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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Timelines and Perspectives: Timelines of History


By Brian Mariani

How many religions do you think there are there in the world? Millions? Thousands? Hundreds? A dozen?

Two Kingdoms


We believe, as the Bible states, that there are only two. From a biblical perspective, there are those who believe God and those who do not believe God. Practically speaking, it is God vs. Satan (though there is not a true struggle as God is infinitely greater than Satan, the point here is that Satan is constantly warring against God), and although a person may not be a Satan worshipper, if they don’t live for God and trust in Christ for their salvation, then they reject God and therefore let themselves be deceived by Satan’s lies and plan. Jesus Himself describes these two kingdoms in Matthew 7.

two kingdoms, good kingdom, bad kingdom, good and bad, satan and God
Answers in Genesis teaches kids about the Two Kingdoms in their "Kingdom Chronicles VBS"
http://answersvbs.com/2013/about/theme/
As we can discuss in chapter 4 of The Genius of Ancient Man, you can track God’s plan throughout history and conversely track Satan’s plans in counterfeiting God’s. (“Satan cannot create, but can only pervert.” – Axiom #8 from The Genius of Ancient Man)

Below are two charts. The first is the naturalistic timeline and the other is the biblical timeline. They stand in stark contradiction, so they both cannot be true.

Naturalistic (Evolutionary) Timeline and Perspective

Modern scientists and historians separate historic times from prehistoric times based on the development of writing and recording information.[i]

Significant Events
Estimated Dates
Age of the Universe (Big Bang)[ii]
13.75 billion years ago
Age of the Solar System[iii]
4.568 billion years ago
Age of the Earth[iv]
4.54 billion years ago
First Organic Molecules and Cell[v]            
3.7-4.2 billion years ago
First Multicelled Organism[vi]
1.6-2.1 billion years ago
First Homo sapien[vii]
195,000 years ago
*First “Sedentary” Civilization[viii]
12,000-10,000 BC
**First Written Records[ix]
3500-2600 BC
***The Great Pyramid[x]
3200-2470 BC

*This means that a civilization was able to stay in one location and give up the nomadic lifestyle (implementation of farming and raising livestock).

**There are certain artifacts that show earlier “proto-writing” supposedly as far back as the seventh millennium BC, but true coherent writing is estimated at this time.

***Advanced monuments like the Great Pyramid would demonstrate the advanced culture of the specific civilizations, and they would need sufficiently advanced agriculture, metalworking, and architectural techniques. There are still different estimates from different secular scientists. They have estimated its age from radiocarbon dating results of the charcoal and wood, and by pottery fragments that have been found in the mortar used in the Great Pyramid.


Biblical Timeline and Perspective

Significant Events
Estimated Dates
Creation (in 6 literal days)[xi]
4004 BC
*Adam and Eve Sinned and Banishment from the Garden[xii]
4004 BC
The Worldwide Flood and Noah’s Ark[xiii]
2348 BC
Tower of Babel[xiv]
2247 BC
Abraham[xv]
1996-1821 BC
Joseph brought the Israelites to Egypt[xvi]
1706 BC
The Plagues and Israelites Leaving Egypt[xvii]
1446 BC
David reigned as King[xviii]
1010-971 BC
Life of Jesus[xix]
5/4 BC – 33 AD

*It is unsure how long Adam and Eve lived sinless in the garden before being tempted, but as human nature goes, we can assume that it would not have taken too long.

Both of the timelines require belief and faith in something we cannot see. Whether it is “millions of years” and chance, or the testimony of the Bible, we all base our timelines on trust in something. The two perspectives are really two different religions.

Biblical Accuracy, Dating, and OOPArts!

Since the Bible is God’s perfect word, its entirety is significant. There have been many archaeological and historical examples that confirm the accuracy and truth of the Bible[xx], including how the existence and historicity of Jesus is irrefutable.[xxi]

open bible, accuracy, Biblical timeline
http://www.bethlehemstar.net/setting-the-stage/the-stars-and-the-bible/
One aspect relevant here and worth studying is how each side dates specific artifacts and ruins. Artifacts and ruins as we study them, exist in the present, and to figure out what happened in the past, we have to make a lot of assumptions, which are yet again based on our worldview.

There are also many pieces of evidence that are mysterious and challenging to naturalistic thinkers. We call these “OOPArts” (Out Of Place ARTifactS). Some of these evidences are mysterious and speculative even for biblical thinkers, but we present our theories and explanations of these misfits according to the biblical timeline as we discover them.

What is Truth?

So now we see that there are two obviously contrasting religions interpreting the same evidence in completely different ways.

So which is more consistent and logical in handling and interpreting the evidence?

Answering this question will take us to many different sources on both sides of the argument in different academic arenas (science, history, religion, etc) and it will take a while to sort through.

So while you keep studying, think for yourself and consider the evidence. Just watch out for the assumptions, biases, and agendas. Remember that the further back in time we go, the fuzzier facts and dates get, but one thing we can rely on is that God’s Word is Truth and we can trust Him. (See The Genius of Ancient Man page 16-17 for more on the authority of God’s Word.)

Read parts one (Defining our Terms and Checking our Biases) and two (Contrasting Naturalism and Biblical Creation) of this series on timelines and perspectives! 


[i] Edward H. Carr, What is History? (1961) page 108.
[ii]Jonathan Amos, “Cosmic blast sets distance mark,” BBC News, April 28, 2009, accessed March 16, 2011, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8022917.stm.
WL Freedman, “The Hubble constant and the expansion age of the Universe,” Physics Reports, 333-334; Aug 2000, Pages 13-31.
S.H. Suyu, P.J. Marchall, M.W. Auger, S. Hilbert, R.D. Blandford, L.V.E. Koopmans, C.D. Fassnacht and T. Treu. “Dissecting the Gravitational Lens B1608+656. II. Precision Measurements of the Hubble Constant, Spatial Curvature, and the Dark Energy Equation of State.” The Astrophysical Journal, 2010; 711 (1): 201.
[iii] Audrey Bouviery and Meenakshi Wadhwa, "The age of the solar system redefined by the oldest Pb-Pb age of a meteoritic inclusion". Nature Geoscience, Nature Publishing Group, Published online August 22, 2010, accessed March 16, 2011, http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v3/n9/abs/ngeo941.html.
[iv] “Age of the Earth,” U.S. Geological Survey, 1997, accessed September 21, 2010, <http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html>
[v] K.A. Maher and D.J. Stevenson, “Impact Frustration of the origin of life,” Nature, 1988-02-18; 331 (6157): 612-4.
G. Griffiths, "Cell evolution and the problem of membrane topology," Nature reviews, Molecular cell biology 8 (12): 1018–24, December 2007.
[vi] Andrew H. Knoll, E.J. Javaux, D. Hewitt, and P. Cohen, "Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Part B 361 (1470): 1023–38, 2006.
[vii] “Human Evolution,” MSN Encarta, 2009, accessed September 21, 2010, http://www.webcitation.org/5kwKK5j9T.
[viii] Ofer Bar-Yosef, “The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture.” Evolutionary Anthropology. P. 159-177, accessed September 21, 2010, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf.
[ix] David Whitehouse, “‘Earliest writing’ found,” BBC News, May 4, 1999, accessed September 22, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/334517.stm
[x] “How Old Are The Pyramids?” Nova Online Adventure, accessed March 18, 2011, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/howold.html.
“News to Note,” Answers in Genesis, September 26, 2009, accessed March 18, 2011, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/09/26/news-to-note-09262009.
Andrew Bossone, “Exact Date Pinned to Great Pyramid’s Construction?” National Geographic, September 21, 2009, accessed March 18, 2011, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090921-great-pyramid-giza-date-built.html.
[xi] James Ussher, The Annals of the World, (Green Forest, Ar: Master Books, 2003), 17.
[xii] Ussher, The Annals of the World, 17.
[xiii] Leonard’s Biblical Chronological Chart, (Green Forest, Ar: Attic Books, 2010).
[xiv] Sebastian Adams, Adams Synchronological Chart or Map of History, (Green Forest: Master Books, 2007).
[xv] Leonard’s Biblical Chronological Chart.
[xvi] Leonard’s Biblical Chronological Chart.
[xvii] Rose Book of Bible and Christian History Time Lines, (Torrance, Ca: Rose Publishing, 2006).
[xviii] Paul L. Maier, Josephus: The Essential Writings (Grand Rapids, Mi: Kregel Publications, 1988), 388.
[xix] Paul N. Benware, Survey of the New Testament, (Chicago, Il: Moody Publishers, 2003), 50-51.
[xx] Answers in Genesis, Bible Topic Page, www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers#/topic/bible, accessed July 26, 2013.
[xxi] Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ, (Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan, 1998).
Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004).

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