Bishop Ussher's Dates: No Proof Of A Young Earth
For hundreds of years Christians have appealed to the dates
formulated by the 17th century bishop, James Ussher. Using
biblical genealogies from Genesis 5 and 11, and other supporting
Biblical passages, he pieced together a timeline for Biblical
events. Many Bibles have this timeline in the margins,
indicating the estimated year that the events on that page
occurred.
Many people still swear by these dates, especially the one
indicated for Genesis Chapter One, 4,004 B.C. Many young-earth
creationists claim that the creation week started in this year.
Is it a reliable assumption that 4,004 B.C. is the beginning
point for the earth? How did Ussher arrive at the 4,004 date?
Ussher and Old-Earth Belief Ussher took a known point in
Biblical history, namely, the fall of Jerusalem in 588 B.C.
Counting back from there, with the Bible's genealogies and the
known number of years that these people lived, he simply added
up the dates to get back to the 4,004 B.C. date for Adam's
birthday.
If you are an old-earth believer, there is no need to lose any
sleep over Ussher and his dates, because his dates have no
impact upon the events of the creation week. This is because his
dates, if you choose to believe them, confirm the year of Adam's
creation. Adam's creation was the last event of God's creation,
the crowning achievement of God's creation, at the end of Day
Six. Ussher's methods of calculation does not go beyond Adam's
creation, because the genealogies he used stop with Adam, so
they do not accurately account for the first five days of
creation, nor to they account for most of Day Six.
Ussher claims that 23 October 4004 BC is the date of the
creation of the world. While Ussher does add the six 24-hour
days for the creation to his calculations, we have ample
evidence today to show that the days of creation were long
periods of time. All we can say for certain, if you believe
Ussher, is that Adam was created on 28 October 4004 BC, which is
Ussher's sixth day of creation.
Therefore, it is possible to fully believe in Ussher's dates,
and also believe that the days of creation were billions of
years long. The only thing to ignore is the six literal days he
adds, which we know were not 24-hour days.
Many old-earth creationists, including the most prominent one
today, Dr. Hugh Ross, have criticized Ussher's dates, in an
attempt to discredit them and give support to their own
old-earth theories. They incorrectly claim that Ussher's dates
are inconsistent with the evidence from geology. However, all
that is inconsistent is Ussher's addition of the 24-hour days of
creation. They are mistaken in the belief that Ussher's dates
threaten old-earth belief. Again, since Ussher's dates are based
on genealogies, they only go back to the creation of Adam, and
have no impact upon the preceding events of God's creation,
which were billions of years long. Conclusion Ussher has almost
reached the point of sainthood among fundamental Baptist
believers. His dates have long been used as proof of a young
earth. However, they have nothing to do with the length of God's
creation days, since his method only goes back to the beginning
of Adam's life. Young-earth creationists have no basis for
arguing the age of the earth based on Ussher's dates. Old-earth
creationists can even believe in the dates if they wish. If
Ussher had been an old-earth creationist, his dates would have
been the same, except for the six added 24-hour days of
creation. The bottom line...Ussher has no impact upon the age of
the earth debate, and does not support a young earth.
This article comes from the Answers In Creation website (http://www.answersincreatio
n.org). The source article is located at http://www.answe
rsincreation.org/ussher.htm.