Difference between revisions of "Old Earth Creationism"

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'''Old Earth Creationism''' is the belief that God created the universe and the world billions of years ago. Old Earth [[Creationism|Creationists]] hold to an exegesis of the Biblical book of Genesis that allows for an old earth <ref>http://www.answersincreation.org/question.htm</ref>. Old Earth Creationists do not all agree on the extent of the [[Noachian flood]], although many maintain that it was a local flood. Dr. [[Norman Geisler]] wrote that "both young- and old-earthers who are [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] hold to the historicity of the Genesis account: They believe that Adam and Eve were literal people, the progenitors of the entire human race." <ref>http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0305W3.htm</ref>
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'''Old Earth Creationism''' is the belief that [[God]] created the universe and the world billions of years ago. Most forms of old earth creationism still believe in a literal reading of the Genesis creation account, though their interpretation differs from that of young earth creationists.
  
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Proponents of Old Earth Creationism include [[Hugh Ross]], Greg Neyman, Francis Schaeffer, and Norman Geisler. <ref>http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/notable_leaders/index.shtml</ref>
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== General ==
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Old Earth [[Creationism|Creationists]] hold to a view of the Biblical book of Genesis that allows for an old earth.<ref>http://www.answersincreation.org/question.htm</ref>
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Dr. [[Norman Geisler]] wrote that "both young- and old-earthers who are [[evangelical]] hold to the historicity of the Genesis account: They believe that Adam and Eve were literal people, the progenitors of the entire human race."
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Dr. Geisler also wrote concerning young earth creationist and old earth creationist the following: "Both groups are also agreed in their opposition to [[naturalism]], which they see as the philosophical [[presupposition]] of the [[theory of evolution]]." <ref>http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0305W3.htm</ref>
  
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== Lack of Any Clear Transitional Forms ==
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There are many forms of this position, differing mainly by where all this time fits into the creation story. One common place, is after the creation event of Gen 1:1, describing the creation of the universe. If this event preceded the first day, as most old earth creationists believe, then any age for the universe or the Earth is compatible with Genesis. This idea is a basic element in [[Gap theory]], and often included in other forms of old earth creationism.
  
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Dr. [[Norman Geisler]] stated that "Both young- and old-earthers believe that God supernaturally, directly and immediately produced every kind of animal and human as separate and genetically distinct forms of life." <ref>http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0305W3.htm</ref>  Accordingly, creationists point out that there are over one hundred million identified and catalogued [[fossils]] currently in the world's museums.<ref>http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/12fos06.htm</ref>
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There are a wide number of views of old earth creationism starting from the [[Gap theory]] and [[Day age creationism]] and ending with [[Theistic evolution]].
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Creationist insists that if [[macroevolution]] happened, then there should be "transitional forms" in the fossil record that show the intermediate life forms. Another term for these "transitional forms" is "missing links". If creationism is true then there should be a lack of transitional forms or at the very least there should be merely a handful of disputed transitional fossils.
 
  
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Charles Darwin himself stated that the evolutionary theory required the existence of "transitional forms."  Darwin wrote: "So that the number of intermediate and transitional links, between all living and extinct species, must have been inconceivably great. But assuredly, if this theory be true, such have lived upon the earth." <ref>http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number5/darwin5.htm</ref> However, Darwin wrote: "Why then is not every geological formation and every strata full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely-graduated organic chain; and this perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against my theory." <ref>http://www.veritas-ucsb.org/library/origins/quotes/Discontinuties.html</ref> Darwin thought the lack of transitional links in his time was because "only a small portion of the surface of the earth has been geologically explored and no part with sufficient care...".<ref>http://www.darwin-literature.com/The_Origin_of_Species/10.html</ref> Darwin's theory of evolution required that transitional forms exist. As Charles Darwin became older, however, he became increasingly concerned about this lack of evidence in regards to the fossil record. Darwin wrote, "“When we descend to details, we cannot prove that a single species has changed; nor can we prove that the supposed changes are beneficial, which is the groundwork of the theory.”<ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes12.html</ref> 
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Old Earth creationists frequently, though not always, hold views which are more in keeping with those which are held by mainstream scientists. For example, believers in the [[Gap theory]] maintain that there was a gap of billions of years between [[Genesis]] 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
  
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Another form of old earth creationism is the [[Day age creationism|day-age]] position which postulates that the days in the creation week represent long ages in prehistory rather than 24 hour days. Reasons for this include:<ref>http://rareuniverse.org/old_earth_creationism/index.html Old Earth Creationism at RareUniverse.Org</ref>
  
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Scientist Dr.[[Michael Denton]] wrote regarding the fossil record:  
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* An alternate interpretation of "age" for the Hebrew word yom, commonly interpreted as day.
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* The use of metaphor in the creation week.
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* It's use as a simplification to make the story understandable to people of all generations.
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* God's perspective of time does not fit that of humans. This is seen throughout scripture, as God works on timescales that are beyond human comprehension. (A day to God is as a thousand years...)
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* Some of the events of the creation days seem to imply a long period of time, like the commands to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas..." (Gen 1:22 NKJV)
  
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
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[[Progressive Creationism]] takes this a step farther, making more specific correlations with each of the Genesis days and geological ages in prehistory.
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"It is still, as it was in Darwin's day, overwhelmingly true that the first representatives of all the major classes of organisms known to biology are already highly characteristic of their class when they make their initial appearance in the fossil record. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in the case of the [[Invertebrate|invertebrate]] fossil record. At its first appearance in the ancient paleozoic seas, invertebrate life was already divided into practically all the major groups with which we are familiar today.<ref>http://www.veritas-ucsb.org/library/origins/quotes/Discontinuties.html</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
  
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Creationist scientists state that evolutionists have had over 140 years to find a transitional fossil and nothing approaching a conclusive transitional form has ever been found and that only a handful of highly doubtful examples of transitional fossils exist.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3001</ref> Noted anthropologist [[Edmund Ronald Leach]] stated, "Missing links in the sequence of fossil evidence were a worry to Darwin. He felt sure they would eventually turn up, but they are still missing and seem likely to remain so."<ref>http://www.evolutionisdead.com/quotes.php?QID=241</ref>
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The most liberal of old earth theories, [[Theistic evolution]], views the Genesis creation account as allegory. This position focuses on spiritual meaning, claiming that the physical descriptions are more like parables. Obviously, this form of biblical interpretation is not accepted by most creationists.
  
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"Evolution requires intermediate forms between species and [[paleontology]] does not provide them…" wrote David B. Kitts of the School of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma.<ref>http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2088</ref>
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There are some who believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis and also believe in some aspects of evolution. Often this may include only micro evolution, or evolution limited within various groups of animals, or evolution that is completely guided and controlled by God.  
  
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David Raup, who was the curator of geology at the museum holding the world's largest fossil collection (the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago), observed:
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Old Earth Creationists do not all agree on the extent of the [[Great Flood|Noachian flood]], although many maintain that it was a local flood.<ref>Ross, Hugh, [http://www.reasons.org/resources/faf/1990_v4n4_q4/index.shtml#let_us_reason Let Us Reason: The Waters of the Flood] ''Facts & Faith'', Volume 4, No. 4, Winter 1990.</ref>
  
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:"[Darwin] was embarrassed by the fossil record because it didn't look the way he predicted it would ....  Well, we are now about 120 years after Darwin, and knowledge of the fossil record has been greatly expanded. We now have a quarter of a million fossil species but the situation hasn't changed much. ...  [W]e have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition than we had in Darwin's time."  -  David M. Raup, "Conflicts Between Darwin and Paleontology," ''Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin'' 50 (January 1979): 22-23, 24-25.
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Some proponents of Old Earth Creationism include [[Hugh Ross]], David Snoke, Greg Neyman, Francis Schaeffer, Norman Geisler, and many others.<ref>http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/notable_leaders/index.shtml</ref>
  
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One of the most famous proponents of evolution was the late Harvard paleontologist [[Stephen Jay Gould]]. But Gould admitted, "The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life’s history, yet to preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection, we view our data as so bad that we never see the very process we profess to study.<ref>http://www.apologeticspress.org/modules.php?name=Read&cat=5&itemid=2080</ref> In a 1977 paper titled "The Return of Hopeful Monsters", Gould wrote: "All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt."<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i2/punct.asp</ref>  
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== Criticism ==
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Meanwhile, [[Young Earth creationism|Young-Earth creationists]] hold that belief in an old Earth is frequently based on extra-biblical sources, not on the Bible.  For example:
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{{QuoteBox|If an old earth were really the teaching of Scripture, then one claim is glaringly conspicuous by its absence, that is, any claim in commentaries that the Bible ''unambiguously teaches'' long ages.  Rather, the usual claim is that the biblical text appears on the surface to teach a young earth but ''may allow for'' an old earth.&mdash;[[Jonathan Sarfati]]<ref>Sarfati, Jonathan, ''Refuting Compromise'', Master Books, March 2004, p.55.  Emphasis in original.</ref>}}
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{{QuoteBox|It is apparent that the most straightforward understanding of Genesis, without regard to the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created the heavens and the earth in six solar days, that man was created on the sixth day, and that death and chaos entered the world after the fall of Adam and Eve, and that all fossils were the result of the catastrophic deluge that spared only Noah’s family and the animals therewith.&mdash;[[Pattle Pun]]<ref>Pun, P.P.T., ''Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation'' 39:14, 1987; quoted by Creation Ministries International [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4155].</ref>}}
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{{QuoteBox|From a superficial reading, the impression received is that the entire creative process took place in six twenty-four hour days. If this was the true intent of the Hebrew author (a questionable deduction, as will be presently shown), this seems to run counter to modern scientific research, which indicates that the planet Earth was created several billion years ago.&mdash;[[Gleason Archer]]<ref>Archer, G.L., ''A Survey of Old Testament Introduction'', Moody, Chicago, p. 187, 1985; quoted  by Creation Ministries International [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4154].</ref>}}
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{{QuoteBox|It is of course admitted that, taking this account [Genesis] by itself, it would be most natural to understand the word [day] in its ordinary sense; but if that sense brings the Mosaic account into conflict with facts, [millions of years] and another sense avoids such conflict, then it is obligatory on us to adopt that other.&mdash;[[Charles Hodge]]<ref>Hodge, C., ''Systematic Theology'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, pp. 570–571, 1997; quoted by Creation Ministries International [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4166] (their parenthetical insertions).</ref>}}
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{{QuoteBox|[C]onfessedly, it would not have been as readily deduced from the Genesis text had it not been for the evidences advanced by secular science.&mdash;J. Barton Payne<ref>J. B. Payne, ''The Theology of the Older Testament'', (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1972, p.136); quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan, "Refuting Compromise", Master Books, March 2004</ref>}}
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{{QuoteBox|We have to admit here [concerning those who take the six days of Creation as literal days] that the exegetical basis [the arguments from the words of Scripture] of the creationists is strong. … In spite of the careful biblical and scientific research that has accumulated in support of the creationists’ view, there are problems that make the theory wrong to most (including many evangelical) scientists. … Data from various disciplines point to a very old earth and even older universe.’&mdash;James Montgomery Boice<ref>Montgomery Boice, J.L., ''Genesis: An Expositional Commentary'', Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1:57–62, 1982; quoted by [[Ken Ham|Ham, Ken]], [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/324/#r5 The big picture], ''Creation'' 23(2):16–18, March 2001 (their insertions in square parentheses).</ref>}}
  
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This is the basis for there being two major divisions of evolutionary theory, ''[[Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium|punctuated equilibrium]]'' and ''[[Gradualism|gradualism]]''.  Gould is the best known proponent of the theory of punctuated equilibrium, [[Richard Dawkins]] is a advocate of gradualism.
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[[Atheists]] typically argue that the [[bible]] is not a valid source when determining the age of the [[earth]], since they reject the [[bible]].
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The senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, Dr. Colin Patterson, put it this way: "[[Stephen Gould|Gould]] and the American Museum people are hard to contradict when they say there are no transitional fossils."<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i4/fossils.asp</ref>
 
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One of the more famous alleged transitional fossils claimed by evolutionists is [[Archaeopteryx]]. Dr. [[Alan Feduccia]], a world authority on birds and an evolutionist himself, has stated the following regarding Archaeopteryx:
 
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“Paleontologists have tried to turn Archaeopteryx into an earth-bound, feathered dinosaur. But it’s not. It is a bird, a perching bird. And no amount of ‘paleobabble’ is going to change that.”<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2/4254news3-24-2000.asp]</ref> 
 
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Creationist scientists have a number of arguments against Archaeopteryx being a transitional fossil find.<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2/4254news3-24-2000.asp]</ref><ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v1/i1/archaeopteryx.asp]</ref><ref>[http://www.icr.org/article/321/]</ref><ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3833/106/]</ref>
 
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A second famous alleged transitional fossil claimed by evolutionists is [[Tiktaalik]].  Creationists have a number of arguments regarding the fossil find of Tiktaalik not being a transitional find. <ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4250</ref><ref>http://www.icr.org/article/2962/</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2007/0307tiktaalik.asp</ref>
 
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== The Fossil Record and the Creationist Position  ==
 
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Creationist can cite quotations which assert that no solid fossil evidence for the [[macroevolution]]ary position exists and also show that the fossil record supports creationism:
 
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"In any case, no real evolutionist, whether gradualist or [[Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium|punctuationist]], uses the fossil record as evidence in favour of the theory of evolution as opposed to special creation." Mark Ridley (Professor of Zoology at [[Oxford University]]), 'Who doubts evolution?', New Scientist, vol. 90, 25 June 1981, p. 831
 
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"...I still think that to the unprejudiced, the fossil record of plants is in favour of special creation." - E.J.H. Corner (Professor of Botany, Cambridge University, England), “Evolution” in Anna M. MacLeod and L. S. Cobley (eds.), Contemporary Botanical Thought (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1961), p. 97 <ref>http://www.christiananswers.net/creation/orb-fossil-ref.html</ref><ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes23.html</ref>
 
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"We then move right off the register of objective truth into those fields of presumed biological science, like extrasensory perception or the interpretation of man's fossil history, where to the faithful anything is possible - and where the ardent believer is sometimes able to believe several contradictory things at the same time."  - Lord Solly Zuckerman (professor of anatomy at Birmingham University in England and chief scientific adviser to the British government from the time period of 1964 to 1971), Beyond The Ivory Tower, Toplinger Publications, New York, 1970, p. 19. <ref>http://www.detectingdesign.com/earlyman.html</ref><ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jzuckerman.htm</ref>
 
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"Fossil evidence of human evolutionary history is fragmentary and open to various interpretations. Fossil evidence of chimpanzee evolution is absent altogether". Henry Gee, “Return to the Planet of the Apes,” Nature, Vol. 412, 12 July 2001, p. 131. <ref>http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v412/n6843/full/412131a0.html</ref>
 
  
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==References==
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<references/>
  
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For more fossil record quotes please see: [http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/fsslrcrd.html Fossil record quotes]
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==See also==
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* [[Literalist Bible chronology]]
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== Mutations, Natural Selection, and the Life Sciences in General ==
 
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Creationist scientists believe that [[mutation|mutations]] and [[natural selection]] would not cause macroevolution to happen. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/mutations.asp</ref><ref>http://www.trueorigin.org/mutations01.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v12/i1/improbable.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3831</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/selection.asp</ref> Additionally, creationist scientists state that the life sciences as a whole support the creation model and do not support the evolutionary model. <ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/LifeSciences2.html</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/news/Lerner_resp.asp</ref>
 
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== Creationism, Macroevolutionary Theory, and Experimental Data ==
 
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Noted creationist Dr. [[Henry Morris]] in order to show that the macroevolutionary position is not verified by experimental data quoted a leading evolutionist regarding this matter. 
 
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Dr. Morris wrote the following:
 
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"Even [[Ernst Mayr]], the dean of living evolutionists, longtime professor of biology at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], who has alleged that evolution is a "simple fact," nevertheless agrees that it is an "historical science" for which "laws and experiments are inappropriate techniques" by which to explain it. One can never actually see evolution in action." - The Scientific Case Against Evolution by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. <ref>http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_scientificcaseagainstevolution/</ref>
 
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== Implausibility of [[Materialism|Materialist]] Explanations ==
 
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Dr. Norman Geisler wrote concerning young earth creationist and old earth creationist the following: "Both groups are also agreed in their opposition to [[naturalism]], which they see as the philosophical [[presupposition]] of evolution." <ref>http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0305W3.htm</ref>  Accordingly, creationist scientists often assert that evolutionary scientists regularly employ extremely implausible explanations to support their position and have done this since at least the time of Charles Darwin. 
 
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For example, Darwin in his Origin of the Species wrote a chapter entitled "Difficulties on Theory" in which he wrote the following:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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"In North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale." <ref>http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/chapter-06.html</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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Creationist often quote the prominent evolutionist and geneticist Professor [[Richard Lewontin]] admitted the following:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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"We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfil many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to [[materialism]]. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door." - Richard Lewontin, ‘Billions and billions of demons’, The New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31 <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0228not_science.asp#r1</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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Creationist scientist Dr. [[Jonathan Sarfati]] wrote regarding the implausibility of evolutionary explanations:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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...supporters of ‘jerky’ evolution ([[Saltationism|saltationism]] and its relative, [[Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium|punctuated equilibria]]) point out that the fossil record does not show gradualism, and that the hypothetical transitional forms would be disadvantageous. But supporters of gradual evolution point out that large, information-increasing changes are so improbable that one would need to invoke a secular miracle. Creationists agree with ''both'': punctuational evolution can’t happen, and gradual evolution can’t happen—in fact, particles-to-people evolution can’t happen at all!<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/news/scientific_american.asp</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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Dr. Safarti continues:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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The same logic applies to the [[dinosaur]]-[[Bird|bird]] debate. It is perfectly in order for creationists to cite Feduccia’s devastating criticism against the idea that birds evolved ‘ground up’ from running dinosaurs (the cursorial theory). But the dino-to-bird advocates counter with equally powerful arguments against Feduccia’s ‘trees-down’ (arboreal) theory. The evidence indicates that the critics are ''both'' right — birds did not evolve either from running dinos or from tree-living mini-crocodiles. In fact, birds did not evolve from non-birds at all!
 
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<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/news/scientific_american.asp</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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Creationists commonly point to the following in nature as being implausibly created through evolutionary processes: the [[Bacteria|bacterial]] [[flagellum]]<ref>http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2331</ref>,
 
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[[homing]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v15/i2/ants.asp</ref>, the origin of flight in the animal kingdom<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v26/i1/planes.asp</ref>, [[migration]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v23/i4/migration.asp</ref>, the [[whale]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i1/whale.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/re1/chapter5.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v27/i2/whale.asp</ref>, the [[Venus flytrap]]<ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4340</ref>, the [[Bombardier beetle]]<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v17/i1/beetle.asp</ref>, the [[Woodpecker|woodpecker]]<ref>http://www.creationism.org/heinze/Woodpecker.htm</ref> and various [[Symbiosis|symbiotic relationships]] found in nature.<ref>http://www.ucgstp.org/lit/booklets/evolution/cooperat.html</ref><ref>http://www.icr.org/article/146/</ref>
 
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Lastly, creationists often quote biochemist [[Michael Behe]] who wrote the following:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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"Molecular evolution is not based on scientific authority. There is no publication in the scientific literature—in prestigious journals, speciality journals, or book—that describes how molecular evolution of any real, complex, biochemical system either did occur or even might have occurred. There are assertions that such evolution occurred, but absolutely none are supported by pertinent experiments or calculations. Since no one knows molecular evolution by direct experience, and since there is no authority on which to base claims of knowledge, it can truly be said that—like the contention that the Eagles will win the Super Bowl this year—the assertion of Darwinian molecular evolution is merely bluster." - Michael J. Behe, [[Darwin’s Black Box]] (New York: The Free Press, 1996), p. 186<ref>http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes10.html#wp1033719</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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== Statements of Design ==
 
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Creationist often cite the work of [[intelligent design]] proponents who assert the biological world has the strong appearance of being created as can been below:
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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"One of the world's most famous scientists, probably the most famous living biologist, is Sir [[Francis Crick]], the British co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, a Nobel Prize winner... Crick is also a fervent atheistic [[materialism|materialist]], who propounds the particle story. In his autobiography, Crick says very candidly biologists must remind themselves daily that what they study was not created, it evolved; it was not designed, it evolved. Why do they have to remind themselves of that? Because otherwise, the facts which are staring them in the face and trying to get their attention might break through. What we discovered when I developed a working group of scientists, philosophers, et al., in the United States was that living organisms look as if they were designed and they look that way because that is exactly what they are." - Evolution And Christian Faith by [[Phillip E. Johnson]] <ref>http://www.ldolphin.org/ntcreation.html</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
 
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"During the last forty years, [[molecular biology]] has revealed a complexity and intricacy of design that exceeds anything that was imaginable during the late-nineteenth century. We now know that organisms display any number of distinctive features of intelligently engineered high-tech systems: information storage and transfer capability; functioning codes; sorting and delivery systems; regulatory and feed-back loops; signal transduction circuitry; and everywhere, complex, mutually-interdependent networks of parts. Indeed, the complexity of the biomacromolecules discussed in this essay does not begin to exhaust the full complexity of living systems. As even the staunch materialist [[Richard Dawkins]] has allowed, "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." Yet the materialistic science we have inherited from the late-nineteenth century, with its exclusive conceptual reliance on matter and energy, could neither envision nor can it now account for the biology of the information age." - The Origin of Life and the Death of Materialism by [[Stephen C. Meyer]], Ph.D.<ref>http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_origins.htm</ref>
 
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</blockquote>
 
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== Scientific Journals ==
 
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Advocates of the macroevolutionary position have often claimed that those who oppose the macroevolution position don't publish their opposition to the macroevolutionary position in the appropriate scientific literature (creationist scientists have peer reviewed journals which favor the creationist position).<ref>http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2640</ref><ref>http://creationresearch.org/crsq.html</ref><ref>http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3873/</ref> Believers in the Abrahamic faiths believe that the the natural world has been designed by God. Recently, there has been articles which were favorable to the [[intelligent design]] position in scientific journals which traditionally have favored the macroevolutionary position.<ref>http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2640</ref>
 
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==Controversy==
 
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=== Creationism and Intelligent Design ===
 
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Believers in the Abrahamic faiths believe that the the natural world has been designed by God. Recently, there has been articles which were favorable to the [[intelligent design]] position in scientific journals which traditionally have favored the macroevolutionary position.<ref>http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2640</ref> Believers in the Abrahamic faiths have points of agreement and disagreement with the intelligent design movement. They agree that the natural world has an intelligent cause and was designed but some also believe that the intelligent design movement divorces the Creator from creation by not explicitly stating that the cause of creation is a supernatural being and also failing to state explicitly who that supenatural being is.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n1/intelligent-design-movement</ref>
 
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There is considerable disagreement on whether or not [[Intelligent Design]] amounts to a form of creationism and if so, where to place it in comparison to the other forms of creationism. This is due to the concept having  many different definitions and proponents espousing different ideas.
 
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For example, one major proponent of Intelligent Design is Young Earth Creationist [[Paul Nelson]], while [[Michael Behe]], another major proponent, accepts common descent. [[William Dembski]] has stated unequivocally that Intelligent Design is not theistic evolution and they should not be considered the same<ref>''What every theologian should know about creation, evolution, and design'' Center for Interdisciplinary Studies Transactions 3(2), William Demsbki</ref>. Dembski has also asserted that Intelligent Design  is the [[Logos]] in terms of information theory<ref>[http://touchstonemag.com/archives/issue.php?id=49] ''Signs of Intelligence:
 
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A Primer on the Discernment of Intelligent Design'' Touchstone Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 4 July-August 1999</ref>, while Dembski and others have given other definitions that do not include any specific theological references. Arguably, intelligent design can be summarized as the notion that at some point in the past, in some way, some entity (possibly God) created life, or altered life at some point, or created the universe to be compatible with life.
 
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Behe and others have stated that Intelligent Design is not religious in nature but in the [[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District|Dover trial]], Judge John E. Jones III, a [[Republican]] and a [[US Federal District Judge]], ruled as a one of his findings that Intelligent Design was essentially religious in nature.  The opinion met with wide accolades, but some criticism that it borrowed too heavily from the ACLU's briefs. <ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53330]</ref>  Nonetheless, it has been embraced by the legal community, and has quickly become the subject of renewed scholarship on the scope of the First Amendment.<ref>Richard B. Katskee, "Religion in Public Schools," 5 First Amend. L. Rev. 112 (2006)</ref>
 
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==External links==
 
==External links==
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===Old Earth Creationism Ministries===
 
===Old Earth Creationism Ministries===
 
* [http://www.reasons.org Reasons to Believe]
 
* [http://www.reasons.org Reasons to Believe]
 
* [http://www.answersincreation.org Answers in Creation]
 
* [http://www.answersincreation.org Answers in Creation]
 
* [http://www.godandscience.org Godandscience.org]
 
* [http://www.godandscience.org Godandscience.org]
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* [http://www.rareuniverse.org RareUniverse.Org]
  
 
=== Criticism of Old Earth Creationism by Young Earth Creationists ===
 
=== Criticism of Old Earth Creationism by Young Earth Creationists ===
  
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[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/feedback/negative_17December2001.asp Jonathan Sarfati addresses Old Earth Claims]
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* [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2080 Jonathan Sarfati addresses Old Earth Claims]
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==References==
 
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<references/>
 
  
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===Evidence for an Old Earth===
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* [http://www.godandscience.org/youngearth/yeclaims.html Old Earth Evidence from an OEC]
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* [http://rareuniverse.org/old_earth_creationism/index.html Old Earth Creationism from RareUniverse.Org]{{creation vs. evolution}}
 
[[Category:Creationism]]
 
[[Category:Creationism]]

Latest revision as of 22:37, February 10, 2017

Old Earth Creationism is the belief that God created the universe and the world billions of years ago. Most forms of old earth creationism still believe in a literal reading of the Genesis creation account, though their interpretation differs from that of young earth creationists.

General

Old Earth Creationists hold to a view of the Biblical book of Genesis that allows for an old earth.[1] Dr. Norman Geisler wrote that "both young- and old-earthers who are evangelical hold to the historicity of the Genesis account: They believe that Adam and Eve were literal people, the progenitors of the entire human race." Dr. Geisler also wrote concerning young earth creationist and old earth creationist the following: "Both groups are also agreed in their opposition to naturalism, which they see as the philosophical presupposition of the theory of evolution." [2]

There are many forms of this position, differing mainly by where all this time fits into the creation story. One common place, is after the creation event of Gen 1:1, describing the creation of the universe. If this event preceded the first day, as most old earth creationists believe, then any age for the universe or the Earth is compatible with Genesis. This idea is a basic element in Gap theory, and often included in other forms of old earth creationism.

There are a wide number of views of old earth creationism starting from the Gap theory and Day age creationism and ending with Theistic evolution.

Old Earth creationists frequently, though not always, hold views which are more in keeping with those which are held by mainstream scientists. For example, believers in the Gap theory maintain that there was a gap of billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.

Another form of old earth creationism is the day-age position which postulates that the days in the creation week represent long ages in prehistory rather than 24 hour days. Reasons for this include:[3]

  • An alternate interpretation of "age" for the Hebrew word yom, commonly interpreted as day.
  • The use of metaphor in the creation week.
  • It's use as a simplification to make the story understandable to people of all generations.
  • God's perspective of time does not fit that of humans. This is seen throughout scripture, as God works on timescales that are beyond human comprehension. (A day to God is as a thousand years...)
  • Some of the events of the creation days seem to imply a long period of time, like the commands to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas..." (Gen 1:22 NKJV)

Progressive Creationism takes this a step farther, making more specific correlations with each of the Genesis days and geological ages in prehistory.

The most liberal of old earth theories, Theistic evolution, views the Genesis creation account as allegory. This position focuses on spiritual meaning, claiming that the physical descriptions are more like parables. Obviously, this form of biblical interpretation is not accepted by most creationists.

There are some who believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis and also believe in some aspects of evolution. Often this may include only micro evolution, or evolution limited within various groups of animals, or evolution that is completely guided and controlled by God.

Old Earth Creationists do not all agree on the extent of the Noachian flood, although many maintain that it was a local flood.[4]

Some proponents of Old Earth Creationism include Hugh Ross, David Snoke, Greg Neyman, Francis Schaeffer, Norman Geisler, and many others.[5]

Criticism

Meanwhile, Young-Earth creationists hold that belief in an old Earth is frequently based on extra-biblical sources, not on the Bible. For example:

If an old earth were really the teaching of Scripture, then one claim is glaringly conspicuous by its absence, that is, any claim in commentaries that the Bible unambiguously teaches long ages. Rather, the usual claim is that the biblical text appears on the surface to teach a young earth but may allow for an old earth.—Jonathan Sarfati[6]

It is apparent that the most straightforward understanding of Genesis, without regard to the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created the heavens and the earth in six solar days, that man was created on the sixth day, and that death and chaos entered the world after the fall of Adam and Eve, and that all fossils were the result of the catastrophic deluge that spared only Noah’s family and the animals therewith.—Pattle Pun[7]

From a superficial reading, the impression received is that the entire creative process took place in six twenty-four hour days. If this was the true intent of the Hebrew author (a questionable deduction, as will be presently shown), this seems to run counter to modern scientific research, which indicates that the planet Earth was created several billion years ago.—Gleason Archer[8]

It is of course admitted that, taking this account [Genesis] by itself, it would be most natural to understand the word [day] in its ordinary sense; but if that sense brings the Mosaic account into conflict with facts, [millions of years] and another sense avoids such conflict, then it is obligatory on us to adopt that other.—Charles Hodge[9]

[C]onfessedly, it would not have been as readily deduced from the Genesis text had it not been for the evidences advanced by secular science.—J. Barton Payne[10]

We have to admit here [concerning those who take the six days of Creation as literal days] that the exegetical basis [the arguments from the words of Scripture] of the creationists is strong. … In spite of the careful biblical and scientific research that has accumulated in support of the creationists’ view, there are problems that make the theory wrong to most (including many evangelical) scientists. … Data from various disciplines point to a very old earth and even older universe.’—James Montgomery Boice[11]

Atheists typically argue that the bible is not a valid source when determining the age of the earth, since they reject the bible.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.answersincreation.org/question.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0305W3.htm
  3. ↑ http://rareuniverse.org/old_earth_creationism/index.html Old Earth Creationism at RareUniverse.Org
  4. ↑ Ross, Hugh, Let Us Reason: The Waters of the Flood Facts & Faith, Volume 4, No. 4, Winter 1990.
  5. ↑ http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/notable_leaders/index.shtml
  6. ↑ Sarfati, Jonathan, Refuting Compromise, Master Books, March 2004, p.55. Emphasis in original.
  7. ↑ Pun, P.P.T., Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation 39:14, 1987; quoted by Creation Ministries International [1].
  8. ↑ Archer, G.L., A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Moody, Chicago, p. 187, 1985; quoted by Creation Ministries International [2].
  9. ↑ Hodge, C., Systematic Theology, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, pp. 570–571, 1997; quoted by Creation Ministries International [3] (their parenthetical insertions).
  10. ↑ J. B. Payne, The Theology of the Older Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1972, p.136); quoted in Sarfati, Jonathan, "Refuting Compromise", Master Books, March 2004
  11. ↑ Montgomery Boice, J.L., Genesis: An Expositional Commentary, Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1:57–62, 1982; quoted by Ham, Ken, The big picture, Creation 23(2):16–18, March 2001 (their insertions in square parentheses).

See also

External links

Old Earth Creationism Ministries

Criticism of Old Earth Creationism by Young Earth Creationists

Evidence for an Old Earth

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