The calculation, even based on the same data in the Bible, of the time of creation of the human race and the rest of creation even from a literal interpretation of God's Word - the Holy Bible is prone to many variations and different interpretations and results. The results I have read of seem that leave little room for gaps in the Bible record from generation to generation seem to fall from just after 4000 BC to just before 5000 BC. Although there are probably good reason for each of these figures, the date for creation of mankind or the human race I have found most convincing is 4713 BC by the French scholar Joseph Scaliger who lived from 1540 to 1609 AD. He calculated that three important cycles came together in 4713 BC. These are the Solar Cycle, the Metonic or Saros Cycle based on the Moon and the Cycle of Roman Indiction. The Solar Cycle is 28 years, the Metonic Cycle is about 19 years and the Cycle of Roman Indiction is 15 years. The Solar Cycle is 28 years because it is based on the modern western calendar that has leap years every four years except on century years. The seven is for the seven days of the week so every 28 years the same dates occur on the same days of the week. The Metonic Cycle is 19 years because that is the lowest number of years that there is very close to being an even number of cycles of the phases of the Moon which in this case in 235. These Metonic Cycle, Solar Cycle and Cycle of Roman Indiction come together at January 1, 4713 BC. For now it can be said that although these cycles coming together in 4713 BC is important, a further and at least as important point is that it leads to even more credible results for the date of the Flood of Noah, the events associated with the Tower of Babel and other early events in the history of mankind later on. The description of the origin of the human race and the rest of creation is given in Genesis 1 to 2.
I have recently purchased a copy of the classic work of Bishop James Ussher - The Annals of the World. This book was written about 300 years ago and is quite thorough and meticulous for most of man's history. This is also the person and work by which the date of creation of 4004 BC for man and the world was primarily derived. Although I would agree with it for the most part for the history since 2000 BC and more recently, I have found some glaring ommissions when I checked its version of the early history of man, especially its record of the Egyptian Pharoahs or Kings. Comparing the Annals of the World with another well referenced secular book on history called History of Ancient Egypt - An Introduction by Erik Hornung published by Cornell University Press, I found that other than Mizraim the son of Ham the son of Noah who would be the very first leader of Eypt according to the Bible, the earliest king of Eypt mentioned in the Annals of the World is Salatis. According to the book History of Egypt and Annals of the World this Salatis was the first of the so-called Hyksos or Sherpherd Kings that came from Arabia to rule Egypt during the 15th and 16th dynasties of Egypt. According to Ussher this started about 2084 BC or in this book History of Egypt around 1630 BC. Although I don't yet know all the reason for that about 450 year discrepancy one thing now is clear to me. This is that Ussher in his Annals of the World has ommitted 13 or 14 dynasties from his Egyptian part of his history of the world namely the first 14 dynasties or the 2nd through 14th dynasties if you count Mizraim the grandson of Noah as the beginning of the first Egyptian dynasty. The time of the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza was in the 4th dynasty by the Egyptian Pharoah Khufu or Cheops around 2550 BC. Although I don't know the reason for this remarkable ommission, it could be because Ussher's book was written at least 100 years before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Perhaps then because of ignorance in the time of Ussher of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, he was unaware of some of the facts of Egyptian history we now know thanks to our current substantial understanding and reading of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Anyway, current understanding of putting about 1400 dynasties before the Hyksos kings of the 15th and 16th dynasties from Arabia adds around 14 dynasties and perhaps 1300 years to Egyptian history to start it around 2900 or 3000 BC instead of around 2200 BC with Mizraim or right after at 2084 BC with Salatis the first of the Hyksos kings. However with Scalinger's system and putting the Flood of Noah at 3100 BC and the Tower of Babel at 3000 BC the older date of Egptian civilization can still be fit in Scalinger's literal Biblically consistant dating system. The current version of the Annals of the World by Bishop James Ussher is published by Master Books although I recommend also getting information about Scalinger's system with a creation date of about 4700 BC.
A probable argument in favour of Scaliger's time scale or chronology is that it is very consistent with secular dates for the beginnings of world civilizations and calendars. For instance the Mayan calendar starts at August 11, 3114 BC. This could be the same date as the end of Noah's Flood and the beginning of the new world after the flood. I even know of at least one Mayan prophecy about the end of this current world and end of their calendar that involves a great flood again. Although as Christians we believe God won't judge the world again by a flood we believe God will judge this world again soon but mostly by fire this time. The Maya could have got their idea that God will again judge this world by a flood if their calendar and civilization began immediately after the worldwide Flood of Noah.
The Maya prophecy from the Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin is as follows: "Then the sky is divided Then the land is raised, And then there begins the book of the 13 Gods. Then occurs The great flooding of the Earth Then arises The great Itzam Cab Ain. The ending of the word, The fold of the Katun: That is a flood Which will be the ending of the word of the Katun."
I have now read much of a copy of the Mayan Popul Vuh translated by Dennis Tedlock published by Touchstone Publishers. This book has significant notes and index with the help of other books about the Mayans including The 2012 Story by John Major Jenkins published by Tarcher Penguin. As a result I can honestly say that the gist of their story is consistent with the worldwide flood of Noah in the Bible which I still hold as my primary authority as a Christian. In the Popul Vuh the beginning of the judgment for the flood or in their book some catastrophe and end of an old world is the killing by the hero twins Hanahpu and Xbalanque of Seven Macaw. Seven Macaw was quite proud which corresponds to God's killing most of the people and animals on the world for their pride and sin by the worldwide flood and probably putting some of the offending demons (sons of God) into particular confinement in hell. After that one of Seven Macaw's son was killed called Zipacna. Then the two hero twins killed the other son of Seven Macaw called Earthquake. They were said to have done this because Earthquake was quite proud in making the mountains quake and making some of them fall down. Then the supposed deity Hurricane to the Mayan also known as the deities Newborn Thunderbolt and Sudden Thunderbolt directed the hero twins that they would defeat Earthquake. I think this could be a reference to the 40 days rains occurring at the same time as the fountains of the deep being broken up in the true Genesis account of the worldwide flood. Hurricane directed the hero twins to lead Earthquake to the mountain in the east where they would kill Earthquake which they did. Near the end of the Popul Vuh the east is definitely associated with the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula where some of the Maya lived.
I personally believe the significance of this is that the east part of the Mayan area is just near the small town Chicxulub in the north of the Yucatan peninsula which is the centre of a crater about 180 kilometers across. This crater straddles the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula and where a semicircle of sink holes called cenotes on the land makes a part of the outer rim of this crater. Many scientists think this is the crater that was formed from an asteroid that killed off much of the dinosaurs and much other life on earth although there could have been other parts of this asteroid that struck earth at the same time such as in Europe and Asia in the Indian Deccan traps. That is if this asteroid broke apart some distance before hitting earth and could hit different parts of Earth as the Earth rotated. There is a layer of Iridium just above the skeletons of the dinosaurs off the Yucatan coast in the Gulf of Mexico according to a Wikipedia article and other sources. Although mainstream scientists say this occurred about 65,000,000 years ago I would say it happened about 5000 years ago or perhaps a couple hundred years earlier as this seems consistant with the Bible and the Mayan calendar and roughly with the start of major civilizations in the Mediterranean and Asia. Off the Yucatan there is also an abundance of tektites which are glass beats made in conditions of high temperature and pressure. They aren't normally formed on Earth and were probably formed by the impact of this asteroid that could have been about 10 kilometers across. This asteroid would have produced a tidal wave but could have brought the firmament or water canopy down during the Flood of Noah and in this or some other way there were 40 days and 40 nights that produced rains that covered all the mountains and land of the Earth. In the sea bed off the Yucatan especially as well as some other places at this level there is also a level of clay that was produced at high temperature and pressure such as from an asteroid impact.
After the hero twins killed Earthquake the lords of Xibalba, the place of the dead and the underworld roughly corresponding to sheol or hades in the Bible, who didn't like it that One and Seven Hanahpu the father through the female Blood Moon of the hero twins were upset with One and Seven Hanahpu. The lords of Xibalba were upset with One and Seven Hanahpu that they often played a ball game on the ground above the underworld. (The Mayans liked to play a ball game and sometimes it was involved with their human sacrifices and around their courts sometimes there were stone structures with symbolic significance.) So the lords of Xibalba determined to kill One and Seven Hanahpu which they did by leading them along the road to Xibalba to the Crossroads. The crossroads in celestial terms is the intersection or cross in the sky of the ecliptic where the planets and sun travel with the galactic equator or line along the centre of the Milky Way that goes through a dusty or dark bank of the Milky Way. One and Seven Hanahpu then were lead by the Black Road to Xibalba. The Black Road was especially the dusty rift along the Centre of the Milky Way which the Maya thought led to Xibalba their idea of the underworld or realm of the dead in the Earth. This is the part that could symbolize the asteroid coming from the sky perhaps from the apparent direction of the centre of the Milky Way. This would be the same asteroid that hit the Earth on the Yucatan peninsula, created the Chicxulub crater and had a major contribution in breaking up the fountains of the deep in the worldwide Flood of Noah in God's word the Holy Bible in Genesis.
Then after quite a few more incidents eventually the hero twins are able to rescue One and Seven Hanahpu from Xibalba and the lords there and One Hanahpu becomes maize or corn on the Earth which could symbolize new life on Earth after the Flood. This rising from the land of the dead of One Hanahpu could indirectly sympolize Noah and his sons and their wives starting repopulating the Earth although Noah wasn't killed or his family they did have to confine themselves to the Ark until the Flood was over. Then when Hanahpu and Xbalanque rescued One and Seven Hanahpu from Xibalba and the lords there Hanahpu became the sun Xbalanque became the moon which could mean that the sun and moon could be seen better in the sky after all the rain of Noah's flood had slowed in falling. Also this could be a reference to the Mayan Long Count calendar that is based scientifically on the sun appearring to make a circle in the sky in almost 26,000 years. The circle of 26 was divided into 5 segments of just over 5000 years each. The segment that started in 3114 BC perhaps at the time of Noah's flood mentioned in the Bible ended in December 21st, 2012 when the summer solstice sun was exactly in front of what the Mayan call the Crossroads. The Crossroads was the intersection of the ecliptic and the galactic equator in the direction of sagittarius which is astonomically also the direction of the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy. Although the Crossroads is mentioned in the Popul Vuh, in what I believe is a parallel account of the flood of Noah, I don't believe the sun was at that location over the centre of our galaxy then but this might have been used to fit with the story.
Although New Agers and some Mayan people had been saying before 2012 that there would be rebirth including spiritually from the time of December 2012 on, it is now about 2 1/2 years later and I do not personally as a Bible believing Christian see much spiritual, political, economic, environmental etc. difference that the trends that were in progress before 2012. However I believe all the New Age and Mayan or other indigenous especially Native American Shaman or mystical believers has has some effect and will continue to have more effect but I haven't seen much material saying exactly what this is. I did however see some people say it has given better networking to indigenous and New Age believers and helped indigenous or other people appreciate or perhaps press for use of their sacred sites more than before. But from a Christian viewpoint any worship that is not of the true God the God of the Bible and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit is not desirable or worshipping the true God and is likely encouraged by the devil Satan or demons. I do still think as a Bible believing Christian that the next major Biblical event is the rapture of the Church of all of true Christians and God's restored spiritual people of this age. We become Bible believing Christians through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ that He always was a Divine Person who also became man to die on the cross for our sins and rise again to Give us God's and eternal life if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. I also still believe right after the rapture or catching up to heaven of the Church the Antichrist, who will be totally possessed of Satan the devil, will be revealed on Earth as world ruler. The Antichrist will be revealed as world ruler by achieving a Middle East peace including allowing the Jews or children of Israel to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Antichrist will take over this Jerusalem temple for worship of himself half way through the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. Then at the end of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel the Lord Jesus Christ will come from Heaven with His Church to judge the world including the Antichrist. The Lord Jesus Christ at that time will also set up God's Kingdom on this Earth where He will also rule through those restored to Himself of Israel or the Jews and the other nations for a thousand years and then judge the world for their sins. After the end of the Millennial Kingdom Jesus with God the Father will set up God's Kingdom of the New Jerusalem and New Earth and New Heavens for eternity for His heavenly people the Church and His earthly people Israel and the nations that join to Israel from all ages of time.
Also from secular history the common dates for the beginning of the earliest forms of Egyptian writing or Hieroglyphics and the writings of the Sumerians (early inhabitants or what is now Iraq) was about 3000 BC. This would be very close to the date of the building and God's judgment of the Tower of Babel by creating the different world languages. In secular history the estimate for the beginning of Chinese civlization is with the Longshan and Yangshao civilizations which both occurred between 3000 to 2500 BC. There was also writing on the pottery of this period in China that could be the forerunner of the early oracle bone form of Chinese characters. The pottery and other items of basic civilization from the time of the Yangshao or Longshan civilizations also occurred in a similiar fashion in eastern Siberia and among the Eskimos or Inuit of the American arctic and First Nations people further south in the Americas from about this time. However I don't know if the pottery of this time in other areas had similiar writing on them as in China. This could indicate they crossed to the Americas from Asia about this time as they were spreading out from the Tower of Babel in the Middle East soon before then. On this time scale of Chinese history the Longshan or Yangshao civization was followed by the Yellow Emperor or Huangdi or Wonddai who is regarded as the true founder of Chinese civilization who lived around 2700 BC. This was followed by the Xia dynasty between 2100 BC and about 1550 BC and then the Shang Dynasty and following dynasties. Also the Indus Valley civilzation of the Indian subcontinent is usually estimated to have begun around 2600 BC. This Indus Valley civilization is also the beginning of what is known as the Dravidian civilization in the Indian subcontinent. There was also the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean that started about 2600 BC. The capital city of the Minoan civilization was Knossos. Other civilizations and societies followed after these. Again it should be noted that this time scale of Scaliger is consistant with civilization just seeming to begin spontaneously in different parts of the world at about 3000 BC or shortly afterwards.
One thing I have noticed and if the reader has looked carefully at many chinese calendars whether you are of chinese origin or not have possibly noticed as well that there is no year number of their own on the chinese calendars. Any time I have seen where a year number is used it is only the western year number including a chinese lunar calendar I now have with the year 2005 which of course is the number for the western year as 2005 years since the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also many of the Chinese people are quite fond of using the 12 year or 60 year cycle based on the zodiac constellations for chinese astrology and light conversation and this encourages a cyclical view of time keeping with the chinese but a lack of year number referring to the start of the chinese calendar has discouraged the counterpart linear view of time as in much stronger in the west. Personally as a person who likes thinks orderly and exact this always bothered me since I really looked into this matter a couple years ago especially when the chinese generally were very good at keeping official records, were noted for very scientific astronomical observations and records and have convincingly the longest continuous civilization in the world. In 2012 I looked at a book I have called Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions under the section calendar. There was there a subsection Chinese calendar. In that section the book said that Huangdi the yellow emperor invented the chinese calendar and its 60 year cycles in the year 2637 BC long before the Xia dynasty.
However when I recently on a whim typed on the internet www.chinese calendar origin I believe I found what I was looking for in the first entry. The web site is http://www.well.com/~davidu/chinese.html. In this article the author relates a bit of the history for the cause and time of the origin of the chinese calendar and how, after many years of failed attempts, two men named Kevin Pang of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and John Bangert of the Naval Observatory both in the U.S. found a clue in an ancient chinese book that has led to the discovery of the probable origin of the chinese calendar. This book is called Hong Fan Zhuan and was written in the first century BC by a man named Liu Xiang. The key quotation from this book is as follows: "The ancient Zhuanxu calendar (invented in about 2000 BC) began at dawn, in the beginning of spring, when the sun, new moon and five planets gathered in the constellation Yingshi (Pegasus)". Pang and Bangert thought this was sufficient to narrow down the time frame of their search for the time of the origin of the chinese calendar. In the time around 2000 BC they found only one match with their computer generated tables of celestial bodies. This was in March 5, 1953 BC in the dawn. On that morning Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were all lined up in a string in the eastern sky near the square of the constellation Pegasus. The new moon and sun came up shortly afterward with all these celestial bodies within just a few degrees in the eastern sky as the writer Liu had mentioned. Although the chinese calendar now begins about a month earlier for any given year, that may have changed later due to the difference in the lunar and solar years but this original calendar date was still in early spring and the chinese new year celebration is still called the spring festival especially by chinese people to this day. Finally, although this article doesn't mention it, the chinese lunar calendar is widely believed to have originated in the early Xia or Ha dynasty which was from approximately 2200 to 1800 BC and this calendar is still often called Xiali or Halik meaning Xia or Ha (dynasty) calendar. I welcome response especially from Chinese people on this matter and to see if there is any interest in using this date in next or further year's chinese calendars to have the chinese year number although allowance would have to be made for the difference in days of the lunar and western solar calendar and year numbers.
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