In Six Days

A Brief Case For Young Earth Creation

The question of How God created the world is often debated amongst Christians. To be sure, the most important issue at stake in this whole debate is Who created. Whether or not we have an unbiblical view of How the Earth was created is peripheral to the question of Who did the creating. So, may we enter into this dialogue with an understanding that God did in fact create everything, and let us remember that is ultimately what is most important.

As a matter of introductory into this discussion I'd like to first make a few remarks as a way of prefeace. I do not believe that God is more powerful for creating in six days as opposed to six billion years. Obviously my argument would be stifiled by the thought of God creating in six seconds. So, I am not concerned with what is more powerful. Also, I am not concerned with Young Earth. Although that is the view that I will advocate, I do not do so for the sake of being Young Earth. I do so because I believe there are major theological implications at stake. I only intend to briefly outline some of these thoughts as well as provide opposing viewpoints.


Naturalistic Evolution

Naturalistic evolution is the explanation of the origin of the universe through the course of nature and not by God. According to the theory the earth came to be the way we see it now over the course of many millions of years, the processes of mutation and natural selection were the factors that created every species of life that we see in the world today, from the simplest bacteria to humans and everything in between. The age of the earth allows for multiple mutations and adaptations to occur in order to change species into one that is more complex. “I view all beings not as special creations, but as the lineal descendants of some few beings, ” wrote Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species.

One of the biggest forms of “evidence” for evolution is said to be found in the fossil record. Carl Sagan agreed by saying, “Evolution is a fact, amply demonstrated by the fossil record.” In order for a fossil to occur there has to be a rapid burial of a living creature. After this occurs, the chemicals of the creature will begin to undergo a series of changes. As the creature decays, water infused with minerals passes through it, replacing the chemicals in the shell with rock-like minerals. The evolutionists believe that this process must also include millions of years of slow decay to occur, but this is not the case. A rock hard miner’s hat was found in a mine in Tasmania, Australia. The hat was permeated with mineralised water in its burial site. The minerals replaced the materials of the hat showing that millions of years are not a factor of fossilization after all (answers in genesis).

The Bible gives an account of a global flood that destroyed all life on earth. It also says that the “fountains of the deep” were broken up. This would have meant that catastrophic events were occurring along side of the flood. Considering that volcanic rocks are interspersed between the fossil layers in the rock record, it makes sense that volcanoes were erupting underneath the oceans which would have shifted the earth rapidly, and mineralise the water. Both of which are needed for fossilization. It is also interesting to note that 95% of all fossils that have been found are marine invertebrates. Obviously, at a time when the earth was being transformed by oceanic volcanoes, marine life would not be able to escape the wrath of these cataclysmic events. The Flood account helps prove that the Earth is not as old as some scientists say. Another recent discovery in Montana has added some more heat to the issue of the earth’s age.

A group of paleontologists, led by Mary Schweitzer, discovered a T. rex thighbone in a sandstone formation of Montana. During the removal of the bone, the researchers were forced to break it open in order to extract it via helicopter. Once they broke open the bone they discovered soft tissue and elastic blood vessels within it. The dinosaurs, which are considered some of the most ancient tetra pods of the earth, are seen as living around 70 million years ago, and with this new discovery of “fresh” tissue, which supports the creationist view of young age, the evolutionist’s theory is being questioned due to the newly found hard “soft” evidence. When Mary Schweitzer discovered the tissue she said, “The bones are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long?” Her statement was both interesting and sad. Instead of questioning the new evidence she should be questioning the presupposed age of the bone. Because evolution is a theory of the earth’s origins that takes God out of the equation, the evolutionists will never see God’s hand in science until they actually start looking for it.


Theistic Evolution

Theistic evolution garners all of the factors of Naturalistic Evolution and adds God into the mix. Basically, God created the evolutionary process. Theistic evolution is the proposition that God is in charge of the biological process called evolution. God directs and guides the unfolding of life forms over millions of years. Theistic evolution leads to major compromising of the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith.

Many creationists put theistic evolution into question since it denies some fundamental beliefs. The first problem is that evolution places man at the end of the whole overall process, contradicting Mark 10:6 which says, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” According to this passage man was made at the beginning of creation. If evolution were to have occurred then man would have been made near the end in the overall scheme of the evolutionary process. This is a problem.

Another problematic theory, though not necessarily associated with theistic evolution is known as The Day-Age Theory. This theory teaches that each day as recorded in the creation account is not literal days, but is actually time periods of possibly millions of years. Exodus 20:11 says, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is…” According to this verse the creation process was six literal days and not a period of millions of years. This has huge implications for the Sabbath, which was the linchpin of Judaic Law. Jew's were to cease from all working activities and rest, just as God had done with creation. Now, what kind of idea would God be presenting to the Jews if he in fact created in billions of years. The concept of ceasing work on the seventh day would have no real meaning, and would certainly not be applicable. However, each day in Genesis is given a number to represent it and at each day's pass the phrase "and there was evening, and there was morning" was used. Such dileniations are represenative of literal days. Day-Agers would argue that each day can simply represent a time period in which God created. However, plants were created on the third day, and the sun was created on the fourth. If these days are to be understood as millions of years, then plants would have no chance of survival.

Again there is another Biblical teaching that the theistic evolutionists deny. This one is concerning the Flood. The question is not whether it occurred or not, but rather it is a question of whether it was a global or local flood. The Bible tells us that “the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.” But according to the theistic evolutionists, this is only referring to the life that existed at that time. Since man had not populated much of the world then, God only needed to destroy them and not the whole earth. This belief contradicts Psalm 104:5a, 6, &8 which says, “You who laid the foundations of the earth, You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.” When God decided to destroy the Earth he did not mean solely the people around at that time, he meant the whole thing. The theistic evolutionists would attempt to counter with “where did the water go?” Psalm 104:7 gives an answer by saying, “At your rebuke they (the water) fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.” God put everything in its place. Since the world was changing form during the Flood. Larger mountains and deeper sea basins would have been created, giving a perfect physical explanation for the location of Noah’s water.

Another critique can be seen in Romans 5:12 which says, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Evolution is simply an unbiblical concept because it demands death in order to explain the fossil records and bring about the vast mutations that life has experienced. Clearly, when Adam transgressed against God, he brought death. Without sin, there is no death. Therefore, before Adam there was no death, and consequentially no evolution.

Biblical Christianity

The basis for the origin of life in Christianity is found in the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis it is recorded that God created all of creation within a span of six literal days, and that man was made in his image in a distinct way from the rest of creation. Man was made out of the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7), and not from an evolutionary chain. To the evolutionist this is impossible because they believe there needs to be millions of years to form stratification levels of rock. As seen with Mt. St. Helens, six hundred feet of strata were formed during a three-week period, disproving that only millions of years can form such layers. The event of Mt. St. Helens helps prove the Global Flood as recorded in the Bible. Demonstrating that even one small catastrophe in the face of a worldwide disaster can create canyons and stratified rock layers.

The creation account cannot be simply an allegorical story for how God really created the world. Paul warned against people that would formulate false sciences in 1 Tim 6:20 saying, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” We as Christians cannot compromise scripture to fit-in with the crowd. 1 Peter 2:9 says we are a “peculiar people,” and we should not attempt to find middle ground on this subject.

For Further Study

www.aig.org