The Bible Creation Time Line - Resolved

The Bible is a document that has been painstakingly protected and copied from a multitude of historical records from ancient times. To date, the Bible has been proven to contain the most accurate recorded data from human history. I know of no other combined works that we could examine that would contain as much viable information than this one combined work. So far, the Bible has not been proven to be inconsistent with actual historical events.

The Bible creation time-line is an area that is perhaps read too literally in the first chapter of Genesis. The time-line, as authored in the book of Genesis, clearly states that the universe and all life was developed within a seven day period. What does this seven day period represent in actual time?

2 Peter 3:8–9 reads:

‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” It would be safe to postulate that like meant just that as Jesus often spoke in parable fashion. The populace of the time period would be hard pressed to conceive a million or billion year time span and it could possibly detract from the message’s deeper meaning. Thus Jesus framed the message in parable format so as to make it easier for the populace to fully comprehend.

Based upon modern scientific technology and academic research it would be safe to say that the universe is approximately 14 billion years old. 14 Billion divided by 6 days equals 2,333,333,333. 2.3 billion years equals one Bible (Genesis) day – It appears that we could speculate each day to be approximately 2.3 billion years long and it has been 6 Genesis days since the beginning (Big Bang).

As such, we would have just started the seventh Genesis day according to scripture and that would not detract one iota of meaning from the Bible’s messages as a whole. We must keep in mind that a normal day consists of 3 parts of 8 hours each; Day, Evening and Night. Consequently, if we divide 2.3 billion (1 Genesis day) by 3 then the sum of each part would equal 777,777,777 years for each part of the day. Note: The number seven is the most significant number in the Holy Bible.

Editors Note: 2.3 plus 2.3 (2.3 + 2.3) equals 4.6. This number 4.6 comes directly from current scientific deduction which forms the basis of this hypothesis. The number 4.6 (to be known as 4.666666) represents the age of planet Earth according to current scientific examination.

Additional Perspective: (http://www.gotquestions.org/theistic-evolution.html)

“Theistic evolution says one of two things. The first option is that there is a God, but He was not directly involved in the origin of life. He may have created the building blocks, He may have created the natural laws, He may even have created these things with the eventual emergence of life in mind, but at some point early on He stepped back and let His creation take over. He let it do what it does, whatever that is, and life eventually emerged from non-living material. This view is similar to atheistic evolution in that it presumes a naturalistic origin of life.

The second alternative of theistic evolution is that God did not perform just one or two miracles to bring about the origin of life as we know it. His miracles were constant. He led life step by step down a path that took it from primeval simplicity to contemporary complexity, similar to Darwin’s evolutionary tree of life (fish begot amphibians who begot reptiles who begot birds and mammals, etc). Where life was not able to evolve naturally (how does a reptile’s limb evolve into a bird’s wing naturally?), God stepped in. This view is similar to special creation in that it presumes that God acted supernaturally in some way to bring about life as we know it.”

Earth’s Time-Line

What available historic documents could we use to reference the age of the earth or the universe aside from current scientific technology, research and mathematical formula? We could use the Bible, as it does present a vague but verifiable time reference, combined with current technologies, research and data to scale out a sensible linear examination of earth’s time-line.

If the Earth is only 10,000 years old, then there shouldn’t be anything on Earth which looks older than 10,000 years. As a result, all potassium samples should look as if only 10,000 years worth of decay has occurred, not billions. And yet we do find a multitude of Earth elements which display evidence of decay over a period of millions to even billions of years.

NASA calculates that the age of the Earth is approximately 4.57 (rounded to 4.6 / 2.0 = 2.3) billion years old. NASA also calculates the estimated age of the universe to about 1%: 13.7 ± 0.13 billion years old (rounded to 14 billion). The Big Bang (a.k.a. event horizon) is estimated to have occurred approximately 14 billion years ago.

We can also consider that the Earth was a direct effect of the Big Bang at some point in the form of particles of gas and minerals that would soon become a molten blob of solar rock. This process could have conceivably taken 6.999 billion years (from the Big Bang) to develop from particles and gases into a more defined mass of planetary star stuff (in honor of Carl Sagan).

Interestingly, the Bible’s Book of Genesis states that on the third day the Earth began a process of transformation on a huge stellar scale. We could now reasonably speculate that at the time frame of about 6.999 billion years (2.333 billion x 3 = 3^rd Genesis day) ago the Earth began its final transformation from a gaseous rocky mass into a molten solid state.

Of course it would still take another 2.333 billion years (or 9.334 billion years from the Big Bang) for the Earth to be at a stable enough state with which we could affirmatively call it the planet Earth. This would now have been approximately 4.666666 billion years ago on Genesis day 5.

From here it would be safe to say that the Earth would not have been capable to sustain any life yet for at least another 2.333 billion years or until very late on Genesis day 5. Upon arrival at this juncture in Earth’s history it would have been approximately 11.665 billion years since the Big Bang which would have put Earth’s time frame at about 2.333 billion years ago on Genesis day 6 and just minutes after life could finally be sustained on planet Earth.

Oddly enough, and by some uncanny correlation of each Genesis day equaling 2.3 billion years, this time period would also fit too perfectly into the end of Day 5 of Genesis when the first signs of life started appearing on Earth at about 2.333 billion years ago. The Earth had to populate itself with lower plant life and crustaceans before the appearance of higher animal life.  

According to current scientific calculations the Earth’s Sun is also approximately 4.6 billion years old. Are we beginning to notice an unmistakable time-line trend here? It’s as if the whole birth of the universe is calibrated to some enormous astronomical clock.

The Genesis – Day 5 Conundrum

Up until this point, the Bible has been overwhelmingly accurate like the clockwork of a fine expensive watch. 
It is in the Bible’s Book of Genesis day 5 where we seem to have a little timing glitch as it relates to the physical 
objective evidence of birds/fish and when they may have actually appeared on earths timeline. 
Keep in mind that Genesis day 5 ended exactly 2.333 billion years ago (plus a few seconds or so). 
Genesis day 6 ended just seconds ago and we are now currently in Genesis day 7 (1 Genesis second equals 27,006 years, 
1 Genesis minute equals 1,620,370 years).

        And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving

           creatures that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth

           in the open firmament of heaven.

01:001:021 And God created great whales, and every living creature that

           moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their

           kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that

           it was good.

01:001:022 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and

           fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the

           earth.

01:001:023 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Fossilized evidence of birds and sea life is extremely difficult to attain further back then 50+ million years. This conundrum is specifically due to the fragile hollow nature of bird skeleton’s and the watery environments with which the sea creatures would have lived. It is not illogical to conclude that these creatures thrived long before the 50+ million year timeline. Hence making the timeline of the emergence of fowl a strong possibility according to the Bible’s Day 5 proclamation.

Conclusion: Furthermore, based upon all current mortal knowledge, it would be highly illogical and unfounded to even suggest a necessity that a supreme designer would have to fabricate the illusion of universal (including Earth) age when there is no omnipresent, theological or scientific need to do so. The time-line of life, as it is, seems to flow very smoothly based upon the current popular scientific age calculations as stated herein without overstepping any theological boundary.

Any references omitted (if applicable) is purely unintentional by the writer.