Have you ever found yourself in conversations concerning the age of the earth where you hear the phrase, “I believe it doesn’t really matter because it isn’t a fundamental doctrine”?  In an effort to evade miscommunication, let us begin our discussion by clarifying that your conviction about the age of the earth is not an issue central to salvation.  However embracing one doctrine almost always has implications for your interpretation of other doctrine.  We could examine many cases of this, but our discussion of the age of the earth should prove quite adequate as an example.

Everyone in this discussion of the age of the earth makes certain assumptions.   As a church that believes the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and the ultimate revealed authority for the Church, Harvest makes the following assumption in all of its views: the Bible is our first and final confidence in all matters.  This includes all areas of life (spiritual, moral, scientific, social, etc.).  Furthermore, in this discussion, as always, we will attempt:

1.      To understand passages of scripture from their biblical and historical context.

2.      To let scripture interpret scripture, where often it does.

3.      To begin with scripture as our starting point (not science).

We need to clarify some basic definitions from the outset.  Within evangelical circles, there exist two major views on creation and the age of the earth:

1.      Old Earth: the universe is around 15 billion years old, the earth around 4.6 billion, life around 3.5 billion, and that the fossil record was laid over millions of years of animals dying and being fossilized in the sedimentary layers that make up the geological table embraced by modern science.

2.      Young Earth: the universe, earth and life were all created in the six literal 24-hour days described in Genesis 1 between 6,000-15,000 years ago and the geological table we see is a result of Noah’s flood (flood geology).

For our discussion we will compare and contrast the two major doctrines embraced by conservative theologians on each side of this issue of the earth’s age: Progressive Creation and Scientific Creation.

Progressive Creation (formally known as the Day-Age theory) is the term most theologians use to describe their old earth doctrine.  This is a clear distinction from the Theistic Evolutionists (who believe that God used evolution as his means to bring everything into existence) and Gap Theorists (who purport a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2).  Theistic Evolution and the Gap Theory (as well as many other theories that attempt to include God into an old earth model) have slowly but steadily lost support over the last couple of decades due to biblical inconsistency and/or a lack of scientific support.  While rejecting an evolutionary mechanism, progressionists claim that God “progressively” created and populated the earth over the course of billions of years.  Their basic interpretation of Genesis 1 is that the “days” of creation represent long ages.

Progressive Creation’s most prominent advocate today is a Christian scientist named Dr. Hugh Ross.  He has written many books on the topic such as: “The Creation and the Cosmos” and “Creation and Time.”  Many respectable teachers, including Dr. Norman Geisler, Dr. Bill Bright, Dr. Dallas Willard and others, embrace this doctrine.

Scientific Creation is the term most used to describe those who embrace a young earth doctrine.  Core to this position is a literal interpretation of the creation days and “flood geology.”  Flood Geology in a nutshell is the idea that the sediments of the geological table were laid down during the catastrophic and worldwide flood of Noah.

Dr. Henry Morris has been called “the father of scientific creation.”  He is the founder of the Institute for Creation Research and has written extensively on the subject in many technical as well as laymen’s books.  I recommend “The Modern Creation Trilogy,” “The Genesis Record” and “Scientific Creationism.”  Scientific Creation is embraced by many respected theologians such as: Dr. R.C. Sproul, Dr. John McArthur, Dr. Albert Mohler, and many others. 

In the next few articles we will tackle this issue from four different angles.  An attempt will be made to explain why we believe that Young Earth Doctrine is an important position due to:

1.      Historical Reasons

2.      Theological Reasons

3.      Biblical Reasons (Biblical record)

4.      Scientific Reasons

5.  Appendix on Radiocarbon & Radiometric Dating

6.  Appendix on Flood Geology

 

 

Other articles in this series:

Is Young Earth Doctrine Important?

Historical Reasons for a Young Earth

Theological Reasons for A Young Earth