Question:  Dear Greg,

            I recently heard a minister on the radio and he was talking about the age of creation.  I think that I remember you saying that you thought the earth and universe were maybe billions of years old.  This minister was saying that he believed in a young earth and universe.  He stated that when God made rivers such as the Nile he made them mature rivers.

            Likewise the oceans were full and did not take millions of years to fill up and  that the stars were made instantly and light did not take billions of light years to reach earth.  He said that in all creation everything was made with age or the appearance of age--the animals, the vegetation, man himself and all of creation was of age from the first moment of creation.  You reason the creation to be billions of years old, but perhaps God made them seem to be of age.  Wouldn’t it be better to say that we don’t know the age of things rather than say the evidence suggests that the earth is very old and that we think the universe is of old age?  We don’t know because the Bible does not nail it down?  Maybe it’s God’s way of telling us “what’s the difference?”  Or maybe it is to confuse the scientists among us who want to discredit the Bible.  What do you think?

            Your brother in Christ,

            Tom

Answer:  Dear Tom,

            The age of the earth.  First, please check out the many questions and answers we have posted on our web site on this topic.  You can use the feature “Search our Site” or you may check the categories of Genesis and Religion and Science.  Those questions and answers will give you a good background to the approach PTM takes to this topic.

            It is important to note, at the outset, that this topic is not critical to our faith.  Whether the earth is young or old, or whether the days of creation are literal periods of 24 hours, or whether the descriptions of these days fits the literary or poetical context of the early chapters of Genesis is not worth dividing over.

            Having said that, I think that it is fair to say that those who posit literal 24-hour days of creation and a young earth are doing so because such a view is, in fact, critical to their approach to the Bible and their worldview in general.  Some of their concerns are:

1.      They claim that the Bible is literal.  Of course the Bible is literal as opposed to fiction.  But if I say that the sky is filled with twinkling diamonds, or if the Bible says that God has wings to cover his children, or that God is a rock, etc., etc.—those things are literally true, but not literal.  It is typological, symbolic language.  There is much in the Bible that cannot possibly be literal—it is poetic, lyrical, symbolic, and metaphorical—still very much literally true, but not literal in the sense of the style in which it is written.  At least one-third of the Bible is poetry.  There are also teaching methods like the stories Jesus told (parables), the book of Revelation, etc.  I cannot accept that God would inspire the first few chapters of Genesis to not only be said and written exactly as it was, but in the exact style and manner he did (in profound Hebraisms which inspire deep and wonderful insights about the one true God), only to have us make these words a blueprint of how he created the universe and our world.  But that’s just my personal view.

2.      Another concern some young earthers have is that anything less than a 6000-year history of the world is a slippery slope that leads to evolution.  This is not the case, but some draw the line, fearing the compromise that might occur.  This leads to:

3.      An anti-science and even anti-intellectual bias.  There is a fear of science about many young earthers, and thus a demonizing of science and scientists.

            The only way that the young earth people can “fit” reality with what they believe to be true is to postulate that God created the earth at an advanced age.  Of course, some don’t even try, dismissing scientific fact as godless evolution.  You did not mention it, but they also offer as an anecdotal proof that Adam and Eve were created as adults.  That is true—but Adam and Eve also lived about 900 years.  So them being created at 30 or 50 is still very young—about 5% of their total life span.  Whether God created the earth to be billions of years old so that the earth only “seems” old to us is really not profoundly logical, and there is no biblical proof one can point to for such a view.  It is simply a way for young earth folks to make everything make sense, given their presumption.  Lots of questions to this view.  For one, why (if God wanted to make the earth “seem” old) go to all that trouble?  Just to confuse us, so that the young earth people would be right after all?  And if he did create the earth in a “mature” stage, why billions of years old?  Why not just 100,000—or maybe a million?  That would be mature enough, wouldn’t it? 

            As you can see, I don’t buy the young earth arguments.  For me, these arguments seem shallow and specially modified to conform to a specific view—a case of trying to make the facts fit the conclusion, rather than the other way around.  Having said that, there are many Christians who disagree with me, including some for whom I have enormous respect.  But we can all be wrong (I certainly have been wrong many times!).  However, we do agree on all of the basic, core doctrines of the historic Christian faith.  That is what is important.

            Hope this helps.  May God bless you Tom.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht