The timeline of the Bible

Right, thanks for clarifying that because it appeared that you were arguing for a young earth based on the timeline of the bible.I would just like to point out in line with that thought that the first verse of the bible gives no such indication. I have been doing some more research on this and I have recently learned that in the opening verse (which is actually the title)"in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth"the word 'created' is a hebrew verb in its perfect state...its a completed action. This means that the opening verse is not describing an earth being made, its describing an earth that had already been made.Unfortunately early bible translators adopted a method of translation called 'WAW Consecutive Theory' which is they made all the hebrew 'perfect' (complete) verbs into 'imperfect' (progressive) verbs for the sake of the English language.this means that the opening verse is identifying God as the creator of the earth and universe that was already in existence, not one that he 'began' making at that time.So its as you believe, the earth is very old and much older then 6,000 years... the bible is in full harmony with that. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

Thats exactly what it is and all it should be interpreted as.All imperfects in the Hebrew verb are 'incomplete actions'. Yet Vs1 of Genesis is uses a verb completed in action.In Genesis 2:2 'proceeded to rest' is a Hebrew 'imperfect' verb indicating an incomplete or continuous action but in the case of Gen1:1, the action WAS complete. It was not an ongoing action so it cannot be a part of the six creative days that follow. that is the title of the book. 'Bere'shith' is the opening word in Hebrew and its the 'title' of the book as opposed to a part of the dialogue that follows it. The book was first named Genesis in the LXXXVg

you will need to explain why in Vs1:1 'created' was written as a completed action....especially seeing what follows it is written as progressive actions. Many scholars have explained that verses are not speaking of the same progressive action. You will need to show otherwise. do the words of Genesis say that this happened 7,000 years ago? No, it gives no time period. "The beginning" is a simple way that Moses explained that at a certain point in time, God 'began' his creation of the universe and all that is in it.then later he proceeded to prepare the earth in the 6 creative periods.

what does the physical evidence show?is the universe only 6,000 odd years old?

No it does not. You say that because you refuse to read the opening words of Genesis in the way Moses read them.He wrote the same way other ancient writers wrote...not the way we write.Ancient writers did not have a title for their writings...the opening words WERE the title. In the case of Genesis the title as Moses wrote it was simply

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"Bere'shith Elo-him"

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This is all that Moses wrote. It literally means

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"Beginning God"

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When the translators put it into english they wrote it as:

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Vs 1 "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth"

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This was the best way to write it in English because the subject that followed was about the creation of the earth.While this helps us to read it in english, a language we can comprehend, it doesnt necessarily mean its going to convert to what Moses intended for it to mean in his language.Anyone who has ever learnt another language will understand that gramma and sentence structure is different in different languages. Im sure i dont need to tell you that, i only wish you would take this into consideration a bit more seriously. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

Cedre, It is not impossible for us to understand the Hebrew language. There are many people who can speak it and write it. You can go online right now and take a beginners course in biblical hebrew.I think you have to ask the question. What is more important...to hear the word of God the way its message was intended, or to hear the word of God the way a translator presents the message?Who was the inspired writer? The translator or Moses???Surely Gods word is to be trusted more then a translators interpretation. My view is based on the fact that ancient writers did not use 'titles' for their work. You can research it for yourself and you will find that in ancient tablets that have been found (many thousands of them) the tablet has no titles... in fact the title is always the first sentence or few lines of words and its the same for all the writings found from ancient times.It does not need to be assumed that Moses wrote in this fashion, it is a fact. If you look at an ancient Hebrew scripture texts you will see that there are no titles, no numbers, no paragraphs.the english translators added all these things in. In doing so, some of the original meaning was lost as is the case with Genesis 1:1 where moses simply set the subject matter in place. not if its being interpreted to mean that God created the universe at the same time as he prepared this planet for habitation. Those 6 days of creation that follow have nothing to do with Moses opening words. Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

i know what Rrhain is sayingthe problem is that the bible does not say that at all.Where does it expressly say that the earth and 'universe' is 6,000 years old?

yes, but that is the timeline of 'human' history. We cannot include the creation of the universe in the timeline of Adams creation to the death of Jesus to today

i would like to direct your attention to the book "Chaldean Account of Genesis" by George Smith Page 20. The book is about the ancient city of Ninevah library which was unearthed in 1800's

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Each subject or series of tablets have a title, the title being formed by the first phrase or part of phrase in the subject."

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there are a great many bible manuscripts that can readily be viewed in museums all over the world, these bible manuscripts are also written in the same way. The writers did not put titles and page numbers and paragraphs...this was done by the translators. the first sentence is written in the 'perfect' state meaning the creation of the heavens (universe) and the earth was a completed action...it was already finished.the next sentence "The earth was without form and void" in hebrew is written in the imperfect state....this implies a continuous progressive action rather then a completed one and it is impossible that Vs1 and Vs 2 are one in the same. IOW the second sentence is not a continuation of the first. Where is the title word 'exodus' in vs 1 to be found?
It isnt found because Exodus is not the title of this particular scroll.
"Now these are the names" are translated into english from the Hebrew "We'el'leh shemohth'" This is actually the title of the book in hebrew but the LXXVg named it 'Exodus'this is what i'm saying...once its translated, it changes because the translators now give the book a title rather then use the title that it already has.
Exodus means A departure of a large number of people. But the book is actually named 'Now these are the names' because the first scroll was a history of the sons who came 'INTO' egypt, not out of it. The exodus account doesnt begin until chapter 12.Its the same with Genesis. The Translators named the book 'Genesis' meaning beginning. They probably should have just used vs 1 as their title rather then giving it another title as now vs 1 appears to be a part of the subject when the fact is, its not.

Hebrew interpreters are the ones who are able to clarify these things. Its up to us to accept what they tell us or go about our merry way continuing to believe the doctrines that we ourselves create.
Understanding also comes with knowing the historical background of the people who wrote it, their culture, figures of speech and the context etcHere is an example for you cedre. In hebrew there is a word 'Sheol' and 'Hades'...both these words are translated as 'hell' in our bibles.
You may know that hell is the place where souls are tormented by the devils for all eternity because thats what doctrine tells us.
But it may surprise you to know that these words did not hold such a meaning to those who wrote them.
In hebrew the word 'Sheol' actually means 'grave of mankind' the common grave we go to when we die.
So why do our church's continue to promote the false doctrine of a place called 'hell' that in no way resembles the place that the inspired writers had in mind? im sorry for confusing you...i meant to say that the title IS the first few words or sentence of the book. Genesis was not a title that Moses gave the first book of the bible for instance.As your link shows... a literal reading of moses words might be "in-beginning created God."
It was the translators who made it to read
"In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth" in order for us to get an idea of the subject...unfortunately we read it as one continuing account and so the earth and universe appear to be created together as Rrhain believes.but the fact is that the opening words are a 'perfect verb' or a completed action...IOW the earth and universe were created and existed for an unknown period of time BEFORE Gods active force BEGAN to move too and fro over the surface of the (existing) planet earth in vs 2.

im sorry...i thought that related to a portion of the post that you deleted.I get it now

i dont believe that myselfThe apostle Paul wrote that the 7th 'day of Gods Rest' was still in progress in his time...thats several thousands of years since Moses wrote in Gen "on the 7th Day God proceeded to rest from his work"you might also note that the 7th day of Genesis did not come to its completion. All 6 days end with the words "and their came to be morning and their came to evening a 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th day"but there was no completion of the 7th day mentioned... it simply says 'and by the 7th day God came to the completiuon of his work...and he proceeded to rest...and he blessed the 7th day and made it sacred because on it he has been resting from all his work..."If Paul could wright in Hebrews that Christians could enter into Gods Rest, then it implies that God was still resting thousands of years after the beginning of the 7th day.So from this it must be concluded that each creative day could have been several thousands of years in length. This also agrees with the Hebrew word yohm which can be used to represent any length of time...similar to the way 'ages' can be used in english to say 'a very long time' Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

yes, 6,000 years of 'human' history on earthfrom the birth of Adam to today is a little over 6,000 years.

Yes i am because the preparation of the earth, the six days, are not literal days.One was still in progress when Moses wrote it, and it was still in progess according to Paul centuries later.Its still in progress today.

I took issue with your OP statement saying:."I say that while the Bible does not give a specific date, it does give a specific timeline which, through a process of simple addition, we can use to come up with a total amount of time for the existence of life, the universe, and everything."its pointless having a discussion about he timeline of the bible if you insist on including the creation of the universe with it.The timeline of Human History, Adams creation to today is the only timeline the bible gives.