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But When?

We still may ask the question, exactly when was the beginning? Many of our science books tell us that the beginning took place some 4 1/2 billion years ago, some textbooks say 6 billion years ago, a few writers now would like to push the beginning back to 30 billion years. Yet the Bible implies that creation took place rather recently.

Genealogies are given in Genesis 5 and 11. Bishop Ussher used a strict time sequence and calculated from the genealogies that creation took place in 4004 B.C. A strict time sequence need not be used but we must still recognize the fact that God revealed them for a purpose and they should be considered. Harold Camping has worked on them using father-son relationships and grandfather-grandson relationships. He proposes that in the genealogies each successive recorded patriarch was born the year his named predecessor died. This principle of interpretation derives from the genealogies a chronology which places the beginning at 11,013 B.C. Only one method is correct and further study will help us determine the answer. Still, God included these genealogies for a purpose. Since it is unreasonable to insert long periods of time, say billions of years, into genealogical record, Biblical chronology plainly clashes with current scientific estimates of the age of the earth. Ussher's date of 4004 B.C. or 6000 years ago is quite different from 4 1/2 billion years. When exactly did the beginning take place?