Fall of the House of Ussher?

Edgar Allan Poe (d. 1849) wrote a gloomy tale The Fall of the House of Usher. He describes the melancholy Usher mansion that is about to fall apart and the demise of the Usher family line. Evolution, if carried to its logical conclusion, is a very depressing philosophy. Darwinists claim that mind ultimately comes from matter. Poe tells us that Rod Usher held to the “sentience of all vegetable things” and that this attribute applied even to inanimate objects as well! Poe speaks of a “dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanor,” reminding us of the coexistence of man and dinos in the past. Rod Usher and his sister lady Madeline both die and House of Usher falls apart. So the House of Usher is no more - both the building and the family.

James Ussher (d. 1656) wrote The Annals of the World setting the date of Creation Week in 4004 BC. The date of his death, 1656, is the same as the age of the Earth at the time of the Flood (1656). The number 4004 is also fascinating, 4004 = 2 x 2 x 7 x 11 x 13. Evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould gave a fair evaluation of Ussher’s work:

Ussher represented the best of scholarship in his time. He was part of a substantial research tradition, a large community of intellectuals working toward a common goal under an accepted methodology… [1]

There has also been a Fall of the House of Ussher. His date for the beginning is no longer in vogue. A number of scientists helped promote the idea of an old earth:
Benoit de Maillet (d. 1738) estimated the age of the earth at two billion years based on his study of sea level decline. [3]

According to historian R. F. Foster, Ussher’s dating led to the “… practice among Irish antiquarians of showing scant respect for time.” [4] Leonard Bruno, Senior Science Specialist at the Library of Congress, claims that Ussher’s Annals is based on an “unscientific method.” [5] Ussher made reference to Scripture as well as many non-biblical sources (Livy, Tacitus etc.).

Others have kind words for Ussher. Marcus Tanner called him, “… the greatest apologist the reformed Church in Ireland possessed.” [6] The Standard Dictionary of Facts, published in 1908 and edited by Henry Ruoff, still held a great respect for Ussher’s dating (p. 54):
Dorsey Hager, president of the Utah Geological Society, said in 1957, “Many millions still live in mental bondage controlled by ignorant ranters who accept the Bible as the last word in science, and accept Archbishop Ussher’s claim that the earth was created 4004 B.C.” [7]
If we deny the numbers in Scripture, when do we start denying the words between the numbers?
What of Ussher’s family line? One of his most famous descendents was Clarence Ussher, an American evangelical missionary doctor. He was an Episcopalian and went to Turkey to aid Armenians in Eastern Turkey when they were being exterminated. There are at least 100 Usshers in the United States.

It is not strange that the heathens who are totally ignorant of the Holy Bible, should despair of ever attaining the knowledge of the world's beginnings. Even among Christians, that most renowned chronographer Dionysius Petavius when asked his opinion concerning the creation of the world and the number of years from creation down to us, made this disclaimer: "That the number of years from the beginning of the world to our time, cannot be known nor in any way found out without Divine Revelation.'' (Petav. de Doctrina Temporum, l. 9. c. 2.) – James Ussher

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1:7).

Here is a defense of the traditional biblical chronology.

Notes:
1) quoted in Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Sarfati (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2004), p. 129.
2) “St Hutton’s Hagiography” by John Reed, Journal of Creation 22(2), 2008, p. 122.
3) Great Feuds in Science by Hal Hellman (Barnes & Noble, New York, 2007 ed.), p. 108.
4) Modern Ireland by R. F. Foster (Penguin Press, London, 1988), p. 49.
5) The Tradition of Science by Leonard Bruno (Library of Congress, Wash., DC, 1987), p. 200.
6) Ireland’s Holy Wars by Marcus Tanner (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT, 2001), p. 92.
7) quoted in The Genesis Flood by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (Presbyterian and Reformed, Phil., PA, 1961), pp. 116, 117.

Adam to Abraham (A2A): The Dating Game

Orthodox Protestants who take Genesis as Historical Narrative (OPGHN, “opgane”) believe the Genesis record gives us a clear chronology from Adam to Abraham. There is no evidence of gaps. [1] Seth named Enosh (Ge 4:26) so he was his direct descendant and not a distant relative. In Jude 14 we are told that Enoch was the seventh from Adam, so no gaps are possible there. Lamech named Noah (Ge 5:29) so he was his biological father and not his great great grandfather. Arphaxad must be the son of Shem and not his grandson since he was born just two years after the flood. Methuselah’s name means “when he dies it shall be sent” and the year of his death is when the Global Flood started. This shows how accurate and tight the historical chronology from Genesis is - Methuselah could not have died after the Flood!

Adam and Eve lived at the beginning of creation not millions of years later (Mk 10:6). Since the beginning of creation man has been able to see God’s eternal power and divine nature through observing creation (Rom 1:20) – man has existed since the beginning and is not a latecomer in cosmic history. If millions of years really existed before the Flood, scripture could have made that plain. Second Chronicles 14:9 refers to a million man fighting force.

Jacob told Pharaoh that his life so far was short (130 years) compared to his forefathers (Ge 47:9), thus confirming the long ages of the antediluvians (900’s). The Sumerian King List also documents long ages before the Global Flood and a drastic reduction in life spans afterward. The Sumerian King List shows eight kings before the flood and if we don’t include Adam and Noah, this matches the historical chronology from Genesis. The Sumerian system of math was based on 60 instead of the decimal system (base 10). If we convert the life spans of the line of Seth from decimal to base 60 we can see that the Sumerian King List is somewhat close to the actual values from Genesis. For Mahalalel we have 8*3600=28,800 and 9*60=540. The totals for all eight differ by only 5%.














To many, long life spans seem incredible. Just think of the number of dreams Adam had in 930 years. One way to live longer is to avoid disease. A group of dwarfs in southern Ecuador get neither cancer nor diabetes due to their unique genetic makeup.

We can see from this chart by Walt Brown (click to see larger image) that Adam lived at the same time as Methuselah, Methuselah lived at the same time as Shem and Shem lived at the same time as Isaac! So Isaac could have verified Shem’s first hand knowledge of the genealogy, Shem could have done the same with Methuselah and Methuselah could have checked his facts from Adam himself! A chronology you can trust from the man made from dust. Adam and Eve had plenty of practice with number theory when they counted the thousands of stars at night. Bookkeeping the “begats” would be no problem for the first Edenite.

From Adam to the Flood is 1656 years. For hundreds of years people could chat with the perfect couple (initially) who once lived in a utopia named Paradise. Both Genesis and Josephus agree that Abraham was born 290 years after the Flood. [2] Abraham could have compared his genealogy with Shem, who was still alive in his time. Abraham is generally considered to be living around 2000 BC. Therefore, the traditional date of creation of around 4000 BC seems correct. The Mayan calendar places creation at 3114 BC which is not that far from the date of 4004 BC given by Ussher.

Some reply that radiometric dating forces a lengthening of the Genesis chronology. The book and DVD “Thousands not Billions” provide decisive evidence that radioactive dating actually supports the Young Earth Science (YES) position. This book, which summarizes the findings of the RATE project includes both scientific and biblical evidence.

All the men named in these genealogies were sinners: “Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One” (1 Tim. 1:15, Message).

NOTES:
1) Refuting Compromise by Jonathan Sarfati (Master Books, 2004), pp. 289-297.
2) ibid., p. 291.