How Old is the Earth?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Standards

I can't view the video's on this computer, but I'm sure he brings up Genesis 1:2. The Hebrew word for was, could also be translated became, thus the verse would read, "And the earth became without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

I heard Bro. Booker teach this a long time ago.

Below are notes from the Scofield Bible on the first few verses of Genesis chapter one. If you don't have a Scofield Bible, the notes can be accessed online at
http://www.biblestudytools.com/comme...ference-notes/

Chapter 1

1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

without form and void

Jeremiah 4:23-27 ; Isaiah 24:1 ; 45:18 clearly indicate that the earth had undergone a cataclysmic change as the result of divine judgment. The face of the earth bears everywhere the marks of such a catastrophe. There are not wanting imitations which connect it with a previous testing and fall of angels.

See Ezekiel 28:12-15 ; Isaiah 14:9-14 which certainly go beyond the kings of Tyre and Babylon.

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Let there be light

Neither here nor in verses 14-18 is an original creative act implied. A different word is used. The sense is, made to appear; made visible. The sun and moon were created "in the beginning." The "light" of course came from the sun, but the vapour diffused the light. Later the sun appeared in an unclouded sky.

1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

day

The word "day" is used in Scripture in three ways:

(1) that part of the solar day of twenty-four hours which is light Genesis 1:5 Genesis 1:14 ; John 9:4 ; 11:9 .

(2) such a day, set apart for some distinctive purpose, as, "day of atonement" ( Leviticus 23:27 ); "day of judgment" Matthew 10:15 .

(3) a period of time, long or short, during which certain revealed purposes of God are to be accomplished, as "day of the Lord."

evening

The use of "evening" and "morning" may be held to limit "day" to the solar day; but the frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant the conclusion that each creative "day" was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending.

1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

firmament Lit. expanse (i.e. of waters beneath, of vapour above).

1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

firmament i.e. the expanse above, the "heaven" of the clouds. Genesis 7:11 ; 8:2 .

1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

bring forth grass

It is by no means necessary to suppose that the life-germ of seeds perished in the catastrophic judgment which overthrew the primitive order. With the restoration of dry land and light the earth would "bring forth" as described. It was "animal" life which perished, the traces of which remain as fossils. Relegate fossils to the primitive creation, and no conflict of science with the Genesis cosmogony remains.