What biblical reasons are there to accept the scientific view of the earth as billions of years old?

[Mike_Gantt]

@Casper_Hesp

Hi Mike and @r_speir, I don’t understand completely what you both are worrying about here. Would you mind expanding on that?

Speaking for myself, I’m happy to. (@r_speir and I do not know each other, and this is the first time I recall bumping into him in this forum.)

I think @r_speir put the matter very well when he said:

@r_speir

…Jesus upheld Scripture as historical in every reference he gave to it.

That is, Jesus spoke about historical events in the Old Testament in the same way whether the event was earlier in OT times (i.e., those which are questioned more such as in Gen 1-11) or late (i.e., those which occur after the time of David and Solomon and whose historicity are less controversial). In other words, I see no indication that Jesus regarded any of the early events as “true myth,” as some have called them.

@Casper_Hesp

I do not see Jesus anywhere affirming a young-earth scenario in His teachings.

When you phrase it that way, I’m not sure I do either. However, His remarks in Matt 19 and Mark 10 about marriage indicate, at least to me, that He saw Adam, Eve, and marriage as all occurring “in the beginning.” That fits better with a six-day creation than with any OEC view I’m aware of.

@Casper_Hesp

Also, the idea that Jesus had limited knowledge of natural history is consistent with the orthodox Christian doctrine of kenosis (self-emptying). It is a logical consequence of Jesus taking on all the limitations of a human being.

I fully concur with you that Jesus lived His life on earth as a genuine human being, which includes - among other things - not being omniscient.

The question this raises is, of course, would Jesus have spoken differently about the history of Genesis in a scientific age than He did in a pre-scientific age. I think that’s a legitimate question to ask. (And, of course, there are other ways to ask it.) But it must be asked and answered adequately. I feel no liberty at all to conclude without deliberation that because He lived in a pre-scientific age His regard for the historicity of events described in the Old Testament can for this reason alone be ignored.

If you want me to disregard Jesus’ view of the historicity OT events, help me with this understanding in mind.

@Casper_Hesp

As I said, for many people it takes years and loads of cognitive dissonance before they change their minds on these matters. Oftentimes, to improve the structure of a building (read: worldview) you need to break it down first, at least partly. So it can feel like you’re moving backwards (destroying the building), while it is actually opening the way towards a better structure overall.

It’s fair for you to give me this warning. But I hope you also recognize that it’s fair for me to say that I am intensely focused on getting the foundation of the building right - not trying to complete the entire structure in that time. In any case, the key factor is not time, but conscience. As long as it takes to get conscience clear is as long as we should take to act. The longest journey begins with a single step and the single step should be taken as soon as a person’s conscience gives clarity to it - even if he can’t see the rest of the way that clearly. I am estimating how long it will take me to have a clear conscience on this subject, but if it ends up taking me longer than that, then I’ll take that long before taking the first step.

I have learned that a clear conscience does not guarantee that I will be right about any issue of life, but failing to follow conscience is always a mistake.