Does the age of the Earth matter?

Okay, um, let's go ahead and pray first. Dear Lord, we just thank you so much for, um, this opportunity. Thank you for Mike, for, for both of the riddles. Thank you for them and for their ministry and for all of the people that you've been able to impact through them.

And we thank you that they, um, have hearts that are willing to serve you and that they, they use that energy that you've given them. And we thank you for, um, Leslie's recovery. We pray for continued recovery for her.

Thank you that Mike is able to join us in this setting tonight. We thank you for the opportunities you give us through this, that we can minister to people and also, um, be edified by learning more about how we can defend your word.

And we just ask for, um, a good impact for his presentation tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Okay. So I get to introduce our speaker again tonight. Maybe you've never heard of him, or maybe you have, but need a reminder that Mike Riddle, who has a bachelor's in mathematics and a master's degree in education is the founder and president of the creation training initiative.

He is an international speaker and teacher on the topics of biblical creation, apologetics, and Christian education. And with that, we are pleased to have him talk to us tonight on the topic of does the age of the earth matter?

Mike, go ahead.

The Age of the Earth as a Biblical Issue

Well, thank you, Terry. That was very kind of you to say those things, even though none of them were true. No, the, does the age of the earth matter? That's a pretty big topic today. Uh, we have a lot of pastors who dismiss it.

We have a lot of people who say it doesn't matter. Well, once you say the age of the earth doesn't matter, you're getting into what we call relativism.

In other words, it can be young.

It'd be old.

It really doesn't matter. That's real relativism. But I want to talk about that topic. And, uh, we will flash up our website now. And then if you're interested in going to our website, creation training .org, if you'd like to contact us, that's my email, direct email, that's our website.

Or if you'd like to drop us a line, whether you like something or didn't like something, you can still drop us a line, uh, there's our direct mail. If you want to send us a old, what we call snail mail through the post office.

Not to mean they're slow, but it's a little faster to email. So that's our contact information. So let's get to, does the age of the earth matter? Now, one thing we need to understand about this argument, it is a biblical argument and not a science argument.

It's not a science issue at all, because it deals with the Bible. It deals with how we're going to interpret the Bible and our understanding of scripture. For example, a lot of people say, Oh my, the battles between science and the Bible.

No, it is not. That's degrading to God. When you make that statement, who created all the science God did. He's not in a battle with himself, folks, science, true science always agrees with God's word.

However, here's where we get into some of these issues. It's evolutionism that does not agree with the Bible. And it's also evolutionism that does not agree with empirical science. So that's kind of how this little triangle goes.

The Bible and the science agree it's evolutionism that stands out from both of those. So again, our issue is going to be with the Bible. How do we interpret the Bible? What does the age do to the Bible?

Well, here's a gentleman, Roy Zuck. He's got his doctorate. He's a senior professor of Bible exposition makes this statement. Scripture must be the basis for the search of all the data on this question, meaning the age of the earth.

So he's agreeing right there. If we're going to talk about the age of the earth, it is a biblical issue, not a science issue for Christians. In other words, what are we going to make of the Bible? No, I'm going to do a little thing here.

We're going to be like Bereans. Bereans, who are those people? Where do they live today? Well, they're in the Bible. Acts chapter 17, verse 11. Here's what it says about the Bereans. Now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica for they received the word of with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Now notice, first of all, they were noble minded means these were pretty high level people. They examined the scriptures when they heard something new. They didn't go to the theologians, they didn't go to the scholars of the day.

They didn't go to the scientists of the day. They went to the scriptures to see if it was true or not. That was their authority. That was their measuring rod, the scriptures. Not all these great people would go out there and argue about nothingness.

Incidentally, people are arguing what is nothing today. Did you know that? People are saying nothing really doesn't mean nothing. That's what I call, I don't talk. So we're going to be like the Bereans.

We're going to examine the scriptures for the age of the earth. Also second Timothy chapter three, verses 16 and 17 says all scripture notice right there, don't say some says all that includes Genesis chapter one is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness.

So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. So all scripture is God breathed. It's all good for teaching. That means if we don't want to teach something because we don't like it, you're disobeying God.

It's all good for training.

Why?

So we can be equipped. All scripture is good. You know, that even means the book of numbers too. And that's a tough one. Then we go to John 17, 70, kind of laying the background here. Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. What does that saying there? Sanctify, set apart. We're to be set apart by the truth. And what is the truth? God's word. Incidentally, God's word doesn't change. Our understanding of science though is constantly changing, but God's word never changes and we're to be set apart by his word, then another scripture, second Timothy two 15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Now that word diligent can also mean study. We're to study and rightly handle God's word, not mess it up, not make opinions about it, but handle God's word correctly. Now this whole thing about the age of the earth kind of centers around one big word there called day.

The Hebrew word for day is Yom. So this whole thing seems to center around that one word day. What does it mean? Well, when we go to Genesis, we see the word day in Genesis one, we read, and there was evening and there was morning one day, and there was evening and there was morning a second day.

There was evening and there was morning a third day. So each of the days of creation, we see the word day. That's the gist of all of this. What in the world does that word day mean? Now I'm going to give one more piece of scripture here before we get into a lot of this.

James three, one, we've got a lot of teachers out there, a lot of study school teachers, a lot of people teaching on creation, but the Bible gives us a very stern warning about teachers. Here's what God has told us.

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such, we will incur a stricter judgment. There's a warning that if we're going to teach God's word, we better be very careful with his word and not put our opinions into it.

Now, before we get into the day, one more thing, and this will be the last one more thing before we get into the word day, something or somebody called.

Hermeneutics.

Now, what do we mean by hermeneutics? Well, hermeneutics, well, the word comes from Greek, means to interpret. These are the rules for interpreting language, which includes the Bible. And I'm going to go through rather quickly, five key rules for interpreting.

Scripture.

And I'll let you know one of them, one of them is not, it's not our opinions. So the first one, which is probably the most important is context. We're to keep God's word in the context. He gave it to us.

As we want to understand what a word means, we look, we need to look at the context where it is used, not somewhere else in the Bible, where it is used. And there's some words can have multiple meanings.

How do we know what it means? We look at the context where it is used to get the correct meaning. A second rule, the explicit constrains the implicit. Now what in the world does that mean, Mike? Well, I only wrote it short this way because I can put it on one line in PowerPoint.

What that statement means is if something is explicitly stated, it has a higher priority than what you might imply it means. So the explicit has a higher priority than something that might be implied for.

The meaning.

The third rule, what is the purpose of communication? To convey an understandable idea. And you know something, God knows how to communicate better than anybody else. A fourth rule, the interpretation must be based on the author's intention of meaning and not the reader's intent.

This is where we get into the historical grammatical sense here. What did the people know who wrote this? What was their culture like? Well, I'll tell you one thing, they didn't know modern science. Does that mean they could not understand Genesis?

No, God wrote the Bible for all people, all times. So they could understand what Genesis meant. They could understand other parts of the Bible. They did not need modern science to understand God's word.

And the last one, be sensitive to the type of literature. Now, let me give you a little question on this here. Now, common question. I've gotten this one, got this question several times when I do my talks.

Somebody will ask me, do you take the Bible literally? Well, if you say yes, you're in trouble. If you say no, you're in trouble. Wait a minute, Mike. What is the answer then? Well, here's how we answer that question.

The Bible is written in different formats. That's what we mean by genre. It's written historical narrative. It's written with figures of speech. It's written in other ways, other formats, parables. I take the Bible literally where it's meant to be taken literally.

So we have to be sensitive type of literature. If it's poetry, it has maybe a different meaning. If it's historical narratives, it can have a very good meaning there, meaning this really happened. So we need to be sensitive to the literature or type of genre.

Those are five very important rules for helping us interpret God's word. So let's get to the first one. We're going to go through seven evidences, just seven. There's a whole lot more, seven evidences for why the age of the earth matters.

And again, it all seems to center around what does that word day mean in Genesis chapter one, and the first evidence is called the authority of scripture. If we were to just read Genesis one, leave everything else we know, don't talk about science, don't talk about anything else, just the plain reading of the first chapter of Genesis.

What do you get out of that? That God created everything in six days. It is so plain and easy to understand that God created everything in six days. That's the plain reading. Now, again, don't bring anything else into this.

Just what God gave us. Now, here's another point. If we can't trust the first chapter of the Bible, when can we start trusting you and who's going to make those rules? And also if we can't believe the Bible's history, which starts in Genesis, why should we believe it's theology?

See, our foundation for the whole scripture starts in the first chapters of Genesis. If we give those up, then when do we start believing it? And we have a problem. Who's going to set the rules? Now, if the Bible says something, remember, all the scripture is God breathed, so if it says something, it's pretty important.

But if it says it more than once, it can be very important. Did you know that three times in the Bible, it explicitly, never use that word, it explicitly states that God created everything in six days.

In Genesis 1, in Exodus 20, verse 11, in Exodus 31, verse 17, there explicitly states that God created everything in six days. Nowhere does it say he created over millions and billions of years or eons of time.

It does not say that anywhere, but three times he told us six days. Now, go on with the meaning of day. God explicitly chose the word day. We're still into the authority of scripture, evidence number one.

God explicitly chose the word day. Remember the explicit overrides what you might imply it means. God could have chosen other Hebrew words if he wanted to indicate a long period of time, but he chose none of those.

He chose the word day. And then in Genesis chapter one, verse five, God actually defines the word day. Whoa, I don't knew that.

Yep.

Right there in Genesis one, five, we read God called the light day and the darkness, he called night and there was evening and there was morning one day. In that one verse, God gives two definitions for the word day.

It can mean the light portion of a day, or it can mean the light and dark portion for the word day. This should settle it right here, folks. God used the word day. He defined it for us. So what does that word day in there mean?

How about a day?

Wow.

What an interesting thought. God really meant what he said. Now, so we got, God explicitly chose the word day and we have it defined. Then in Genesis one, God uses a number with the word day. Is that significant?

Well, it might be because everywhere in the Old Testament, we have a number with the word day. Guess what it means? A day. It never means a long period of time. God is being consistent here and he even gives us more.

The word day is bounded by evening and morning everywhere in the Old Testament, we see evening and morning. It always and only means a day. God's given us overwhelming information, but people will not accept that.

They've been influenced by the world, been influenced by the world's thinking. I'm going to make sure you understand that they have not been influenced by any facts of science. They've been influenced by people's interpretation of the evidence.

We're in God's word. We have truth. Now challenge. Here's a challenge. We need to have some challenges as we go through here. Give both sides here. The word yom, which the Hebrew word for day does not always mean a little day.

And I'm told that, you know what I say? I agree. The word yom or day does not always mean a literal day. Let's take a look at some examples. It can mean a little day, a period of daylight, a season, a year of disappointing time or time in general, general sense, so it can have different meanings.

Okay, Mike, then how are we going to know what it means? How about our rules? Context. We'll look at the context where that word day is used to get the intended meaning. That makes it pretty easy. So let's look at Genesis 4, 3.

And it states, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Well, that word time in there is actually the word yom, but it's not translated day.

It's translated time.

Why?

Context, folks. We're talking about a growing season here, not a day. And also it's not accompanied with a number or bounded by evening and morning, which we do have in Genesis one. So we've seen the word day can have a lot of different meanings, but context determines how it is translated.

Here's another one, Isaiah chapter 30, verse eight. Now go write it before them on a tablet and noted on a scroll that it may be for time to come forever and ever. That word time there is again, is the word yom, but it's not translated day.

Why not? Because in this context is talking about future generations forever and ever. The word day would be an incorrect translation. The correct translation is time. And also it's not accompanied with a number or bounded by evening and morning as it is in Genesis one.

Are you starting to get the picture? Context matters. Let's look at another one. First Kings one, one. Now King David was old advanced in years and it put covers on him, but he could not get warm where the word years there is yamin, which is the plural of yom, but it's not translated days.

It's translated years.

Why?

Context to be old. The context means years, not days. If somebody said you were advanced in days, that doesn't necessarily imply you're really old, but it's with the word years there. It makes a little more emphatic that you really are old.

So the correct translation, more correct translation, correct translation is years, not yamin. And also it's not accompanied with the number or bounded by evening and morning as it is in Genesis one. Look at one more here.

Genesis chapter 18, verse 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old advanced in age. Sarah was past childbearing. That word age there is again, the plural of yom, yamin. So it's not translated days. It's translated age.

Why?

Because in the context, it warrants age, not day to be past childbearing. She's past the age of childbearing. So more correct translation here is age, not day. Also, it's not accompanied with the number or bounded by evening and morning as it is in Genesis one.

Are you seeing a pattern here now? The word yom can have different meanings, but it is context that gives us the correct translation. And in Genesis one, God defined it. He specifically used the word day.

He put a number with it and he bound it by evening and morning. It makes it very easy to understand God's days were days. Now that's evidence one. Let's go to evidence number two, the 10 commandments.

Let me start by asking some questions about these 10 commandments here. How many of you out there really believe the 10 commandments? And I ask that when I do my sermons at church, I like to ask that question.

Everybody put their hand up saying, yeah, yeah. I believe the 10 commandments. They're still pretty good, even though they're, they're old or several thousands of years old. They're still pretty good for today.

So people say, yes, we do believe the 10 commandments. Then next question I'll ask him, who wrote the 10 commandments? Was it Charlton Heston who played Moses in Hollywood or was it God? Well, it was God.

God wrote down the 10 commandments. God himself put these on stone tablets. Next one I'm going to ask is if you were to turn to the book of Exodus and read the 10 commandments, do you think you can understand them?

And a lot of people might sit back and say, well, let me give you a couple of examples. How about the commandment that says thou shall not steal. Is that really mean that, or is that open to our interpretation?

Well, it really means it. God wrote that down that we shouldn't steal. How about the commandment says thou shall not murder. Does that really mean that, or is that open to our interpretation? Well, I'll give you a hint.

It's not open to our interpretation. God wrote down on the stone tablets, thou shall not murder. So we can, we know who wrote these, God wrote them down and we can understand them. Now let's go to Exodus 20 verse 11.

Commandment number four, which states this, for in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth to see in all that is in them and rest on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

What did God write down on the clay tablets? Six days. He made heavens and the earth in six days. What's so important about that now, Mike? Well, it is important because God told us, it's the authority of scripture, it's in the 10 commandments.

Here's where it comes together here, folks. If you do not believe the days of creation in Genesis one were literal days, then this commandment does not mean what it literally states and it's open to our interpretation.

And if commandment number four, does it mean what it literally states? What about the other nine? Can we add our opinions in there also? You see, here's the problem. If we give up Genesis chapter one, our foundation, we've now just given up the 10 commandments.

We don't have to believe them anymore either. You see, it makes a difference what we believe about the age of the earth and what God gave us. Because giving up Genesis, we give up the 10 commandments because they're open to everybody's interpretation.

Incidentally, let me go back to that. See, the real issue here is not millions and billions of years. The real issue we should be asking, as Christians, this is what we should be.

Asking.

Why did God take so long as six days to create everything? Wait a minute, Mike, I've never heard that. Why did he take six days? He could have done it in six seconds or one second. Why did he take so long as six days?

Well, he gives us an answer. Work six, rest one. He gave us a model for our work week. We have a practical God. He gave us how to live our lives. Work six, rest one. He did the same thing. He worked six and rested one.

He didn't work 6 million years. He worked six days creating, then rested. Not that he needed to rest, but he gave us a model for how to live and work our.

Lives.

Isn't that great? Isn't that a great God we have? Now let's go to evidence three. The words of Jesus Christ in Mark 10, verse six. In Mark 10, verse six, Jesus makes this statement. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

Now, what is Jesus saying here? Jesus is telling us this, that man and woman were on this planet from the beginning of the creation, not after millions of years. Was Jesus wrong when he said this? See, if you're believing in millions of years, then what you're really saying here is, well, Jesus, you didn't quite get it right there.

It took a couple million years for Adam and Eve came on board. Folks, if Jesus is not right here and he's made an error, then maybe he's not God. We're still dead in our sins. You see the importance of understanding our foundation in Genesis one.

Now let's go to evidence number four. Very character of God. What we believe about the age of the earth affects the character of God. In Genesis 1 31, we read, and God saw everything that he had made.

Behold, it was very good. In the evening and the morning with the sixth day. Now notice this is after God's finished his six days of creation. He pronounced it all very good. Now the question is, does that mean it was perfect?

Yes, it does. In Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse four, that's Deuteronomy 32 verse four. It states the works of God are perfect. Creation is the works of God. Therefore his creation was perfect. Or we could throw out that verse 32 verse four.

It's no longer valid. And we start throwing other parts of the Bible. So God called everything very good. Now here's the question. What does God's very good mean? Does it mean death, pain, killing, disease, struggle, suffering, or an extinction?

Or does it mean perfect, no death? If you're believing millions of years, then what was going on for those millions of years before Adam and Eve? Well, it'd be called the fossil record. That's a record of dead things.

And God would have called all those dead things, all that killing, all that struggle, all those diseases, very good. Folks, that's a different God than what I've seen in the Bible. So it affects the very character of what we believe about God.

The Gospel and Death Before Sin

Evidence five, the gospel. This is going to really hit home, the gospel. Let's start with a literal interpretation. I always like to ask if that's OK, if I take a literal interpretation of what God has done here.

And we'll start here. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So that's how the Bible starts. That's the first statement. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Then the Bible goes on and talks about the six days of creation, what he created on each of the days.

Then after he's finished his basics, he calls it perfect or very good. And then comes the fall. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's sin. And then comes death. That is the exact order the Bible reads. I did not change anything.

I did not add anything in. No matter what version you're reading, valid versions there. What version you're reading. That is the order it always goes. Now, let me show you why this affects the gospel.

Let's add millions of years into here. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And all this goes on for millions and millions of years. Finally, along come Adam and Eve. And then comes the fall.

Here's the question. What was going on for those millions of years before Adam and Eve and sin? Well, the answer is this, folks. Death, decay and disease. Once you add millions of years into God's word, you're now subscribing and teaching death before sin.

That is a serious problem with the gospel now, folks. Why is the age of the earth important? Because it affects the very foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Was there death before sin? You see, the New Testament bears this out also.

We read in Romans 5, 12. Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin. Right there, Romans 5, 12, it agrees. Sin is the cause of death.

Oh, Mike, Mike, Mike. This is what I hear from people. Mike, it's only talking about human death. It's not talking about animals and other things. Well, there's another part in the Bible we need to read.

It's called Romans 8, 20 through 22. It reads this way. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. In hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. What does that say? Due to Adam's sin, all of creation was subjected to futility. The curse, all of creation, not just humans, but all of creation came under the curse, which would include animal death, human death, and any other forms of diseases and corruption that come along with that folks.

Sin.

Here's the problem. If sin was not the cause of death, then why did Jesus have to go to the cross? Why did he have to go to the cross, suffer and die and be raised from the dead if sin was not the cause of death?

Why did he have to conquer death if sin was not the cause of death? Oh my, Genesis is just poetry.

It's just poetry.

Not meant to be taken literally. Folks, if the first three chapters of Genesis are not literal, they're just poetry, we have a serious issue there. That means Jesus Christ suffered and died on that cross, a horrible death for something that never really happened.

Is that what you're saying? See, God made it very plain. He used the word day. He defined the word day. He put a number with it and he bound it by evening and morning. He's consistent with what he's communicating to us.

Consistency of Scripture and Miracles

Evidence number six, the consistency of scripture. Some questions about the cross and the resurrection here. I like to ask these questions. I like to ask pretty tough questions here. Do you believe that Jesus really died on that cross?

And I do that in my sermons. People raise their hands, say, yes, yes, yes. So we believe he died on the cross. But do you believe he really rose again on the third day? And people raise their hands, say, yeah, we believe that.

My next question is, why do you believe that? You weren't there to observe that. So why do you believe that he died on that cross and was raised from the dead? You didn't observe it. Nobody living today observed it.

Well, Mike, it's in the Bible, by faith, we believe it's in the Bible. Well, let me make this a little tougher for you.

Just a little bit tougher.

Did you know, according to all known science, you cannot be dead for three days and come back to life? So are you willing to believe the resurrection, even though it goes against known science and Christians will say, yes, yes, yes.

And there's where we have the contradiction coming from the churches. They'll believe the resurrection, even though it goes against known science, but they will not believe the plain reading of Genesis chapter one, where God said he'd create everything in six days because our scientists can't do it and they can't figure out how he did it.

And the world is looking at this contradiction we have in the church and to say, why should I believe it when you don't? In other words, the church is becoming a stumbling block for people believing God's word.

Do we believe his word or do we not believe his word? And when do we start believing it and who's setting the rules? That's what it comes down to. Let's talk some more about science and miracles here.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I like to ask this for Christians because there's many Christians out there that believe in an old earth, millions and billions of years. There's many of our top theologians who believe in an old earth.

So I like to ask the question, do you believe all scripture comes from God? Well, I hope so because that's what the Bible teaches. Do you believe God is all powerful, omnipotent? Well, I believe so. He created everything out of nothing.

That's pretty powerful. Do you believe God is all knowing, omniscient? Yes, he's omniscient. He's all omnipotent. And he wrote all this. He got, he breathed it all. Now, let's, let's take a look here.

The other day, the other day I was out for a run. I like to do that occasionally, go out for a run. I was passing by this pastor and this cow was standing there. As I was passing this cow, you know what happened?

He spoke to me. He said, hi, Mike, let's chat. Now, some of you probably don't believe that. Well, why not?

Well, that's easy.

My cows don't talk.

They move.