Quote:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:
And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
|
People who point to this and say, "See? Add up all these, and you find the earth is only around 6,000 years old!" are being technical and legalistic, and even superficial and materialistic.
Considering that the Bible was written by many different authors over a period of ancient human history spanning some two thousand years, it shouldn't be at all surprising that at least
some erroneous (yet ultimately trivial) stuff like what is found in that passage, quoted above, got into the Bible. For the Bible is an incredible and multifarious compilation of oral tradition, written history, poetry (mostly spiritual, but some of it romantic and even erotic), philosophy, folk wisdom, sagely observations and advice, spiritual revelations, dreams and prophecies, personal testimony, eyewitness accounts, allegory, etc. That some fundamentalists and/or fantatics take stuff like that passage and make it the focal point of a particular belief and argument... in this case, that ours is a young earth... when there is overwhelming and irrefutable scientific evidence that shows otherwise...
