Page 138 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible Student Textbook

Study Section 18: MORE Supposed Errors in the Bible

18.1 Connect.

If you plan to attend a public university or college, be ready for an attack on the reliability of
the Bible, especially when it comes to the creation of the earth. Most public universities
believe and endorse evolution as the process whereby all things came into being that we see
today. While what they believe is impossible based on observable laws in nature, the
impossible becomes possible given enough time. So they believe that the earth is millions of
years old, and the universe billions of years old. And they will present this view as FACT in
opposition of what the Bible says. They hold that the Bible is simply a story like other fairy tales and the
stories never really happened.

They say the Genesis account of creation is in error and science has proven it so. In their minds, they
refuse to look at scientific data and observations that contradict their views. But for the Christian, it
would be good to see that science validates the Creation story in Genesis. Let’s see how…

18.2 Objectives.

1. The student should be able to explain how old the Bible indicates that the earth is.

2. The student should be able to cite examples in nature that indicate that the earth is relatively
young and reinforces the Creation account in Genesis 1-11.

3. The student should be able to resolve other supposed contradictions in the Bible with further study.

18.3 Science and the Bible

A critic of the Bible may say these words:

“The Bible says the world is only 6,000 years old and was created in six days, but science has
proved that the earth is millions of year old.”

First of all, the Bible does not state how many years ago God created the earth. If you count
the generations back to Adam as did Archbishop Ussher, you come up with the creation of the earth
approximately 4,000 years BC. The problem is that there may have been gaps in the genealogies so his
date may be off a few years. But Creationists do hold that the earth is relatively young.

The other problem with this sentence is that science has NOT proved that the earth is millions of years
old. Science deals with testing and experimentation. Based on results, a hypothesis is created which is a
best guess. Further testing either confirms or disavows the hypothesis. Science operates with the realm
of observable data being measurable and repeatable. Science cannot make statements about how old
the earth is because the age of the earth lies in the realm of history and currently cannot be measured.
Science was not there millions of years ago to give an estimated age of the earth.

Further, the Bible makes it very clear that a cataclysmic flood occurred in earth’s recent past that would
wipe out any knowledge of what happened before the flood. It would have laid down millions of tons of

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