Which fact or theory in this book shocked you the most, and why?

[Ann Ogochukwu]

I definitely think it is exaggerated, but I guess because I believe God created the Big Bang and the earth is a product of that, it is just hard for me to believe that the earth is no older than 6000 years, if that makes sense? Scientifically speaking, it is 4.5 billion years old.

You speak with such intriuging certainty. Nice.
This might come as a shock to you, but I don't understood the Big Bang Theory. Actually, I've never looked into it. It has always been on my 'to research' list, but I never got around to doing that. Maybe you can enlighten me, please.

of course! Basically there was one spot of hot dense matter and due to the density and pressure it ended up exploding outwards at rapid speed. After the initial explosion, the universe began to cool down, allowing the formation of the first subatomic particles (atoms). These atoms (mostly hydrogen and helium) formed gas clouds. Each of these atoms have their own gravitational pull and eventually they all collided and started forming bigger atoms through nuclear fusion. This led to the creation of the first stars. The more they fused, the bigger and heavier the elements got. Some of the biggest stars in our universe can form elements up to iron! Some of the bigger stars then eventually exploded (supernova) and these particles then collided to form new forms such as planets. This has eventually led to the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago. The youngest that the Earth can possible be is 3.7 billion, but 4.5 is the most accepted. The universe itself is around 13.8 to 14.5 billion years old because none of this could have happened in the space of 6,000 years!

That is a very simplified version, I am not a scientist, but that is what I remember from my physics lessons at school. Some of it may be inaccurate, but I hope that makes sense and sums it up nicely for you!

It makes perfect sense now. It's a crazy theory, though. Thank you.
And you do sound like a scientist (at least to me who has little knowledge on these matters ).

[joynob24365]

I'm not a Christian so I don't know much about the religion but it was nice to see God's value of time and that some people leave very long.

[Nicholus Schroeder]

I'm not a Christian so I don't know much about the religion but it was nice to see God's value of time and that some people leave very long.

Knowing that God perceives time differently than we do was a nice thing to know . Back then though it was extremely rare for people to have a long life span. Even 300 years ago getting to have lived to the age of 45 was considered a great milestone.

[Maddie Atkinson]

You speak with such intriuging certainty. Nice.
This might come as a shock to you, but I don't understood the Big Bang Theory. Actually, I've never looked into it. It has always been on my 'to research' list, but I never got around to doing that. Maybe you can enlighten me, please.

of course! Basically there was one spot of hot dense matter and due to the density and pressure it ended up exploding outwards at rapid speed. After the initial explosion, the universe began to cool down, allowing the formation of the first subatomic particles (atoms). These atoms (mostly hydrogen and helium) formed gas clouds. Each of these atoms have their own gravitational pull and eventually they all collided and started forming bigger atoms through nuclear fusion. This led to the creation of the first stars. The more they fused, the bigger and heavier the elements got. Some of the biggest stars in our universe can form elements up to iron! Some of the bigger stars then eventually exploded (supernova) and these particles then collided to form new forms such as planets. This has eventually led to the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago. The youngest that the Earth can possible be is 3.7 billion, but 4.5 is the most accepted. The universe itself is around 13.8 to 14.5 billion years old because none of this could have happened in the space of 6,000 years!

That is a very simplified version, I am not a scientist, but that is what I remember from my physics lessons at school. Some of it may be inaccurate, but I hope that makes sense and sums it up nicely for you!

It makes perfect sense now. It's a crazy theory, though. Thank you.
And you do sound like a scientist (at least to me who has little knowledge on these matters ).

It is quite a complex theory, but it makes sense! There is so much evidence to back it up! (And ahhhh thank you, I'm doing ancient history at uni, not science, but this is just a special interest of mine )

[zulfiyya]

I'm not religious and I've only briefly read about the commonly known stories such as Adam and Eve. I was surprised to find out that Adam and Eve were actually written to have had kids.

[cd20]

I think the author brings up interesting points, but I would not count them as facts. There are so many theories out there, that it is impossible to know exactly how old the earth is and the timing of everything. People will continue to try to prove their theories but we cannot positively know because we were not there. I did learn a lot about Kaballah (which I had never heard of).

[Laura Britos]

I was surprised to read that Adam and Eve already had children when they were banished from Eden. My notes at the part in the book are: "What? Makes sense, but WHAT?"

I went back and carefully reread Genesis 1-4 and realized this information could easily fit into what isn't explicitly stated in the Bible. It reinforced to me that there are some things the Bible does not specify. Proverb 25:2 comes to mind: "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

Good question!

Your point is really interesting, there is so much written in ways that we need to work our heads around it in order to come up with theories or new details. It scares me how many details and information are hidden in ways that are right in from of us.

[MsH2k]

I was surprised to read that Adam and Eve already had children when they were banished from Eden. My notes at the part in the book are: "What? Makes sense, but WHAT?"

I went back and carefully reread Genesis 1-4 and realized this information could easily fit into what isn't explicitly stated in the Bible. It reinforced to me that there are some things the Bible does not specify. Proverb 25:2 comes to mind: "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

Good question!

Your point is really interesting, there is so much written in ways that we need to work our heads around it in order to come up with theories or new details. It scares me how many details and information are hidden in ways that are right in from of us.

Right! I keep thinking I need to switch the translation that I read to keep from getting lulled by the familiarity of it. But even with the same translation, I am always running into something I didn’t see the last time I read the same verse.

[63tty]

I'm not a Christian so I don't know much about the religion but it was nice to see God's value of time and that some people leave very long.

That's respectful of you. But that's not really what's in the Bible, it is the author's interpretation of time in God's eyes. That for Him, a day is thousands of years.

[63tty]

The fact that the oldest that some people think the world is is 49,000 years when there is so much evidence proving otherwise. Also that even more think that it is around 6,000 years old. This is literally impossible as we know that there was complex civilisation around 3000BC and if God created man on the 6th day, then the earth would have existed more than 6,000 years ago, especially if one day for God is thousands of years for us. Also there is evidence of civilisation, albeit not complex, in 35000 BC - when the wheel was invented. So how could the Earth be that young if civilisation has existed much longer, and if civilisation came after everything else God created then the Erath must be even older! The fact people thought the Earth was that young is shocking to me!

This is the reason why many children are taught (via religion) that the dinosaurs didn't exist and such nonsense like that. It didn't shock me, because I was already aware of it. Considering the past year, it's not surprising anymore that people willfully ignore scientific facts.

That is speculation that religion doesn't teach about dinosaurs at all. It is merely never mentioned and nobody in religion says don't believe in science. In fact, most people just do both because you cannot ignore science.

[yomide]

I am not quite sure I believe that Adam and Eve had "children" before their banishment. It really did shock me, literally.

[CGO]

The idea that Adam and Eve already had children before leaving the garden would have shocked me, but it made too much sense. I was shocked by the estimated time the world has lasted, and how long people think it has lasted.

[Jackie Holycross]

I was surprised to read that Adam and Eve already had children when they were banished from Eden. My notes at the part in the book are: "What? Makes sense, but WHAT?"

I heard this theory years ago, and it answers the question of where Cain's wife came from. She was either one of those children who moved away from Eden, or one of their children.

[Kaitlin Licato]

The fact that the oldest that some people think the world is is 49,000 years when there is so much evidence proving otherwise. Also that even more think that it is around 6,000 years old. This is literally impossible as we know that there was complex civilisation around 3000BC and if God created man on the 6th day, then the earth would have existed more than 6,000 years ago, especially if one day for God is thousands of years for us. Also there is evidence of civilisation, albeit not complex, in 35000 BC - when the wheel was invented. So how could the Earth be that young if civilisation has existed much longer, and if civilisation came after everything else God created then the Erath must be even older! The fact people thought the Earth was that young is shocking to me!

This is the reason why many children are taught (via religion) that the dinosaurs didn't exist and such nonsense like that. It didn't shock me, because I was already aware of it. Considering the past year, it's not surprising anymore that people willfully ignore scientific facts.

That is speculation that religion doesn't teach about dinosaurs at all. It is merely never mentioned and nobody in religion says don't believe in science. In fact, most people just do both because you cannot ignore science.

It's not speculation. Some religious fundamentalist sects DO teach that dinosaurs never existed. Most religions don't mention it and even the Vatican has taken the position that the bible is not meant to be a literal history of the world, but there are some that do believe it is 100% truth. Those groups are also crazy in other ways, but that's another story.

Also, if the past year has shown us nothing else, people DO ignore science, because they don't "believe" in it. Why else do flat earthers, antivaxxers, and other such groups exist? They view science as a belief system and not fact. I don't get it either, but their existence proves that people can and DO ignore science. I'm not sure why that's becoming the new "thing" either.

[jaym_tan]

The theory about the world ending in this century. I wouldn't say I actually found it quite shocking, but I was definitely amazed that he went through such lengths to explain it.