If the world actually was only a few thousand years old, how would history play out different

[halbhh]

And this question goes mostly to the atheists, actually. If you believe that the world is only 5000 years old, then we already know your view.

Maybe it's not a good or interesting question, and I don't know if it belongs in the history or philosophy section, but I figured I'd ask it before I forget

I myself believe in the scientific explanation for how things came to be, mostly. That is, that there was evolution and millions of years of history etc.

However, our lack of paperwork for most the time we've been here, is what gives our origins a run for the money. Since we have only now entered paperwork culture, certain things are only now practically impossible to deny.

If however, science is all wrong, and we were only actually here for 5000 years, how would things be markedly different. Is it conceivable that all history would have played out the same way?

A Christian view:

Using trigonometry to measure the distances to nearby stars we can see visibly that most stars in our own galaxy are more distant than 10,000 light years.

10,000 light years is from the current limit of precision of telescope measurements of the apparent changes in position of nearby stars versus the more distant background of stars caused by the movement of Earth in orbit, which changes the position and thus also the angle of observation of Earth stationed or orbiting telescopes looking at nearby stars, creating triangles which can then be calculated with trigonometry because we have:
2 angles and one side known (the diameter of Earth's orbit) -- so that the entire triangle is then determined/fixed.

So with only trigonometry and the constant speed of light in a near vacuum, we can simply see most stars are older than 10,000 years at least.

Also, we can also see in a straightforward way that the more refined estimates of the distance to the nearby Andromeda galaxy of 2.5 million light years (estimated by such things as observing Cepheid variable stars), also must be of about the right order of magnitude even by only trigonometry -- based on estimating only a roughly correct order of magnitude of the diameter of Andromeda and then calculating a rough order of distance from it's apparent angular size.

Thus that starlight from Andromeda has traveled millions of years.

Ergo those stars then with these very straightforward observations without any advanced theory are at least millions of years old.

Even before estimating their actual ages in more complex ways.

And so on for other galaxies.

So, stars in general are vastly older than a mere few thousand years unless God created an elaborate illusion by creating all their various light (and all the EM spectrum, etc.) traveling to us out in space 5,000 (6,000-7,000, or 10,000, or whatever small number) light years away!

Most Christians would not expect nor belief that God would fake the appearance of the Universe by making it look vastly older than it would actually be, so therefore many or most Christians know the Universe is vastly old, and that God made it, both.

This isn't a problem for believers that believe God created everything, but could be a problem for believers that have not realized God made everything (!) where some haven't thought out what 'everything' fully is, which would have to include all the laws of nature -- physics.

In other words, what we see is simply His design operating as He made it to operate. Ergo, 'creation'. This of course means at minimum that some of the non-biblical added assumptions that some have used to try to calculate the age of Earth and the stars as young are incorrect assumptions.

 

[halbhh]

And this question goes mostly to the atheists, actually. If you believe that the world is only 5000 years old, then we already know your view.

Maybe it's not a good or interesting question, and I don't know if it belongs in the history or philosophy section, but I figured I'd ask it before I forget

I myself believe in the scientific explanation for how things came to be, mostly. That is, that there was evolution and millions of years of history etc.

However, our lack of paperwork for most the time we've been here, is what gives our origins a run for the money. Since we have only now entered paperwork culture, certain things are only now practically impossible to deny.

If however, science is all wrong, and we were only actually here for 5000 years, how would things be markedly different. Is it conceivable that all history would have played out the same way?

There would not be a difference in how history played out if God faked the appearance of the age of the Universe and also of Earth and it was really just 5,000-10,000 years old (though such would be a false appearance many or most Christian think God would never do). It would require a large and extensive effort of faked appearances.

Which wouldn't even make sense in another way -- most would think time doesn't affect God to begin with, and a day is as if a thousand years to Him and a thousand years are only like a day or only like a second, or the blink of an eye. Ergo, a billion years doesn't affect or control God in any sense, and He can simply pass through it like you or I would go through an afternoon or a month or perhaps even pass through a door(!), many would think.

 

[tayla]

If the world actually was only a few thousand years old, how would history play out different

The universe once was only a few thousand years old. And this is how it played out, billions of years later.