Science Versus Ellen White: Earth Only 6,000 Years Old?

By Dirk Anderson, Nov. 2008, updated April 2025

The idea that the earth is only about 6,000 years old was popularized by a man named Bishop James Ussher, who in 1650 traced back through the Biblical genealogies to determine the date of Creation.

Ussher took a known point in Biblical history, namely, the fall of Jerusalem in 588 B.C. Counting back from there, with the Bible’s genealogies and the known number of years that these people lived, he simply added up the dates to get back to the 4,004 B.C. date for Adam’s birthday.¹

These dates were held in high esteem by Protestants during the 17th to 19th centuries, and Protestant scholar Gordon refined the dates, which eventually ended up "in the early printings of the authorized King James Version of the Bible."² However, they began falling out of favor in the 20th century as new evidence began to emerge casting doubt on the methods used by Ussher:

These chronologies were based on the mistaken notion that the Bible’s genealogies always included every generation. Neither Ussher nor Lightfoot recognized the fact that, in the Old Testament, the Hebrew words for father ( ‘ab ) and son ( ben ) can also mean forefather and descendent. Bible scholars (including even the staunchest recent creationists) now recognize that "telescoping" was a common practice, serving as an aid to memory and as a means of emphasizing the more important ancestors. The practice becomes especially obvious to any scholar who examines passages such as 1 Chronicles 26:24, Ezra 7:2, or Matthew 1:8.³

By the early 1900s, even some conservative scholars had begun to doubt Ussher's conclusions. C.I. Scofield, author of the notes in the Scofield Reference Bible, wrote in the 1909 version of that book:

The first creative act refers to the dateless past, and gives scope for all the geologic ages. . . . The frequent parabolic use of natural phenomena may warrant the conclusion that each creative ‘day’ was a period of time marked off by a beginning and ending.

Evidences of an Ancient Creation

There are many high-quality scientific sources regarding the age of the earth. It is noteworthy that nearly every branch of science provides substantial evidence of an ancient creation, and there is little, if any, scientific support for a recent creation.

Stars - The James Webb Space Telescope has detected galaxies that are 13.5 billion light-years away. This means it has taken the light from those galaxies 13.5 billion years to reach the earth.⁴ Even our own galaxy is 100,000 light years across, which means that from where our sun is located within our galaxy, light from stars on the opposite side of our galaxy has traveled 75,000 years to reach us.

Ice Cores - A relatively recent discovery is that ice sheets contain an annual record of layers of snow, and these layers can be examined by drilling deep holes into the sheets. Ice sheets in Greenland's NorthGRIP ice core show an age of approximately 123,000 years. In Antarctica, the Lake Vostok ice core shows a history of 420,000 years, and the EPICA and DOME F ice cords show a history of 720,000 years. The Guliya ice cap in Western China reaches back 760,000 years.⁵

Radiometric Dating - Using dates based upon the rate of radioactive decay for meteorites and earth rocks it has been estimated that the earth is 4.5 billion years old.⁶

Coral Reefs - Scientists have determined that the fastest rate of coral growth is 8 millimeters per year. The Eniwetok atoll reef "is over 4,600 feet thick.... Therefore, it would have taken at least 175,000 years to produce."⁷

Varves - "A varve is a pair of thin layers of sediment. Typically, one band of the varve is light and composed of sand, pollen, and spores, while the second layer is dark and composed of very fine clay particles. Varves are formed by seasonal variations in sedimentary deposition. ... Varve deposits display great age. The Salido, Castile, and Bell Canyon formations of west Texas contain 260,000 couplets. Hence, this formation is most naturally considered to be 260,000 years old."⁸

Human Civilizations - Ancient human civilizations have existed for longer than 6,000 years. For example:^9,10

• Pottery, 19,000 BC - The discovery of pottery shards in Xianrendong Cave and Wangdong Cave (Jiangxi province) has been dated to around 20,000 to 19,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest known pottery in the world.

• 'Ain Mallaha (Israel), 13,000 BC - This Natufian culture settlement, occupied between 13,000 and 9,700 BC, provides evidence of relatively sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyles with well-built stone structures and early evidence of dog domestication.

• China, 11,000+ BC - The Shangshan culture (Zhejiang province) dates to 11,000 to 8,500 BC. Sites like Jiahu (Henan province), dating from around 7000 to 5700 BC, reveal sophisticated societal structures with evidence of early rice cultivation, fermented beverages, bone flutes indicating musical development, and potentially the earliest form of Chinese writing.

• Tell Qaramel (Syria), 10,650 BC - Evidence of five stone towers has been found at this site, dating back to 10,650-9,650 BC, making them some of the oldest known tower structures in the world.

• Mureybet (Syria), 10,200 BC - Initially settled around 10,200 BC, by 9000 BC, rectangular structures with multiple rooms began to appear, indicating evolving settlement patterns and social organization.

• Göbekli Tepe (Turkey), 9,500 BC - Dating back to 9500-8000 BC, this site is features massive T-shaped stone pillars arranged in circles, some adorned with intricate carvings of animals. It is considered one of the earliest known monumental structures and may have served ritualistic or social purposes, built by hunter-gatherer societies before the advent of widespread agriculture.

• Jerf el-Ahmar (Syria), 9,500 BC - This Neolithic settlement dates to 9500-8700 BC and is notable for its communal buildings and evidence of complex community organization, suggesting connections between architectural design and ritual practices.

• Sumeria, 5300 BC - The Sumerian civilization's roots can be traced back to around 5300 BC with the Ubaid period (c. 6500-4100 BCE). The city of Eridu is believed to have been founded as early as 5400 BC.

Human Beings - The oldest human beings have been dated to be 233,000 years old. These human remains, discovered in Ethiopia, were buried beneath a layer of lava, which enabled scientists to calculate their age based upon the age of the lava.¹¹

Oldest Trees - There are a several trees that are older than 5,000 years. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine was 5,072 years old in 2020. In addition, there are even older clonal colonies of trees (such as the Jurupa Oak and Pando) that range from 13,000 to 80,000 years old.¹²

Mount Everest - Once on the bottom of the ocean, Mount Everest has risen about 5 to 10 millimeters a year to its current height of 29,035 feet. If the rate of rising was constant over history, it would have taken roughly 70 million years to rise to its current height. Scientists know the top was once submerged in the ocean because geologists have discovered that the "upper formations on Mount Everest and neighboring [Mount] Lhotse are filled with marine fossils."¹³ This indicates a lengthy time on the bottom of the ocean.

Algae Growth Cycle - Many lakes have sediment layers of algae. One example is Lake Suigetsu in Japan. The algae blooms in spring, and when it dies, it leaves a white layer on the lake bottom. During the rest of the year dark clay is deposited on the bottom. Scientists have observed this layering process for a century. An examination of the core of the lake showed "over 100,000 white layers," which means the algae was blooming on the lake for at least 100,000 years.¹⁴ Carbon-14 dating later validated this research.

Moon Dust - Dust collection sensors on the moon's surface indicate space dust is currently accumulating on the moon at "about a millimeter" every 1,000 years.¹⁵ Astronauts reported roughly 2.5 inches of dust on the moon's surface. If the rate of accumulation was constant through history, it would take 63,500 years to accumulate that much dust on the moon's surface.

Supernovae - A star that explodes into a supernova is surrounded by a cloud of expanding gas. Scientists can measure the radial velocity of the expanding gas, and calculate backwards to the date of implosion." For example, measurements on the Cygnus Loop indicate that this supernova explosion occurred approximately 60,000 years ago."¹⁶

Ellen White: Earth is Six Thousand Years Old

Ellen White stated repeatedly in her writings that the earth was only 6,000 years old, and in 1884 she said the great controversy had been ensuing for "almost six thousand years."¹⁷ These statements have put Seventh-day Adventists in a very difficult position. Even among the small group of scientists who believe in a recent creation (less than 20,000 years ago), relatively few believe the earth to be a mere 6,000 years old.¹⁸

Ellen White not only claims the earth is only 6,000 years old, but writes that people who believe otherwise are "infidels":

Infidel geologists claim that the world is very much older than the Bible record makes it. They reject the Bible record, because of those things which are to them evidences from the earth itself, that the world has existed tens of thousands of years. And many who profess to believe the Bible record are at a loss to account for wonderful things which are found in the earth, with the view that creation week was only seven literal days, and that the world is now only about six thousand years old. These, to free themselves of difficulties thrown in their way by infidel geologists, adopt the view that the six days of creation were six vast, indefinite periods, and the day of God's rest was another indefinite period...¹⁹

It is obvious that Mrs. White followed Bishop Ussher's calculations, and rejected as "infidel" any scientific evidence proving otherwise. She also rejected any thought that the creation days were anything but literal days.²⁰ Even more troubling is the fact that she claimed supernatural assistance in the writing of her books, such as Great Controversy, in which these "6,000 years" statements appeared.²¹

Date of the Flood Proves White Wrong

Ellen White taught that the earth was covered by a worldwide deluge. According to Ussher's calculations, this event took place in 2,348 BC. The Bible genealogies prior to the flood indicate a period of 1,656 years, so in order to fit into the 6,000-year time scale, the flood had to occur around 2,400 BC, give or take a century. One challenge with that is the oldest known Egyptian pyramid, Saqqara, was built about 2630 BC, which would be over 200 years before the flood. A more serious problem is that there were several civilizations in existence prior to and during this time frame. These include the Egyptians, whose first dynasty dates to 3,150 BC, the Sumerians, dating from 5,300 BC, and the Chinese civilizations that existed uninterrupted from 7,500 BC. The city of Jericho was first inhabited around 9,000 BC and fortifications around the city have been dated to 6,800 BC.²²

In addition, there are living trees that could not possibly fit into Ellen White's 6,000-year time-frame. For example, the age of the Prometheus tree—a great Bristlecone Pine in Nevada, USA—has been determined by ring-counting to have been 5,000 years old when it was felled in 1964.²³ That means that it first sprouted in 3,035 BC, nearly 700 years prior to the supposed date of the flood! The oldest living Bristlecone Pine in California was measured by core sample to be 4,789 years old in 1957.²⁴ That means it sprouted in 2,891 BC, over 500 years prior to the supposed date of the flood. These and other evidences prove beyond any reasonable doubt that it is impossible to fit a worldwide flood into Ellen White's 6,000-year-old earth time-frame.

Conclusion

As a twelve-year-old child with an interest in astronomy, I looked up in awe at the night sky. As I viewed the Milky Way Galaxy I realized the light from some of those stars had taken 10,000, or even 50,000 years to reach my inquisitive eyes. Imagine my surprise when, 11 years later, some "historic" Seventh-day Adventists shared with me some Ellen White quotes stating that the creation of the universe took place only 6,000 years ago. I was baffled at how God's prophet could make a statement so profoundly contrary to observable facts. When I asked for an explanation about the light from the stars I heard all sorts of outlandish stories, such as God performing miracles to make the light from stars get to earth faster than physical law would allow. It all seemed very strange to me, that God would perform miracles to make the universe appear to be so much more ancient than it really was. And why would God go through so much effort to falsify the geologic record to make rocks appear much older than they really were? Why did He make rocks appear hundreds of millions or billions of years old, instead of 6,000 years old? Wouldn't it have been easier for Him to make rocks look their actual age instead of millions of years old? And for what purpose did God perform these miracles? Why was He so intent on making the universe appear vastly older than it actually was? What could He possibly hope to achieve or gain through such acts of deception? It made no sense to me, but I squelched my concern and decided that one day it would all be made clear to me. That day finally arrived some 10 years later when I discovered that Ellen White was terribly mistaken about many things, and the "6,000 years" was just one of a long list of statements contradicting science and defying known facts.