Age of the Earth and Dinosaurs Part 1

       With the new blockbuster movie about dinosaurs out in theatres, it amazes me how people just believe what "educated" people tell them about the age of the earth, and the truth about dinosaurs. Of course when I say truth, I am talking about actual evidence and not a theory that can never be proven, a claim that even the most famous scientists admit. But few want to listen, and fewer even know the truth and what the Bible says on these matters. Like most everything else, the Bible is not silent on this. Again, these are not my opinions, but facts that are stated by experts and scientists, which I am neither, and I list when possible, where you can find these statements and search them for yourself. This is what I think is the most important issue in all of this, decide for yourself. Don't take the word of people as complete truth just because they have a P.H.D. or Masters, but yet can't prove anything. Study the evidence as well as the logic, and you might be surprised at the results.
       First, let's take a look at how old the earth is. An exact date cannot be proven on either side, but what does the Bible say? In Genesis chapter 1, the Bible says God created the earth and everything on it in 6 days. Science of course says this is not possible and even laughable. Remember this though, most scientists are atheists, and will come up with any theory to counter anything in the Bible. In one theory, and the most famous one, they believe the universe was created by the "Big Bang", an incident that is very detailed and thought out, but cannot (according to Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking) ever be proven. This theory states that the whole universe was compacted into a very small mass, and the energy was so great that it exploded and after eons, the matter eventually formed into solar systems, with earth included. Eventually, after more eons, single cell life formed, crawled out of the ocean, and the rest is history. This of course is a much shortened version, and I am not trying to be disrespectful for some have spent lifetimes studying and writing this, so I encourage you to read more on this, but there are many problems that they can't seem to answer.
       Not only does this go against God's Word, but science itself says there are many issues with it. One is this, how can life simply begin out of lifeless matter? Granted, they don't say it happened right away, but at some point it did happen, right? Well, science (or at least natural law) says this is impossible. The Law of Thermodynamics and Biogenesis, both of which are proven laws, states that matter when going through changes, is always weaker than it was in it's original state. For instance when you bend a piece of metal, it is weaker than before. It is never stronger, unless given added support by something with intelligence, such as man. Biogenesis proves that life cannot come from non-life, period. It cannot happen, no matter how hard science tries, it is impossible. Scientists all agree on this, except in the case of the beginning of the world and life on it. Where did life on earth begin? How did it begin if the laws of nature say it can't be done? Even Charles Darwin on his deathbed said he couldn't see how life started without a higher being designing it. So this should be a slam dunk for Christians, right? Enter the somewhat new theory of Theistic Evolution.
       Theistic Evolution is the theory that the days in Genesis do not mean actual 24 hour periods, but could be hundreds or even thousands years apart, and evolution happened after creation by God. This appeases Christians who believe anything a scientist will tell them, but actually goes against both science AND the Bible. This theory also cannot be proven due to the facts stated above, but also goes against God's Word. How can they say the Word of God absolutely true, but was mistaken in the very beginning of the first book? Unfortunately, they are mistaken in a very key element. The Hebrew word used in Genesis chapter 1 is Yom, which is used many other times in the Old Testament, and every other time it means a 24 hour period. Hebrew does have a word for millennia, eons, centuries and other long periods of time which all can be found in the Old Testament as well, but is not used in Genesis. Why would the inspired writers do this? Because they were writing what God was directing them to write, the truth. Also, look at what things were created in order in Genesis. First there was light, then the land, then the plants which would need both land and light, and then the animals, which would need light, land and plants to survive. Granted, it may not take much to figure this out, but couple this with the other evidence and lack of evidence from science and theistic evolution, what makes logical sense? Friends, the earth and all that was on it was created in six 24 hour periods, just as God proclaimed. He was not mistaken nor misleading.
       So now we come to another "confusing" subject to many. If the earth was created in six true days, the earth would still have to be millions of years old because dinosaurs are that old right? Well, what do we really know about our ancient friends? Many of us believe that there were countless dinosaurs roaming the entire earth and dominating their time. This may be far from the truth. So far, we have only found 700 different species of dinosaurs and a whopping 2,100 complete skeletons (pubs.usgs.org). Granted, there are many more to find, but how many? Compare those numbers with the numbers of other animals. There are 10,000 species of birds, 27,300 fish, 5,416 mammals and 950,000 insects. By these numbers, there were never anywhere near the amount that we really believe existed. Does this really matter though? Well, if what we originally believe was wrong, what else could be? Their age? Did they live at the same time as humans? Laughable again, right? Would it interest you to know that there is evidence that these animals might have lived with man, did not die off in a massive single disaster, and may not be near as old as once thought? Science again will tell you no, but again, is there a possibility they could be wrong? You bet. In the second part, we'll look at this as well as the problems scientists have with carbon dating and how old could the earth be?