0 SAB When was the universe created?

Some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16

When was the universe created?

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Archbishop James Ussher: 22 October 4004 BCE
The Universe's birthday party
The full chronology
Young-Earth Creationists: 6000 - 10,000 years ago
"...the Biblical chronology is about a million times shorter than the evolutionary chronology. A million-fold mistake is no small matter, and Biblical scholars surely need to give primary attention to resolving this tremendous discrepancy right at the very foundation of our entire Biblical cosmology. This is not a peripheral issue that can be dismissed with some exegetical twist, but is central to the very integrity of scriptural theology." -- Henry Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker,(1984), Page 115.
Jehovah's Witnesses: 46,026 BCE
The JW book "Let God Be True" (1946) says that each of the seven days of creation was 7,000 years long. And that since Adam was "created toward the close of the sixth day, he was put on earth toward the end of 42,000 years of earth's preparation." (p. 155) And since "[a]ccording to reliable Bible chronology Adam was created in the year 4026 B.C.E., likely in the autumn of the year, at the end of the sixth day of creation" (April 1, 1968, Watchtower), we know that the universe was created in 46,026 BCE.
Old-Earth Creationists: Somewhere between 10,000 and 20 billion years
It's hard to pin these folks down, but they generally accept some form of day-age interpretation for the creation days of Genesis 1.
Catholic Church: The date cannot be determined from the bible
"At least 200 dates have been suggested, varying from 3483 to 6934 years B.C., all based on the supposition that the Bible enables us to settle the point. But it does nothing of the sort. ...The literal interpretation has now been entirely abandoned; and the world is admitted to be of immense antiquity. ... On such questions we have no Biblical evidence, and the Catholic is quite free to follow the teaching of science." Catholic Encyclopedia: Biblical Chronology

See also
When was Adam created?
When will Armaggedon occur?

External Links
Wikipedia: Creationism
christiananswers.net: Martin Luther on the time of creation
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