So you haven't assembled the genealogies?
Ya beat me to it! Thanks.
Ussher did in the 17th century (if I recall correctly), and I did once too many years ago.
Wow! You've been a more dedicated Bible scholar than I every was. I just took a glance at Ussher and other geneologies...like the *revised one of the religion I grew up with - Jehovah's Witnesses, and just assumed their homework was correct.
The genealogies (except for one or two missing records) all add up to about 4,000 years between Adam and Jesus.
Right; except that the geneology in Matthew through Jesus's father (that's a tough one for literalists by itself), is a few generations longer than Luke's (supposedly Mary's)...and that's not even counting the other clashes between the two geneologies.
The geneologies in the Bible are a mess for a multitude of reasons besides being no basis of reference for geologic events.
Also, Genesis says it was night and then day. So one 24 hour period, for 7 days.
So literally, the Bible says the world is only 6,000 years old.
And, there are still clashes between "
Young Earth" and "
Old Earth" creationists today...which will never end. One of the JW publications from many years ago, pulled up a verse from Psalms I think...declaring that a thousand years are as a day to God; so they used that to come up with a total age from creation to end times of 49,000 years....still, slightly out of step with the record in the rocks I would say! The 10,000 year time frame is one I've heard many times, but have no idea where they pull that one out of.
On the other hand, "kind" is not defined at all in the Bible. What definition you have on "kind" is all based on traditions, denominations, and affiliations.
And that's why I ignore every thread about Noah's Ark....except if it's about the Movie....which is how mythology is supposed to be presented to people! The literalists, and their cross-referencing and evidence claims, end up destroying the real value and the main purpose behind myths and oral traditions.
Hence, you pick and choose how literal and how non-literal you want Genesis to be.
Yes, and I hope I have time to get to it, but I have a '
see, science tells us the Universe has a creation point also' point, waiting for me here. You can't have it both ways! If someone rejects science when it clashes with their religious or personal notions about the world, then don't reference science when you think it confirms your beliefs....and in the case of Big Bang Cosmology, what I have tried to understand of the physics that would be functioning at the start of our Universe, it was NOT a
creation ex nihilo...regardless of what drivel William Lane Craig and others try to argue.
I agree that you shouldn't just believe without reason or some supporting evidence... however, the science behind Evolution is rock solid. The evidence is overwhelming, and the only reason you don't know is because you choose to ignore.
All belief systems...even scientific ones, are subject to error, because even scientists may form their worldview around certain sets of evidence, and then become resistant to changing that worldview when contrary evidence or theories come along.
I don't know who said it, but I've heard a quote that goes something like: 'science progresses a step with each funeral of every tenured dept. administrator.'
*The J.W.'s were smart that a change in leadership led to walking away from the End of This System in fall, 1975 (when Adam was created) a couple of years before the big day. My father signed us up with this church in the late 60's on the strength of that prediction...and he was one of the many who started asking questions when the leadership and the publications started saying maybe....but we don't know how long it took God to create Eve!
There was a substantial decline and falling away from the religion in the late 70's and early 80's because of the obvious revised failed prediction that the end would come before the last of the WWI generation died, so I wasn't surprised when a couple of young JW's, who had stopped by my house last fall, weren't even aware of 1975 and its implications.
They have in their own, much smaller way, made the transition that collective Christianity made during the 2nd century A.D. - going from an end time cult, to a religion that pushes the End of Days off into the more distant, unknown future. I have very secular reasons for being a doomer in recent years...but I don't see any sign of divine intervention saving us...except as wishful thinking!
