Hello, I am a Christian, and I believe in the Creator of All. But, I'm here to say that not all Christians think the earth has only been here for 6000 years or so. I don't, who's to say the earth's not been here millions or billions of years. The one thing alot of Christians get tangled up with is, the very first line of the Bible. 'In the beginning', maybe God started it this way because it was the beginning of Man
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I spoke to a skeptic who said, "I can't believe the Bible because it teaches that the earth was created six thousand years ago." I replied, "Where does the Bible say that?" He said, "In Genesis". I remarked, "Show me." Of course he couldn't show me. He was poly-parroting what he thought that the Bible taught. So many times people reject the Bible because of what they think it says. Often times they have never read the Bible. Unfortunately many Christians don't know what the Bible teaches, and therefore are not ready with an answer. God invites the thinking reasoning person to examine what His Word does say. "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
As to the creation of the earth God does not set a date. God says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1)." This could have been billions of years ago, sometime in the dateless past. In fact, nothing in the Biblical record contradicts known fact. On the contrary, the Bible record gives us an amazing account of how the earth came into being and it's future destiny.
First of all, the earth was created in the dateless, countless past, then later judged and became void and without form. The seven days in Genesis chapter one were really a recreation of the earth and God making it inhabitable again. In type this is a beautiful picture of the new birth, a new creation where once was all chaos and ruin.
The creation of the original earth was "In the beginning." It was doubtless a most beautiful earth, covered with vegetation and inhabited with fish, fowl, and animal life. How long it continued in this condition we are not told, but an awful catastrophe befell the earth--it became "formless and void," and submerged in water and darkness (Genesis 1:2).
It is clear from Scripture that the earth was not void when originally created as seen by Isaiah 45:18. Notice, "For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, (translated "void" in Genesis 1:2), he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else."
Comments on Genesis 1:2 by Dr. C.I. Scofield in the Scofield reference Bible say, "Jeremiah 4:23-26, Isaiah 24:1 and 45:18, clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting intimations which connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels. See Ezekiel 28:12-15 and Isaiah 14:9-14, which certainly go beyond the kings of the Tyre and Babylon." (Scofield reference Bible, page 3, footnote 3).
Contrary to popular thought, Satan lived on the earth and not in heaven. Lucifer (Satan's name before the fall) was ruling over the original earth. All of God's angels were living on the original earth. In Isaiah chapter 14 we have the five "I wills" of Satan. This passage reveals that when Satan fell he was ruler here on the earth. Satan said, "I will ascend into heaven." He was obviously not in heaven. Satan said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." He was a ruler and was below the stars on the earth. Satan said, "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the side of the North." The Bible hints that heaven is in the North and Satan wanted to go there. Satan said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds." Satan was below the clouds on the earth. Also, II Corinthians 4:4 identifies Satan as the "God of this world."
God judged the earth (Genesis 1:2) when Lucifer took one-third of God's angels in a rebellion against God. The earth was flooded and submerged with water and was in darkness. Scientists tell us that if our sun's light were cut off from the earth for as little as 72 hours that our earth would quickly become frozen. Perhaps this would explain the ice ages. Perhaps this might explain the mammoths found quick frozen in Siberian earth with undigested vegetation still in their stomachs. Petroleum is the fossilized remains of animal life. Coal is the fossilized remains of plant life. Was this from the original earth? Perhaps many fossils are from the animal life from the original earth created prior to Adam & Eve.
Genesis is the book of beginnings. It records not only the beginning of the he