparison, a simile: A day is LIKE, not a day IS.
 
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