How old is the earth?

by Bodie Hodge May 30, 2007

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/05/30/how-old-is-earth

Layman

Keywords

age-of-earth author-bodie-hodge genealogy genesis geology radiometric-dating young-age-evidence

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The question of the age of the earth has produced heated discussions on debate boards, classrooms, TV, radio, and in many churches, Christian colleges, and seminaries. The primary sides are:

Young earth proponents (biblical age of the earth and universe of about 6,000 years)1 Old earth proponents (secular age of the earth of about 4.5 billion years and a universe about 14 billion years old)2

The difference is immense! Lets give a little history of where these two basic calculations came from and which worldview is more reasonable.

Where did a young-earth worldview come from?

Simply put, it came from the Bible. Of course, the Bible doesnt say explicitly anywhere, the earth is 6,000 years old. Good thing it doesnt; otherwise it would be out of date the following year. But we wouldnt expect an all-knowing God to make that kind of a mistake. God gave us something better. In essence, He gave us a birth certificate. For example, using my personal birth certificate, I can calculate how old I am at any point. It is similar with the earth. Genesis 1 says that the earth was created on the first day of creation (Genesis 1:15). From there, we can begin calculations of the age of the earth.

Lets do a rough calculation to show how this works. The age of the earth can be estimated by taking the first 5 days of creation (from earths creation to Adam), then following the genealogies from Adam to Abraham in Genesis 5 and 11, then adding in the time from Abraham to today. Adam was created on Day 6, so there were 5 days before him. If we add up the dates from Adam to Abraham, we get about 2,000 years, using the Masoretic Hebrew text of Genesis 5 and 11.3 Whether Christian or secular, most scholars would agree that Abraham lived about 2,000 B.C. (4,000 years ago). So a simple calculation is: 5 days + ~2000 years + ~4000 years ______________ ~6000 years At this point, the first 5 days are negligible. Quite a few people have done this calculation using the Masoretic text (which is what most English translations are based on) and, with careful attention to the biblical details, have arrived at the same time-frame of about 6,000 years, or about 4,000 B.C. Two of the most popular, and perhaps the best in my opinion, are a recent work by Dr. Floyd Jones and a much earlier book by Archbishop James Ussher (15811656):

Table 1 Jones and Ussher

Who? 1 2 Archbishop James Ussher Dr. Floyd Nolan Jones Age Reference and date calculated 4004 B.C. The Annals of the World, 1658 A.D.4 4004 B.C. The Chronology of the Old Testament, 1993 A.D.5

Often, there is a misconception that Ussher and Jones were the only ones to do a chronology and arrive a date of about 6,000 years. However this is not the case at all. Jones gives a listing of several chronologists who have undertaken the task of calculating the age of the earth based on the Bible and their calculations range from 5501 to 3836 B.C. A few are listed in Table 2.

Table 2 Chronologists calculations according to Dr. Jones6

Chronologist 1 Julius Africanus When Date BC calculated? c. 240 5501

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

George Syncellus John Jackson Dr William Hales Eusebius Marianus Scotus L. Condomanus Thomas Lydiat M. Michael Maestlinus J. Ricciolus Jacob Salianus H. Spondanus Martin Anstey W. Lange E. Reinholt J. Cappellus E. Greswell E. Faulstich D. Petavius Frank Klassen Becke Krentzeim W. Dolen E. Reusnerus J. Claverius C. Longomontanus P. Melanchthon J. Haynlinus A. Salmeron J. Scaliger M. Beroaldus A. Helwigius

c. 810 1752 c. 1830 c. 330 c. 1070 n/a c. 1600 c. 1600 n/a c. 1600 c. 1600 1913 n/a n/a c. 1600 1830 1986 c. 1627 1975 n/a n/a 2003 n/a n/a c. 1600 c. 1550 n/a d. 1585 d. 1609 c. 1575 c. 1630

5492 5426 5411 5199 4192 4141 4103 4079 4062 4053 4051 4042 4041 4021 4005 4004 4001 3983 3975 3974 3971 3971 3970 3968 3966 3964 3963 3958 3949 3927 3836

As you will likely note from Table 2, the dates are not all 4004 B.C. There are several reasons chronologists have different dates7 but the two primary ones are: 1. Some used the Septuagint or another early translation, instead of the Hebrew Masoretic text. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, done about 250 B.C. by about 70 Jewish scholars (hence it is often cited as the LXX). It is good in most places, but appears to have a number of inaccuracies. For example, one relates to the Genesis chronologies where the LXX indicates that Methuselah would have lived past the Flood, without being on the Ark!

2. Several points in the biblical time-line are not straightforward to calculate. They require very careful study of more than one passage. These include exactly how much time the Israelites were in Egypt and what Terahs age was when Abraham was born. (See Jones and Usshers books for a detailed discussion of these difficulties.) The first four in Table 2 (bolded) are calculated from the Septuagint, which gives ages for the patriarchs firstborn much higher than the Masoretic text or the Samarian Pentateuch (another version from the Jews in Samaria just before Christ). Because of this, the LXX adds in extra time. Though the Samarian and Masoretic texts are much closer, they still have a couple of differences.

Table 3 Septuagint, Masoretic and Samarian early patriarchal ages8

Masoretic Samarian Septuagint Pentateuch Using data from Table 2 (excluding the 130 130 230 Adam Septuagint calculations and including Jones and 105 105 205 Seth Ussher), the average date of the creation of the 90 90 190 Enosh earth is 4045 B.C. This still yields an average of 70 70 170 Cainan about 6,000 years for the age of the earth. 65 165 Mahalaleel 65 162 62 162 Jared What about extra-biblical 65 65 165 Enoch calculations for the age of the 67 167 Methuselah 187 182 53 188 Lamech earth? 500 500 500 Noah Cultures throughout the world have kept track of history as well. From a biblical perspective, we would expect the dates given for creation of the earth to align much closer to the biblical date than billions of years. This is expected since everyone was descended from Noah and scattered from the Tower of Babel. Another expectation is that there should be some discrepancies among the age of the earth as people scattered throughout the world, taking their uninspired records or oral history to different parts of the globe. Under the entry creation, Youngs Analytical Concordance of the Bible9 lists William Hales accumulation of dates of creation from many cultures and in most cases Hales says which authority gave the date. Name

Table 4 Selected Hales dates for the age of the earth by various cultures
Culture Age, Authority listed

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21

B.C. Spain by Alfonso X 6984 Spain by Alfonso X 6484 India 6204 India 6174 Babylon 6158 Chinese 6157 Greece by Diogenes 6138 Laertius Egypt 6081 Persia 5507 Israel/Judea by 5555 Josephus Israel/Judea by 5481 Josephus Israel/Judea by 5402 Josephus Israel/Judea by 4698 Josephus India 5369 Babylon (Talmud) 5344 Vatican (Catholic 5270 using the Septuagint) Samaria 4427 German, Holy Roman 3993 Empire by Johannes Kepler10 German, reformer by 3961 Martin Luther Israel/Judea by 3760 computation Israel/Judea by Rabbi 3616 Lipman

by Hales Muller Strauchius Gentil Arab Records Bailly Bailly Playfair Bailly Bailly Playfair Jackson Hales University History Megasthenes Petrus Alliacens N/A Scaliger Playfair

N/A Strauchius University History

These were not the only ones. Historian Bill Coopers research in After the Flood provides intriguing dates from several ancient cultures.11 The first is that of the Anglo-Saxons, whose history has 5200 years from creation to Christ, according to the Laud and Parker Chronicles. Coopers research also indicated that Nennius record of the ancient British history has 5228 years from creation to Christ. The Irish chronology has a date of about 4000 B.C. for creation which is surprisingly close to Ussher and Jones! Even the Mayans had a date for the Flood of 3113 B.C.

This meticulous work of many historians should not be ignored. Their dates of only thousands of years are good support for the biblical date of about 6,000 years, but not for billions of years.

Where did the old-earth worldview come from?

Prior to the 1700s, few believed in an old earth. The approximate 6,000-year age for the earth was challenged only rather recently, beginning in the late 18th century. These opponents of the biblical chronology essentially left God out of the picture. Three of the old-earth advocates included Comte de Buffon, who thought the earth was at least 75,000 years old. Pirre LaPlace imagined an indefinite but very long history. And Jean Lamarck also proposed long ages.12 However, the idea of millions of years really took hold in geology when men like Abraham Werner, James Hutton, William Smith, Georges Cuvier, and Charles Lyell used their interpretations of geology as the standard, rather than the Bible. Werner estimated the age of the earth at about one million years. Smith and Cuvier believed untold ages were needed for the formation of rock layers. Hutton said he could see no geological evidence of a beginning of the earth; and building on Huttons thinking, Lyell advocated "millions of years".13 From these men and others came the consensus view that the geologic layers were laid down slowly over long periods of time based on the rates we see them accumulating today. Hutton said: The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. ... No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted except those of which we know the principle.14 This viewpoint is called naturalistic uniformitarianism, and would exclude any major catastrophes like Noahs Flood. Though some, such as Cuvier and Smith, believed in multiple catastrophes separated by long periods of time, the uniformitarian concept became the ruling dogma in geology. Thinking biblically, we can see that the global Flood in Genesis 68 would wipe away the concept of millions of years, for this Flood would explain massive amounts of fossil layers. Most Christians fail to realize that if there was a global Flood, it would rip up many of the previous rock layers and redeposit them elsewhere, destroying the previous fragile contents. This would destroy any evidence of alleged millions of years anyway. So the rock layers can theoretically represent the evidence of either millions of years or a global Flood, but not both. Sadly, by about 1840 even most of the Church had accepted the dogmatic claims of the secular geologists and rejected the global Flood and the biblical age of the earth. After Lyell, in 1899, Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) calculated the age of the earth, based on the cooling rate of a molten sphere, at a maximum of about 2040 million years (this was revised from his earlier calculation of 100 million years in 1862).15 With the development of radiometric dating in the early 20th century, the age of the earth expanded radically. In 1913 Arthur Holmes book, The Age of the Earth, gave an age of 1.6 billion years.16 Since then, the supposed age of

the earth has expanded to its present estimate of about 4.5 billion years (and about 14 billion years for the universe).

Table 5 Summary of the old-earth proponents for long ages

Who? Comte de Buffon Abraham Werner James Hutton Pirre LaPlace Jean Lamarck William Smith Georges Cuvier Charles Lyell Lord Kelvin Arthur Holmes Age of the earth 78 thousand years old 1 million years Perhaps eternal, long Ages Long ages Long ages Long ages Long ages Millions of years 20-100 million years 1.6 billion years When was this? 1779 1786 1795 1796 1809 1835 1812 1830-1833 1862-1899 1913

But there is growing scientific evidence that radiometric dating methods are completely unreliable.17 Christians who have felt compelled to accept the millions of years as fact and try to fit them in the Bible need to become aware of this evidence. It confirms that the Bibles history is giving us the true age of the creation. Today, secular geologists will allow some catastrophic events into their thinking as an explanation for what they see in the rocks. But uniformitarian thinking is still widespread and secular geologists will seemingly never entertain the idea of the global catastrophic Flood of Noahs day. The age of the earth debate ultimately comes down to this foundational question. Are we trusting mans imperfect and changing ideas and assumptions about the past or trusting Gods perfectly accurate eyewitness account of the past, including the creation of the world, Noahs global Flood and the age of the earth?

What about other uniformitarian methods for dating the age of the earth?
Radiometric dating was the culminating factor that led to the belief in billions of years for earth history. However, radiometric dating methods are not the only uniformitarian methods. Any radiometric dating model or other uniformitarian dating method can and does have problems as referenced before (Reference 16). All uniformitarian dating methods make assumptions. The assumptions related to radiometric dating can be seen in these questions:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Initial amounts? Was any parent amount added? Was any daughter amount added? Was any parent amount removed? Was any daughter amount removed? Has the rate changed?

If the assumptions are truly accurate, then uniformitarian dates should agree with radiometric dating across the board for the same event. However, radiometric dates often disagree with dates obtained from other uniformitarian dating methods for the age of the earth, such as the influx of salts into the ocean, the rate of decay of the earths magnetic field, the growth rate of human population, etc.18 Henry Morris accumulated a list of 68 uniformitarian estimates for the age of the earth by Christian and secular sources.19 The current accepted age of the earth is about 4.54 billion years based on radiometric dating meteorites,20 so keep this in mind when viewing Table 6.

Table 6 Uniformitarian Estimates for earths Age accumulated by Dr Henry Morris

0 >10,000 >100,000 >1 10,000 1 million years 100,000 million 500 years years million years 23 10 11 23 >500 million 4 billion years 0 >4 billion 5 billion years 0

Number of uniformitarian methods21

As you can see, uniformitarian maximum ages for the earth obtained from other methods are nowhere near the 4.5 billion years estimated by radiometric dating; of the other methods only two calculated dates were as much as 500 million years. Some radiometric dating methods completely undermine other radiometric dates too. One such example is carbon-14 (14C) dating. As long as an organism is alive it takes in 14C and 12C from the atmosphere; however when it dies, it will stop. Since 14C is radioactive (decays into 14N), the amount of 14C in a dead organism gets less and less over time. Carbon-14 dates are determined from the measured ratio of radioactive carbon-14 to normal carbon-12 (14C/12C). Used on samples which were once alive, such as wood or bone, the measured 14C/12C ratio is compared with the ratio in living things today. Now, 14C has a derived half-life of less than 6,000 years, so it should all have decayed into nitrogen by 100,000 years, at the maximum.22 Some things, such as wood trapped in lava flows, that are said to be millions of years old by other radiometric dating methods still have 14C in them.23 If the items were really millions of years old, then they shouldnt have any traces of 14C.

Coal and diamonds, which are found in or sandwiched between rock layers allegedly millions of years old, have been shown to have 14C ages of only tens of thousands of years.24 So which date, if any, is correct? The diamonds or coal cant be millions of years old if they have any traces of 14 C still in them. So this shows that these dating methods are completely unreliable and indicates that the presumed assumptions in the methods are erroneous. Similar kinds of problems are seen in the case of potassium-argon dating, which is considered one of the most reliable methods. Dr. Andrew Snelling, a geologist, points out several of these problems with potassium-argon, as seen in Table 7.24

Table 7: Potassium-argon dates in error

Volcanic eruption When the rock formed 122 BC Mt Etna basalt, Sicily AD 1972 Mt Etna basalt, Sicily AD 1986 Mt St. Helens, Washington AD 18001801 Hualalai basalt, Hawaii AD 1954 Mt Ngauruhoe, New Zealand Kilauea Iki basalt, AD 1959 Hawaii Date by radiometric dating 170,000330,000 years old 210,000490,000 years old 300,000400,000 years old 1.441.76 million years old 3.33.7 million years old 1.715.3 million years old

These and other examples raise a critical question. If radiometric dating fails to get an accurate date on something of which we do know the true age, then how can it be trusted to give us the correct age for rocks that had no human observers to record when they formed? If the methods dont work on rocks of known age, it is most unreasonable to trust that they work on rocks of unknown age. It is far more rational to trust the Word of the God who created the world, knows its history perfectly, and has revealed sufficient information in the Bible for us to understand that history and the age of the creation.

Conclusion
When we start our thinking with Gods Word, we see that the world is about 6,000 years old. When we rely on mans fallible (and often demonstrably false) dating methods, we can get a confusing range of ages from a few thousand to billions of years, though the vast majority of methods do not give dates even close to billions. Cultures around the world give an age of the earth which confirms what the Bible teaches. Radiometric dates, on the other hand, have been shown to be wildly in error.

The age of the earth ultimately comes down to a matter of trustits a worldview issue. Will you trust what an all-knowing God says on the subject or will you trust imperfect mans assumptions and imaginations about the past that regularly are changing? Thus says the LORD: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist, says the LORD. But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word (Isaiah 66:12). Help keep these daily articles coming. Support AiG.

Footnotes
1. Not all young-earth creationists agree on this age. Some believe that there may be small gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11, and put the maximum age of the earth at about 10,00012,000 years. Back 2. Some of these old-earth proponents accept molecules-to-man biological evolution and so are called theistic evolutionists. Others reject neo-Darwinian evolution, but accept the evolutionary time-scale for stellar and geological evolution, and hence agree with the evolutionary order of events in history. Back 3. Russell Grigg, Meeting the Ancestors, Creation 25:2 (March 2003):1315. Back 4. James Ussher, The Annals of the World (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003), translated by Larry and Marion Pierce. Back 5. Floyd Nolan Jones, Chronology of the Old Testament (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2005). Back 6. Ibid., 26. Back 7. Others would include gaps in the chronology based on the presences of an extra Cainan in Luke 3:36. But there are good reasons this should be left out. It is included in late copies of the Septuagint. But early copies of the LXX do not have it, so it was added later. The English 18th-century Hebrew expert John Gill points out: This Cainan is not mentioned by Moses in Gen 11:12 nor has he ever appeared in any Hebrew copy of the Old Testament, nor in the Samaritan version, nor in the Targum; nor is he mentioned by Josephus, nor in 1Chron 1:24 where the genealogy is repeated; nor is it in Bezas most ancient Greek copy of Luke: it indeed stands in the present copies of the Septuagint, but was not originally there; and therefore could not be taken by Luke from thence, but seems to be owing to some early negligent transcriber of Lukes Gospel, and since put into the Septuagint to give it authority: I say early, because it is in many Greek copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, even in the Syriac, the oldest of them; but ought not to stand neither in the text, nor in any version: for certain it is, there never was such a Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, for Salah was his son; and with him the next words should be connected, bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/gil.cgi?book=lu&chapter= 003&verse=036&next=037&prev=035 Back 8. Biblical chronogenealogies, TJ 17(3):14-18, December 2003. Back

9. Robert Young, Youngs Analytical Concordance to the Bible (Peadoby, MA: Hendrickson, 1996, referring to William Hales, A New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, History and Prophecy (1830), vol. 1, 210. Back 10. Luther, Kepler, Lipman, and the Jewish computation likely used biblical texts to determine the date. Back 11. Bill Cooper, After the Flood (UK: New Wine Press, 1995), 122129. Back 12. Terry Mortenson, The origin of old-earth geology and its ramifications for life in the 21st century, TJ 18(1) April , 2004, 2226 www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v18/i1/oldearth.asp Back 13. James Hutton, Theory of the earth, Trans. of Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh, 1785; quoted in A. Holmes, Principles of Physical Geology (UK: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1965), 43 44. Back 14. William Thompson: king of Victorian physics, Mark McCartney, Physics Web, December 2002, physicsweb.org/articles/world/15/12/6. Back 15. Terry Mortenson, The history of the development of the geological column, in Michael Oard and John Reed, eds., The Geologic Column (CRS, 2006). Back 16. For articles at the laymans level see Radiometric Dating Questions and Answers, www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dating.asp. For a technical discussion see Larry Vardiman, Eugene Chaffin, and Andrew Snelling, eds., Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth Volume 2, (El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research/Creation Research Society, 2005). See also Half-Life Heresy, New Scientist (21 Oct. 2006), 3639, Abstract online at www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19225741.100halflife-heresy-accelerating-radioactive-decay.html. Back 17. Russell Humphrey, Evidence for a Young World, Impact #384, Institute for Creation Research, June 2005, online here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4005.asp Back 18. Henry M. Morris, The New Defenders Study Bible (Nashville, TN: World Publishing, 2006, 2076-2079. Back 19. The Age of the Earth, USGS, geology.wr.usgs.gov/parks/gtime/ageofearth.html, accessed, November 1, 2006. Back 20. When a range of ages is given, the maximum age was used, to be generous to the evolutionists. In one case, the date was uncertain so it was not used in this tally, so the total estimates used were 67. A few on the list had reference to Saturn, the Sun, etc., but since biblically-speaking the earth is older than these, dates related to them were used. Back 21. This does not mean that a 14C date of 50,000 or 100,000 would be entirely trustworthy. I am only using this to highlight the mistaken assumptions behind uniformitarian dating methods. Back 22. Andrew Snelling, Conflicting ages of Tertiary basalt and contained fossilized wood, Crinum, Central Queensland Australia. Technical Journal 14(2):99-122, August, 2000. Back 23. J. Baumgardner, 14C Evidence for a Recent Global Flood and a Young Earth, in Vardiman et al., Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, Institute for Creation Research, Santee, California, and Creation Research Society, Chino Valley, Arizona, pp.587-630, 2005. Back

24. Andrew Snelling, Excess Argon: The Achilles Heel of Potassium-Argon and ArgonArgon Dating of Volcanic Rocks, Impact #307 (date), Institute for Creation Research, www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=436 Back (1) Back (2)
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The Biblical Date for Creation

http://www.skeptically.org/oldtestament/id15.html

ESTIMATES OF THE BIBLICAL DATE OF CREATION

Bishop James Ussher was able to use the ages of famous pre-flood personages in the Bible to estimate the number of years between creation and the flood. In 1650 CE, he published his book "Annales veteris testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti" ("Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world.") He calculated that God had created the Earth in 4004 BCE. A decade earlier, Dr. John Lightfoot, (1602 - 1675), an Anglican clergyman, rabbinical scholar, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge had already arrived at an estimate of 4004-OCT-23 BCE, at 9 AM. (We assume that this was either Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Jerusalem time).

Unfortunately, Ussher gets most of the credit; Lightfoot's contribution is rarely cited. This would make the time interval between the creation of the world and a common estimate of the birth of Christ at precisely 4000 years. Some people believe that Ussher fudged the data to make it come out this neatly. This date found general acceptance among many Christians; "...his dates were inserted in the margins of the authorized version of the English Bible and were soon practically regarded as equally inspired with the sacred text itself..."

Most contemporary historians establish a base date of Saul's accession to the throne of Israel to have happened 1020 BCE. However, Bishop James Ussher, a 17th century Irish archbishop from Armagh, Ireland, estimated this date as 1095 BCE in his work: Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti

Work backwards through the Book of Judges. Ussher computed 330 years for the duration of the rule of Judges. He based this on the intervals specified in the Hebrew Scriptures. Modern theologians believe that the "Judges" did not rule over all of Israel in a regular sequence. Instead, each Judge controlled separate tribe(s), so that their interval of rule overlapped. A modern estimate for the duration of time covered by the Book of Judges is perhaps 180 years.

Problems with the Bible history:

Most contemporary historians establish a base date of Saul's accession to the throne of Israel to have happened 1020 BCE. However, Bishop James Ussher, a 17th century Irish archbishop from Armagh, Ireland, estimated this date as 1095 BCE in his work: Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti

Work backwards through the Book of Judges. Ussher computed 330 years for the duration of the rule of Judges. He based this on the intervals specified in the Hebrew Scriptures. Modern theologians believe that the "Judges" did not rule over all of Israel in a regular sequence. Instead, each Judge controlled separate tribe(s), so that their interval of rule overlapped. A modern estimate for the duration of time covered by the Book of Judges is perhaps 180 years.

If Joshua's conquest of Canaan happened, it would have occurred circa in the 13th century BCE which was a time when Egypt's influence over the area was at a low ebb. Bishop Ussher estimated that it began in 1451 BCE; that is unlikely because Egyptian power was at its peak at that time and completely dominated the area. In reality, if it did happen, it probably occurred in about 1237 BCE under Pharaoh Rameses II, a time when Egypt was in steady decline.

Ussher dated the arrival of Abraham in Canaan to 2126 BCE and the Noahic flood at 2349 BCE. The latter is unlikely, because historical records in China and Egypt continued without disruption through that date, and contain no record of a massive world-wide flood that would have wiped out their civilizations.

There are two inherent and unavoidable sources of error that are often overlooked in these calculations:
The calculation must rely on numerous passages which state that a person was born when his father was of a certain age. But if a 30 year-old man has a son, the birth might have occurred at any time between the father's 30th birthday, and one day before his 31st birthday. Thus, on average, an error of six months is introduced with each father-son passage. Some theologians have pointed out that there may be missing generations in Bible chronologies. The entire family tree may not be fully listed. Some "sons" are actually grandsons. "In Exodus 6:16-20, we find only four generations listed between Levi and Moses. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states: 'It seems quite clear that some generations were omitted in the compilation' (rev. ed., s.v. 'Genealogy'). In Matthew 1:1-17, the Gospel writer deliberately omits three kings to illustrate the theological point he is making, a point that depends upon a generational pattern." 6

Up to 58000 BCE: Dr. Hugh Ross and Kathy Ross of Reasons to Believe are old-earth creationists. They estimate that Adam and Eve were created from six to sixty thousand years ago. They also estimate the date of creation of the universe on the order of ten billion years ago. 9 11013 BCE: Harold Camping of Family Radio computed that God created humanity during this year. The remaining five days of creation would have probably occurred during the same year. This number conflicts by over 2,000 years with the estimates of almost all young-earth creation scientists; they believe the world is less than 10,000 years old. He also believes that the great flood happened on 4990-4989 BCE, and that the Exodus happened on 1447 BCE. His other main prediction, that the end of the world would happen in 1994 CE, did not materialize. 10,11 8000 BCE: As noted above, most creation scientists believe that the earth is less than 10,000 years old. This would put the earliest possible date of creation at about 8000 BCE.

6984 BCE: Estimated by Alfonso X in Spain during the 1200s. 6984 BCE: A second estimate by Alfonso X.
12

12

6204 BCE: An estimate from India according to Gentil, a 18th century French astronomer. 6174 BCE: A second estimate from India, based on Arab records.
12

12

6158 BCE: A Babylonian date, according to John Silvain, an 18th century French astronomer.
12

6157 BCE: A Chinese date reported by Bailly.

12 12

6138 BCE: A date computed by Diogenes Laertius, a 3rd century CE Greek philosopher. 6081 BCE: An Egyptian date reported by Bailly.
12

6000 BCE: Early church commentators (Clement of Alexander, Origen, Eusebius, Lactantius, Theophilus, etc.) believed that since Adam was created on the 6th day, that Jesus would come into the world in its 6,000th year. 4 5586 BCE: This date appeared in the Septuagint (LXX), a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) produced in Egypt in the 3rd century BCE. 12 5555 BCE: A data produced by Josephus, a Jew from the 1st century CE.
12

5508 BCE: The year of creation adopted in the 7th century CE in "Constantinople and used by the Eastern Orthodox church until the 18th century CE." 13 5507 BCE: A Persian date reported by Bailly.
12 12

5500 BCE: An Abyssinian date from the Chronicle of Axum. Reported by Bruce in the 1700s. 5493 BCE: This is the date used by the Ethiopian Church.
14 13

5490 BCE: The date of the year of creation used by the Syrian Christians. 5481 BCE: A second date estimated by Josephus in the 1st century CE.
12

5369 BCE: An Indian date reported by Megasthenes, a Greek historian (circa 340 to 282 BCE).
12

5311 BCE: Dr. William Hales (1778 - 1821), author of "New System of Chronology" based his estimates on Egyptian records. He said that the flood of Noah occurred in 3155 BCE. 5 5200 BCE: This approximate date was used by the Anglo-Saxons and the early Britons.
19

5199 BCE: This date was mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, which was published by the authority of Pope Gregory XIII in 1580. It was later confirmed in 1640 CE under Pope Urban

VIII 4713-JAN-1 BCE: A French classical scholar, Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609), estimated this date in his book De emendatione temporum [on the correction of chronology] He based it on the convergence of the 28 year Solar Cycle, the 19 year Metonic Cycle and the 15 year Roman Indiction cycle -- three ancient methods of measuring time. 6 4456 BCE: Still another estimate is based upon both the Biblical account and modern archeology. 20 This uses the date of 2800 BCE for a massive flood which covered the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. All of the towns in the area were buried under thick layers of mud. If we assume that this is the Noahic flood which is recorded in the Bible as occurring when Noah was 600 years old, then the earlier date can be calculated. 20 4305 BCE: Dean Coombs estimates on his "Bible Numbers: The Pattern of Prophecy" web site that the date of creation must be on or after the autumn of 4305 BCE. 16 4245 BCE: This is an additional creation date listed by Dean Coombs.
17

4175 BCE: Bert Thompson estimates the date of creation at approximately 4175 BCE. He worked backwards from 853 to 852 BCE, the date of the death of Ahab, obtained by "Combining information from the Assyrian Eponym Lists and the Black Obelisk...." He computes the date of the great flood at about 2519 BCE. 15 4122 BCE: The Baha'i World Faith dates Adam and the Garden of Eden to 4122 BCE. 4115 BCE: This is an additional creation date listed by Dean Coombs. 4090 BCE: This is an additional creation date listed by Dean Coombs.
17 17

4046 BCE: The Reformation Online web site is dedicated to attacking the Roman Catholic church. They calculate 4046 BCE as the year of creation, based on the ages of the patriarchs at their death. 15 4030 BCE: This is an additional creation date listed by Dean Coombs.
17 16

4026 BCE: The Jehovah's Witnesses estimates that Adam was created at this time

4002 BCE: Augustin Calmet (1672-1757) corrected some of the errors in Ussher. He computed 2344 BCE as the year of the flood of Noah. 8 3993 BCE: Estimated by the astronomer Kepler, (1571 - 1630). 3984 BCE: Estimated by Petavius, a Frenchman, (1583 - 1652).
12 12

3963 BCE: Melanchthon computed this date at the time of the Reformation. 3961 BCE: Estimated by the theologian Martin Luther in the 16th century.
12

3960 BCE: This is an additional creation date listed by Dean Coombs. 3952 BCE: Venerable Bede (circa 672 to 735), an English monk.
22

17

3950 BCE: Julius Caesar Scalinger (1484 - 1558), a humanist scholar from Verona, Italy.

22

3900 BCE: Dean Coombs estimates that the date of creation must be on or before this date.
18

3761 BCE: Ancient Jewish scholars placed creation at this date; this became the basis of the Jewish Calendar. 3641-FEB-10: This is the date of creation used by the Mayans. 3616 BCE: Estimated by the Jewish Rabbi Lipman (1579 - 1654).
12

In 1738, De Vignolles stated that he had accumulated no fewer than 200 computations of the date of creation, all based upon the Bible

Most conservative groups within Christianity still follow Ussher's date. Some believe that since the world was created in 6 days, that it will last exactly 6 thousand years. Thus, the present age should have come to an end circa 1,996 CE. It didn't. Many endof-the-world dates have been forecast. None have come true yet, to our knowledge.

References:
1. "Evolutionary age of the Earth: 4.54 billion years," ChristianAnswers.net, at: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden 2. Henry Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker, (1984), Page 115. Quoted in Ref. 3.

3. Bert Thompson, "The Bible and the age of the Earth, Part 1," Reason & Revelation, 1999-AUG, Vol. 19, #8, Pages 57-63. Online at: http://www.apologeticspress.org/
4. R.L. Wysong, "The Creation-Evolution Controversy," (1976), Inquiry Press, Page 144. Quoted in Ref. 3, 5. A.D. White, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," Prometheus Books, Buffalo NY, (reprinted 1993), Volume I, Pages 249 to 265.

6. "Does Genesis tell us how old the world is?," Plain Truth Ministries, at:

http://www.ptm.org/BibleAnswer4.htm
7. Personal Email from Herman Cummings; cited by permission, 2002-NOV-16. 8. Herman Cummings, "First chapter of 'Moses didn't write about creation,' " at: http://hometown.aol.com/ephraim7/myhomepage/index.html 9. Dr. Hugh Ross & Kathy Ross, "The real issue: The creation date controversy," Reasons to Believe, at: http://www.origins.org/real/ri9403/date.html (May no longer be online) 10. Harold Camping, "1994?," Vantage Press, Page 295. Cited in "Harold Camping," Bible And Science, at: http://bibleandscience.com/revelation.htm 11. Harold Camping, "The biblical calendar of history," Family Stations, Ind., at: http://www.familyradio.com/cross/book/ 12. "Youngs Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible, 8th Edition," "Creation" entry, (1939). Cited in Don Batten, "Which is the recent aberration? Old-Earth or YoungEarth Belief?," Creation, Vol. 24, #1, Pages 24 to 27. See: http://www.answersingenesis.org 13. K.C Davis, "Don't Know Much About the Bible," Eagle Brook, New York, NY, (1998) Page 93. 14. The Rev. D.G. Eadie, "The Ethiopian Orthodox Church," at: http://www.redlandsfortnightly.com/ethiopch.htm [No longer online] 15. "It's a Jungle Over There," The Reformation Online, at: http://www.reformation.org/creation.html 16. Anon, "The Bible's Viewpoint: How Significant is the Year 2000?," Awake magazine, 1998-MAY-8, Page 20. 17. Dean Coombs, "Bible Chronology, Numeric patterns at the creation," at: http://www.netrover.com/~numbers/ 18. Dean Coombs, "Bible Chronology, Part 'C'," at: http://www.netrover.com/~numbers/ 19. "Ancient Chronologies and the Age of the Earth," at: http://www.ldolphin.org/cooper/ch9.html 20. Charles Pellegrino, "Return to Sodom and Gomorrah", Avon, New York, NY (1994) 21. "Age of the Earth," Wikipedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/

"Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar," Wikipedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/ Related essay on this web site:
What the Bible says about creation

James Ussher
born Jan. 4, 1581, Dublin, Ire.

died March 21, 1656, Reigate, Surrey, Eng.

Encyclopdia Britannica Article

Anglo-Irish prelate of the Anglican church who was memorable for his activity in religious politics and for his work on patristic texts, especially the chronology of the Old Testament. Ordained priest in 1601, Ussher became professor (160721) and twice vice-chancellor (1614, 1617) at the university where he had received his B.A., Trinity College, Dublin. He was made bishop of Meath in 1621 and archbishop of Armagh in 1625. Ussher became primate of all Ireland in 1634. He was in England in 1642, when the Civil War broke out, and he never returned to Ireland. Having earned the respect of both Anglicans and Puritans, he proposed in 1641 a method for combining the episcopal and presbyterian forms of church government in the Church of England. A Royalist, he vainly counseled Charles I against assenting to the execution in 1641 of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, to appease Parliament. Ussher was briefly bishop of Carlisle in 1642 before moving to Oxford. Declining an invitation to join the Westminster Assembly of Divines (164349), he preached against its legality. From 1647 to 1654 he was preacher at Lincoln's Inn, London. Ussher wrote widely on Christianity in Asia Minor, on episcopacy, and against Roman Catholicism. An expert in Semitic languages, he argued for the reliability of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and employed an agent in the Middle East to collect biblical and other manuscripts for him. Scholars still respect him for his correct distinction between the genuine and the spurious epistles of the 2nd-century St. Ignatius of Antioch, on which he published works in 1644 and 1647. The general public may find Bibles perpetuating his chronological researches (published in the 1650s), which dated the creation of the universe at 4004 BC. This date was widely accepted in the Western world until the 19th century. Ussher had a fine library, which is now in the University of Dublin.
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