Earths age about 7 thousand years

[Mahonri]

D&C 77: 6 

Q. What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was asealed on the back with seven seals?
A. We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, bmysteries, and the works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this cearth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence.

Some give Joseph fielding smith a hard time for saying that the earth ( in its current form) is only about 7 thousand years old, but modern revelation testifies of this truth. To say there is no revelation on the matter just isn't true

[SmallFarm]

the key word though is this earth.

[livy111us]

Yes, the history of the Bible goes back to 4,000 bc when the fall happened. But how long did the earth exist prior to that? How long did the creation take place?

“The length of time required for the Creation is not known. The term day in the scriptural account of the Creation does not represent a 24-hour period. The Hebrew word yom can be translated as “day,” “time,” or “period.” The Apostle Peter said that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8; see also Abraham 3:4).” "Lesson 3: The Creation," Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2001)

So the creation could have taken place for one day, or millions of years. I think this is interesting:


“Time is the ocean of existence, filled with elements and life for improvement by man. The presence and absence of the sun give days and nights--and the journey of the earth in her circuit, multiplies seasons and years; and years and ages make eternity; and eternity enlarges the scope of universal pleasure amid the glory of Gods. again it is revealed, that one of our Father’s days in Kolob, is 1,000 years. It is also revealed, that his year is, as we count, 365,000 years. Then a week of his years, by the count of heaven, is 2,555,000,000 years. Two billions, five hundred and fifty five millions of years! Just the length of eternity, as the martyred prophet said” William W. Phelps, Deseret Almanac, For the Year of our Lord, 1852’ pg. 47
--In regarding this concept Elder McConkie wrote: “How long did Adam Abraham and Jeremiah spend in preparing to take the test of a mortal probation? What ages and eons and eternities passed away while Christ dwelt in the Eternal presence and did the work then assigned to him? How can we measure infinite duration in finite terms? To such questions we have no definite answers. Suffice it to say, the passage of time was infinite from man’s viewpoint. We have an authentic account, which can be accepted as true, that life has been going on in this system for almost 2,555,000,000 years. Presumably this system is the universe created by the Father through the instrumentality of the Son.” Mortal Messiah, 1:29
-- Eternity, agreeable to the records found in the catacombs of Egypt, has been going on in this system, (not this world) almost two billion five hundred and fifty five millions of years” Letter from W.W. Phelps to William Smith, dated 25 Dec. 1844, Times and Seasons 5 (1 Jan. 1845), 758 “I remember once being in the office in Nauvoo where President Joseph Smith and some other brethren got to talking about the length of an eternity. One of the brethren went to work and managed to get number of years that composed an eternity. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 250,000,000 years. President Smith said that was correct. The number of years are vast and can scarcely be counted. Eternities have a beginning and an end. One eternity commences and that has an end, and so on. Eternities upon eternities.” Lorenzo Snow papers, 16 June 1901, LDS Church Archives.

Kolob time Earth time 1 day 1,000 years 1 hour 41.67 years 1 minute 253 days 1 second 4.22 days .25 seconds 1.1 days .01 second 1 hour We are immortal beings. That which dwells in this body of ours is immortal, and will always exist. Our individuality will always continue. Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality. Our identity is insured. We will be ourselves, and nobody else. Whatever changes may arise, whatever worlds may be made or pass away, our identity will always remain the same; and we will continue on improving, advancing and increasing in wisdom, intelligence, power and dominion, worlds without end. -Lorenzo Snow, Conference Reports, p. 2, April, 1901I for more detailed account, see ‘Eternities to Come and Go’ by Stephen Robinson, in the Religious Studies Center Newsletter, vol. 8 no. 3 (May 1994)

The notion comes from the idea that 1 day for God is the same as 1000 years for us (Abraham 3:4). If we extrapolate on this, and make the temporal existence of the earth 7000 years (D&C 77:6) - and apply that duration to God's time instead of to our own system of keeping time, we get 7,000 (years for God) X 365 (days per year for God) X 1000 (to translate this into years in our own measurement of time). This equals 2,555,000,000. If we assume that we are near the end of the seven thousand year history of the earth that would be almost two thousand, five hundred and fifty five millions of years.

[livy111us]

This is just for you, Mahonri:

http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_ ... _the_Earth" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SmallFarm]

Yes, the history of the Bible goes back to 4,000 bc when the fall happened. But how long did the earth exist prior to that? How long did the creation take place?

“The length of time required for the Creation is not known. The term day in the scriptural account of the Creation does not represent a 24-hour period. The Hebrew word yom can be translated as “day,” “time,” or “period.” The Apostle Peter said that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8; see also Abraham 3:4).” "Lesson 3: The Creation," Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2001)

So the creation could have taken place for one day, or millions of years. I think this is interesting:


“Time is the ocean of existence, filled with elements and life for improvement by man. The presence and absence of the sun give days and nights--and the journey of the earth in her circuit, multiplies seasons and years; and years and ages make eternity; and eternity enlarges the scope of universal pleasure amid the glory of Gods. again it is revealed, that one of our Father’s days in Kolob, is 1,000 years. It is also revealed, that his year is, as we count, 365,000 years. Then a week of his years, by the count of heaven, is 2,555,000,000 years. Two billions, five hundred and fifty five millions of years! Just the length of eternity, as the martyred prophet said” William W. Phelps, Deseret Almanac, For the Year of our Lord, 1852’ pg. 47
--In regarding this concept Elder McConkie wrote: “How long did Adam Abraham and Jeremiah spend in preparing to take the test of a mortal probation? What ages and eons and eternities passed away while Christ dwelt in the Eternal presence and did the work then assigned to him? How can we measure infinite duration in finite terms? To such questions we have no definite answers. Suffice it to say, the passage of time was infinite from man’s viewpoint. We have an authentic account, which can be accepted as true, that life has been going on in this system for almost 2,555,000,000 years. Presumably this system is the universe created by the Father through the instrumentality of the Son.” Mortal Messiah, 1:29
-- Eternity, agreeable to the records found in the catacombs of Egypt, has been going on in this system, (not this world) almost two billion five hundred and fifty five millions of years” Letter from W.W. Phelps to William Smith, dated 25 Dec. 1844, Times and Seasons 5 (1 Jan. 1845), 758 “I remember once being in the office in Nauvoo where President Joseph Smith and some other brethren got to talking about the length of an eternity. One of the brethren went to work and managed to get number of years that composed an eternity. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 250,000,000 years. President Smith said that was correct. The number of years are vast and can scarcely be counted. Eternities have a beginning and an end. One eternity commences and that has an end, and so on. Eternities upon eternities.” Lorenzo Snow papers, 16 June 1901, LDS Church Archives.

Kolob time Earth time 1 day 1,000 years 1 hour 41.67 years 1 minute 253 days 1 second 4.22 days .25 seconds 1.1 days .01 second 1 hour We are immortal beings. That which dwells in this body of ours is immortal, and will always exist. Our individuality will always continue. Eternities may begin, eternities may end, and still we shall have our individuality. Our identity is insured. We will be ourselves, and nobody else. Whatever changes may arise, whatever worlds may be made or pass away, our identity will always remain the same; and we will continue on improving, advancing and increasing in wisdom, intelligence, power and dominion, worlds without end. -Lorenzo Snow, Conference Reports, p. 2, April, 1901I for more detailed account, see ‘Eternities to Come and Go’ by Stephen Robinson, in the Religious Studies Center Newsletter, vol. 8 no. 3 (May 1994)

The notion comes from the idea that 1 day for God is the same as 1000 years for us (Abraham 3:4). If we extrapolate on this, and make the temporal existence of the earth 7000 years (D&C 77:6) - and apply that duration to God's time instead of to our own system of keeping time, we get 7,000 (years for God) X 365 (days per year for God) X 1000 (to translate this into years in our own measurement of time). This equals 2,555,000,000. If we assume that we are near the end of the seven thousand year history of the earth that would be almost two thousand, five hundred and fifty five millions of years.

[AGalagaChiasmus]

I always ( and still do ) take this to mean it's been 7,000 years-ish since the fall of Adam, meaning the Earth and it's Terrestial glory was existent for an unrevealed amount of time before the clock started ticking for us.

[LukeAir2008]

D&C 77 is referring to the 7 Seals which cover the 7000 years of the earths temporal existence since the fall of Adam. We have only reached the end of the 6th thousand year period.

The millennium will cover the majority of the 7th thousand year period apart from a very short period of preparation at the beginning.

This has no bearing on the age of the actual earth of which we really have no idea.

[Mahonri]

Key word in the verse is "temporal"

I wasn't referring to the length of time of creation, only the age of the temporal earth

[AussieOi]

I always ( and still do ) take this to mean it's been 7,000 years-ish since the fall of Adam, meaning the Earth and it's Terrestial glory was existent for an unrevealed amount of time before the clock started ticking for us.

+1