Old Earth creationism

Old earth creationism (OEC) is a religious concept that proposes that God created Earth many millennia ago; in other words, that Earth is very old. This concept is more compatible with scientific explanations for the origin of Earth than the main competing theory known as young earth creationism (YEC), which is a biblically literalist view that holds that Earth is only about 6,000 years old. There are several variations of old earth creationism, each dependent upon the viewpoint the believer accepts to explain the biblical accounts that say God created Earth, the Sun, and the Moon in six days. Believers in OEC also hold differing viewpoints on the flood as described in the Bible. Although studies relating to creationism and evolution have been conducted for decades, it is difficult to determine how many people hold each viewpoint because answers vary greatly depending on how questions are phrased.

Background

For many centuries, the predominant view of how Earth was created was the one put forth in the biblical account in the book of Genesis: that God created the heavens and the Earth and all they contain in six literal twenty-four-hour days, and then rested on the seventh day. Using other information in the sacred texts that make up both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, most of the world that had exposure to these books accepted the idea that all this had happened in roughly 4000 BCE. About 1600 years later, God became displeased with much of his creation and sent a massive flood to wipe out all but one family and two of every kind of animal. After promising never to cause such a flood again, God allowed Earth to be repopulated from those who had been saved.

These are the main tenets of biblical creationism. It is sometimes called young earth creationism because it supports the belief that the world was only created about 6,000 years ago. This theory went largely unchallenged until the early nineteenth century, when scientists began to make geological discoveries that indicated that the planet was much older than that. The Genesis-geology debate began drawing supporters on both sides over the next decades.

Those who attempted to reconcile the biblical account of creationism with the new information provided in geological discoveries became known as old earth creationists. In contemporary times, one of the prominent figures in this movement is Canadian astrophysicist Hugh Ross. Ross built on a childhood fascination with stars and all things celestial to begin a private study of astronomy and cosmology. Raised without any particular religious beliefs, he became interested in how the world's various religions dealt with creationism. While still in his teens, Ross became convinced that of all the world's religious texts that explained the origin of the world, the biblical account used by Christians and Jews was the closest to what he understood of scientific fact. In 1986, he created a ministry called Reasons to Believe (RTB) to promote his viewpoints.

Overview

There are four viewpoints that are all considered to be aspects of old earth creationism. These include day-age creationism, gap creationism, progressive creationism, and theistic creationism. The viewpoints are distinguished by how believers in each reconcile the difference between the biblical accounting of six days for creation to be completed and the scientific and geological information that indicates Earth was formed over many millions of years.

Proponents of day-age creationism suggest that each of the "days" mentioned in the Bible could be an age. They note that nowhere in the Bible is the length of a day provided, and they point out the fact that God's first act during the creation process was to separate day from night with no time interval provided. They cite the fact that the Hebrew word used in the book of Genesis for day, yom, does not refer specifically to a twenty-four-hour period and also that the text frequently uses the phrase "in the days of…" in a context that clearly indicates many years instead of days. Opponents of the theory state the grammatical structure of the text in Hebrew indicates six literal days with no gaps, and that after each act of creation the text notes that there was day and night on each of the six days.

Gap creationism supporters read the text to indicate that while the acts of creation may have happened on single days, there were gaps of time in between them while the formation of that aspect of creation was completed. This theory had its origins in the early 1900s and was spread widely by the Scofield Reference Bible, a biblical translation published in 1909. Those who oppose this theory and/or support the literal biblical version of creation say that the theory is based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew word hayah,the verb "to be," to mean Earth "became" formed instead of that it "was" formed.

Progressive creationism suggests that creation was a series of separate events that occurred over periods far longer than a literal day. It allows for the existence of various forms of humanoid life over the ages but generally states that each of these was an individual creation and did not evolve from common ancestry. Those who support the literal translation of the biblical creation story disregard this theory because it does not adhere to the six-day explanation.

The theistic view of creationism proposes that God set creation in motion but let it evolve over time while keeping a watchful eye on that creation. A variation holds that God not only watched but also guided evolution to accomplish the desired design for humankind. Those who favor a literal six-day creation story reject this. The theistic theory is compatible with the scientific theory of Earth's origin known as the Big Bang because it allows for the fact that God could have created the "bang" to set the creation plan in motion. Opponents point to the biblical text stating that man was created, and woman created from man. They also claim the existing evidence does not irrefutably point to any direct links that would establish proof of evolution of one form of a species to another.

Bibliography

"Biblical Evidence for an Old Earth." Reasons to Believe, reasons.org/explore/publications/rtb-101/biblical-evidence-old-earth. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Bruinius, Harry. "Pat Robertson Rejects 'Young Earth' Creationism. 'Nonsense,' He Says." Christian Science Monitor, 6 Feb. 2014, www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2014/0206/Pat-Robertson-rejects-young-earth-creationism.-Nonsense-he-says. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

"Creationism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 6 June 2014, plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Morris, Henry M. "Old-Earth Creationism." Institute for Creation Research,1 Mar. 2009, www.icr.org/article/4535/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Mortensen, Terry. "The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and Its Ramifications for Life in the 21st Century." Creation Ministries, Apr. 2004, creation.com/the-origin-of-old-earth-geology-and-its-ramifications-for-life-in-the-21st-century. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

"Old Earth Creationism." National Center for Science Education, ncse.com/library-resource/old-earth-creationism. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Ross, Hugh. "My Story: Dr. Hugh Ross." Cru, www.cru.org/us/en/how-to-know-god/my-story-a-life-changed/hugh-ross.html. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.

Schlehr, Karisa. "What Is R.C. Sproul's Position on Creation?" Ligonier Ministries, 9 Feb. 2011, www.ligonier.org/blog/what-rc-sprouls-position-creation/. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.