Teachings About Christ

               BILLIONS, MILLIONS, OR THOUSANDS
       	           DOES IT REALLY MATTER?         
		                          By Ken Ham.
					  
	Over the years of my involvement in the creation ministry,
many occasions have arisen where I have been confronted by someone in
a church (perhaps a pastor or scientist), insisting that we at ICR
are putting stumbling blocks in the people's way by advocating a
young age for the earth.
	Does it really matter what one believes about the age of the
earth? Why do ICR (and many other) scientists insist on a young age?
The following is just a summary of the reasons why this is a crucial
issue, and why it does matter:

1: CORRECT VIEW OF SCIENCE
It is important that we teach a correct understanding of science. One
of my favorite passages in regard to this matter is Job 38:4: "Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if tho
hast understanding. "In other words, as I put it in my lectures,
"Were you there?" Actually, no one was there to record these past
events, for recorded history begins only a few thousand years ago.
	No scientist has always been there in the past. Only God has
always existed and always been there. Also, scientists only have the
present --they do not have the past. Thus, when trying to establish
what happened in the past (particularly when there were no human
witnesses), scientists have many limitations.
	It is important to note that back in the 1940's, college
students were taught, as fact, that the earth and the universe were
two billion years old--and this was verified by several independent
methods that gave the same date. Now students are taught that the
earth is 4.6 billion years old! This shows, clearly, that the
scientific  method in relation to the past has problems! Scientists
should approach this issue cautiously, recognizing their own
limitations. 

2. CORRECT VIEW OF SCRIPTURE
Because many people have this incorrect view of science, they believe
that one has to interpret the Bible on the basis of this view. Many
Christians insist that the meaning of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth," is that billions of years ago
God began creating the heavens and the earth, because of what they
believe scientists have proved in regard to the age of the earth.
	Christians have to realize that if they accept an old age for
the earth, this view did not come from the Bible; it comes from
outside the Bible. Thus, when they insist that we accept the
"billions of years" theory, they really are telling us to accept the
fallible words of fallible scientists, whose theories change, who
were not there, and who don't know everything--to tell God what He
means! Thus they have put man in judgment of God. Man becomes the
authority.
	Isaiah 2:22 states: "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in
his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" In other words,
stop trusting in man! Isaiah 40:42 tells us that man is like a
grasshopper, when compared to God.
	For me to accept an old age (billions of years) for the
earth, is to accept that fallible man's fallible methods are in
authority over God's infallible Word. I can't do that!

3. CORRECT VIEW OF THE GOSPEL
In many of our publications, we have shown clearly that physical
death and bloodshed of man and animals came into existence after Adam
sinned. (Romans 5:12;  I Corinthians 15). The basis of the Gospel
message is that God brought in death and bloodshed because of sin
(Hebrews 9:22), so that man could be redeemed. The reason for death
is tied up with the message of redemption.
	If one accepts billions or even millions of years for the age
of the earth, then one has accepted death before Adam sinned. This is
because, in the evolutionary scheme of things, the fossil record is
thought to be millions of years in age, and that most of it existed
before man evolved. Thus, to accept the evolutionists' view of the
fossil record is to accept that death, over millions of years, led up
to man. This is totally contrary to scripture. In fact, to accept
death before man is to destroy the basis of the Gospel message.
	Because  so  many   Christians   today   have   accepted  the
evolutionary  time  scale of billions of  years, this has led to many
compromise  positions  about  Genesis  being  promoted  in  Christian
circles.  Positions  such as  the  "Day Age Theory,"  "Progressive
Creation Theory" the  "Gap Theory," the  "Local Flood Theory,"  ect.,
are rife in Christian circles today. God  hates compromise (Revelation 
3:15,16)!
	Why do we at ICR believe in a young age for the earth?
Firstly, if  we  take  God  at His  Word,  it is obvious from scripture,
that when one adds up all the  dates  from  the first  day of  creation
onwards, the world could only be in the order of thousands of years old.
In many of our publications, we have also shown that the days of
creation have to be ordinary days of 24 hours in length. From my
experience, the major reason many Christians don't accept this is not
because  of what the Hebrew word for "day," in its context in Genesis
means, but because they believe scientists have proved that the earth
is billions of years old; therefore they have to insist that the days
of creation are long periods of time. 
	Secondly, there is much overwhelming scientific evidence that
fits with the earth being young. This cannot fit into an earth
billions of years old. IRC books, such as Scientific Creationism,
What is Creation Science? and Science, Scripture and the Young Earth,
document these evidences.
	Thirdly, good scientists recognize that scientific methods,
in relation to the past, have great limitations. A good scientist
knows that science cannot prove the age of the earth to be either
young or old. 
	I have had people say to me that they can't wait to ask the
Lord, when they get to heaven, how long He really took to create the
earth. I think He will answer something like this: "(It was written),
for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested on the seventh day" (Exodus 20:11).  
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Reprinted with permission from the Institute For Creation Research.