The debate between old earth and young earth creationism centers around differing interpretations of the creation account in Genesis 1-2 and the age of the earth. Here are some of the core issues:
Age of the Earth
Old earth creationists believe the earth is around 4.5 billion years old, based on radiometric dating methods and geological evidence. Young earth creationists believe the earth is only 6,000-10,000 years old, based on a literal reading of Genesis 1-2 and adding up biblical genealogies.
Genesis 1-2 Account
Old earth creationists view the six days of creation in Genesis 1 as long periods of time or epochs. Young earth creationists see them as six literal 24-hour days. Old earthers believe there are gaps between the days, while young earthers see them as contiguous.
Creation Methods
Old earth creationists allow for God to have used the big bang, evolution, and natural processes over long ages to create. Young earth creationists believe in special creation by God in six days and reject macroevolution. They view the creation week as recent.
Adam and Eve
Old earthers place Adam and Eve tens of thousands of years after the beginning, while young earthers view them as created on day 6 at the start. Old earthers allow for pre-Adamic hominids while young earthers reject them.
Death Before Sin
Old earth creationism accepts animal death before the Fall while young earth creationism views all death as a consequence of sin, so no death prior. Old earthers see fossil evidence of prior death while young earthers deny evolutionary ages.
Flood Geology
Young earth creationists explain most geological features as a result of Noah’s flood. Old earth creationists see little geological evidence for a worldwide flood re-shaping all surface features recently.
Genealogies
Young earth creationists use the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies to date creation around 4000 BC. Old earthers believe there may be gaps in the genealogies, so they are incomplete.
Biblical Interpretation
Young earth creationists take the Bible literally, seeking the plain sense meaning. Old earthers allow for figurative language, poetry, metaphors, and cultural context. This affects how each interprets Genesis 1-2.
In summary, the old earth vs young earth debate revolves around biblical interpretation, the extent of Noah’s flood, genealogical dating, the creation of man, the creation days, and scientific evidence for an old earth and universe. This accounts for the vastly different views on the age of the earth.
History of the Old Earth View
The old earth view developed gradually over time, beginning in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as geological evidence began pointing to an ancient earth and as discoveries were made about the great ages required for astronomical processes:
- 1700s – Deists such as James Hutton proposed the earth was shaped over long ages by slow natural processes rather than catastrophically in Noah’s flood.
- Early 1800s – Geologists like Charles Lyell found evidence of gradual processes like erosion shaping geology over millions of years.
- Early 1800s – Extinction of species was accepted, contradicting special creation of fixed species.
- 1830s – Charles Darwin proposed his theory of biological evolution over eons of time.
- 1860s – Lord Kelvin measured heat flow from earth indicating its cooling over millions of years.
- Early 1900s – Radioactivity explained interior earth heat without needing long ages.
- 1913 – Radioactive dating found the earth was billions of years old.
- 1920s – Universe expansion implied a big bang origin billions of years ago.
Christians accommodated these discoveries either by rejecting evolution and an old earth, accepting it as true, or separating biblical revealed knowledge from scientific discoveries. This allowed for old earth interpretations of Genesis to arise. Figurative days, gaps between days, literary frameworks, and analogical days were proposed. By the mid-1900s, the old earth view was widely accepted by many Christians and most scientists.
History of the Young Earth View
The young earth view was the predominant viewpoint for most of church history. It did not face major challenges until the 18th century:
- 400s – Augustine suggested instant creation with pre-formed matter, but still in 6 days.
- 1600s – Archbishop Ussher dated creation to 4004 BC using biblical chronology.
- 1700s – Proponents of a young earth included Isaac Newton, John Lightfoot, and John Wesley.
- 1700s – Geologists like Descartes and Woodward attributed geology to Noah’s flood.
- Early 1800s – Scriptural geologists insisted on a young earth against old earth geologists.
- 1900s – The Seventh-day Adventist George McCready Price advocated flood geology and a young earth.
- 1960s – Henry Morris and John Whitcomb popularized young earth creationism with The Genesis Flood.
- 1990s – Answers in Genesis promoted young earth views to wider evangelicalism.
Young earth groups formed in reaction to old earth proposals and sought scientific support for a young earth. But since the 1900s, the young earth view retreated to become a minority view among scientists. It remains popular with those holding a high view of biblical authority and special creation.
Scriptural Arguments for an Old Earth View
Old earth creationists interpret Genesis 1-2 allowing for an ancient universe, earth, and life while affirming God as Creator. Here are some of their biblical arguments:
- The Hebrew word “yom” (day) can refer to a long period of time, not just 24 hours.
- The days have evenings and mornings before the sun was created, implying they are not literal days.
- God’s rest on the seventh day seems to continue indefinitely, implying a long creation week.
- Adam is created after the sixth day, an unspecified time after the initial creation events.
- Genesis 2:4 refers to the creation “in the day” God made heaven and earth, implying the six days are parts of a day.
- The Garden of Eden seems localized geographically, not a global Paradise.
- Cain worries over people harming him, implying other humans existed (Genesis 4).
- Genealogies may skip generations, so dating creation from them is unreliable.
- The Bible writers were unconcerned with modern science and meant to convey theological truths.
They argue the author of Genesis was not trying to describe scientific details of material origins, so ALLOWances should be made for facts discovered by modern science that point to an old earth.
Scriptural Arguments for a Young Earth View
Young earth creationists take the Genesis account at face value as an accurate sequential history and apply other Scriptures to infer a recent creation. Their biblical arguments include:
- The plain sense reading of Genesis has creation in six normal days a few thousand years ago.
- Genesis and biblical genealogies point to a young human race originating about 6000 years ago.
- If death and suffering predate human sin, it compromises God’s goodness.
- Adam, Eve, Abel, Enoch are treated as historical figures, not metaphors or myths.
- Days with evenings and mornings, a number, and the order indicate literal days.
- God’s day of rest is compared to the weekly Sabbath for man.
- The global flood explains much geology and the fossil record better.
- Jesus refers to Adam and Eve as historical and implies a young creation (Mark 10:6).
- Biblical genealogies serve as precise chronologies of history.
- Exodus 20:11 states God created in six days, which are the same type of days as our week.
In their view, allowing millions of years of death and suffering before Adam undermines the Gospel and reveals disrespect for Scripture in favor of secular theories. A plain reading of Genesis indicates a young creation.
Scientific Arguments for an Old Earth
Below are some of the scientific evidences commonly cited in support of an old earth spanning billions of years:
- Radiometric dating – Radioactive elements in rocks and minerals decay at precise rates, allowing an age in billions of years to be reliably calculated.
- Astronomical distances – Light from the most distant galaxies has taken billions of years to reach earth, indicating the universe is billions of years old.
- Rock layers – Distinct sedimentary rock layers demonstrate long ages of gradual deposition rather than quick formation in a global flood.
- Fossil layers – Successive strata show the evolution and extinction of species over hundreds of millions of years rather than co-existence or sudden creation.
- Coral growth – Huge coral formations took millions of years to attain current size.
- Ice layers – Polar ice cores and glacier ice layers demonstrate ages over hundreds of thousands of years, not a young earth.
- Genetics – The human race could not attain such huge genetic diversity if humanity only started thousands of years ago with Adam and Eve.
Old earth creationists argue that scientists, the majority being honest seekers of truth, could not all be wrong about the antiquity of the earth and universe. The abundant corroborating evidence makes an old earth compelling.
Scientific Arguments for a Young Earth
Young earth groups like Answers in Genesis have compiled arguments aimed at critiquing old earth evidence and providing support for a young earth. These include:
- Questionable assumptions – They argue radiometric dating makes faulty assumptions leading to exaggerated ages.
- Carbon-14 everywhere – Detectable carbon-14 in fossils and diamonds indicates a maximum age of 100,000 years, not millions.
- Faint Sun paradox – If the earth is billions of years old, life could not have survived because the young sun was fainter.
- Limited sedimentation – Current sedimentation rates could not produce the full geological record in 4.5 billion years.
- Soft tissue in fossils – Fragile organic tissue found in dinosaur bones could not have survived millions of years.
- Poor DNA preservation – DNA degrades rapidly over time, yet we find readable DNA in supposedly ancient fossils.
- Lack of erosion – If continents existed for billions of years, erosion would have flattened the earth’s surface.
- Weak magnetic field – Earth’s rapidly decaying magnetic field limits the age of earth to less than 25,000 years.
While old earth responses exist for these arguments, young earth proponents argue they offer reasonable alternatives to extremely long ages for the earth and life.
The Gap Theory
The gap theory seeks to reconcile Genesis with science by proposing a gap of millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2:
- Genesis 1:1 describes the initial creation of the universe.
- Between verses 1 and 2, millions of years of geology ensued, including dinosaurs and their extinction.
- Genesis 1:2 describes the flooding and darkness associated with Noah’s global flood.
- The six days start at Genesis 1:3 and date to only thousands of years ago when God restored and repopulated the flood-ravaged earth.
This places a huge gap between the original creation and Noah’s flood, allowing for an old earth while still keeping a literal six-day interpretation. But critics counter that this theory lacks biblical support and predates the flood fossil record.
Literary and Theological Views
Some Christians treat the early Genesis accounts as theological and literary stories rather than literal history. Views include:
- Framework Hypothesis – The six days are a literary framework to convey God’s providential ordering of creation rather than a chronology.
- Analogical Days – The days are God’s workdays which prefigure but are not identical to 24-hour days.
- Historical Creation – Adam and Eve were real historical figures created uniquely by God, but the time and methods are not specified.
- Literary-Mythological – While affirming God as Creator, Genesis 1-11 uses symbolic stories borrowed from Babylonian and other ancient myths.
These approaches contend that Genesis is written in figurative, theological language and is not intended to describe physical origins. So they disconnect Genesis from the creation-evolution debate by not insisting it be historical or scientific.
Influences on the Debate
Below are some of the influences that shape and drive the old earth versus young earth debate among Christians:
- Biblical Interpretation – How literally one takes the Genesis account greatly shapes their view.
- Science – Old earth evidence leads many to accept an ancient universe. Young earth groups aim to counter the evidence.
- Doctrine – Beliefs about the goodness of God, the origin of sin and death, and other doctrines affect interpretation.
- Apologetics – Groups like Answers in Genesis actively defend the young earth view and critique old earth arguments.
- Creation Science – Organizations such as Institute for Creation Research promote young earth scientific research.
- Culture Wars – The debate often gets embedded within political battles over evolution and secularism.
These influences shape adherents to one side or the other. But evangelical scholars and scientists can be found representing both old and young earth perspectives, indicating continued interpretation divisions.
Agreements Between the Views
Despite the profound differences between old earth and young earth views, here are some of their core agreements:
- God supernaturally created the universe, earth, and life. They are not products of undirected natural processes.
- The account in Genesis 1-2 bears witness to God as the sovereign Creator.
- God created mankind uniquely in his image separate from other animals.
- Adam and Eve were real people who brought sin and death into the world.
- The different aspects of creation are “good” as attested in Genesis 1.
- The earth exhibits order, complexity, and diversity pointing to a Creator.
- Christ’s redemption provides victory over the sin, death, and curse resulting from the Fall.
These important areas of agreement can be overshadowed by debates over the age of the earth. But both old and young earth proponents share core tenets about God as Creator and the Fall bringing sin and death.
Pastoral Implications
The age of the earth is a secondary doctrinal issue that churches should approach with charity, recognizing the sincere faith of those holding different views. Pastors can apply the following pastoral guidance when addressing the topic:
- Affirm that both old and young earth advocates have legitimate biblical and scientific arguments.
- Avoid portraying either side as compromising Scripture or science.
- Be open to different views existing within the church on this issue.
- Focus on the shared beliefs about God as Creator, the Fall, redemption, and new creation.
- Remember that Christians can differ on this issue yet still have fellowship in Christ.
- Teach that no view should be used to question the salvation of those thinking differently.
- Avoid letting this become a point of division or discord in the church family.
The varying views can enrich the church by fostering discussion from different perspectives grounded in God’s Word. While pastors may hold convictions on this issue, they must shepherd those on both sides of this issue.