SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    How old do you think the earth is?
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
How old do you think the earth is? Login/Join 
At Jacob's Well
Picture of jaaron11
posted January 15, 2020 09:32 AM
Let me caveat this question front and center so there is no misunderstanding - I am not looking for a debate on the age of the earth. As both a follower of Christ and a professor of engineering and geology, I have my own deeply researched convictions on the matter that have developed over many years of study. It is a fascinating study and topic, but that is not the reason I am asking this question.

I have recently begun teaching at a very conservative, Christian college. This topic has come up numerous times, as will happen when scientists gather around the lunch table. The opinions shared have been different than what I was expecting. I won't say in what manner.

I'm interested in collecting more data, particularly among conservatives. Since Sigforum is, I believe it's safe to say, a fairly conservative community with a relatively educated populace, what better place to conduct a poll? This is mostly for fun, but I may share the results with my geology class this semester.

If anyone feels like expounding on their position, I only ask that you do so in a polite manner and respect each other's opinions. Very smart people reside on both sides of this issue, so a dose of humility is in order for anyone discussing this topic.

Question:
Which of the following options best represents your view on the age of the earth? For this poll, "old" means billions of years and "young" means thousands of years (less than one million).

Choices:
I'm positive the earth is old
I'm fairly certain that the earth is old
I'm leaning towards an old earth, but I'm not sure
I'm leaning towards a young earth, but I'm not sure
I'm fairly certain that the earth is young
I'm positive the earth is young
I hold a different view (feel free to explain)

 


J


Rak Chazak Amats
 
Posts: 5300 | Location: SW Missouri | Registered: May 08, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I can't tell if I'm
tired, or just lazy
Picture of ggile
posted January 15, 2020 09:36 AMHide Post
What's your definition of old? I'm 77 and I am OLD! Razz


_____________________________

"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety"
Benjamin Franklin
 
Posts: 2116 | Location: South Dakota-pheasant country | Registered: June 20, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fool for the City
Picture of MRMATT
posted January 15, 2020 09:46 AMHide Post
4.5 billion years old - give or take a few mil.


_____________________________
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." George Washington.
 
Posts: 5332 | Location: Pottstown, PA | Registered: April 26, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Wait, what?
Picture of gearhounds
posted January 15, 2020 09:47 AMHide Post
No matter what one believes, it’s fairly obvious the earth is very 0ld.




“Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown
 
Posts: 15994 | Location: Martinsburg WV | Registered: April 02, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted January 15, 2020 09:52 AMHide Post
i thought this was settled science?!

lol

-----------------------------


Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
 
Posts: 8940 | Location: Florida | Registered: September 20, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Chip away the stone
Picture of rusbro
posted January 15, 2020 09:55 AMHide Post
There's not a vote option that perfectly fits my position.

I voted for "positive the earth is old," but it would have been more accurate to say I'm confident the earth is old.
 
Posts: 11597 | Registered: August 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
delicately calloused
Picture of darthfuster
posted January 15, 2020 09:58 AMHide Post
It’s older than I am but not by much.



You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier
 
Posts: 30004 | Location: Norris Lake, TN | Registered: May 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lawyers, Guns
and Money
Picture of chellim1
posted January 15, 2020 10:04 AMHide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ggile:
What's your definition of old? I'm 77 and I am OLD! Razz

Is that old?
quote:
4.5 billion years old - give or take a few mil.

Is that old or young?
I guess it all depends on your perspective.

As to the OP's question, this sounds about right:
quote:
I voted for "positive the earth is old," but it would have been more accurate to say I'm confident the earth is old.


BTW/ I don't think a religious belief in creation is at odds with a scientific belief that the earth is old.



"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor
 
Posts: 24881 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Help! Help!
I'm being repressed!

Picture of Skull Leader
posted January 15, 2020 10:07 AMHide Post
Eleventy brazilian.
 
Posts: 11214 | Location: The Magnolia State | Registered: November 20, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of LimaCharlie
posted January 15, 2020 10:12 AMHide Post
Forty-two


U.S. Army, Retired
 
Posts: 3725 | Location: Northwest Oregon | Registered: June 12, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Banned
posted January 15, 2020 10:12 AMHide Post
The earth is about 4.6 billion years old. As far as I'm concerned this is a fact.

Anyone who disputes the science is misguided.

Anyone who dismisses the science is full of shit.
 
Posts: 5906 | Location: Denver, CO | Registered: September 16, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
God will always provide
Picture of Fla. Jim
posted January 15, 2020 10:13 AMHide Post
quote:
Originally posted by MRMATT:
4.5 billion years old - give or take a few mil.


This, Gods days, are not on our time.
Fer sure. Wink
 
Posts: 4467 | Location: White City, Florida | Registered: January 11, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie
Picture of Balzé Halzé
posted January 15, 2020 10:40 AMHide Post
quote:
Originally posted by zipriderson:
The earth is about 4.6 billion years old. As far as I'm concerned this is a fact.



This is the number I tend to believe, but to say this is a fact is a little misguided as well. Seems to me this number is essentially a best guess.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

 
Posts: 31171 | Location: Elv. 7,000 feet, Utah | Registered: October 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Browndrake
posted January 15, 2020 10:46 AMHide Post
I believe it is 6 to 7,000 years old.




Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 
Posts: 907 | Location: Southwest Michigan | Registered: March 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Something wild
is loose
Picture of Doc H.
posted January 15, 2020 10:48 AMHide Post
Faith, and the age of the earth - or the Universe - are not mutually exclusive, Archbishop Ussher's calculations notwithstanding. Assuredly he knows better now.

To expound a bit on that, since you asked, the incontrovertible scientific data that the earth is ancient (with origins just shy of 5 billion earth-years) has never (rationally) been argued - with everything we know using current technology, the answer is not 42, but a number slightly south of 5 billion. The actual counter argument is, condensed and paraphrased, that the measurable evidence is false, put here, in the estimable words of the good Archbishop, "so that we may believe a lie and be damned." While the 5 billion number cannot be fudged into something else (other than minor instrumentation discrepancies and geological opinions - which are legion but essentially in agreement), the counter argument can be universally used to negate a host of other arguments, or actually any argument, including "I am not a witch." Occam's Razor would lead us, faith and all, to the simplest conclusion - that the earth is in fact it's calculated geologic age of 4-5 billionish years, that it matches essentially the formation period of the nearby planets, and that it was formed after the observable Universe appeared, about 2/3 of the way along. I'm of the opinion that the Almighty did not create the earth and the Universe specifically for ease of comprehension by His other creations. In fact, if you are a literal reader of Genesis, humanity came by its deductive powers quite by chance, and not with the intention or approval of the Creator. I humbly suggest we live with uncertainty.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doc H., January 15, 2020 03:12 PM



"And gentlemen in England now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day"
 
Posts: 2746 | Location: The Shire | Registered: October 22, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
posted January 15, 2020 10:54 AMHide Post
Per the Hebrew calendar, which counts time since Creation, the current year is 5,780.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 31712 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lost
Picture of kkina
posted January 15, 2020 10:55 AMHide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
quote:
Originally posted by MRMATT:
4.5 billion years old - give or take a few mil.


This, Gods days, are not on our time.
Fer sure. Wink

That's how I think as well. If a heavenly daytime is a billion years, and a heavenly nighttime is also a billion, then each heaven day is two billion. Multiply that by the 7 days of Genesis, and the universe was created in about 14 billion years. Current scientific theory is that the universe is around 14.5 billion years.

I don't think the earth is only 6,000 years old. Science places it at 4.5 billion. My reading of Genesis says that the earth completed its formation sometime on the third day. Close to where science puts it, if you use a heavenly calendar.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kkina, January 15, 2020 12:53 PM



ACCU-STRUT FOR MINI-14
"First, Eyes."
 
Posts: 17227 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: December 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Drug Dealer
Picture of Jim Shugart
posted January 15, 2020 11:01 AMHide Post
I believe that the earth is ~4.5 billion years old. But if God had created it in 4004BC or whenever, couldn't He have also created the fossil record, etc., as if it were billions of years old? Razz



When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth. - George Bernard Shaw
 
Posts: 15529 | Location: Virginia | Registered: July 03, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted January 15, 2020 11:07 AMHide Post
Why spend time arguing over the age of the earth, when we can spend that same time arguing over the merits of 9mm for use as a self defense round?
 
Posts: 1893 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: June 23, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted January 15, 2020 11:14 AMHide Post
~4.5 billion years, /Sarcasm/ but it doesn't matter, humans are obviously going to destroy it with a couple hundred years of industrial revolution.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: matai, January 15, 2020 12:42 PM
 
Posts: 1188 | Registered: January 04, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  
 

SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    How old do you think the earth is?

© SIGforum 2024