IS THE EARTH ONLY 10,000 YEARS OLD LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS?: Philosophically its absolutely possible that the earth was created 10,000 years ago with only the APPEARANCE of age. I mean, you cant prove scientifically that you werent born 5 minutes ago fully formed with preexisting memories already in your brain, but the question is merely which is more plausible in light of such overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. It also awkwardly makes God into kind of a deceiver in a way. So I mean its possible, but not probable. Young earth creationism really comes from a wooden, and unnecessarily strict and literal reading of Genesis 1. If you look at the Bible as a collection of stories of Gods interaction with humanity through which he reveals his redemptive plan and moral law to us, and not as a science or history book, I dont believe the actual text imposes a 6 LITERAL 24 hour day creation week upon us. The Bible is actually extremely accurate scientifically and historically, and youd be hard pressed to find something that the Bible explicitly TEACHES that is opposite of what is revealed by the natural sciences (aside from miracles, but if God does exist then it seems to me he would be free to intervene in the natural world how he sees fit to accomplish his divine purposes), but to try and treat the Bible like a textbook and not an ancient piece of literature I think is to fundamentally misunderstand its purpose, and is over all bad hermeneutics. The doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, properly understood, is not that everything the Bible says is 100% absolutely correct, its that everything the Bible TEACHES is correct as Gods reveled word to man. Minor historical details or even inaccuracies arent central to that doctrine. Most important to remember is that the Bible is an ancient piece of literature, written to audiences thousands of years ago in different cultures, and filled with all the rich literary and linguistic devices we see in literature today. Apocalyptic imagery, figurative language, hyperbole, and poetic embellishments are found all throughout the Bible. Its important to distinguish these from hard form literal facts or direct doctrinal teachings when doing our biblical hermeneutics, or we might be apt to believe all sorts of things that will clash violently with what is revealed in the natural sciences. In short, the Bible is not a textbook. I dont think young earth creationists need to treat it as one. Properly understood, there is no inherent biblical conflict with the 13.7 billion year age of the universe or the theory of evolution, unless you MAKE one. The text itself doesnt really speak to those issues. Its not intended to.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 21:32:17 +0000
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