# How Old Is the Earth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216 "2002-11-27T22:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/21 "2002-11-28T16:15:20Z")
**Darwin’s Finch** : [_Not the Bible_](http://www.gshotts.com/HUMOR/bookofcreation1.htm) is a parody that I picked up a long time ago. I’ve never found the whole thing on the web, but the Book of Creation seems to be out there. (Actually, since I have the book, I haven’t done all that much looking for the whole thing on the web.) One of my favourite bits (which is on the linked page) is: > [@](#): > > **17** … And the species competed amongst themselves, the cattle and the creeping things, the dogs and the dinosaurs; and some madeth it and some didn’t; and the dogs ate the dinosaurs and God was pleased. > > **18** And God took the bones from the dinosaurs and caused them to appear **mighty** old; and cast He them about the land and the sea. And He took every tiny **creature** that had not madeth it and caused **them** to become fossils; and cast He them about **likewise**. > > **19** And just to put matters beyond the valley of the shadow of a **doubt** , God created carbon dating. And **that** is the origin of the species. The [ **“Art Thou a Sodomite”** [/url quiz is pretty funny too. (some minutes later…) Okay, I found _Not the Bible_ on the 'net. (Only one return from google.) [url=“[http://notthebible.8m.com/b1.htm](http://notthebible.8m.com/b1.htm)”]Here is the table of contents]([http://notthebible.8m.com/b3.htm](http://notthebible.8m.com/b3.htm)). Check it out if you have a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/22 "2002-11-28T16:17:01Z")
I’ve _got_ to learn how to use the preview button! The [**"Art Thou a Sodomite"**](http://notthebible.8m.com/b3.htm) quiz is pretty funny too. (some minutes later…) Okay, I found _Not the Bible_ on the 'net. (Only one return from google.) [Here is the table of contents](http://notthebible.8m.com/b1.htm). Check it out if you have a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/23 "2002-11-28T18:28:33Z")
Many thanks (hey, it’s Thanksgiving, right?), **Johnny L.A.**. I did gather that the “Not the Bible” thing was a parody - though I do wonder why they used the same year as Ussher had calculated as “the beginning”, but not the date. Maybe it’s an American thing (we _do_ have the American Jesus, after all). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/24 "2002-11-28T18:42:24Z")
They used 4004 BC because of Ussher. Fundies (who take the date seriously) tend to be more Conservative Americans. So the joke is that the Earth was created on July 4th, the U.S. Independence Day. ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/25 "2002-11-28T19:44:27Z")
saw a creation video where using arguments about the suns declining diameter and solar dust on the moon the earth could be no older than 10-12 thousand years. there was a bit about carbon and nitrogen as well…will look this up to refresh my memory. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/26 "2002-11-28T19:56:03Z")
The Sun thing, BTW, was based on a survey of historical naked-eye observations of the size of the Sun that was never published in a peer review journal, but did appear in the magazines _Sky and Telescope_ and _Physics Today_. What the Creationists don’t bother to mention is that, in response, a study was quickly published in _Nature_ (which _is_ peer reviewed) that used historical observations of transits of Venus and Mercury, which are much more precise, to show that the Sun is not shrinking at the rate that the naked-eye measurements indicated, and in fact may not be shrinking at all. Of course, the authors of the original studied never implied that the size of the Sun had been decreasing for thousands of years, nor that the shrinking involved anything but the outer layers of the Sun, but the Creationists blithely ignore that, too. ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216/27 "2002-11-28T20:32:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > \*\* > Of course, the authors of the original studied never implied that the size of the Sun had been decreasing for thousands of years, nor that the shrinking involved anything but the outer layers of the Sun, but the Creationists blithely ignore that, too. \*\* i am sure they had their reasons…as i do.🙂 thanks for the info this is an excellent forum [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-the-earth/139216.md?page=1)