On Tuesday, February 4th, Creation Science proponent, Ken Ham, and celebrity-scientist and proponent of evolutionary science, Bill Nye, debated at The Creation Museum (founded by Ham) in Northern Kentucky. The debate received much attention by the media, and many people on both sides of the issue watched the debate online and gave their opinions in real-time on social media. As an Evangelical Christian, I am responding not to the one I share less in common with (Nye), but with the one I share a common faith - the native Australian, Ken Ham.
Ken Ham is my brother in Christ. We both affirm Jesus Christ as Lord and believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. While he has no idea who I am, I saw him speak a couple of times when I was in college. I appreciate what he is attempting to do in confronting science that has a philosophical foundation of naturalism, but I do not agree with his premise - that the earth MUST BE less than 10,000 years old or the biblical record is false.
Before I go further, a couple of disclaimers: First, I did not watch the debate. I didn't really care about it. However, I know enough about Ham's positions to know what he'd propose and that I disagreed with him on the age of the earth. Second, what I will be sharing is not a scientific response, because I am not a scientist; I am a theologian. The divide in the issue of the creationism vs. evolution debate isn't the only one in which there is a disagreement. Christians who believe that God is the Creator of the universe have much opinion about how that occurred and when. Therefore, this series of blogs will be my attempt at explaining why my fellow believers who are Young-Earth Creationists are wrong to insist that every Christian MUST believe in a young earth. The series will be presented in multiple, separate blogs addressing several theological, philosophical and scientific issues in the young/old earth debate.
Issue #1: Six 24-Hour Days?
It is common knowledge that Genesis chapter one records God creating the universe in six days. However, not all Christians agree with the meaning of the Hebrew word yom - does it mean a 24-hour day or a longer period of time? The answer is both. Yom has multiple meanings in the Old Testament with the two just listed among them. While it is tempting to contend today that the biblical writer must have meant each day representing longer periods of time, we simply don't know that conclusively. So, we have to look at the context of the text to give us the answer.
Notice in Genesis chapter one that it wasn't until the fourth day of creation (1:14-19) that God created the heavenly bodies and the division of seasons. Why is this important? Because it was not until day four that God established the measurements of human time. We know a day is a day based upon the "rising" and "setting" of the sun. However, it wasn't until creation was halfway over that God created a 24-hour day. This begs the question, how were the first three days of creation measured as days? Were they three literal 24-hour days, or longer divisions of time? The answer: I don't know, it doesn't matter. This wasn't the concern of the writer of Genesis.
His purpose was not to promote a young or old earth, but rather to confront the mindset of the religions of Israel's neighbors. They believed the earth was the result of cosmic wars between the gods or was birthed by some monster-like god. The writer of Genesis beautifully described that one God created the universe personally, purposefully and precisely. The universe was not a mistake or a result of chaotic chain reactions, but the purposeful creation of a personal and loving God.
Young-Earthers insist that the writer of Genesis, likely Moses, meant that God created the universe in six, literal 24-hour days. So essential is this to their faith that they also insist that unless this is true the rest of the Bible cannot be believed. The reason they believe this is due to their view of Biblical Inerrancy, which states that the Bible is without error in what it records and reports.
While I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, I come to the issue in Genesis chapter one from a different starting point than my young-earth brethren. I contend that even if the writer of Genesis meant six, literal 24-hour days, he did so because he knew of no other option. Just like Isaiah 11:12 refers to the "four corners of the earth" because the writer did not understand the earth to be round, the writer of Genesis likely meant that God created in six 24-hour days even if that is not what took place. However, for the writer of Genesis, the days were not intended to be the focus, but the God who was the first-cause and active agent in creation. The ancients did not care whether the earth was young or old, they cared about what force was behind the creation of the universe - an issue that is the focal point in the modern scientific debate of the origins of the universe.
A final thought to conclude this blog and set up the next one is the insistence of Young-Earth Creationists that the earth must be young in order to be a biblical Christian. These well-intentioned brethren, in trying to defend the inerrancy of Scripture, actually end up piling on legalistic requirements for salvation. No where in Scripture is one required to believe that the earth is young in order to be a professing believer in Jesus. They insist upon something that Jesus did not address nor was a belief for the better part of 1,900 years of church history. Therefore, the next blog will address the history of Young-Earth Creationism and how it became the majority belief of fundamentalist Christians in the 20th century.
