Question from a reader:
What is your position on the age of the earth? Are you a young earth creationist, an evolutionist, a theistic evolutionist, a progressive creationist, or do you hold to the literary hypothesis concerning creation?
Answer from Randy Alcorn:
This is a very difficult issue with many different takes, even by Christians who fully believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. There are young earth creationists, and old earth creationists, and they will give him a different answer to the question of the relative age of the earth. I have friends who hold very firmly to the young earth perspective, and others who hold very firmly to the old earth perspective.
I do not know exactly how old the earth is. I do take the natural face-value interpretation of the biblical text, and believe that Adam and Eve were literally the first man and first woman and were not preceded by others. When death entered the world through their sin, it extended in the form of the Curse to the deaths of animals and the deterioration of the entire creation.
At the same time, I realize that the great majority of scientists believe the data leads to belief in an old earth. The gap theory, day-age theory, and other interpretive approaches to the early chapters of Genesis attempt to reconcile a belief in Scripture with a belief in a very old earth. While I accept that as possibly valid, I also know that many people throughout history, scientists included, have been “certain” of things at one time that they are now certain are false. I prefer to take the Bible at face value when it offers a creation account that is as much space-time history as its accounts of Abraham and the patriarchs. Some agree with what I just said but are convinced of a very old earth. I waver on this at times, having read a lot about it, and I am open to evidence in both directions.
I encourage believers to above all, hold fast to confidence in Scripture itself. Many years ago, as a very young Christian, I did a ton of scientific research, trying to figure out how the Bible (Genesis in particular) fits with science. I no longer spend time on it, because I don't think I can come to a definitive conclusion, and life is too short and there are too many things I feel called to do with my time that remains in this current world.
I’m fully convinced in my own mind that, even though I don't know all the answers, God has shown Himself to be true, His word is authoritative, and Jesus has proven Himself faithful again and again in my life. So while I am very conflicted on the old earth/young earth issue, I'm not all conflicted on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. And I now don’t feel the need to read every new book or article on this subject.
However, I have compiled these resources after looking at a number of them online, for those who ask:
A video really worth watching (One hour 45 minutes)
Another young earth perspective
Years ago I led a group of mostly younger men in a study of creation, using two books: Schaeffer’s Genesis in Space and Time and Lee Strobel’s The Case for a Creator, which contains interviews with a number of the major Intelligent Design proponents (and assumes an old earth, not a young one). They're both great books, which I would encourage you to pick up.
Since there is no end to books on geology and paleontology from the old earth perspective, I am also recommending two books, neither of which I've read, from the young earth perspective. At the very least, you could weigh and measure their arguments against the standard arguments you will hear at every university.
Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils
Carved in Stone: Geologic Evidence of the Worldwide Flood
Photo: Unsplash
