- Feb 13, 2012
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I have a few different comments on the topic. First, I am indebted to YEC publications for much of the scientific reasoning skills and data I've learned and that i used to come to the conclusion that the scientific evidence strongly supports an old earth.
Many say YEC is not science. I'd say that's an exaggeration. It's not pure science, as science is not what makes them believe the earth is young, but YECs do some real science as part of their efforts. I'd say flood geology was a valid hypothesis, but that it has failed to become a theory.
What I see constantly from YECs is false dichotomies between atheism and YEC, as if those were the only two real options, and anything else is just an unsteady compromise between them.
Like 'life can't come about naturalistically, so the earth is 6000 years old.'
'Either the rock layers were laid down by slow gradual processes or in the Genesis flood.' (A look at the theory of plate tectonics makes it clear there must have been large scale floods at multiples times in the past, especially across the central united states where YECs point to the broad area some layers cover.)
I see the situation rather as that YEC and atheism are two extremes, with the truth being in between. Each side totally rejects one set of evidence and puts one on a pedestal, while truth is better found by considering all the evidence and finding an explanation that harmonizes it.
God could have created instantaneously, recently, or whenever, but I believe it would be more to his glory to do it in a way that gives everything in the universe a back story, that makes the universe vast not just in space but also in time, one that gives the most scope to scientific discovery. Wisdom and knowledge are more admirable and excite awe more than brute strength, and that is the difference between simply speaking everything into existence complete, and creating a mechanism by which everything will unfold into that state. The Old Earth position makes God's foreknowledge and wisdom more evident, by showing that He had the intelligence to create a universe with just the right laws to make gases form stars which supernova and form elements from which rocky planets form, and so on.
Many say YEC is not science. I'd say that's an exaggeration. It's not pure science, as science is not what makes them believe the earth is young, but YECs do some real science as part of their efforts. I'd say flood geology was a valid hypothesis, but that it has failed to become a theory.
What I see constantly from YECs is false dichotomies between atheism and YEC, as if those were the only two real options, and anything else is just an unsteady compromise between them.
Like 'life can't come about naturalistically, so the earth is 6000 years old.'
'Either the rock layers were laid down by slow gradual processes or in the Genesis flood.' (A look at the theory of plate tectonics makes it clear there must have been large scale floods at multiples times in the past, especially across the central united states where YECs point to the broad area some layers cover.)
I see the situation rather as that YEC and atheism are two extremes, with the truth being in between. Each side totally rejects one set of evidence and puts one on a pedestal, while truth is better found by considering all the evidence and finding an explanation that harmonizes it.
God could have created instantaneously, recently, or whenever, but I believe it would be more to his glory to do it in a way that gives everything in the universe a back story, that makes the universe vast not just in space but also in time, one that gives the most scope to scientific discovery. Wisdom and knowledge are more admirable and excite awe more than brute strength, and that is the difference between simply speaking everything into existence complete, and creating a mechanism by which everything will unfold into that state. The Old Earth position makes God's foreknowledge and wisdom more evident, by showing that He had the intelligence to create a universe with just the right laws to make gases form stars which supernova and form elements from which rocky planets form, and so on.
