Radiocarbon dating is not inaccurate, it is accurate to 40,000 years ago with an accuracy of at least 700 years, so they can tell you with high confidence if a fossil is over 40,000 years old.

There is also Potassium-argon dating, this is very accurate for rocks that are over 100,000 years old, you're not telling me that satan created every rock on earth so that when we date them we find them to be billions of years old? I thought creating the earth was god's job :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kt0007

i always thoughtt that the earth was here for millions of years or something. where did god come from? thats what i dont under stand

---

If you believe in "Cause and Effect" then you understand that there can only be one first Cause. If the first Cause was caused, then it was not the first cause. Therefore, since the first Cause was un-caused then the first Cause is eternal for nothing came before it. God is the first Cause and is eternal. Since the earth was intelligently designed, the first Cause is intelligent.

You can ask the same question of those who believe in evolution. They love to claim that the earth's climate and chemical conditions were just right for a single cell to pop into existence with no help from an outside source yet they have no way of explaining where the earth came from; where the chemicals came from; what caused the temperature to be just so, etc. It actually takes a greater faith to actually believe in evolution than it does to believe in God, the Creator and Designer of the universe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ActionJackson

You can ask the same question of those who believe in evolution. They love to claim that the earth's climate and chemical conditions were just right for a single cell to pop into existence with no help from an outside source yet they have no way of explaining where the earth came from; where the chemicals came from; what caused the temperature to be just so, etc. It actually takes a greater faith to actually believe in evolution than it does to believe in God, the Creator and Designer of the universe.

---

Completely wrong, it only requires faith if you believe that Earth is a special place in the universe, as you do, because eyou believe that God created it.

However, people who believe in evolution also believe in scientific principles such as the homogenaity of the universe. We have no problem in explaining why the Earth is just right for life. It's just right for life because if it wasn't life wouldn't be here to realise that it wasn't just right for life (see the Anthropic principle). Of the billions of planets out there, the chance that at least one can support life is very high.
We know exactly where the Earth comes from, the physics of planet formation are well understood. Light elements come from stellar processes. The temperature is caused by the distance from the sun (come on, how could you state we didn't know that?).

I don't claim to understand your religion or belief, that's why I ask questions about it. You seem to believe that you understand my beliefs completely and wish to make people believe less in my beliefs by making uninformed statements about it. Please treat me and my beliefs with respect as I treat you and yours. If you don't understand, then ask, rather than make sweeping statements incorporating your misunderstandings.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Capuchin

Completely wrong, it only requires faith if you believe that Earth is a special place in the universe, as you do, becaus eyou believe that God created it.
However, people who believe in evolution also believe in scientific principles such as the homogenaity of the universe. We have no problem in explaining why the Earth is just right for life. It's just right for life because if it wasnt life wouldnt be here to realise that it wasnt just right for life (see the Anthropic principle). Of the billions of planets out there, the chance that at least one can support life is very high.
We know exactly where the Earth comes from, the physics of planet formation are well understood. Light elements come from stellar processes. The temperature is caused by the distance from the sun (come on, how could you state we didnt know that?).
I don't claim to understand your religion or belief, that's why I ask questions about it. You seem to believe that you understand my beliefs completely and wish to make people believe less in my beliefs by making uninformed statements about it. Please treat me and my beliefs with respect as I treat you and yours. If you don't understand, then ask, rather than make sweeping statements incorporating your misunderstandings.

---

It still takes a leap of faith to believe in evolution (,the theory of) and there still are no credible explanations as to where the ingredients that made evolution "possible" came from. Well, someone might say, "the rocks were formed by the blending of this chemical with carbon which was pressurized to a certain pressure with such and such heat...." But no explanation for the origin of the chemicals, the carbon, the energy to add pressure, the heat source, etc. Leap of pure faith in theories and man's own vain "intelligence."

It takes a much bigger leap of faith to believe that satan put those bones there to test us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by actionjackson

no explanation for the origin of the chemicals, the carbon, the energy to add pressure, the heat source,

---

All of these are explained in undergraduate level astrophysics and physics. Just because you don't understand something doesn't meant that there's no scientifically accepted explanation.

The one thing we don't understand is where the energy came from in the beginning of the universe. You say that God being eternal as the first cause would be the best explanation. I'm sure that Occam's razor and the majority of the scientific community would say that energy being eternal would be an equal and less faith-based assumption.

I'd like to hear your beliefs on why we can date rocks back for billions of years, and see billions of light years away, if the earth is indeed only 6000 years old?

I can see 2 explanations:

1) God created the world in the present state 6000 years ago in order to intentionally decieve us (not very nice of him, why would an omniscient, omnipotent being need to decieve little old us?)
2) Satan created the world in the present state 6000 years ago in order to intentionally decieve us (not very nice of him, but he's satan and that's okay. Seems pretty omnipotent of him though?)

As I said, I don't understand your beliefs so I would like to hear your views.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Of course I am one of the even stranger science people I don't believe dinosaurs really existed, but the evidence of them is merley a trick of satan to cause people to fall away from the real truth.

---

The evidence that the planet earth is billions of years old, and that life has been here for at least 1 billion years, is (forgive the pun) rock solid. If you truly believe in a young earth, then you disagree with our fundamental understanding of geology (plate tectonics), anthropology, archeology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology. And if you think through this "argument" that all that evidence is there simply to trick us, then by that same reasoning one could just as well argue that the world is only 100 years old - i.e, that all the evidence of human history older than 100 years is also some trick. Take that argument it to its extreme, and you could argue that the world was created yesterday (i.e, your own memories of what you did the day before yesterday is a trick, implanted in your brain by a dark power). Clearly this is a nonsense argument. The only rational solution is for christians (and I count myself as one) to reconcile the Genesis account and scientific evidence is to understand that both accounts have their place and serve their purpose, but you should not try to confuse the two.

Now I am Christian, but Personally, I am a believer in evolution. I think the Earth is Much Much older than a mere 6,000 years. There was a movie made in 1960 about evolution and religion called "inherit the wind". There was a great quote from this movie, which I have always liked very much. I don't have the actual quote, but It said something along the lines of there is no way to know or understand the amount of time that passed during the creation of the world. There is no way to know how long God thought a day was. A day could have been a literal 24 hour period, or it could have been a year, 1,000 years, 1 million year, etc. there is no way to know.

There is so much evidence showing that the earth is older than we originally thought. Why is it so hard to acknowledge that? I agree that carbon dating is not "as" accurate as we would like, but it is pretty accurate. I mean God gave us minds that could expand for a reason, to learn.

As for the wolly mammoth thing someone mentioned earlier. The reason that mammoth had its food still in its mouth and in its stomach, if I remember correctly, is because it was frozen solid in a matter of seconds during by falling into icy conditions, maybe a river or lake. completely preserved. You can read about that here: Woolly Mammoth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is just my personal beliefs, and Im in no way saying that it is the truth. I am a person of faith, I believe in God and I don't need prove of his existence, but I also believe there is room for science there. I try not to pretend that I have the capapbility to understand what God can understand. I figure, he gave me a brain to use, and that is what I do. He made me the way I am for a reason, and I like to believe in what makes sense to me. The scientific findings make sense to me, and many of these things have been proven, and God made those men and women in science as smart as they are for a reason, and that is to help us expand our knowledge and understand our world..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Capuchin

I'd like to hear your beliefs on why we can date rocks back for billions of years, and see billions of light years away, if the earth is indeed only 6000 years old?

I can see 2 explanations:

1) God created the world in the present state 6000 years ago in order to intentionally decieve us (not very nice of him, why would an omniscient, omnipotent being need to decieve little old us?)
2) Satan created the world in the present state 6000 years ago in order to intentionally decieve us (not very nice of him, but he's satan and that's okay. Seems pretty omnipotent of him though?)

As I said, I don't understand yoru beliefs so i would like to hear your views.

---

I believe God created a mature Earth and a mature universe. Just as Adam and Eve were created as mature humans, man and woman. Even though they were just minutes old they were mature and it would look like they had been many years old. So to with the Earth and universe.

So why does God want to decieve us in this way?

I don't see it as deceiving, but that we as finite beings, do not fully understand the workings of the infinite.

I don't understand that either. Why not start at 0 instead of at +1.5 billion?

I am a conservative Christian who believes that mainstream science is correct in dating the earth to billions of years old.

... but I also believe that the universe was Created... and that science probably knows less than they think they do - and that it certainly is possible that the earth is only 6000 years old.

Plus we have much evidence of human history before 4000BC, did he create that too? Seems a bit redundant to create the garden of eden (all new with no history), and a whole world that looks like it's already been lived in.

If God creates a big shade tree. Lets say, fifty feet tall, He would do it in an instant. A person would walk up to that tree and study it, then would have to say "that tree must be eighty years old". Even though it was created just hours ago, it would look as if it was eighty years old.

I guess that's why they call it 'blind faith'.

I like your point Cap...

Quote:

---

Tessy777 disagrees: hmmm? Well God says man is 6,000 years old... period. I don't care what science thinks it has found.. . the earth.. I don't know?

---

Tessy, I ask that you have respect for my beliefs, like I have respect for yours. Talk to me like I am human like you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Capuchin

Tessy, i ask that you have respect for my beliefs, like i have respect for yours. Talk to me like I am human like you.

---

I don't know what you read there but I just didn't agree with you. I wasn't rude or unkind. I just said what I believe to be the truth. Geesh! Dude don't get testy on me.