"Never ask a lady her age"

Good advice, but here’s the rub, some people interpret the Bible as saying the age of mother earth is about 6000 years old. But according to science, the earth is 4.543 billion years old (4,543,000,000), with the universe about 14 billion years old. The difference in timescales is immense and ‘Young Earthers and ‘Old Earthers can't or won’t agree as each holds firmly onto their worldview.

Some history: The 6,000-year age was arrived at by non-other than James Ussher, a 17th-century Irish Archbishop. (you really didn’t think the idea would have come from anywhere else in the world? (btw I'm also from that part of the world)). Ussher guesstimated the ages of Abraham's family listed in the Old Testament and calculated that creation began (using the Julian calendar) on Saturday, October 22, 4004 (BC).

Some might say “Fair play to you James, down to the very day! sure that’s grand” but I don’t believe anyone today would or could take this date seriously. But seeing people of faith arguing over this Young/Old Earth debate is sad while at the same time encouraging.

Why? Firstly, because we Christians shouldn’t fight over these things as that only discredits God and us in the eyes of those that haven’t yet come to know Him, and secondly, for all of us believers, the Bible is the inspired word of God, so we can’t compromise with its authority.

But does the creation story of Genesis say anything about how long ago the earth was created? let’s take a close look,

Gen 1: 1-51 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Do you see it? verses 1 and 2 say “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”

In case you haven’t spotted it yet, this isn’t day one of the six days of creation that begin with “And God said let there be…” The sequence of creation days starts in verse 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day

So, considering this, I would suggest that the Bible doesn’t really say anything about the age of the earth.

You know, just because we can interpret scripture as saying, as, in the case of the young Earthers, the earth was made in six days, we don’t have to, simply because of verse one, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” which are then followed by six days of creation. Here we see that there is accommodation for Old Earthers, and the authority of scripture is maintained.

In our theological debates, none of us need to fall out, but we should have hearts that are open to what others have to say, as each of us grows and develops in our faith and understanding.

For me, one of the wonderful things about the creation story of Genesis is that while it isn’t a scientific treatise on the mechanisms used by God in creation, there are no witnesses to these events or their timescale, apart that is, from the inspired word of God itself. The creation narrative stands firm and true, holding its own against today’s scientific theories that try to tear down creation.

Hoping you have a super day.