Is the Bible prehistoric? What a great question!
A red flag should go up whenever we hear “prehistoric.” The prefix “pre-” means “before,” meaning the subject applies to a time before recorded history when there were no eyewitnesses or written accounts. How dependable is something someone calls prehistoric?
Preconceptions
When experts date prehistoric events, they often include a disclaimer stating that the dates are approximate and subject to revision based on discoveries or analysis. Essentially, the analyst’s worldview and preconceptions influence these dates, which are effectively formulated guesses. Typically, these scientific theorists have an evolutionary perspective.
Margin for Error
In 1862, Lord Kelvin, a leading scientist of that era, estimated that the Earth was between twenty million and four hundred million years old, giving himself a wide margin of error. In contrast, modern scientists have pushed the data back further, stating that the Earth is 4.54 billion years old with a margin of error of only fifty million years! Although fifty million years may seem like a wide margin of error, it’s microscopic given the vast age estimate. The margin of error is 1.1% (1.1013215859030838%) of the total age!
Exaggeration and Changeability
Do these experts expect us to believe they won’t change this number based on future discoveries and analyses? Why aren’t they honest about what’s really behind their (prehistoric) dating of the Earth’s age? They want us to trust that they’ve proven their data – and theories — with reliable methods based on ‘pure’ science, but that’s not the case. They exaggerate the accuracy of their dating to make it sound credible. This raises another red flag for critical thinkers.
Whenever experts assign dates to the Earth that exceed 3500 BC, the time of the first written records, they enter the unstable realm of prehistory. This raises the question of human origins. If you don’t believe that God created the first man and woman, you will seek the answer in prehistory.
History
In contrast, the Bible record is within known history. God dictated Genesis 1:1- 2:4a to Adam to explain what happened before Adam’s creation since there were no humans to witness it. After that, various human eyewitnesses wrote the Bible.
Eyewitnesses
The first man, Adam, claims to have written the account in Genesis 2:4b- 5:1a. He even signed his name at the end to emphasize his authorship:
“This is the book of the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1a).
Dated History
The Book of Genesis contains eyewitness accounts written by ten eyewitnesses, including Noah and Jacob. These accounts cover the history of the first humans until the time of Joseph, who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries BC.
Over the next four hundred years, the Bible describes a period of silence while the Jews multiplied in Egypt (Exodus 1:7).
“God spoke in this way, ‘Your descendants shall be sojourners in a land belonging to others (Egypt), who will enslave them and mistreat them four hundred years” (Acts 7:6).
The Exodus, when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt, was in 1446 BC. The Bible records continue describing persons and events until King David, who reigned from 1010 until 970 BC. Historical records continue through the last Old Testament book, Malachi, written in 430 BC.
After that time, there was a period of biblical silence until the Gospel accounts recorded the birth of Jesus in 5 BC.
Genealogy from Adam to Jesus
The Gospel of Luke contains a genealogy of Jesus that traces His lineage back to the first human, Adam:
“Now Jesus Himself … was the son of Adam, who was the son of God” (Luke 3:23, 38).
Falsifiability
Falsifiability is a fundamental principle of the scientific method. This principle states that any theory must be falsifiable. The Bible contains genealogies, historical information, and names of locations and allows us to date the events it describes. All this information is falsifiable. Additionally, archaeological discoveries and extra-biblical sources have supported the records in the Bible.
The Bible makes historical claims that we can investigate. It names cities and people and describes battles that historians can corroborate. It provides genealogies listing names of known people that trace back to the first God-created human, Adam. Named authors wrote the Bible’s books, so it’s a comprehensive record of human history. Though the authors wrote its text since the time of Adam, it hasn’t changed based on new information.
Adjustments
In contrast, modern science defaults to the prehistoric era, extending human history to a time before recorded history, which its name reflects. It pushes back the date of the Earth’s formation to an incomprehensibly vast number of years while claiming accuracy with only a 1.1% margin of error. They insist that their current dating is correct. Yet, they readily adjust it whenever they find new information that fits their theory.
The Bible and science agree on many topics. However, what should we do when their theories about human origins and the creation of Earth and the universe conflict? Which source is more reliable for our beliefs — historical accounts or prehistoric theories? Both theories involve a measure of faith.
“By faith we understand that the universe was framed by the word of God, so that things that are seen were not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
