[_ Old Earth _] Age of the Universe and Genesis

[Blue-Lightning]

Hey all,

I just wanted to take a survey of readers and find out what most of you think about the age of the universe. I also would appreciate it if Barbarian could weigh in on how old he feels the universe is, why he calculates it at that age, and how it is coherent with the Genesis account.

Perhaps this will get the board going...

BL

 

[Barbarian]

The Earth is abouit 4.5 Billion years old, based on evidence from a variety of sources.

I'm not sure what the present estimate for the age of the universe is. The oldest objects found, based on astrophysical measurements are somewhat over ten billion years old, perhaps as much as 14 billion years old.

So it's something over that, but I don't know if anyone has really gotten a precise number.

 

[Mike01075]

I have never really tried to study the age of the universe but if I were to make a hypothesis (so to speak) it would ba around 6,000 year old.

 

[Unvamp]

Looking at the magnetic field around the earth, the earth cannot be over 10,000 years old. It is slowly decaying, just like everything else. Even 1,000,000 years old would make this planet a magnetic star.

 

[Barbarian]

The Earth's magnetic field fluctuates in strength, and has even reversed in some ages.

The present flucutation cannot be extrapolated very far. We know this, because we can find the evidence in the "stripes" of magnetically oriented hardened lava at different distances from divergent boundaries such as the mid oceanic ridges.

http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/10i.html

Since we have human history going back more than 6,000 years, and human artifacts well over 50,000 years, that's also a clue.

Here's an easy way to put a lower limit on the age of the Earth:

In the Pacific Ocean, there are a large number of atolls. These ring-shaped islands are formed when volcanos sink into the sea gradually enough that a fringing reef of coral can grow upwards faster than the volcano sinks (we have examples of failed atolls, where the volcano sank too fast).

When they set the first H bomb off at Enitiwok atoll, the SeaBees drilled a core about a mile deep, before they got to volcanic rock.

Now, reef building coral (as opposed to branching corals) grows about 0.2 inches per year. If there's nearly a mile of coral, how long has it been growing at Enitiwok atoll?

 

[Radical Edward]

Looking at the magnetic field around the earth, the earth cannot be over 10,000 years old. It is slowly decaying, just like everything else. Even 1,000,000 years old would make this planet a magnetic star.

over 150 years you cannot say whether the change is exponential or not, which is what the author of that particular idea assumed, if I recall correctly. I had this discussion with someone a long time ago.

 

[serapha]

Hey all,

I just wanted to take a survey of readers and find out what most of you think about the age of the universe. I also would appreciate it if Barbarian could weigh in on how old he feels the universe is, why he calculates it at that age, and how it is coherent with the Genesis account.

Perhaps this will get the board going...

BL

Hi there!



I find it interesting that when there is field word in archaeology, when the dig goes down through layers of strata, eventually they hit "virgin dirt" where there is no sign of life in the strata

In all of Judea, Galilee, Egypt, and the Middle East, there is "virgin dirt" at the 6,000 year level in every incident.


~malaka~

 

[God's Child]

I voted for under 10,000 years old.

 

[Salam1]

I voted for under 10,000 years old.

But why?

Cosmologists say that the universe is 13 billon years to 20 billon years old, why not take that for evidence of the age? 10,000 seems way to young, and we are currently finding rocks that are way, way older.

 

[Frankie]

I voted for under 10,000 years old.

But why?

Cosmologists say that the universe is 13 billon years to 20 billon years old, why not take that for evidence of the age? 10,000 seems way to young, and we are currently finding rocks that are way, way older.

My Grandma is older than 10, 000 years. Pleeeezzzz....

How long will religion try to cover up the truth of science? Will it have an endless amount of gullible victims who will listen to them despite all the truth around them?

 

[God's Child]

God is the creator.

 

[Vic C.]

I myself, believe the Earth and most likey the Solar Systen is about 6,000-13,000 years old according to many Bible Scholars. But this is my question...how accurate is the measurement of light? I believe it to be pretty accurate, considering it has been easily measured. If the measurement is as accurate as they say, then galaxies could easily be 15-20 thousand and more LYs away. This would make the universe a lot older than some of us think.

Just an ongoing, fleeting thought that pops into ny head from time to time.

: :

 

[Barbarian]

Actually, billions of light years away, some of it. But the speed of light is not directly measured for this.

Rather, the Red Shift is measured. The doppler effect makes the waves of receding objects longer than identical waves of an object approaching us.

This page was copied from Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes. Go to his site at http://www.astronomynotes.com for the updated and corrected version.

(above is notice required by the author for use of his drawing; the image was just copied the day of this post, but his site is at http://www.astronomynotes.com/index.html#, is incredibly useful and clear to beginners. Be sure to visit.)

So, the light of stars moving away from us is "red-shifted", meaning that the waves are longer than they would otherwise be. One of the surprising finds Hubble and Humason made was that all the galaxies in the universe are moving away from all the other ones (there is some random local movement such as the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy moving towards each other)

Much like raisins baking in an expanding loaf of raisin bread, the farther away one is from another, the greater the speed will be. Hence, the velocity of recession, and the distance of the galaxy, can be inferred from the red shift.

 

[serapha]

Hi there!
:angel:

Ya know... I read the other day that while there is such as focus on the speed of light....

Just what is the speed of darkness.


~malaka~

 

[Barbarian]

Darkness has no speed. There is no darkness in the universe. We are just not capable of seeing some wavelengths of radiation.

 

[serapha]

Darkness has no speed. There is no darkness in the universe. We are just not capable of seeing some wavelengths of radiation.

Hi there!

:angel:

Are you for real? There is no darkness in the universe? Could you send me to a website to read about that? I mean, if there is no darkness in the universe, then why did God say, "let there be light'?

~malaka~

 

[Barbarian]

The universe is filled with radiation. Whereever you look, there is the microwave background from the moment of creation.

The universe is filled with light, because God so commanded.

 

[serapha]

The universe is filled with light, because God so commanded.

Hi there!

:angel:

Well, we can agree on one point!


~malaka~

 

[Radical Edward]

[
Are you for real? There is no darkness in the universe? Could you send me to a website to read about that? I mean, if there is no darkness in the universe, then why did God say, "let there be light'?

~malaka~

where there is matter, there cannot be darkness. all matter has a characteristic black body temperature, and there will be light, though you cannot nescessarily see it because the wavelength is so low.

 

[serapha]

[
Are you for real? There is no darkness in the universe? Could you send me to a website to read about that? I mean, if there is no darkness in the universe, then why did God say, "let there be light'?

~malaka~

where there is matter, there cannot be darkness. all matter has a characteristic black body temperature, and there will be light, though you cannot nescessarily see it because the wavelength is so low.

Hi there!


:angel:

Then there was no reason for God to say, "let there be light". That kind of shoots the whole creation account into nothingness, no reason to create a world and give it light if there already was light.... and since there was matter, I guess there was a world of matter, too.


You have just rendered God useless.

Thanks, for the enlightenment. Have you told God about His total uselessness yet?


~malaka~