Biblical Genealogy

I found the following video on Robert Carter’s site Biblical Genetics. The key take-away from this video is that the ultimate benefit of all of the genealogical data in the Bible was to trace the ancestry of Jesus back to Adam.

Most people (including myself) skip over the biblical genealogies unless they know what to look for. Carter says it is like looking for a fossil in a river basin. If you know what to look for you can find an amazing fossil. If you don’t, well, there are plenty of other things to enjoy.

Robert Carter and Chris Hardy were the authors of a paper on Creation Ministries International that I keep going back to called The biblical minimum and maximum age of the earth. The creation year of the minimum age supported by at least one biblical manuscript tradition is 3822 BC. The creation year of the maximum age is 5665 BC. That’s a difference of 1,843 years.

Many Christians support the younger age close to James Ussher’s chronology with a creation date of 4004 BC. Since that was a bit over 6000 years ago many of them also get tempted by speculations of the end of the age.

Early Christians along with Henry B. Smith, Jr at the Associates for Biblical Research support an older creation year of around 5500 BC. Based on this chronology the rabbinic tradition of the Messiah coming during the 6th millennium has already been fulfilled by Jesus. Smith, Jr’s argument in favor of the older age is available at the 2018 International Conference on Creationism called The case for the Septuagint’s chronology in Genesis 5 and 11. It’s another one of the papers I keep going back to.

At the moment, I favor Smith, Jr’s view, but I am a recent supporter of creationism. I am still learning. I only began taking the Bible seriously, that is, more seriously than, say, the Bhagavad Gita, about five years ago.

Over five years ago, I would have thought the earth was a gazillion years old. Why? Because that’s what I was told. My religious traditions were a mix of Catholic Teilhard de Chardin new age leaning mysticism and Protestant William Lane Craig atheist leaning rationalizations. Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with those two names. I wish I weren’t as well.

When I was about 10 years old I remember telling my aunt that chickens came from dinosaurs. Why? Because that’s what I was told. Looking back on that incident as an adult who has now listened to many children talk I imagine she thought I was a cute kid, but stupid.

I realize today that she was right about the stupid part. Or, better put, deceived part, but then those telling me the “truth” were deceived as well. They are not the enemy. I forgive them. Today I have more important things to do like taking back all that stolen life, stolen hope, stolen joy and stolen peace.

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Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

11 thoughts on “Biblical Genealogy”

  1. I think the Earth is eons old …but where is one going to place that ‘birth?’ Matter cannot be created or destroyed and God organized matter.
    So, then, the question of 6,000 years (give or take 1800) may just be in reference to the intelligent man who is finally able to communicate with his God.

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    1. Your views seem to be in line with what I thought over five years ago.

      In a closed system matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Nor do miracles occur. But if the system is open anything can happen.

      Continuing with the laws of thermodynamics, in a closed system everything runs down. A big bang could not build by chance an ordered universe before that ordered universe eroded away.

      Based on what I had been told since childhood, the Bible held no historical truth, only moral truth. But if what I was told was false, then I have to ask whether there is any historical truth in the Bible. One way to assess that is to ask whether it is plausible.

      Given that writing began only about 5000 years ago the longer biblical account becomes plausible, but not the shorter one. Then look at geology with an understanding that everything we see around us would be eroded in away in 50 million years. Then look at the finite speed of light being a two-way speed.

      Given the above, the Bible becomes plausible not only as a moral document, but as an historical document.

      That is where I am today.

      Thank you and blessings, Chel!

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        1. As a side note, I am planning to use Family Search’s GEDCOM standard to store and compare the Ussher and Smith, Jr biblical chronologies (among others). I thought of you when I heard it originated at the LDS Church. A lot of work goes into getting a good standard established.

          Blessings, Chel!

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  4. Amen. Looking back should make us more grateful that we were brought to faith, or we would still be lost. How good is the LORD! Thank you for sharing the video, Frank. Blessings to you!

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