So, How Old is the Earth?

27 Jun 2012

This post is the sixth in a series. If you’ve just stumbled onto this series, you may want to start here.

The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that the earth is billions of years old and that the universe is much older. I can think of only three responses to the evidence.

It’s Flawed

I know there are people who believe this very strongly, but I am going to dismiss this outright as bad science. The purpose of this series of posts is to discuss the intersection of faith and science, not discuss the merits of the science, but for the sake of completeness I wanted to present this idea.

There are some who might say that I am dismissing this opinion because I am presupposing an old earth. This is simply not so. I have no reason to need to believe the earth is old, and if someone were to present proper evidence for a young eath, I would be more than willing to reconsider my view.

I know there are several organizaions dedicated to defending a young earth position and to other supporting theories – like flood geology – but the work of these organizations is not science. Everything I’ve seen from these orangizations is deception, misinformation, pseudoscience, and propaganda driven by a presupposed agenda. I know the agenda is Scripture, but that doesn’t make it good science.

It’s Phony

There are others who believe the evidence is fabricated. Some believe that God created the universe recently but made it look old. This does not hold up to my view of God’s character. Romans chapter one tells us that we can know about God by studying creation. If His creation is deceptive about its own age, what does that tell us about God. I find this position theologically indefensible.

Others believe that Satan or some other force created the evidence to fool us. I have no reason to reject the notiion of an old earth, so I don’t consider this opinion, but as silly as it sounds I think it is easier to defend than the position that God is faking us out.

It’s Valid

It is my opinion that the evidence is both overwhelming and valid. I see no reason to reject current scientific findings as bad science. Since I believe natural revelation is as God-inspired as special revelation, I believe I must interpret Scripture in light of this evidence.

As I see it, this leaves two possibilities.

1. There is a gap of billions of years between the first two verses in Genesis and the days of Genesis are literal 24 hour days (or perhaps longer, it doesn’t matter for the purpose of this discussion). I can accept this, though I find it a bit too “convenient.”

2. There is no gap and the days of Genesis represent eons of time. This is the preferred interpretation in my view. I know there are many that take issue with interpreting the days of creationh as longer than 24 hours. I don’t want to get lost in the theological implicaitons right now, but I will say that I think the interpretation is reasonable, and I see no other evidence from Scripture that would require a 24 hour interpretation.

Conclusion

All of this discussion leaves us with four different positions regarding the age of the earth. I am going to react to each with my own opinion, not because mine is an expert opinion, but because it will help keep things brief. As much as I would prefer to avoid it, I am also going to label each with a name for the sake of clarity and brevity.

The Day Age Theory

There is no gap and the days of Genesis represent eons of time. This is the preferred interpretation in my view.

The Gap Theory

There is a gap of billions of years between the first two verses in Genesis and the days of Genesis are literal 24 hour days (or perhaps longer, it doesn’t matter for the purpose of this discussion). I can accept this, though I find it a bit too “convenient.” I would reluctantly hold to this position if 24 hour days were the only fair interpretation of Genesis chapter one.

Omphalos Hypothesis

There is no gap and the days of Genesis are literal 24 hour days which happened somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-10,000 years ago, but the earth was created in a mature state. I dismiss this as very poor theology.

Young Earth Creationism

There is no gap and the days of Genesis are literal 24 hour days which happened somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-10,000 years ago, and the evidence supports a recent creation. I dismiss this as very bad science.