International Council on Biblical Inerrancy Statements
The point is that a person can believe every one of these points and still believe in evolution (although not the atheistic approach which is often labeled "evolutionism") and an old earth. It is easy to attack a disbelief in YEC'ism as a disbelief in these propositions.
- We affirm that any preunderstandings which the interpreter brings to Scripture should be in harmony with scriptural teaching and subject to correction by it.
- We deny that Scripture should be required to fit alien preunderstandings, inconsistent with itself, such as naturalism, evolutionism, scientism, secular humanism, and relativism.
- We affirm that since God is the author of all truth, all truths, biblical and extrabiblical, are consistent and cohere, and that the Bible speaks truth when it touches on matters pertaining to nature, history, or anything else. We further affirm that in some cases extrabiblical data have value for clarifying what Scripture teaches, and for prompting correction of faulty interpretations.
- We deny that extrabiblical views ever disprove the teaching of Scripture or hold priority over it.
- We affirm the harmony of special with general revelation and therefore of biblical teaching with the facts of nature.
- We deny that any genuine scientific facts are inconsistent with the true meaning of any passage of Scripture.
- We affirm that Genesis 1-11 is factual, as is the rest of the book.
- We deny that the teachings of Genesis 1-11 are mythical and that scientific hypotheses about earth history or the origin of humanity may be invoked to overthrow what Scripture teaches about creation.
The point is that a person can believe every one of these points and still believe in evolution (although not the atheistic approach which is often labeled "evolutionism") and an old earth. It is easy to attack a disbelief in YEC'ism as a disbelief in these propositions.
