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Dr. Sarfati, who is with Creation Ministries International, says the earth is about 6,000 years old according to the Bible and the scientific evidence supports this age (see: How old is the earth?).

Is the earth about 6,000 year old according to the Bible and does the scientific evidence support this matter?

wax eagle
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Mark
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    Why don't you ask Dr. Sarfati? – Captain Kenpachi Nov 21 '13 at 11:37
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    I suggest you search this site for the term "creationism" (and perhaps "creationist" and "YEC"). You'll find tat there is no agreed-upon answer here,and a wealth of knowledge supporting various views on this question. – David Stratton Nov 21 '13 at 12:28
  • By the way, welcome to the site! This next has nothing to do with the quality of your question, it's just standard to help new visitors avoid misunderstanding the site (as I did at first.) As a new visitor, I'd recommend checking out the following two posts, which are meant to help newcomers "learn the ropes": help page and How we are different than other sites? – David Stratton Nov 21 '13 at 12:30
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    I've reopened this tentatively. There are major issues here, but it technically falls within the guidelines of biblical basis. Answerers please keep in mind that you must show rather conclusive biblical proof of 6000 years. Scientific evidence should be used to support that, but this should not devolve into a debate over the science. if you want to do that, go to one of the science sites (and good luck with that). – wax eagle Nov 21 '13 at 14:29
  • A related question from the other angle: How do Old Earth Literalist handle the Biblical Earth age? – metal Nov 22 '13 at 17:45

2 Answers2

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The answer to the question, "Does the Bible say the earth is 6000 years old?" is no. The Bible does not directly give the age of the earth explicitly.

What the Bible does do is give a chronology in Genesis 5 that, according to some calculations (most famously Bishop Usshar who derived that the earth was created on the evening of October 23, 4004 BC ) indicate that Adam lived around 6000 years ago.

  1. This chronology, when coupled with a {literal | plain sense} reading of seven days of Creation, leads "Young Earth" Creationists to conclude the earth is 6000 years old. Any further apparent age is strictly due to God creating the universe as if it had already been in existence longer.

  2. "Old Earth" Creationists (or Theistic Evolutionists) take a less literal view of Genesis 1 - 12, and suggest that the days are either metaphorical or that these verses mean something else. To a YEC, this flies in the face of a good reading of Scripture, but to more secular scientists represents a compromise between faith and perceived observations.

  3. Finally, many liberals read Genesis 1 - 12 (and hence the Creation story) as pure myth and hence not to be read in the same "scientific" terms that modern man would use when discussing the age of the earth.

Thus, the answer to 'How old is the earth?' as a matter of fact is completely dependant on how one reads Genesis 5.

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Affable Geek
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    Re your #2: Advocates of the Framework View of Genesis 1 believe their interpretation to be a literal reading in the sense of a grammatico-historical reading that accounts for the genre of the passage and the intentions of the author. Gen 1 is not intended, they argue, as a play-by-play record of creation but as a stylized, literary telling. Accepting this view does not necessitate accepting either a young or an old age of the earth, in and of itself. Other data (biblical and scientific) should be used to sort that out. – metal Nov 22 '13 at 17:41
  • Your last sentence is wrong. The age of the earth is independent of any individual belief, and independent on how one reads Genesis. However, one can interpret the bible in many different ways, and decide what age to believe in. – Per Alexandersson Dec 01 '13 at 16:44
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The answer to this question cannot be 100 percent conclusive, and will ultimately be dependently satisfied by your own subjective faith.

Currently in the scientific world it is believed that the known evidence leans heavily toward the Earth being roughly 4-5 billion years old.

Most conservative protestant denominations hold that the timeline presented in the Bible is literally defined by 24 hour days, whereas more scientifically liberal groups (such as Catholics) tend to accept the Theistic Evolution position.

Its important to remember is that the Bible is not primarily a science textbook.