Where does it say in the bible that the world is 6000 years old?

Question

I was arguing with my mother today and she said that the bible doesn't mention any dates, so I must be misinformed. Enlighten me, please

Answer 1

There is no date in the bible, they went with the ages of the people, who was born when they died etc, although the numbers are often very contradicting and make no sense anyway, people are alive who should be dead and other way around and many such things.. people made it a profession to bend over backwards to interpret that book for themselves and others.



The order of things described is not always linear and there is virtually no way to know when the things were written what was left away what was made up completely or how old the depicted planet actually is (you know, the flat one that is the center of the universe, with a firm roof with painted lights on it, where Pi is 3, snails melt, rabits chew cud, garden eden is still on it with angels guarding it with fiery swords and the snake is eating dust, where people can build towers to reach god in the sky and he gets scared, such things).



This planet is some 4.54 billion years old and the humans you see evolved from more primitive life forms over a looooong period of time.

The book you are talking about is a fairy tale collection, a very bad one at that, many of the characters are imaginary or their deeds exaggerated, all in all it is a collection of plagiarized myths, historical, scientific, logical and moral errors and all sorts of made up nonsense.



Greetings from reality.

Answer 2

She's halfway right.... the Bible does not mention dates like we know them.



However, if you look in Genesis and some other books, they'll have genealogies. It will tell the ages of the parents when they had their children for several generations. You can piece together how many years are covered in those genealogical records.



Then, there are the judges and the kings. Many times it will tell how long they reigned.



Finally, in the New Testament, the writer will mention who was reigning at the time. Those Roman Emperors are some of the same in our modern history books.



With all these, you can piece together a basic timeline of the Bible and the Biblical account of how old the Earth is. However, there are some gaps. Some will try to estimate those gaps. Thats why some say 6,000-10,000 years instead of limiting it to 6,000.



Hope this helps.

Answer 3

It doesn't say that explicitly. Scroll up and search the web for "Ussher Chronology" (and yes, it's spelled with a double "s").



There's a lineage of people given in the old Testament, for example "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son named him Seth [...] when Seth had lived 105 years he became the father of Enosh [..] When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan" and so on. What Ussher did was take an event in the Bible that he believe matched up with a known date in history (the fall of the Temple of Jerusalem, I think) then used these figures to calculate backwards. If you do this, you end up with Adam having been created about 6,000 years ago. Since Adam was created within the 7 days of all creation, then this implies the Earth is about 6,000 years old. Ussher even calculated it down to the month and day.



So that's where the figure comes from.

Answer 4

The words "the world is 6000 years old" do not literally appear in the Bible.



The date was calculated by Bishop Usher by adding together the chronologies of all the descendents of Adam through Jesus. So, from a Fundie perspective, it's an accurate representation, even if the Bible doesn't spell it out in so many works.

Answer 5

The Bible tells us that there were 20 generations between Adam and Abraham.



Then Matthew 1 tells us that Abraham to David was fourteen generations, David to the exile was fourteen generations, and fourteen generations more from the exile to Jesus.



So 72 generations from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus.



A generation is normally around 25 years, so 72 generations would be a little under 2000 years. But of course people lived much longer before the Flood - so we need to adjust the fourteen generations between Adam and Abraham up a notch.



6000 years is a guess, but a sensible one.



Any suggestion that the world is more than a hundred thousand years old is just silly.

Answer 6

The Bible has PLENTY of chronology . . . not year dates, but ways to figure out what the dates were!



You can read about them here:

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000970







In the year of 1975 --IF Adam had remained faithful & alive-- he would have reached 6,000 years of age!



So that 'the *world* of mankind that is alienated from God' IS just over 6,000 years of age!





"We know we originate with God, but,



the *whole world* is lying in the power of the wicked one."---1 John 5:19

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/bl/r1/lp-e?q=1+John+5%3A19





"Where Is This World Headed?"

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102007123?q=will+this+world+survive&p=par







The Bible does *NOT* state how old the *earth* was at any given time, nor give any way for us to figure out how old it is. All it says about the earth in Genesis 1:1, is that the universe & the earth were in existence BEFORE the earthly creative sequences began. This is something that Bible scholars do agree upon:



"Does Science Contradict the Genesis Account?"

- When Was "the Beginning"?

- How Long Were the Creative Days?

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102006326

Answer 7

God created man on the 6th day since the beginning of anything natural. That man and all His lineage to jesus were all dated. U add up all the dates its about 6k years till now not Jesus. Jesus died 2012 years ago with 33 years inbetween birth death.

Answer 8

it doesn't say that. It's a guess-timate based on actual and average lifespans of people mentioned in the Bible down through to Adam and Eve.

Answer 9

the bible gives dates that can be added up to the time of jesus death



then you can add the time to the current year



it gives days months and years in the bible from one event to the next

Answer 10

Anyone can add up the genealogies recorded and come up with just a little over 6000 years.

Answer 11

As far as I know, the bible doesn't say how old the earth is. When the bible starts talking about the creation period the earth was already existing as a formless waste. (Genesis 1:2)



So we have no idea of knowing how old the earth really is, since we don't know how long it had been existing as a waste planet. I guess people would of start counting the earths age since the creation period.



I dunno.

Answer 12

It doesn't. Some Victorian minister tried to figure it out and published it back in the 1800's. Not all Christians accept his estimate as truth.

Answer 13

This Bishop laid the groundwork for that claim:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Ussher



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher_chronology

Answer 14

Go ask the Duggars

Answer 15

that figure is an extrapolation by bishop ussher. i think

Answer 16

It's in the book of Hezekiah...