How old are some of the earth's oldest living things?

[morbo3000]

http://bit.ly/WOanFY

On your mark.. get set.. go!

(was looking for some explanation of the age of Metheseulah and other aged ancestors and found this along the way. thought it'd generate good discussion.)

[TK]

80,000 year old tree?

How can that be- the earth is only 15,000 years old.

The 9550 year old fir tree is also pretty impressive. That's a long time to avoid every natural disaster.

TK

[backwoodsman]

Was there a particular point you thought might warrant discussion? Nothing jumps out at me.

[morbo3000]

Was there a particular point you thought might warrant discussion? Nothing jumps out at me.

I was curious how young earth creationism would approach organisms that are older than they say the earth is.

[steve7150]

I was curious how young earth creationism would approach organisms that are older than they say the earth is.

User avatar
morbo3000






I'm not a YEC but if i were, one possibility is that God created things with the appearance of age built in. Another possibility is that the method they use to measure the age of things is flawed, after all science changes all the time. What they think is true today may be found to be inaccurate in the future.

Maybe the speed of time was different in the past for example. The speed of time may have been much different when the universe and this world were younger.

[MMathis]

I don't know about any living tree that is 80,000 years old. I also don't know where the 15,000 years comes from relative to the Earth's age. I've heard any where from the 6.000 year to billions of years old, just haven't heard 15,000.

I tend to go with the current science view that the universe is 10-15 billion years old. Hubble can see somewhere around 10 billion light years. If the next generation of space telescopes can see further, we may be able to see the beginning of the universe. The discovery of background radiation a few years back, pretty well established that there is no center of the universe. That would mean it wasn't there, then it was.

To paraphrase the Big Bang theory. Everything was in a space smaller than the point of a needle. In 1/3000th of a second "poof" the universe expanded to a large size. The scientist can't quite answer what started the Big Bang. I offered up my view in class that maybe someone said "Let the be..." The prof said it was as good as anything they had.

The universe is expanding at a rate of about 25,000 mph. Our sun will expand out to a little past Mars, before collapsing on its self. That sounds very much like the Earth will be destroyed by fire.

[SteveF]

I'm not a YEC but if i were, one possibility is that God created things with the appearance of age built in. Another possibility is that the method they use to measure the age of things is flawed, after all science changes all the time. What they think is true today may be found to be inaccurate in the future.

Maybe the speed of time was different in the past for example. The speed of time may have been much different when the universe and this world were younger.

I think these theories would all be challenged by DNA evidence. For example, DNA markers indicate that all humans (or, modern man, if you prefer that term) descended from a single man (Adam?) about 60 thousand years ago.

Does the Age of the Earth Matter?

John H Walton is not a scientist. He’s a professor at Wheaton College and is known for his commentaries on the OT. He specializes in ancient languages though, which is pertinent to our understanding of Genesis chapter 1.

Walton has an interesting understanding on creation. I can’t spell out his book length treatment here but I’ll whet your appetite.

Walton argues that we have read a modern understanding of the word “creation” and what it means to exist into the scripture. According to Walton, at the time the bible was written, they wouldn’t have understood the word "creation" as something coming from material non-existence to material existence. Rather they would have understood it as something becoming functional.

For example, in ancient Egypt they would say the desert didn’t exist because it did not serve a function in their culture. We use words similar today when we say something like “I created a business”. You didn’t materially create a business, you simply took things that existed materially and made them functional.

I’m going to stop here and let Walton speak for himself if you choose to pursue the understanding of this theory. I will say this though; if his argument is valid then the age of the earth seems to be irrelevant to our understanding of Genesis 1.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Genesi ... 0830837043

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbXCrpfHnDs&feature=gv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyYYtCDtIos

[TK]

Interesting, Steve F.

I have never heard this before.

TK

[morbo3000]

Interesting, Steve F.

I have never heard this before.

TK

I agree. Thanks Steve F.