What do you think of this solution to the young/old earth debate?

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Mr77Cool

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Young Earth creationists say the Bible says the earth was created in six 24-hour periods, and they believe the Bible, science be damned. People who don't believe that science is wrong attempt many tortured interpretations of Genesis (day-age theory, gap theory) that true fundamentalists say are baloney.

But what about this solution, in which both science AND the Bible could be right at the same time... here we go... TIME WAS COMPRESSED. That's right. The much-debated Hebrew word "Yom" does indeed refer to a 24-hour period. BUT, in the early days of creation, things proceeded in super-fast motion. Processes that today would take billions of years were vastly accelerated. By allowing for a flexible notion of time (perfectly consistent with the notion of an infinite God existing outside of time, and also hinted at by modern theories of relativity), we could say that the events that science has discovered DID happen in six days, but that a day back then was quite different.
The beauty of this solution is that it is impossible to offer any evidence either for it or against it. If you say that radiocarbon dating proves such and such, well, carbon 14 decayed faster back then. In essence, time loses all meaning. We could be in fast or slow motion now, and we wouldn't even know it. Maybe less or more happens in a "Yom" now than it did when it was written. How do we know? We can't. But if you believe in an omnipotent, omnipresent God who exists outside of time, the argument is perfectly consistent. I think. Philosophers, please prove me wrong.
Ok let me be more clear... Geological processes that we were not witness to indicate that the earth is billions of years old. BUT, what if those processes were accelerated in the days of ancient creation? In our current world, they WOULD take billions of years, which we can see from observing the world as we know it. However, when God created the world, He compressed these processes into a much shorter period of time.

What science reveals is that certain processes occurred in a certain order, and that given the time frame in which they occur today, the earth/universe would have to be such and such an age. But if the relative passage of time were to have changed from the beginning of creation to now, a human's life, for a small example, from birth to death, might have happened in seconds. Like in the story Fire and Ice by Bradbury. Get it?
"I'd suggest you study some science instead of wasting your precious brainpower on nonsensical diversions. You'll learn to appreciate reason and fact much more."

I'm arguing meatphysics here, not science. I understand science. We're talking about the very meaning of our notion of time. Also, I'm presenting a solution whereby believers can more easily reconcile science with their beliefs. If you're not a believer that's your business.
"Yep, 'meatphysics' can be deceiving....you know, flesh is bad and stuff..."

LOL. Good one, Road Horse. That was just a typo, but but as coincidence would have it I am actually a vegetarian...
 
oh my a challenge!
look its very simple you need to take a look at particle physics. time is the only constant in the universe if as you say it was compressed by god then there would be evidence of this in the spectra of the stars we observe time is only constant to the observer. if you go approach the speed of light time slows down for you not for the rest of the universe so what you are suggesting is that time went faster here than on say Betelgeuse but since the redshifts of the closest stars show no such jump( bear in mind the light from those stars takes anything up to 1000000 years to reach us depending on their distance) if earth were suddenly going faster then this would show up as a spike in those stars spectrum and it doesn't
 
I have always thought that those 6 days lasted longer than what we know as a day today. I always thought they could have lasted anywhere from a few "weeks" to "years"
But then again God can do anything so it very well could have been that they were 24-Hour periods too
 
Err...the Bible says all the plants were created the day before the Sun, Moon, and stars. You can try to play with time all you want and that ain't going to fit.
 
A day is not defined as a 24 hour period. A day is defined as the amount of time it takes for the earth to make one revolution of the sun, which in reality is 23hrs and 56 minutes.

How could a "day" have been measured without the sun and earth being created first?
 
that doesn't make sense. that still leaves lots and lots of earth's early history unaccounted for, i.e. dinosaurs, evolution, etc.

edit: also, for what purpose would god go through the trouble of compressing time to create earth in six days and then leave a bunch of evidence indicating otherwise?
 
If it's impossible to offer evidence for it (or against it), then it's no "solution" of any kind.

Your fundamental error lies in trying to reconcile science (which works by facts, evidence, observation, and reason) with the musty fantasy creation myths of a wandering tribe of goat-herders from thousands of years ago. Why bother? The story from the bible is a *creation myth* -- just like the hundreds of other creation myths from hundreds of other cultures. All of them were written by ignorant people who saw gods in rocks, the sky, thunder, lightning, you name it. They made up gods in their fear of what they didn't understand, and made up creation myths usually to show why their particular culture was better than others. None of them have any basis in fact. Even if one were to accept, without any evidence of any kind, your "reconciliation" of time compression, it still leaves all of the fundamental assertions of the biblical creation myth completely lacking in evidence for them -- and with mountains of evidence against them. Sorry, dear, you're not going to "solve" anything with ad-hoc ideas, not when there's so much evidence against the biblical creation myth.

I'd suggest you study some science instead of wasting your precious brainpower on nonsensical diversions. You'll learn to appreciate reason and fact much more.

Peace.
 
We already have a solution, in that the young-earth theory is hopelessly naive. Messing around with altering relativity and hoping compressing time wouldn't wildly affect the laws of gravity seems a tad overcomplicated.
 
I will just have God explain it to me when get there. I think if He explained everything He has done it would take more than every book ever written. Compressed, maybe? The Bible sure is.
 
there is no 'debate'

there is the science that explains the observations

and there is a fairy tale with no observable fact

no debate
 
There's still the problem of having an imaginary figure in there somewhere.
 
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