I had a Christian say to me one time, “What difference does it make whether
you believe in an old earth or a young earth? It doesn’t affect our
salvation one bit.” That’s true. But what we believe is seen by the unsaved.
When we proclaim our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ to get to
heaven, everything else we believe in is put into play. If we are a wild
conspiracy theorist, our opinion about other subjects lose some credibility.
If we tell people that we have been abducted by aliens, no one will believe
what we say.
When it comes to the argument whether the earth we live on is 6000 years or
millions of years old, one side of the argument is wrong. This isn’t a case
where both sides of the argument are somehow correct. The earth is either
6000 years old or the earth is millions of years old. The argument has
become so polarized that friendships have been lost. And Young Earth
Creationists have lost a great deal of credibility with the secular world.
During my career as a police officer, I was assigned to the detective bureau
and placed in charge of the Juvenile Crime Unit. I worked with parents of
out-of-control children and soon discovered that one of the hurdles parents
encountered in disciplining their children was interference into their
family lives by child abuse investigators from the Department of Children’s
Services. Threats of prosecution by social workers against parents for
simply disciplining their children caused many parents to eliminate
old-fashioned time-tested disciplinary methods like spanking. I began
encouraging parents to take control of their children and to ignore the
illegal intrusions into their affairs by Social Services.
At the same time I was appearing as a speaker at home schooling conventions,
there was another organization that was becoming popular with the home
educators. Ken Ham from the organization “Answers In Genesis” began showing
up as a keynote speaker at the same conventions I was attending. I sat in on
some of the lectures given by Ken Ham and listened to his theory that the
earth we live on is only 6000 years old and that that dinosaurs existed on
earth alongside man. Ken Ham told his audience that any scientific evidence
that the universe was millions of years old had been falsified by
scientists. Ken Ham also implied that if you didn’t believe his theory, then
you believed in evolution and “undermined the very gospel” of the Holy
Bible. As I listened to Ken Ham change the words in the scriptures in order
for the Bible text to fit the Young Earth theory, I looked around the
audience and observed people nodding their heads in approval. They had
absolutely no idea that they were being given false information. Not one of
them were checking their Bibles to see if Ken Ham was reading the text
correctly!
I have never believed in evolution, and I believe in the six literal day
account of our beginnings in the book of Genesis. But I also believe that
the earth is much older than 6000 years. I have never had any trouble
marrying the two ideas because I believe the Bible unequivocally gives us
the evidence that supports those facts. I also feel extremely comfortable
being included in a group of extremely learned Bible scholars who believe as
I do. From 19th century Theologians Charles Hodge and Cyrus Scofield, to
modern day Christians like John Ankerberg, Chuck Colson, and Walter Kaiser.
Well respected men from the Assemblies, like William Warke, Archie Stewart,
William Furguson, and Oswald MacCleod. There are instances where Young Earth
Creationist leaders actually belittle these Godly men. It is the height of
arrogance for anyone to call these men “fools,” but the staff at Answers In
Genesis has no problem doing so.
Because I have always thought that most people retain more information by
watching a video than reading text, I developed a web site named
BiblicalBackup.com. The site deals with controversial Bible subjects, one of
which was the Young Earth, Old Earth controversy.
I began emailing links to the home educators email list each time I added a
segment to the site. It soon became obvious that most were not happy with my
criticism of the Young Earth theory. One woman wrote to me saying, “I always
considered you an intelligent person. I have now changed my mind.” I was
accused of not being a true Christian. People asked me to remove them from
my email list. One home educating parent stated, “Never contact me again.” I
was stunned by the reaction of the Lord’s people simply because I believed
in an old earth. I began researching the reasons for this reaction, and it
didn’t take me long to figure it out. Young Earth organizations, like
Answers In Genesis and the Institute For Creation Research, are teaching
their followers that anyone who believes that the earth is millions of years
old is a heretic, and probably not a Christian at all. If the old-earthers
are genuine Christians, they are a severely misguided ones.
Most members of the Young Earth Creation movement are very vocal about any
opposition to their theory that the universe we live in is only 6000 years
old. Ken Ham is probably the most vocal in proclaiming that if you believe
in millions of years, you can’t be a true Christian.
Here are some quotes by Ken Ham during his lectures at Answers In Genesis.
“As soon as you believe in millions of years, you’ve undermined the entire
gospel.”
“If you as a Christian accept that [millions of years], you have a major
problem.”
“If we believe millions of years, it destroys the whole basis for the
gospel.”
“When you believe in the millions years, you undermine the whole authority
of the Word of God.”
“We need to grasp hold of the fact, that as soon as we believe in millions
of years, as Christians, and so many do, not only do we destroy the gospel,
we destroy the whole teachings of the new heavens and new earth.”
“There are many Christian leaders today that try to believe in the millions
of years and try to cling to the conservative evangelical message of
Christianity and the New Testament, but that’s inconsistent, you can’t do
that ultimately.”
“Sadly, today in the church, there are so many Christians that say you can
believe in millions of years, you can somehow add these ideas to the Bible,
but as soon as you do that, you destroy a literal Genesis, you destroy the
foundation of all of our Christian doctrine.”
“You know what we see happening today? Humanism is taking over our nations
in the west. It’s taking over the churches, it’s taking over people’s lives.
Do you know why? Because once you knock out that foundation, the foundation
of God’s word, you do that by destroying the foundational book of Genesis,
the structure collapses.”
“People say, well OK, if this is so, then why does the majority of people
believe it? Why do the majority of scientists believe it? That’s a good
question. But the Bible tells us the answer. 2nd Peter 3, in talking about
the flood in Noah’s day, in verse five, we read this ‘For this they
willingly are ignorant of,’ some translations say ‘choose to disbelieve.’ In
other words, it has nothing to do with the evidence, they don’t want to
believe. You know, we’ve got to remember, the Bible tells us there’s more on
the broad way than the narrow way, men love darkness rather than light, so
really, when it comes to spiritual things like this, when it comes to God’s
word, wouldn’t we expect that the majority wouldn’t agree with us?”
Ken Ham goes as far to say that the increase in school shootings all across
our country has been caused by a belief in an old earth. You may think this
is a stretch, but in the video below, you can see the audience drinking in
this misinformation. To make this kind of statement by a leader who has so
much influence over his flock is totally irresponsible.
Others on Ham’s staff, like Dr. Terry Mortenson, have made a career
lecturing around the country and selling their products.
Mortenson has written numerous books which he sells to his followers that
promote his theory that any Christian that believes in an old earth is
seriously misled. Mortenson doesn’t go as far to say the old-earthers are
not Christians, they are just confused. Here are some of the statements he
has made during his lectures regarding the belief that the earth is millions
of years old.
“If the geologists have been brainwashed, then all of us lay people have
been brainwashed, and that also means that all of our Bible scholars and
theologians have been brainwashed.”
“You know a lot of Christians believe in millions of years, but I submit to
you that that is absolutely contradictory to what the Bible says.”
“How many of you have heard of The Fundamentals? These volumes were
defending the fundamentals of the Christian faith in the onslaught of
liberal theology. These articles are defending the deity of Christ, the
virgin birth of Christ, the inherency of Scripture, the inspiration of
Scripture, miracles, and on and on. It’s great reading, except for the four
chapters on science. Those four articles were written by compromised
Christians. They all accepted the idea of millions of years.”
In the video below, Mortenson makes it clear that his Young Earth theory is
correct, and there is no room for debate. Here he claims that everyone who
doesn’t believe that the earth is only 6000 years old is wrong. He says, “I
want to read to you now an email that I got from one of the leading
evangelical theologians just a few weeks ago. He said this, ‘Hundreds and
hundreds of competent biblical interpreters hold to an old earth and don’t
deny inerrancy.’ This illustrates to me where we’re at, especially in
evangelical theological circles, and academia, and it’s something that just
grieves my heart. Hundreds and hundreds of competent Biblical scholars are
wrong!”
Dr. Jason Lisle is one of the younger speakers for Answers In Genesis. He is
another of the so called Creation Scientists that is sent around the world
to lecture on creationism as a part of Christian apologetics.
He has a Ph.D. in solar astrophysics, and uses certain scientific facts to
convince the audience that the earth is 6000 years old. After one of his
lectures, he was asked by a critic what scientific evidence would make him
change his mind, to which he replied, “none would.” This attitude is
certainly acceptable in the religious arena, but in the scientific
community, Jason Lisle would not be considered a scientist. He promotes any
scientific evidence that agrees with a young earth, but disputes any like
evidence that indicates our universe is millions of years old. His
credentials are used solely to add weight to his one sided viewpoint of the
debate.
In the video below, Jason Lisle also convinces his audience that anyone who
does not believe in a Young Earth is a “fool.” Young Earth followers are
taught that people who believe that the earth and universe are millions of
years old do not use the intelligence given to them by God. They are
encouraged not to debate with Old Earth believers, a which explains why they
refuse to discuss the subject at all with old-earthers. In this video, Jason
encourages the audience if they are forced into a discussion with an
old-earther, to have their important talking points prepared so they can
“slice and dice” their opponent.
I have not heard much from the Old Earth crowd in response to the YECs
accusations. I believe that’s because those who believe in an old earth and
universe are relatively comfortable with their position and have no reason
to hold seminars and publish hundreds of books proclaiming their views. I
believe its time to rethink this strategy. A false doctrine, undisputed by
those with a greater knowledge of Biblical truths, can spread like a cancer.
The Young Earth publicity is harming Christianity, and there needs to be
more of the opposing viewpoint heard by the secular world.
Another area of deceit used by Ken Ham is his insistence that the Old Earth
Doctrine was somehow cooked up by certain Christian scientists who wanted to
dispute Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and needed millions of years to
fit into the Bible. Ken Ham actually has it backwards. Contrary to the YEC’s
claim that the young earth theory was “the dominant view up until the
beginning of the nineteenth century,” there is little evidence to support
that claim. The concept of a young earth really emerged in 1961, when Henry
Morris and John Whitcomb Jr. wrote their book, “The Genesis Flood,” which
was based on the philosophy of the Seventh Day Adventist, George McCready
Price, during the 1930s. In this book, the theory that the entire universe
was approximately 6000 years old was born.
The Old Earth position can be traced as far back as the late 1500s in the
writings of the Dutchman Episcopius, and was expounded upon by Thomas
Chalmers in one of his lectures in 1814. Ken Ham has accused Chalmers of
promoting the idea that the earth is millions of years old to accommodate
the secular science view of evolution, but Charles Darwin did not publish
his theory, “On The Origin Of The Species” until 1859. Thomas Chalmers could
not have been trying to “fit the Bible into science,” simply because the
theory of evolution had not yet been introduced. Christian geologists, like
William Buckland, published gap writings in 1820, and Hugh Miller in 1857
also wrote about a gap of time in Geneses chapter one in his book,
“Testimony Of The Rocks.” Cyrus Scofield, who published his study Bible in
the early 1900s, actually placed a space, or “gap,” between verse one and
verse two of Genesis chapter one, denoting a space of time between the two
verses.
People who support the old earth idea believe that the scientific evidence
showing the age of the universe as much older than 6000 years can be
substantiated by the Scriptures, and placing a gap of time between Genesis
1:1 and 1:2 does not in any way damage the Word of God.
Young Earthers on the other hand, preach that there is a world wide
conspiracy in astronomy and geology to cover up the evidence that the earth
is only 6000 years old, and that geologists use deceit in their methods of
determining dates simply so they don’t have to acknowledge that there is a
God.
But Ken Ham cannot explain the thousands of born again Christian scientists
who believe in the infallible Word of God, believe in the literal account of
six days in Genesis chapter one, and also believe that the universe is
millions of year old. Ham continues to imply that these experts are perhaps
“not real Christians,” and are “undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ.” A
great deal of intolerance exists with the Young Earth Creationists.
I believe that Young Earthers pose a real danger to the message of true
Christianity. YECs are blind to the fact that their belief in the theory
that our earth is only 6000 years old and that dinosaurs lived alongside man
during our early history, makes them look like “flat earthers” to the
secular world. The non-Christian is fed a theory by YECs that undermines the
whole meaning of truth, and at the same time is handed what appears to be a
good reason to reject the good news of Jesus Christ.
How can someone listen seriously to a young earther preaching salvation
through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, when that same person
preaches an unbelievable theory about the age of the universe. It’s like
watching a female tele-evangelist with purple hair, tons of makeup, and
earrings the size of hubcaps, crying crocodile tears and asking you to send
more money to their ministry while preaching the gospel.
One day, while flipping through the channels on the TV with a non-Christian
friend in the room, we came upon Ken Ham with his program Answers In
Genesis. My friend immediately stated, “That guy’s a kook!” He went on to
explain to me that he had watched a portion of one of Ham’s television
programs, and had “switched the channel” when Ham began talking about
dinosaurs and man coexisting on earth and dinosaurs being taken into Noah’s
ark. This is a non-Christian who believes in the story of Noah!
I was hoping that my friend did not hear Ken Ham preaching the gospel, which
he does quite well, because his belief in a young earth would severely
undermine any witnessing about the gospel I had done so far with my friend.
I made it a point to agree with my friend that Ham was “a kook.” Because
when Ken Ham, and others like him, completely deny any and all physical
evidence that the earth is millions of years old, it completely destroys any
other message they have to the secular world. They accuse old earthers of
undermining the gospel, when it is the YECs that are destroying any
credibility they have with the unsaved. Their witness for Christ is
seriously undermined to those who have any scientific knowledge.
I was standing with a group of unsaved people at a company function and the
conversation turned to the subject of heaven and hell. One of the men in the
group, knowing my background, asked me, “What’s your opinion on how a person
gets to heaven?” Before I could open my mouth, another person in the group
blurted, “You’re not one of those nuts who believes the earth is only six
thousand years old, are you?” After I assured him I believed the earth and
the universe was billions of years old, he replied, “Good. At least your not
a nut.” I was then able to convey the message of salvation through faith in
Jesus Christ. I truly believe that if I had professed to be a Young Earth
Creationist, everything that I said would have held much less credibility
with that group.
YECs also pose a danger within the Christian community. I am amazed at how
quickly Christians are deceived into believing the theories being preached
by Ken Ham and others in the YEC movement. But there is a danger that when
the fallacies of the young earth theories are finally discovered,
disillusioned Christians become confused, and may question their own faith.
It can affect the core of their life. A Christian who has believed their
entire life that the earth is young, and then comes to a realization that
the earth is old, might consider the theory of evolution as true. Does this
mean that the Bible was wrong, and perhaps their entire belief in the Bible
misplaced?
What about the children of young earthers who have been taught about a young
earth from an early age, and then go to college and study geology or
astronomy? Whether those children are saved or unsaved, they are now faced
with credible evidence that our universe is millions of years old, and
everything their parents taught them about the Bible is now shrouded with
serious doubt. There are many false doctrines out there, but the Young Earth
theory is a dangerous one for Christians to be teaching their children.
What most creationists do not understand, is that science does not explain
away the universe in the absence of God. We need to utilize the brains God
gave us and use them to understand the universe. Psalms 8:3 says, “When I
consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou are mindful of him?” The original
Hebrew word for “consider” is “ra’ah.” It means to “learn about” or to “find
out.” To completely ignore modern science is not Biblical. God gave us the
intelligence to “learn about” and “find out” about our universe and our
earth. Good science has consistently substantiated God’s Word. There is
overwhelming evidence in our earth and the heavens that our universe is more
than 6000 years old. Placing a gap of millions of years between Genesis 1:1
and Genesis 1:2 does not damage the Word of God! We just have to look at the
evidence.
