Quote by Terry Pratchett
Current theories on the creation of the Universe state that, if it were created at all and didn't just start, as it were, unofficially, it came to being between ten and twenty thousand million years ago. By the same token the earth itself is generally supposed to be about four and a half thousand million years old.These dates are incorrect.Medieval Jewish scholars put the date of the Creation at 3760BC. Greek Orthodox theologians put Creation as far back as 5508BC.These suggestions are also incorrect.Archbishop James Usher (1580-1656) published Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti in 1654, which suggested that the Heaven and the Earth were created in 4004BC. One of his aides took the calculation further, and was able to announce triumphantly that the Earth was created on Sunday the 21st of October, 4004BC, at exactly 9.00 a.m., because God liked to get work done early in the morning while he was feeling fresh.This too was incorrect. By almost a quarter of an hour.The whole business with the fossilized dinosaur skeletons was a joke the paleontologists haven't seen yet.
Summary
This quote humorously highlights the fallacy of attempting to narrow down the exact date of the Universe's creation. Various religious and historical sources, such as Jewish scholars, Greek theologians, and Archbishop James Usher, have proposed specific dates for the creation, but all have been proven incorrect. The mention of Usher's calculation that the Earth was created on Sunday the 21st of October, 4004 BC, at 9:00 a.m., with a touch of sarcasm underscores the absurdity of trying to determine such precise details. The reference to fossilized dinosaur skeletons being a joke suggests that our understanding of history and time may still be incomplete.
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