Last Sunday evening, our study was concerning the Flood and existence of the Pyramids and great burial mounds. We concluded that there is no time conflict in regard to the Flood destroying the pyramids. The pyramids were built after the Flood. There are several such serious issues that arise in reference to time and biblical events.

Three different views of time. One of the reasons for time-conflicts is that around the world in different cultures and ages, men have viewed time itself differently. If I think of time in one way and you in another, then we are bound to disagree in regard to events that happened in time and place.

Some view time as circular in nature. Life continues in endless cycles. This worldview of time was embraced by the Greeks, Pythagoreans, Stoics, and Platonists. A system that became popular in Greece and Rome was the Great Year. This Great Year was 36,000 years long. The Indian cycle lasted 12,000 years in a sequence of creation-destruction-creation. A thousand of these cycles constituted a Kalpa; one Kalpa was a day in the life of Brahma. The Buddhists had a similar cosmic cycle.

Another view of time is called eternalism. In the twentieth century, there was a great revolution in concepts of time. Man began to believe that time and space were eternal. This view of time was linear and continuous. To limit our universe to the earth and what we know here was too narrow a view of things. A new specialized vocabulary arose to express new thinking. There was space-time, mathematical-time, the river of time, relativity and time sense. Scientists could not accept that the earth and the universe were young and could possibly end soon with the coming of Jesus Christ. They had an eternal view of time in regard to the physical world.

The Christian and biblical view of time rejects the cyclical and physically eternal view of time. We believe that there was a beginning of this world as we know it (Genesis 1:1) and an end of time (1 Cor. 15:24). Time is linear; it moves forward to a goal and conclusion until time turns into eternity.

Two very different models. We should be aware that there are two very different models of understanding our world and life. One is the Christian worldview and the other one is evolution. A third possible view is that we do not and cannot know—the agnostic view.

These two major views are continuously at odds because whatever data we have is interpreted according to the different views of time and the world. An Eastern Buddhist, who sees time as cyclical, will not be able to understand the linear approach of the Western Christian. Think of the difference between one who thinks of the earth as being flat and stationary to one who thinks of the world as round revolving around the sun.

The evolutionist’s view of the world and man is not at odds with the Christian’s view just at one or two points. The evolutionist does not believe in a creative beginning by the hand of God or the Flood of Noah’s day or the Fall of Adam and Eve. He does not believe that the earth will be brought to an end by the Second Coming of Jesus. The two views speak two different languages. So we should expect some considerable differences when time is discussed. An evolutionist does not take into account that God created man, plants and animals full-grown. Adam was not a baby. The Flood, due to great pressure upon plants and rocks, caused things to age and change more quickly. The apostle Peter addressed some who willingly set aside the Flood.

We could ask, Are the time-conflicts between Christians and evolutionists real conflicts? The answer is no. There is harmony with God’s Word and what exists in the world. The earth cannot be both young and old. The conflicts are caused by two different perspectives and sometimes by things that we do not know for sure. Sometimes we make false assumptions; i.e., whether the earth or the sun is the center of the galaxy.

But time is more important in the evolutionary scheme of things. Time is, in fact, the hero of the whole story. Professor George Wald wrote this about time: "The important point is that since the origin of life belongs in the category of ‘at-least-once’ phenomena, time is on its side. However improbable we regard this event, or any of the steps it involves, given enough time, it will almost certainly happen at least once. And for life as we know it, with its capability for growth and reproduction, once may be enough. Time is the hero of the plot. The time with which we have to deal here is of the order of two billion years. What we regard as impossible on the basis of human experience is meaningless here. Given so much time, the impossible becomes possible, the possible becomes probable, and the probable becomes virtually certain. One has only to wait, time itself performs the miracles." (George Wald, "The Origin of Life," Scientific American (August 1954), 45-53.

Christians do not believe that time performs miracles, but rather that God does. Evolutionists must believe that things inanimate came to life one day. Out of something lifeless came life. Can you imagine sitting around watching a rock to see if it is going to move and eat and talk? They argue, Given enough time it certainly will happen!

Creation dated. Many Bibles will carry a dating of major events initiated by James Ussher (1581-1656, archbishop of Armagh in Ireland) and John Lightfoot (1602-1674, Hebrew scholar and vice chancellor of Cambridge). They attempted an exact dating of biblical events and have been ridiculed ever since. They would give even a year, month and week for the creation! Ussher proposed the year 4004 BC; Lightfoot went further saying that it was in October of 4004 and that Adam was created at nine o’clock in the morning on October 23^rd.

Martin Luther insisted that the earth was not yet six thousand years old and was of the opinion that the creation occurred in the Spring. Rabbinical chronology placed the creation at 3700 BC. The Roman Catholic Church based on the Clementine edition of the Vulgate placed the date at 5199 BC.

All of these exact dates for the creation are conjectures and should not be accepted. But on the other hand, these dates are not as far afield as those who accept the evolutionary worldview. Their dates are staggering. The generally accepted numbers are that the universe has been here for about 4.5 to 5 billion years and that man has been on the scene for about one million years. Why such a difference between the two dates? The answer is to give enough time for man to come into being on is own!

Biblical time references. We should note that man and the earth are about the same age. Man was created on the six day. Therefore, the earth and man was created during the same week. Listen to Jesus, "But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female." (Mark 10:6.) Jesus put the creation of man and woman at the same time period as the beginning of the creation. If the earth is 5 billion years old, then so is man. If man is one million years old, so is the earth.

Secondly, man and the animals are about the same age having been created also during the same week. The great sea creatures and birds were created on the fifth day. The land animals, livestock, beasts and creeping things were created on the sixth day—the same day that man was created. (Genesis 1:20-26.) Were dinosaurs on the earth millions of years ago? Of course not. That is an evolutionary time reference that some have accepted, contrary to the Scriptures.

A question that is often asked is, Are the days and years mentioned in the Bible the same as our days and years? Yes, in fact a day is described as an evening and morning. (Genesis 1.) In addition, Jesus asked, "Are there not twelve hours in a day?" (John 11:9.) The Bible says that Adam lived to be 930 years old. Since he was created on the sixth day, if a day were to be ages of time, then Adam would have been extremely old because he lived through the seventh day and part of the sixth. If the meaning of years changed at some point in biblical history, when did the change occur? There is no indication that such ever happened, but we have every reason to believe that they are exactly the same as they are today.

We have five major sections in the Bible where names are given for the genealogy of Jesus. (Matthew 1, Luke 3, Genesis 5, Genesis 10-11 and 1 Chronicles 1-9.) There are three sets of fourteen generations from Abraham to Jesus. (Matt. 1.) There are ten generations from Adam to Noah, and ten more from Noah to Abraham. The date for Abraham is rather easily determined at about 2000 BC, or 4000 years ago. The birth of Abraham is often set at 2167 BC. There are only 20 years from Adam to Abraham with names and ages given for each. We noted last Sunday evening that these lists are rounded off for ease in memorization. There are other names that could be added to the list. But even so, there is no way that the list could be expanded to add tens and hundreds of thousands of years.

Why is this important? It is important because the Bible gives us the names of those from Adam to Abraham to Jesus Christ. This is important to those who believe in Jesus Christ. He was a real historical character with a lineage. God promised a Redeemer from the lineage of Abraham through Isaac. Such is not so for mythical or make-believe characters. It is furthermore important because some are trying to reconcile an evolutionary world-view of time with the Christian view. It cannot and should not be done. Those who believe in billions and millions of years for the existence of the earth and man do not believe in God, the creation, the Flood, or the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

All living things on earth point back to a new beginning after the Flood. The oldest trees, the bristlecone and sequoia, of California date back 4 to 5 thousand years. Population studies show that the present population had its beginning, not millions of years ago, but back to Noah’s day. All human records date back to the biblical periods described for us. If man has been on the earth for one million years, why has it taken him so long to learn to write and talk? He must have been a slow learner! Isn’t it amazing that all living things and human records date back to the Flood, yet it is the rocks and inanimate things that are so old?

One of the concerns for our astronauts when the manned moon missions were planned a few years ago, 1960s, was that their spacecraft would sink into the dust of the moon and perish. They reasoned that since the moon has been in existence for 4-5 billion years that many feet of soft dust would be on the surface of the moon. What happened when the first mission landed man on the moon? They were surprised to see that there was only a thin layer of dust, enough to leave footprints when Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walked on the moon. (July 20, 1969.) This shows that the moon was not as old as they first thought.