Q&A: How Old Are We Revealed

Question: Science tells me that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, the earth is 4.5 billion years old, man is 200,000 years old and organized civilization is 6,000 years old. But, my pastor tells me that the universe, earth, man and civilization are all 6,000 years old. So, who is right?

In a way they are both right. The Bible tells us that first God created the heavens and the earth from nothing but His command and the power of the Holy Spirit. Science currently theorizes that creation began when a few extremely dense molecules became unbalanced, ruptured and spewed out all the elements that currently exist. How these molecules came into existence is unknown, thus it is referred to as the God Particle. They call this event the Big Bang. This gigantic explosion caused space, matter and time to come into existence. Due to the creation of gravity, gas clouds coalesced, nuclear fusion was attained and stars were created. The gravity of stars caused rock matter from the Big Bang to coalesce and form the orbiting planets. The earth was created 4.5 billion years ago the exact same way as all planets were created. So, the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth and science tells us how and when He did it. But the Bible goes one step further and tells us why He did it. 

The Bible states that God also created all life on earth. However, the Bible does not tell us how long God waited after the formation of the earth until He created life on earth. This unknown time lapse cited in the Bible is called the “Gap Theory” and was first discovered in 1814. This time gap is found between Genesis one, verse one, and verse two. While the King James version states, “… the earth was without form and void…” this phrase in Greek could also be translated “…the earth had become without form and void …”. Therefore, when it pleased God, He gave a regeneration or replenish command on each of five days to bring back light and life on the earth (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:1). Scripture is unclear if His commands caused instant changes, or the changes occurred over an unknown number of years. But Scripture is clear that God commanded the actions, He saw into the future that they occurred as He desired, and He was pleased. The Bible tells us God created all life in a certain order and science agrees that life was in fact created in this exact order. 

We are also told that God personally created Adam (or man) on day six. He formed Adam from the soil of the earth and breathed life and an eternal spirit into him. However, He immediately transported Adam out of the greater world and into a secluded garden specifically designed for his needs and safety (Genesis 2:15). Therefore, while extremely ancient humanoid like skeletal remains have been found, this is immaterial to the Genesis story concerning the creation of Adam and Eve. Adam was a one-off creation by God to bring about a race of Godly people that would eventually have its zenith with the birth of Christ. The Bible does not mention if there was a pre-Adamic race and if so, why this race went extinct. Also to be considered is the possibility that ancient skeletal remains might be the off spring of Adam who separated from Eden in search of food and interbred. This would have cause great mental and physical deformities, leave genetically corrupted skeletal remains, and end with extinction. If there was an earlier race of men on the earth before Adam commonly referred to as Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon, they would still have been creations of God. However, these short lived prehistoric races were simply not germane to the Bible’s focus which is on the race of Adam and the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of mankind.  

For the record, the Bible does not implicitly state that Adam was the first man nor the only man. It simply states that God decided to make a race of men in His image. It then focuses on the creation of Adam, the patriarchs of this race. The Bible tells us that man was the last and supreme being created by God. And in turn, science agrees that man is the most recent and dominant life force on earth. While we refer to the human race the Adamic Race, anthropologist call the race of Adam ‘Modern Man’. With the appearance of Modern Man, all prehistoric races quickly went extinct.  

It is difficult and tedious to try and understand why people continually want to twist the Bible into a science book or a genealogy of the entire human race. While the Bible gives us the basic and scientifically proven tenants of creation, it was primarily designed by God as a spiritual guide; a series of love letters to His beloved children. Thus, science tells us how physical creation came about, and the Bible tells why God created a physical world and gave only mankind an eternal spirit and thus the need for a redeemer.  

The truth of God ultimately unites science and theology