For centuries, science and theology have been locked in an ideological battle as to the ultimate source of truth. And basic to this standoff is the question of the age of our universe. Is it an old universe with a history containing fossils of dinosaurs and cavemen, or young with just a few days passing between the creation of the universe and the creation of Adam, the first human being? And if our universe is young, then the so-called ancient fossils were placed in the ground by God to test our faith in the truth of the Bible.
The old age measure of our universe is based on research by astronomers and cosmologists. These scientists measure how much light waves from distant galaxies are stretched and lengthened due to the stretching of the space of the universe as those light waves travelled over eons of time to reach us here on earth. The data embedded in those stretched rays of light reveal that our magnificent universe was created at just under 14 billion years ago.
The young age measure of our universe is based on data in the Bible. The opening chapter of Genesis states that six days passed between the creation of the universe and the creation of Adam. Then in Genesis, Chapter 4 we read that Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain murdered Abel and Cain was exiled by God. The achievements of Cain’s progeny are listed in chapter 4. Then in Chapter 5 we read that 130 years passed before Adam and Eve had their third child who is named Seth, and then 105 years passed before Seth fathered his first child. This pattern of stating the time spans between births is continued with no break until Joseph is sold as a slave into Egypt (Genesis 37:2, 28, 36). We add all those ages plus the years to their exodus from Egyptian slavery and their entering the Promised Land and then their exile from that Land. With the conclusion of the Hebrew Bible we add the ages of the kings, queens, presidents etc. that followed, Summing all those data we reach an age for the universe of a bit less than 6000 years.
There is a crucial difference between the information given in the Bible about of the progeny of Cain and the progeny of Seth. This difference is that although the accomplishments of Cain’s progeny are listed, no ages are given for Cain’s progeny but detailed age data are given for Seth’s. This difference in the age data is the hint that the Bible wants us to develop a calendar. It is through Seth that we reach Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the lineage that becomes the Israelite nation. The family line of Cain ends in Chapter 4, so it is irrelevant to an on-going calendar. Age data for Cain’s line would be superfluous if we are to build a calendar and there are no superfluous data in the Bible. This is the clue that the Torah wants us to make a calendar: the Torah tells us all the age data that can contribute to the calculation of a biblical calendar and omits age data (i.e., Cain’s) that would be irrelevant to such a calendar. If no age data were given in the Bible for any of the persons, there would be no theological /scientific controversy today over the age of our magnificent universe. Since the data are given, there must be a reason and a resolution that is faithful to these two sources of wisdom – the ancient words of Torah and the modern discoveries of science, especially since the Author for the Torah is also the Creator of nature.
Is it possible that the six days of Genesis are also the 14 billion years of cosmology, even as the six days of Genesis are 24 hours each and the 14 billion of years embrace all our cosmic history without bending either the words of the Torah or the discoveries in science?
We must keep in mind that the major commentators on the words of the Torah, Rashi (ca. 1090) and Nahmonides (ca. 1250), stated explicitly that the six days of Genesis are 24 hours each (Rashi commentary on Talmud Hagigah 12A; Nahmonides commentary on Gen. 1:3). Therefore, an explanation of saying that the days of Genesis One were actually long periods of time could be construed as bending the Bible to match the science. They may have made these comments since the sun is not mentioned in the Bible until fourth day of Genesis.
The key to the resolution of this seeming conflict is the change in perspective of viewing time. Recall that in Psalm 90:4, we read: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” In this one verse we read about three perspectives of time: 1000 years, a day and a watch in the night. In our universe, perspective is everything when determining the apparent passage of time.
Nahmonides insightful viewpoint on the days of Genesis is so direct that it is hard to believe that we have missed it so often.
First, we must recall that the biblical New Year, Rosh Hashanah, marks the creation of Adam, not the creation of the universe. The six days of Genesis form a separate calendar and stand alone. Therefore, they are described in a unique way. The recurring phrase “and there was evening and there was morning” is unique to Genesis chapter one, the “creation” chapter.
At the end of each Genesis day, the day is numbered: day one; second day; third day; fourth day…. Nahmonides asked almost 800 years ago, long before theologians were worried about ancient fossils of cavemen and dinosaurs, why does the form of the day number change from absolute, “one”, to comparative, second, third…? His answer is brilliant. The Torah writes “day one” on that first day because there was not yet a second day. And to write "first", it must be comparative to a second (commentary on Genesis 1:5). We see this in the naming of the world wars. The “great war” (world war one) only became the “first world war” when the second started.
The biblical perspective of time for the six days of Genesis is from day one, looking forward. If that perspective were from Sinai looking back, the Torah would have written a “first day” since by Sinai that had been over 890,000 “second” days!
We look back in time and measure 14 billion years of cosmic history since the big bang creation of our universe. How would those years be measured from the Bible’s perspective of looking forward from the beginning? This is a totally non-human view of time.
The amazing reality of time in our magnificent universe is that the perspective of the time for a series of events compresses as we project that perspective back in time, and it compresses, contracts, gets shorter, exactly as the “size” of the universe compresses as we go back in time.
Professor Peebles in his book, Principles of Physical Cosmology, states this perfectly but in technical terms:
“The standard interpretation of the redshift (the amount a light wave has been stretched as it travelled to us from a distant place in the universe) as an effect of the expansion of the universe predicts that the same redshift factor applies to observed rates of occurrence of distant events . . . even when the epoch is so early the redshift cannot be observed in detected radiation.”
If we can calculate the magnitude of the expansion of the universe from the start of the biblical calendar’s six days to now, we can calculate how the 14 billion years (dinosaurs and all the rest) would appear from the perspective of the Bible. The key word here is perspective. We are calculating the age of the universe from two vastly different perspectives: the Bible’s perspective looking forward from the beginning when the universe was vastly smaller than now; our perspective looking back with the universe being vastly larger than in the era near the creation. They are two views of one reality.
Again, it is Nahmonides who leads the way. He tells us that time was created at the creation (a brilliant insight mirrored by modern scientific concepts) but that time only “grabs hold” when matter forms (commentary Genesis 1:4,5), and that is scientifically true.
Energy, light beams, are outside of time; they do not measure time. If an ethereal weightless you travelled on a light beam from the sun to the earth, your watch would record zero time. But if I could watch that light beam as it travelled, I would measure that about 8 minutes and a few seconds passed in that identical journey from sun to earth. Two true perspectives of one event.
The first stable matter that formed from the energy of the big bang creation that “ages,” that experiences the passage of time, was protons, the subatomic particles that produce much of the mass of an atom and are theorized to be the product of the decay of neutrons into electrons and protons (free neutrons decay with a half-life of about 10 minutes but are stable when they are within the nucleus of an atom). The Bible views time looking forward into the expanding space of the universe from the moment of the formation of protons, a moment that was a tiny fraction of a second following the big bang creation of the universe, when the universe was vastly smaller than it is today.
Our earth-based scientific measure views time looking back in time from the present perspective of our huge universe toward that moment when protons formed, a tiny fraction of a second following the big bang creation of the universe – a time when the universe was vastly smaller than it is today.
Calculations
With this combination of ancient wisdom and modern discovery, we can now calculate the age of the universe as measured from these two vastly different perspectives.
The key to the calculation that relates our time perspective looking back into time to that of the Torah which looks forward into the expanding space of the universe is to realize that even if the rate of expansion is approximately constant after the initial fraction of a second, the fractional rate of change (i.e., how much time it takes for the universe to double in size) changes drastically over time. That is because when the universe was smaller it doubled in size more rapidly than when it got bigger. This becomes what is known by scientific jargon as a non-linear relationship.
The most common non-linear relationship in the universe is A = A0e-Lt . This equation defines the decay rate of every atom in the universe. It also can be used to describe the distances from the sun for the seven inner planets except for the earth. With this relationship there should not be an earth where the earth is. And yet this is the only location in the solar system that is suitable for sustaining life.
This equation is also the relationship that describes the link between the earth view of time looking back into the history of the universe from the present and the Biblical view of time looking forward from the beginning for the six days of Genesis.
Recall that the years of the Biblical calendar start with Adam, not with the creation of the universe. The six days of Genesis form a separate calendar and are therefore described in a unique way. The recurring phrase “and there was evening and there was morning” is unique to this chapter. Nowhere else in the entire Hebrew Bible do we read this couplet for the description of the passage of time.
Here comes a bit of math needed to “solve” that equation. Some people run away at the sight of a math equation. If that is you, just skip down to the results, but as the advert tells us, getting there is half the fun.
The fun part of the calculations comes when the equation is evaluated day by day and we can compare the claims of the Bible for each Genesis day with the discoveries in science for those days.
To determine the duration of each of the six 24-hour Genesis days, we evaluate the equation for each day; t (time) goes from 0 to 1 for day one, 1 to 2 for the second day, etc.
With the chronology of the days of Genesis established, it is a simple matter to compare the key events of each day as recorded in Genesis and interpreted by ancient commentaries with the discoveries of modern science. In doing so we must bear in mind that what science presents in literally tens of thousands of publications, Genesis brings in 31 sentences. Don’t expect to find every detail for each period in those few sentences. When seeking a deep meaning of the biblical text, only ancient commentators are used, commentators who read the depth of the Bible’s text centuries and even a millennium before persons knew about fossils and dinosaurs and cavemen. As such there is no bending of the ancient Bible to match the discoveries of modern science.
Day One: 13.8 billion years to 6.8 years before the present (B.P.)
Bible (Gen.1:1-5): God creates the universe and then light separates from dark.
Science: The big bang creation of the universe [Recall that until some 60 years ago, the overwhelming opinion of the scientific community was that the universe was eternal. The Bible was wrong from its first sentence! Then the evidence for the big bang creation was observed and overnight the world learned that the Bible got it right!];
Immediately following the big bang creation of the universe, as the universe expanded from its initial miniscule point at creation, the energy of the universe became increasingly more dilute in the increasing volume of space. At the lowered energy level, electrons were able to bond to atomic nuclei, and light was able to separate from the initial plasma. First stars and galaxies form approximately 13 billion years ago (Bromm, V., The First Stars, Google Books).
Second day: 6.8 to 3.3 billion years B.P.
Bible (Gen. 1:6-8): The heavenly firmament forms. Notice that the text does not sate “and it was good” on this day apparently because the processes that were started on this day had not yet reached their “intended” forms.
Science: Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the Sun, a main sequence star, and the planets including the earth formed from the star dust of previous supernovae.
Third day: 3.3 to 1.5 billion years B.P.
Bible (Gen. 1:9-13): The oceans and dry land appear, followed by the first life, plants. This marked the start of plant life with the plants mentioned in the text developing over the following Genesis days (Nahmonides, ca 1250, commentary on Gen. 1:12).
Science: By 3.8 billion years ago, the initially molten earth had cooled sufficiently from its initial molten state to allow liquid water to form (Cloud, P., Oasis In Space; W. W. Norton). A crust of solid rock formed on the surface of the earth that gradually broke into continent-sized blocks. As these blocks of crust moved over the surface of the earth at about a centimeter a year, rock piled up at the leading edge forming mountain ranges. The Rocky Mountains on the west coast of North America and the Andes on the west coast of South America are the result of this motion. As these mountains weathered and eroded, they raised the surfaces of the continents above sea level. If this would not have happened, the entire surface of the earth today would be totally covered by approximately 2 km deep water.
Perhaps the most famous evidence for this mountain-forming phenomenon of continental drift are the fossils found in the Burgess Pass of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Approximately 10,000 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age, glaciers originating in the Artic had skimmed the top off a mountain and formed the Burgess Pass. This exposed shale filled with fossils that had been buried for over half a billion years. The fossils, now known as the Burgess Shale fossils, are fossils of aquatic animals, but the Pass is 8,000 feet above sea level! What today are the shales and rocks of the Rocky Mountains, approximately 560 million years ago were the mud and slime of a shallow tropical sea bed teaming with aquatic life. Life that became trapped in the mud and slime over millennia became the Burgess shale fossils and the slow drift of the continents moved and raised what was once a tropical sea bed to the dizzying heights of the Burgess Pass. It is these fossils and the explosion of animal life that is alluded to in the opening sentences of the fifth day (Genesis 1:20). The event and the date are a spot-on match with the Biblical account of the fifth day.
The original theory of the origin of life had in error predicted that billions of years must have passed between the appearance of liquid water on earth and the appearance of life. Discoveries of microfossils of bacteria and of the first “plant” life in the form of photosynthetic algae reveal that life on earth appeared at approximately 3.6 billion years ago, that is, much more rapidly that originally theorized (DeDuve, C., Blueprint for a Cell: The Nature and Origin of Life; Neil Paterson Publishers).
Fourth Day: 1.5 to 0.6 billion years B.P.
Bible (Gen. 1:14-19): The Sun, moon and stars become visible in the heavens (Talmud Hagigah 12a). The Hebrew now states me’or’ot which means the actual bodies that emit light are visible. Previously the text stated or’ot which means light but not the actual luminaries that give the light.
The text here describes a view looking upward from the earth’s surface since the sun and moon are described as “two great bodies.” The only location in the entire universe where both the sun and the moon each appear as a great body is from the earth. Although the diameter of the sun is 400 times greater than the moon’s diameter, the moon is 400 times closer to the earth than is the sun. Hence, they both appear as the same size.
Science: During the period of the fourth day, the Earth cooled sufficiently for the moisture in the previously cloud-covered earth to condense. As a result, the atmosphere cleared and the sun, moon, and stars became visible. Prior to this period, although the sun’s light could reach the earth, the actual body of the sun was not visible from the earth due to the heavy cloud cover. I personally have measured the photosynthetic production of oxygen on days that were so heavily overcast that although there was light penetrating the cluds, there was no indication of the glow of the sun behind the clouds.
Fifth Day: 0.6 to 0.2 billion years B.P.
Bible (Gen. 1:20-23): The first multicellular animal life flourishes abundantly in the waters, followed by large reptiles and winged animals.
Science: With no forewarning by the underlying fossil record of the large animals and their extreme abundance about to appear, the Cambrian explosion of life, 530 years ago, produced every basic animal body plan extant today as the waters swarmed with life (Levinton, J., The Big Bang of Animal Evolution; Sci. Am.; Bowring, S., et al., Calibrating rates of early Cambrian evolution; Science 261:1293; Kerr, R., Did Darwin get it all right? Science 267:1421). Winged insects appeared 340,000,000 years ago with no hint found in older fossils of their impending arrival (Marden, J., and Kramer, M., Surface skimming stone flies, a possible intermediate stage in flight evolution; Science 266:427; Kaiser, J., A new theory of insect wing origin, Science 266:363).
Sixth Day: 200 million to 5779 years before the present
Bible (Gen. 1:24-31): The land is populated by animals. Mammals and then humans appear.
Science: 250 million years ago, a massive extinction decimated life and 90% of animals disappeared from the fossil record (Erwin, D., The mother of mass extinctions, Sci. Am.). The land was then repopulated. What intrigues persons who study the fossil record is why, when the earth was re-populated and many ecological niches were opened due to the massive extinction, no basically new body types evolved. It may be that only those that preceded the extinction were suitable for the earth. Scientific American asked the question: “Has the mechanism of evolution altered in ways that prevent fundamental changes in the body plans of animals?” (Levinton, J., The big bang of animal evolution; Sci. Am.). It is not that the mechanism of evolution has changed. What has changed is that we now realize that only certain types of life fit the earth’s conditions, varied as they are (Gould, S.J., The evolution of life on Earth, Sci. Am.).
In 31 sentences the Bible describes the flow of existence from the creation of our magnificent life-supporting universe to the appearance of humanity. The scientific community’s study of the secrets of nature provides literally millions of bits of data for these same ages. The agreement between these two sources of knowledge, one ancient, one modern, is not surprising since there is one Author for both the ancient wisdom of the Bible and the secrets of nature so recently discovered by scientists.
(31) Anonymous, August 4, 2020 8:30 AM
FAscinating
Fascinating
(30) Emil M Friedman, October 27, 2019 12:09 AM
Dr, Schroeder, your time dilation explanation is backwards!
Don't you remember the "twin paradox" from Course 8.02 at MIT? After the big bang objects accelerated away from the point of origin. Therefore our clocks would have run slower, not faster. than the biblical clock.
I pointed that out to you in Highland Park many years ago but you ducked the question.
(29) Shmuel Shimshoni, October 24, 2019 5:05 PM
Only today, did I read a similar matching article to Dr. Schoeder's
(Shortened for lack of space, but) How old is the universe? 13.8 billion years or 6,000 years? Did Creation take place in 6 twenty-four hour days or were they longer? This week I bring to you a fascinating approach from a fascinating man. Daniel Friedmann holds a master’s degree in engineering physics and is the Chairman of Carbon Engineering, a company dedicated to removing co2 from the air to solve climate change and ex-CEO of the Canadian company that made the robotic arm for the Space Shuttle. He lays out his research in his book, The Biblical Clock.
Why did Mr. Friedmann start investigating the connection between the Torah's story of Creation and the scientific timeline? The Talmudic sages teach that ‘God looked into the Torah and created the world" (Midrash Rabbah on Gen. 1:2). Mr. Friedmann concluded that if the Torah is the blueprint of the universe, then the Torah account of creation and scientific account of the age of the Universe must coincide.
About 700 years ago Rabbi Isaac of Akko made the assertion that time – while God was creating and man had not yet appeared – was different than time as we keep today. Mr. Friedmann, based on this insight and on classical sources, aligns the dates of key events as described in Genesis 1 and 2 with those derived from scientific theory and observation. How? One Creation Day = 1,000 x 365.25 x 7,000 = 2.56 billion years.
The factor of 1,000 comes directly from Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in Your sight are as a day” – where we learn that one day for God equals 1,000 human years.Beginnings of life: from first thing on Day 5 ("let the waters teem" Gen. 1:20) to today corresponds to 3.52 billion years which is in agreement with the scientific time for "universal ancestor" – the single cell.
Plant life (on the land): from hours 6 to 9 on Day 6 until today ("God planted a garden … and there He placed the man... The Biblical Clock is available at Amazon.com
(28) Anonymous, October 24, 2019 11:55 AM
Want more like this
Can you send me links / videos to help me understand this article in less scientific terminology. I’ve read all of Dr Gerald Schroeder’s books but want to “get it” in more of a layman’s way. Thanks for this article.
(27) Ron Brandt, October 23, 2019 3:58 PM
Why is this needed?
The Catholic Church made a big mistake by insisting that the Earth was the center of the Universe. “Heretics” Who said otherwise were burned at the stake or excommunicated, as Galileo was. Their theology need not have been based on this major error
This article, while very erudite, reminds me of the same. Why does Judaism need a link to 5,780 years? Does it really matter, is it a core belief of Judaism? I suggest to just abandon the notion. It is not needed.
(26) Marlene Forster, October 23, 2019 2:45 PM
Who did Cain marry?
Where did the wife of Cain come from?
Dovid Rosenfeld, October 24, 2019 2:43 PM
the sons of Adam married their sisters
See Talmud Sanhedrin 58b that God made a one-time exception to the law forbidding incest to allow the world to begin. The Talmud applies to that situation Psalms 89:3: “The world was built on kindness.” This was a special kindness allowed by God to "build" (i.e. populate) the world!
(25) Anonymous, October 21, 2019 3:35 AM
God or Science?
Science changes SO often in all fields. What it thought was firm yesterday can be directly contradicted by new thinking, without even new evidence. Why trust man in his halting quest for knowledge? God's Word has never changed and yet it cannot be refuted. There are so many reasons the earth must be young. For one, there is a known rate at which the earth is moving away from its sun. If the earth were 14 million years old, it would not be habitable by any known life forms, as it would be too cold. There is a known, constant rate of particles, dust, that falls on our planet and her moon. Because on earth there are disturbances and water, etc., it does not form piles of dust. On the moon, however, there are no winds or disturbances to this rate. When the astronauts arrived in their long-legged spacecraft, built to accommodate this deep dust from millions of eons of existance, they found, wait for it, an accumulation from only about 6000 years! Even Niagara Falls proves a young earth, because it recedes at a fairly-known rate. If it started 14 million years ago, it would long ago have eroded back into Lake Erie. Aquatic fossils on mountain tops? Try Noah's worldwide flood. This site has several more proofs of a young earth. https://creationtoday.org/evidence-for-a-young-earth/ Lastly, it doesn't take a Creator God millions of years to create, when he "spoke" the universe into being. Even with a bajillion years, man could not create even the complexity of one leaf or invent one new animal that was not from parts already thought up by God. He is God. He laughs at our efforts to elevate science to his level. Science means knowing. God is ALL-knowing. We are proud pea-brains trying to, in many cases, replace him with our knowledge. The serpent told Eve, this fruit will make you like God. Knowing . . .
(24) Donna Schwartz, October 18, 2019 1:30 PM
Excellent Article
I really enjoyed this article. I read “Genesis and the Big Bang” many years ago, and I highly recommend it. It’s very well-written in a language easily understood by laymen. And I’m totally convinced- I believe every word!
(23) Anonymous, October 18, 2019 11:21 AM
Creation, Searching, Wisdom, Knowledge
Keep thinking, and searching all. May I share that I grew up without a Jewish education and not in an environment that encouraged faith of any sort. I went to public schools and then an elite college. I was taught sophisticated secular theories, but I never really understood the intricacies of Darwin's theory of evolution and the methods of scientists who came after him until I saw it expertly refuted in both the letters of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (himself part of the scientific community as an engineer specializing in submarines during World War Two) and essays by Rabbi Avigdor Miller. I recommend the collections of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's letters as well a the collections of essays by Rabbi Avigdor Miller for inquiring minds and searching souls.
(22) sean mcnally, October 18, 2019 10:29 AM
Just brilliant, as always...
Keep on keeping on, Doc!
(21) Selma Adler, October 18, 2019 5:45 AM
When you search for sweet harmony, you'll find it!
This expose is what I call the magic of insertion.
(20) Carl Dworman, October 18, 2019 2:08 AM
Very interesting
Amazing how the age of the universe compliments the Bible. For instance, day three from the Big Bang there is the explosion of life on the planet Earth as evidenced in the fossil record, exactly the same as described in day three in the Bible. Very similar parallels from day one to day six, as illustrated in the first calendar measurement compared to the description of six day events in the Bible.
(19) Richard Easton, October 17, 2019 11:01 PM
Wonderful help for resolving the conundrum of Bible/scientific views.
One God created the Universe and the life forms of today, from eternity 'til now.
(18) Michael W Cuber, October 17, 2019 10:59 PM
What fossil record does science really have?
I really started studying this about 12 years ago when a supposed Trex found in Wyoming turned out to be a North American Aligator. The evolutionists absolutely have to have these transitional species to support their denial of a Creator. If you actually study the fossil record at some of the most prestigeous repositories, you'll find disclaimers, such as "these fragments could be attributed to species presently living on the planet." This is what I found when I really started tesearvhing the topic. Also found that most of the models on display at museums are actually Plaster of Paros and shoe polish; real tv even has a show about the professional modelers who make tbese for museums and Hollywood movie productions. There were no transitional species found until Darwin published his theory, and he wanted desperately to disprove the Creation account. Also most of the supposed dinosaur remains are found in the same sedimentry layer around the globe which contain ducks, porcupines, horses, and other recognizable skeletons that suggest a single event such as a World Wide Flood, but this doesn't fit the Evolutionist agenda which is to deny a Creation by G-d. I could go on, but people should really research this for themselves, and realize the depth of the deception that has taken place!
(17) Mordechai, October 17, 2019 9:54 PM
Perhaps, but what about the 12 months
The Talmud says that the wicked can suffer in Hell for 12 months. However, time is a "this world" phenomenon. In Hell, therefore, there is no time. How do we account for the maximum duration of 12 months.
I suggest the following:
Those who accept the Ramban's view that the 6 days of Creation were 6 days of 24 hours, might still find themselves in Hell, but for no more than would feel like 12 months, each day only 24 hours.
Those who think though, that 6 days could, from some perspective, last 14 billion years, may find themselves in a Hell where 12 months, or 354 days, may feel like 826 billion years. When they have suffered 12 months of unspeakable pain, they may ask an angel why they are still in Hell if 12 months have surely passed, only to be told, "Why, according to your world perspective, only slightly more than 10 hours have truly elapsed since your arrival."
(16) Anonymous, October 17, 2019 6:36 PM
INFORMATION
How can I contact the author?
Kindly respond and NOT ignore.
Polina Spewktor, October 18, 2019 2:54 AM
Contact info
At the end of the article:
Contact info: gschroeder@aish.com
(15) Reuven Meir, October 17, 2019 5:56 PM
Please provide citation for A0
Could you please provide some citations/references for the value of A0?
Has A0 changed over the years with newer research or is it still the same value?
Thanks
(14) Tomer, October 17, 2019 4:26 PM
Cambrian explosion date
It's just an elision, but it doesn't read quite right to say that the Cambrian Explosion occurred 530 years ago...it's missing the word "million" ;-) The last word on this that I read was that it occurred 541mya and lasted 13-25my.
(13) Ed Gaglardi, October 17, 2019 4:21 PM
Compelling and brilliant!
This concept needs to be understood by all our youth teachers and parents. To not embrace science has been a huge mistake by so many, and our youth have been paying the price of our hiding our heads in the sand.
Thanks you, Dr. Schroeder for your fearless research - and the several books you have written. All excellent.
(12) Ari ben Yitzhak, October 17, 2019 4:00 PM
TO THE ELBOW VIA CIRCUIT ROUND THE EAR
DESPITE THE BRILLIANT SCIENCE, isn't this a case of "going around your ear to reach your elbow"?
While it might be possible to finagle some sort of "hermeneutical physics" out of the Torah to agree with some kind of invented or discovered "mathematical Midrashim," the efforts will always seem strained.
Once you get the age of the universe, there's the Noah story, Job, stopping the Sun and other "troublesome" texts.
(11) Rachel, October 17, 2019 3:51 PM
Fascinating!
I find your interpretation to be fascinating but i only understand a small amount of your explanation and i definitely don't understand the mathematical equation. What would be a good reading suggestion to build my understanding of the whole time concept?
(10) Lowell Rudd, October 17, 2019 3:49 PM
God functions from infinity to infinity
Thank you. A revealing and edifying view of what current science can describe but is it really required? It is interesting how every new discovery lends credence to the simplicity of the bible written from the perspective of the authors and their knowledge. How do you explain a sub-microscopic particle to on who's seen nothing smaller then a grain of sand?
Is it possible/probable that as we discover more we will be able to describe better what has happened? We still will not be able to define what will.
From my perspective, this time isl a moot point. God's "time" is infinite and as such will always be beyond our comprehension. As such, it's interesting and exciting but maybe arrogant for us to believe we can be sure our discoveries are accurate?
(9) Coby Scher, October 17, 2019 3:06 PM
Great reasoning
I am both scientific and spiritual in my reasoning and I really like and appreciate Dr. Schroeder's approach to this delicate and controversial subject. Kudos to the author.
(8) Dr stuart meyer, October 17, 2019 3:05 PM
sm3612@aol.com
The formula you used is based on protons. Matter constitutes less than 5% of the universe and this formula and reasoning does not account for 95% of the contents of the universe. The black matter and enerrgy
(7) vaed Fayette, October 17, 2019 2:45 PM
wonderful
Absolutely enjoy this read the information was so wonderful and exciting that we can always depend and the word of the Holy One and I'm still smiling thank you so much
(6) Dale Sands, October 17, 2019 2:35 PM
science and creation
Dr. Schroeder's book The Science of God answered a lot of questions I had about the mating of science and religion in regards to this matter.
(5) Nalinaksha Mutsuddi, October 17, 2019 1:40 PM
Speculation
To me, it's all speculation whether science or religion. And it will remain so. Of course, the writer is a very learned man of science
(4) Paula, October 16, 2019 2:26 AM
14 billion years old?
I've always had a problem with the usage of the term "year". For the average person the word "year" means 365 days that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. For this to happen, the universe had to have been fully created so what was the purpose of all those billions of "years"? Science needs to come up with a different name for measuring time, like they do for light years, or maybe eons that doesn't imply a completed world and planets rotating around the sun.
Dvirah, October 16, 2019 7:08 PM
Wrong Measure
Light-year is a measure of distance, not time. It is the DISTANCE TRAVELLED by light during a standard Earth year.
(3) K. RHM, October 14, 2019 4:34 PM
Questions
Thank you for this enlightening article! I truly appreciate all I have read and learned. I have read several of Dr. Schroeder’s articles and have two follow-up questions to what I have read in these articles: 1: Did G-d create a universe where death, destruction and suffering existed prior to the forbidden fruit? I thought this act of disobedience caused the internalization of yetzer hara in humans and the introduction of human death and suffering, but the article seems to suggest that death and suffering occurred among prehistoric animals during the days of creation. If so, was death and suffering a part of G-d’s original design, not a result of Adam consuming the forbidden fruit? 2: How do we know that all humans today are fully human and have neshama? If the flood was not global, then I guess pre-adamic “humans” could have survived this event. We believe that all humans are descended from Noah’s sons, but how do we know that all humans are human? This opens a bottle of worms and could lead to dangerous misunderstandings. I’d love to hear how we better can understand this. (The Flood of Noah was not a universal flood, according to Dr. Schroeder.)
Ra'anan, October 20, 2019 5:22 AM
all humans are human?
Just last week I read a report of THREE different types of humanoid DNA present in today's humanoids, Denisovan, Neanderthal & a possibly missing 3rd type. Search for "Denisovan" for recent articles & a newly found 1st hybrid.
(2) Dvirah, October 13, 2019 1:56 PM
Nice!
Thanks.
Anonymous, October 16, 2019 7:10 PM
New Thought
Could one say we are now living in the 8th day from start of creation?
Argol, November 4, 2019 6:05 AM
Nope
Approaching the evening of the sixth. Say, like 4:45, Friday afternoon when Shabbat comes in at 5:00. After the creation of man 5780 years, a month, and a few days ago, time has been measured strictly from our perspective here on Earth. The talmud talks of a period of mankind's development leading to the Messianic age that mimics the days of creation. ( Using the reference of Tehillim of 1000 years= 1 day.) That puts us at the last frantic few moments of preparation before welcoming the warmth of Shabbos.
(1) Robert Sungolowsky, October 10, 2019 8:06 PM
what did R' Moshe Shternbuch say?