What is the basis for the Creationist claim that the Earth is merely thousands of years old?

[The Night Owl]

Is the Creationist estimate of Earth's age based on the Biblical account of who begat who? If it is based on that, then... well... LOL!

[YOY]

1. and who lived to be 600 years old or some shit

It's really imbecilic. DEEPLY imbecilic. So F***ING DEEPLY imbecilic that it should merit automatic irreversible vasectomy.

[iamjoy]

2. That's Pretty Much It

The first several chapters of Genesis read like a geneology lesson - all men "begatting" other men as if the women had nothing to do with it. It says how old the men were when they "begat" their son.

[Boojatta]

3. Where does Genesis specify the age of the Earth when Adam was created?

[iamjoy]

19. Genesis 1

Evening and morning - Day 1, and so forth.
Genesis says God created humans on Day 6

[Lerkfish]

4. FWIW, you're confusing fundamentalists with creationists.

you can be in the group of fundamentalists and not believe the world is thousands of years old.

not that I"m defending either group, but to lump them together inaccurately doesnt help your argument much.

[unpossibles]

6. I think it could be argued that Creationists are a subset of Fundamentalists, no?

Maybe I am being too literal with the word though, but it would seem that a literal reading of the Bible would constitute Fundamentalism.

[Lerkfish]

8. and KKK members are a subset of caucasians, too.

:shrug:

[The Night Owl]

7. A fair point. I edited the OP. {EOM}

[Occam Bandage]

20. Not all creationists. Only the Young-Earth Creationists, which are a further subset.

[The Night Owl]

21. A fair point, but...

...we are past the point where I can edit.

:)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. I believe the age was calculated by some medievial monk

There is no place in the Bible that I know of where the time is exactly calculated. One must remember that Hebrew is an allegorical language; to many, even the creation story of Days can be interpreted not to mean 24 hours but who eons of time. I would suggest reading the works of Neil Douglas-Klotz, especially his latest on Genesis. He has extensively studied Hebrew and Aramaic and explains how those languages put ideas into words in a way different from languages of Europe, such as Greek and Latin.

[Adsos Letter]

9. It was calculated by Archbishop Ussher...17th century...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ussher

[Boojatta]

10. What are some connections between the book of Genesis and the

Aramaic language?

[ComtesseDeSpair]

12. What's Behind It?

Well, a lack of a basic education in science, to begin with. Also, a complete lack of common sense. And, of course, brainwashing to boot!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. None,

sorry I didn't make myself clear--the hazards of typing while at work and having to take phone calls and then come back and finish a thought. Neil has written extensively about the New Testament as well, and that's where the Aramaic comes in--just didn't remember to include that when I was typing.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Aramaic is a relative of Hebrew. Some of the books of the OT

(Ezra, Daniel) were probably first written in Aramaic. Aramaic was the language Jesus would have spoken, assuming he was a historical figure, so although the NT was written in Greek, it is a translation of what Jesus said in Aramaic.

[sharesunited]

11. Check it out:

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/ussher.htm

[AlinPA]

15. The whole thing is impossible to believe. 600 year old people, the Ark and

squeezing all those animals in there, mixing grizzly bears with animals they usually eat, it's quite a story. Good story for kids, I guess.

[Speck Tater]

16. I want to know how he got the kangaroos and South American monkies. NT

[The Night Owl]

17. Telling kids that the Universe is presided over by a supreme being...

...which smote the innocent along with the guilty by means of a global flood is not the kind of story I would tell a child.

[AlinPA]

18. After I wrote that, I thought of something like that-that it is not good to teach them that stuff.

You are right.

[and-justice-for-all]

22. The entire idea is based on fantasy...

and wish-thinking.

I could say the same for The Land Of Oz and Alice's Wonderland.