Evolution says nothing about the age of the Earth.

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I recently saw where someone made an objection to the age of the Earth being billions of years old as an objection to evolution. But really evolution says nothing about the age of the Earth. The question of how old the Earth is, is not covered in evolution. Evolution is about how life changes over time. The age of the Earth is a question of geological history, not evolution.

This logic is weird. Do other planets not exist to this person because they don't have organisms on them to evolve? I didn't realize the existence and age of a planet relies on organisms.

It is creationist's "logic" to believe that life was created on Earth within days of the creation of the heavens and the Earth.  Hence...

• If Earth is 4.5 billion years old, then life (including human life) has been on Earth for 4.5 billion years (minus a few days).

• If the universe 13.7 billion years old, then Earth and all life (including human life) on it has been around for 13.7 billion years.

• If humans (Homo Sapiens) have been around for only a million years or so, then so has Earth.

• If Earth was created in 4004 BC, then so were humans.

Many creationists seem incapable of disbelieving that the creation of Earth and the creation of humans did not occur during the same week.

I dont understand what you are saying about.... what this person was saying.

I assume that this person meant "billions" as opposed to some number less than that. Thousands? Or even millions? If so then "billions" is compatible with life gradually evolving via natural selection. A lesser amount of time would make evolution harder to shoehorn in, not easier. The younger you postulate that the earth is the less time there would be for things to evolve. Modern young earth Creationists adhere to the words of the Bible: that the earth was created in seven days in 4000 BC. Since it was only 6000 years ago neither living things nor the earth had much time to change. But modern young earth creationist deny evolution any way.

Like wise folks who dont deny evolution accept that the earth is 4.5 billion years old - so it would absurd to think that there could be NO evolution over that time span.

In the history of western science the concept of "gradualism" came first (that geological forces work gradually and invisibly over time). Mountains take a long time to wash into the sea. Later came "evolution" (the idea that living organisms can change gradually over time). But gradualism paved the way for evolution because it expanded the time scale beyond that of the Bible (from the small confines of a few thousand years to unlimited millions of years and beyond), and it also makes for an analogy (if rocks can evolve than why not living things, which are more dynamic than rocks). Geology provided evidence for evolution in the form of fossils in the rocks as well.

I have family members who are religious and somewhat believe in evolution, but they always have the weirdest logic for justifying God creating humans and the earth and evolution still existing. They get very irritated if you suggest that the earth and humans were not created very close together and have no actual understanding of evolution.

(I'm not saying being religious and believing in evolution are mutually exclusive, by the way, there's just people I know that are so preoccupied with what other people have taught them about God that they don't desire to actually learn about evolution or make their thought process regarding it make sense. I think they see things about evolution being widely accepted and try to rationalize it with what they've been taught, but don't know how to properly rationalize it.)

I know a few "Young Earth" creationists, some "Guided Evolution" religionists, and many people who believe that Evolution is the best theory humans have come up with so far to explain the changes in species as shown in the fossil record.

We mostly get along; but when the discussion shifts to whose beliefs are the right beliefs, I have been known to shift the conversation to the antics of our 45th president.

Then the real discussion begins.

There are people who object to evolution who claim that according to scientists the Earth originated and has changed as the result of evolution. Really evolution says nothing about geological history, only about how life changes over time. This is a misunderstanding of what evolution actually refers to.

This should be in PPR.....

The creationists believe that humans were "created" in their present form. They usually believe that the Earth is not billions of years old.

Evolution is separate from geology----but evolution is often used to prove that the Earth is billons of years old---so there is a "connection" there.

No. Its the other way around Geologic gradualism predated Darwin.

The word "evolution" simply means "change over time". So if you accept geologic gradualism ( rocks can change, moutains can erode into the sea, continents can drift over millions of years) than you accept that non living matter can "evolve" (change over large expansive of time).

But if you accept "Darwins Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection" then that theory is indeed only about living things evolving. But if you accept that theory then you also have to accept that the earth is old - billions of years old because his theory needs that long time in order to work.

In contrast if you deny evolution in favor of Creation as described in the Bible then you deny both biological evolution and Geological gradualism in favor of believing that both man, and the earth were created less then ten thousand years ago.

I'm religious, but confess that I believe more in evolution than I do in creation. The evidence is in the layers of rock that Earth has been around for a long time before humans. There is no such thing as a young Earth.

True. Evolution is just a mechanism explaining relationships between extant and excavated species.
Various geological research tell about age of the Earth.

I think it's just a mental shortcut of "evolution" meaning research results and "creationism" meaning more or less literal interpretation of ancient scriptures.

For me personally, science and faith are not mutually exclusive. I've always believed the language of G-d is mathematics and many orthodox rabbis agree with this. After meeting Dr. Schroeder in Israel my belief of this only became stronger.

Dr. Schroeder essentially posits that because the universe is expanding that time flowed differently billions of years ago than it does now. So trillions of days will appear as on day billions of years ago. So G-ds one day during creation is equal to trillions of our perceived days. Therefore, the book of gensis and scientific data both hold true.

I've read a few of his books and took a class by Dr Wienberg at UT Austin who he worked on some of his theories with. I'm convinced. It makes sense to me. He's also pretty funny in person, not that this matters in regards to his science

Copied from Wikipedia:
Gerald Lawrence Schroeder is an Orthodox Jewish physicist, author, lecturer and teacher at College of Jewish Studies Aish HaTorah's Discovery Seminar, Essentials and Fellowships programs and Executive Learning Center,[1] who focuses on what he perceives to be an inherent relationship between science and spirituality.