Bishop Ussher's Dates: No Proof Of A Young Earth
Author: Greg Neyman

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.answersincreation.org). The source article is
located at http://www.answersincreation.org/ussher.htm.


About The Author: Greg Neyman is the founder of the creation
science website ministry known as Answers In Creation, located
at http://www.answersincreation.org.