Here in are some items that I believe show that the earth is young, about 6,000 to 8,000 years old. Please review and let me know what you think.
The Biblical View
I) Either...or, not Both...and
1) Theistic evolution is the concept that some have taken in order to allow for the
millions of years that science says is the age of the earth.
2) This concept is not logical to say the least.
A) Theism, by definition, entails super naturalism
B) Evolution, by definition, entails solely naturalistic processes.
C) Evolution is based, in its entirety, on naturalism; creation requires
super naturalism.
1) Once the premise of evolution is granted that matter interacts with
itself under the guidance of the process of genetic mutation and
natural selection, there is no need for God.
2) The theory is based of the interaction of matter with matter.
3) It is based on the changes which are produced by chance and which
are then developed by natural selection.
4) If one places God’s guidance into the process, he violates one of the
basic tenants of the theory.
3) Can a Christian be an evolutionist
A) Some say that we can and that it is not a matter of salvation
B) A Christian can be an evolutionist just as one can be a Christian thief,
a Christian liar, or a Christian adulterer. Christians can be inconsistent and
illogical about many things, but that does not make them right.
C) The question for a person who accepts the Bible as the inspired Word of God
is not whether he can hold to a belief in theistic evolution. Rather, the
question is whether he can believe in theistic evolution and remain logically
consistent, without impugning the Bible or its Author. Is it right?
D) The second question is “Where will such a belief eventually lead?”
1) Danger no. 1: Misrepresentation of the Nature of God
The Bible reveals God to us as our Father in Heaven, who is absolutely perfect (Matthew 5:48), holy (Isaiah 6:3), and omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:17). The Apostle John tells us that ‘God is love’, ‘light’, and ‘life’ (1 John 4:16; 1:5; 1:1-2). When this God creates something, His work is described as ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31) and ‘perfect’ (Deuteronomy 32:4).
Theistic evolution gives a false representation of the nature of God because death and ghastliness are ascribed to the Creator as principles of creation. (Progressive creationism, likewise, allows for millions of years of death and horror before sin.)
2) Danger no. 2: God becomes a God of the Gaps
The Bible states that God is the Prime Cause of all things. ‘But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things … and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him’ (1 Corinthians 8:6).
However, in theistic evolution the only workspace allotted to God is that part of nature which evolution cannot ‘explain’ with the means presently at its disposal. In this way He is reduced to being a ‘god of the gaps’ for those phenomena about which there are doubts. This leads to the view that ‘God is therefore not absolute, but He Himself has evolved—He is evolution’
3) Danger no. 3: Denial of Central Biblical Teachings
The entire Bible bears witness that we are dealing with a source of truth authored by God (2 Timothy 3:16), with the Old Testament as the indispensable ‘ramp’ leading to the New Testament, like an access road leads to a motor freeway (John 5:39). The biblical creation account should not be regarded as a myth, a parable, or an allegory, but as a historical report, because:
a) Biological, astronomical and anthropological facts are given in didactic [teaching] form.
b) In the Ten Commandments God bases the six working days and one day of rest on the same time-span as that described in the creation account (Exodus 20:8-11).
c) In the New Testament Jesus referred to facts of the creation (e.g. Matthew 19:4-5).
d)Nowhere in the Bible are there any indications that the creation account should be understood in any other way than as a factual report.
The doctrine of theistic evolution undermines this basic way of reading the Bible, as vouched for by Jesus, the prophets and the Apostles. Events reported in the Bible are reduced to mythical imagery, and an understanding of the message of the Bible as being true in word and meaning is lost.
4) Danger no. 4: Loss of the Way for Finding God
The Bible describes man as being completely ensnared by sin after Adam’s fall (Romans 7:18-19). Only those persons who realize that they are sinful and lost will seek the Savior who ‘came to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
However, evolution knows no sin in the biblical sense of missing one’s purpose (in relation to God). Sin is made meaningless, and that is exactly the opposite of what the Holy Spirit does—He declares sin to be sinful. If sin is seen as a harmless evolutionary factor, then one has lost the key for finding God, which is not resolved by adding ‘God’ to the evolutionary scenario.
5) Danger no. 5: The Doctrine of God’s Incarnation is Undermined
The incarnation of God through His Son Jesus Christ is one of the basic teachings of the Bible. The Bible states that ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14), ‘Christ Jesus … was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:5-7).
6) Danger no. 6: The Biblical Basis of Jesus’ Work of Redemption Is Mythologized
Theistic evolution does not acknowledge Adam as the first man, nor that he was created directly from ‘the dust of the ground’ by God (Genesis 2:17). Most theistic evolutionists regard the creation account as being merely a mythical tale, albeit with some spiritual significance. However, the sinner Adam and the Savior Jesus are linked together in the Bible—Romans 5:16-18. Thus any theological view which mythologizes Adam undermines the biblical basis of Jesus’ work of redemption.
7) Danger no. 7: Loss of Biblical Chronology
The Bible provides us with a time-scale for history and this underlies a proper understanding of the Bible. This time-scale includes:
a) The time-scale cannot be extended indefinitely into the past, nor into the future. There is a well-defined beginning in Genesis 1:1, as well as a moment when physical time will end (Matthew 24:14).
b) The total duration of creation was six days (Exodus 20:11).
c)The age of the universe may be estimated in terms of the genealogies recorded in the Bible (but note that it cannot be calculated exactly). It is of the order of several thousand years, not billions.
d) Galatians 4:4 points out the most outstanding event in the world’s history: ‘But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son.’ This happened nearly 2,000 years ago.
e) The return of Christ in power and glory is the greatest expected future event.
Supporters of theistic evolution (and progressive creation) disregard the biblically given measures of time in favor of evolutionist time-scales involving billions of years both past and future (for which there are no convincing physical grounds). This can lead to two errors:
a) Not all statements of the Bible are to be taken seriously.
b) Vigilance concerning the second coming of Jesus may be lost.
8) Danger no. 8: Loss of Creation Concepts
Certain essential creation concepts are taught in the Bible. These include:
a) God created matter without using any available material.
b) God created the earth first, and on the fourth day He added the moon, the solar system, our local galaxy, and all other star systems. This sequence conflicts with all ideas of ‘cosmic evolution’, such as the ‘big bang’ cosmology.
Theistic evolution ignores all such biblical creation principles and replaces them with evolutionary notions, thereby contradicting and opposing God’s omnipotent acts of creation.
9) Danger no. 9: Misrepresentation of Reality
The Bible carries the seal of truth, and all its pronouncements are authoritative—whether they deal with questions of faith and salvation, daily living, or matters of scientific importance.
Evolutionists brush all this aside, e.g. Richard Dawkins says, ‘Nearly all peoples have developed their own creation myth, and the Genesis story is just the one that happened to have been adopted by one particular tribe of Middle Eastern herders. It has no more special status than the belief of a particular West African tribe that the world was created from the excrement of ants’.4
If evolution is false, then numerous sciences have embraced false testimony. Whenever these sciences conform to evolutionary views, they misrepresent reality. How much more then a theology which departs from what the Bible says and embraces evolution!
10) Danger no. 10: Missing the Purpose
In no other historical book do we find so many and such valuable statements of purpose for man, as in the Bible. For example:
a) Man is God’s purpose in creation (Genesis 1:27-28).
b) Man is the purpose of God’s plan of redemption (Isaiah 53:5).
c) Man is the purpose of the mission of God’s Son (1 John 4:9).
d) We are the purpose of God’s inheritance (Titus 3:7).
e) Heaven is our destination (1 Peter 1:4).
However, the very thought of purposefulness is anathema to evolutionists. ‘Evolutionary adaptations never follow a purposeful program, they thus cannot be regarded as teleonomical.’ Thus a belief system such as theistic evolution that marries purposefulness with non-purposefulness is a contradiction in terms.
II) Genesis 1 thru 11; Mythical or Historical?
1) The account as recorded in Genesis 1 thru 11 is historically accurate for a number
of reasons.
A) The style of these early chapters does in no way suggest a mythical of
allegorical approach.
1) The style of theses chapters is strictly historical, and betrays
no vestige whatever of allegorical of figurative description and
is so evident that anyone who reads with attention needs no proof.
2) In all other places in the Bible in which a parable of allegory is
used, they are defined in the context. For instance Luke 8:4-15;
Galatians 4:21-31. Where the Bible teaches by allegory or parable or
symbolism it is distinctly so labeled or otherwise easily understood in
the context.
3) Genesis bears no faint resemblance to any of these, but it appears
to be what it asks us to believe it is, historical fact.
B) The Genesis narrative is to be accepted as literal history because this is the
view adopted by Jesus Christ.
1) Adam and Christ stand together, for Jesus said, “For had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:46&
47). Moses wrote the Genesis account.
2) Jesus also insisted that, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled (Matt. 5:18). This statement includes the Genesis account.
3) In Matthew 19:1-9; Jesus plainly affirms the following;
a) There was a beginning
b) The first couple was made
c) They were male and female
d) When Christ spoke of Adam and Eve being “made,” He used
the aorist Greek verb epoisesen, stressing the fact that this pair
was made by single acts of creation. Had the Lord subscribed to
the notion that the first humans evolved over vast ages of time,
He would have employed the Greek imperfect tense, which
is designed to emphasize progressive action at some time in the
past.
4) Denying the historical validity of the creation account also undermines
the authority of the New Testament and of Christ Himself.
C) The Genesis account is to be accepted as literal and historical because
inspired writers of the New Testament not only referred often to the narrative,
but also make doctrinal arguments that depend upon the historical validity of
the Genesis account.
1) 1 Corinthians 11:8,12; Paul contended that woman was “of” (ek-a
Greek preposition meaning “out of”) man.
2) 1 Timothy 2:13; Paul called Adam and Eve by name and based his
instructions for Christian woman’s work in the church on the actual
order of creation.
3) Hebrews 11:3; the creation itself is attributed to the word of God.
4) 2 Peter 3:5; Peter referred to the emerging of the earth as an event that
actually occurred.
5) 1 Corinthians 15:45; if the first Adam was a myth, then the last Adam
( Jesus Christ0 must also be a myth.
D) The Genesis account is to be accepted as literal and historical because any
attempt to “Mythologize” it represents an overt attack upon God’s nature.
1) The Bible teaches that the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof, was for the glorification of God.
2) Any attempt to nullify the doctrine of creation as given in the first
two chapters of the Bible is in reality and assault upon God Himself.
(Psalm 19:1; Isaiah 43:7; Romans 11:36).
E) The Genesis account is to be accepted as literal and historical because
genuine science has not discredited, and from the very nature of the scientific
method cannot discredit, the Genesis account of origins.
1) Science is properly equipped to cope with problems of here and now.
Examples are “how water ascends trees”, or “how sugars move
through phloem tissue” fall clearly in the sphere of science.
Yet none of these problems have been thoroughly and absolutely
settled.
2) If the scientific method cannot answer problems that exist now, how
can the same method yield absolute answers about origins.
3) This in no way belittles the achievements of science, but it does show
the limitations of the method.
F) The genesis account is to be accepted as literal and historical because denying
the historical accuracy of the Bible in the account of creation leads to a
doctrinal position called “modernism”
1) If man evolved from the beast, the sin nature is an inherited animal
characteristic and cannot be due to the fall of man through
disobedience.
2) This denies the need of a Redeemer, and thus the atonement of Christ
is neglected or denied.
III) Literal 24 hour periods
1) The days in Genesis 1 should be accepted as literal 24 hour periods for a number of
reasons
A) The context demands such a rendering
1) The language of the text is simple and clear. An honest exegetes
cannot read anything else out of these verses that a day of 24 hours
and a week of 7 days.
2) The language is that of normal human speech to be taken at face
value.
3) The confusion is over the little word yom.
4) The word yom to the theistic evolutionist has the meaning of “age”
and not day.
5) In the Genesis account the word “day” occurs 14 times and is always
translated from the word yom. This is the only place in scripture that
the word is erroneously translated age. All other places it always
has the meaning of a 24 hour day.
B) God both used and defined the word yom in the context of Genesis 1.
1) In Genesis 1:5, Moses wrote; “And God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the
first day.” Thus, the “first day” is defined as a period of both day and
night.
2) Genesis 1:14 is instructive in this matter; “And God said, Let there be
lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” If
The days are ages, then what are years? If a day is an age, then what
is a night?
3) When the word yom is translated as “age”, the entire meaning of the
passage is lost and the entire interpretation of scripture is hopeless.
C) Whenever yom is preceded by a numeral in Old Testament non-prophetical
literature (the same kind of literature found in Genesis 1), it always carries
the meaning of a normal 24-hour day.
1) Scholars have failed to find one case to the contrary.
2) Whenever a limiting numeral is attached to “day” in the Old Testament
(and there are over 200 of them), the meaning is always that of a literal
day.
3) Thus, when the writer stated in Exodus 20:11 that God created the earth
and everything in it in 6 days, he meant what he said- six literal 24 hour
days.
D) Whenever yom occurs in the plural (yamim) in Old Testament non-
prophetical literature (as in Genesis 1), it always carries the meaning of a
normal day.
1) Yamim, the Hebrew word for days, appears over 700 times in the OT.
2) In each of these instances where the language is non-prophetical in
nature, it always refers to literal days.
3) Even the most liberal Bible scholars do not attempt to negate the force
of this argument by suggesting that Genesis 1 and Exodus 20:11 are
prophetical.
E) Whenever yom is modified by the phrase “evening and morning”, in OT
non-prophetical literature (as in Genesis 1), it always carries the meaning of a
normal day.
1) The phrase “evening and morning” was the Hebrew way of describing
a literal 24-hour day
2) There are no instances in the non-prophetical OT passages where the
phrase “evening and morning” represents anything more than a literal
24-hour day.
3) The presence of the sun and moon do not regulate the day and the
night. The earth’s rotation on its axis does that. Since the phrase
“evening and morning” is used both before and after the sun’s
creation, the days are obviously 24-hour days.
F) Moses had at his disposal the means by which to express long periods of time.
1) The word dor is the Hebrew word for long extended periods of time.
2) Moses did not choose to use this word since it was not the idea that he
was trying to communicate to the people.
3) He wanted to tell his readers that all of creation took place in 6 literal
24-hour days.
G) The plain statements of scripture about those days
1) Exodus 20:11; “for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that in them is”
2) Psalm 33:9; “For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it
stood fast”
3) Psalm 148:5; “Let them praise the name of Jehovah; for he commanded
and they were created”
4) Exodus 31:17; “for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on
the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed”
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