I have been listening to some debates lately and many of them end up surrounding the evolution debate. One of the Christian debaters said that they held to evolution, which I find hard to believe. What I think they would say is that they believe God used evolution to bring about man and woman, but evolution seems to negate the whole ‘God made Adam and Eve’. I am not going to talk about evolution, but a certain aspect of Creation, as it seems to come up a lot lately in debates that I am listening to right now. Many in Christian circles will debate the young earth and old earth, but both hold to creation, though many in the old earth camp will utilize this to incorporate evolution into their theology. My wonder comes from a different avenue. I realize I have written on this, but it just keeps driving me crazy. Of course, this blog is going to come from my a priori belief in a God, and in particular the Christian concept of God. If you are reading this, you will most likely not be turned from your belief of evolution, as this is aimed at those who already believe in creation.
Many in the old earth state that science reveals that the earth and the universe demonstrate that it is billions of years old. How many billions is a matter of debate amongst them, but when you get into billions, then a billion here or there is not that big of a deal in years (our government though would like us to think the same when it comes to our money). They will state like the young earth that even at billions of years it was still created by God. There are very good arguments from science, in particular astronomy (not to be confused with astrology) for a late date of the earth, and then there are good arguments for a young earth who use the same science to point to a younger universe.
I am not trying to convince anyone of a young earth at this point, and at times I give the same answer my professor, Dr. Geisler, would give on the subject. “On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am a young earth creationist, and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I am an old earth creationist and on Sunday I rest.” What I am going to do is just try to give a little perspective on the young earth area, which I have a hard time overcoming, and give a good validation that the earth could easily be young and still look billions of years old.
Let’s say you were sitting around with some friends and they served you your favorite steak for dinner (if you are vegetarian, then your favorite dish). As you are eating, the person tells you that steak is only ten minutes old. You say, “Wow, that is crazy. That is a very fresh steak, did you just butcher it a little bit ago?” They tell you that you don’t understand; that the piece of steak you are eating is only ten minutes old. Impossible! The bull would have to be born, raised and fed for years and then taken to the slaughter house where it would be killed then cut up and shipped to the store. Your friend would have to then buy it at the store, bring it home, cook it and then serve it. No way it could be only ten minutes old. It would have to be at least 3 to 7 years old, depending on your favorite kind of steak. Really? Isn’t that exactly what Jesus did with fish?
We see all these people who were listening to Jesus and Jesus then telling His disciples to feed them. You know the story. Ultimately Jesus takes a few fish and feeds nearly 15, 000 people with them. Yes, 15,000, as only men were counted during this time, so if you take that many would be married and many with children, it would not be hard to reach this number. I wonder what they thought at the time as well. You are sitting in the back rows and you get fed last, but the fish keep appearing to feed you. You would think the fish had to be much older then what it really is. The fish would have to go to a breeding ground, the eggs then fertilized. Then they would have to hatch and grow big enough to be eaten for a meal. The bread as well. The grain would have to be planted, grow and then be harvested. Next, the grain would have to be ground down, then made into flour, cooked and served. Easily the fish would be at least 2 years old and the bread 1 year old for processes to be complete. But they weren’t for these people, as they were minutes old. Jesus performed a miracle and made enough fish and bread out of the little He had, meaning some new fish and bread had to appear from somewhere.He did not change the nature of the fish and bread, but just used natural science and sped it up, just as He did with physical miracles. Take this very concept and expand it to the universe. Couldn’t God have created the earth in a literal six days, but it appears to be billions of years, because if left alone that is what it would take, but for God it was done in six days. Again, just like the fish, the natural processes were utilized but at a different rate of speed then normal for His purpose. He did not use different science, or logic, but just used them within His abilities.
To us the earth would look billions of years old, and we can see why science would say that. Just like if science dissected one of the fish from the feeding of the 5,000, it would look like it was years old, but in reality it was only minutes old. Could God use the science He created and make a planet that will hold human life in six days, but if done by itself would take billions of years? Absolutely! God can do anything within His nature, and the laws of nature are His to command and utilize as He wishes. To me, common sense and logic shows that God could do it without misusing any laws of nature or logic.
It leaves me a little confused why a prominent Christian debater would negate the young earth argument based on his belief that “science” says the earth is billions of years. I wonder if he would be the guy arguing that the fish in no way could be only a few minutes old because science would say it is at least a couple of years old.
