I am a young earth creationist. I believe scripture from front to back. But I do remember the first time I witnessed to someone of a different faith. I could not answer their questions to direct them to the fact that their particular faith was false. I gained insight to their faith and asked myself the question, "how could they know their religion is false?". Then the answer dawned on me, "they don't know the God of the Bible, just the God they have been taught". People from other faiths are more versed and skilled than over 80% of proclaiming Christians. That is truly a shame. As I said, you aren't learning anything of their religion to know it is false, you learn enough of their religion to counter act with proper scripture that leads them to know their religion is false and why it's false. I like science, I am in the medical field and love the way the body works and how it heals itself. I love the way scripture makes fools of most in the field. But does me being in the medical field contradict my view of scripture? By no means, it's the field God led me into to be a witness. Try talking to a devout muslim, one he knows the our Bible better than the majority of American Christians. Unless you know something about someone else's faith, it's difficult to be an effective witness. Missionaries who spend their life in the field know this to be true as well, and the most effective of them learn the region they are going to believes so that may scriptural deny it to witness and bring God's people to him. I am not offended, I worship the God of the Bible and no other, but I don't mind learning enough of other faiths to help me witness against what they believe. We are told to be apologist and defend our faith, so that's what I do. As for young earth verses old earth creationist, do I think old earth creationist are not Christians? Not my place to know a man's heart, that belongs to God alone. However, I have many friends who are old earth creationist who have more reverence for God and stand in complete awe of His power to want to create all things knowing the creation would turn their backs on Him and rather be left to their sins than serve Him all His glory and majesty.
You see, i have a different take.
Young earth, old earth, that is not important. Least wise to me.
There is enough scientific evidence to show that the earth is indeed possibly, older than we think.
Could dinosaurs be the "behemoths" and "levithan" mentioned in Job?
They very well could be.
Scientists still believe alligators to be "living dinosaurs".
We cannot deny the existence of them, there have been too many fossels discovered to deny the fact.
However, this opens the door to another "loophole".
Perhaps the "Gap Theory" might, notice I said
might, have some weight to it.
And, there is the fact that when "dinosaur fossels" were discovered, and to this day, fossels of dinosaurs and humans are never found together at the same level.
And there is the arguement of the footprint found on top of a fossel. But it might have been that it was stepped on, and they did not know it or recognize it.
This also raises the question of the validity of the book of Enoch.
Enoch describes the antediluvians, the race of giants that supposedly came from "angels" (scriptures say "sons of God came into the daughters of men, and bare children to them" cf. Gen. 6:4) as being 300 cubits tall.
Look at the dimentions of the ark.
The ark was to be 300 cubits in lengths.
The book of Enoch says:
"Whose stature was each three hundred cubits." -Enoch 7:2
The antedilvians were as tall as the ark was long!
If they were indeed 300 cubits tall, (roughly 450 feet tall: one cubit=1.5'), after the flood, here it is 2013, how come there have been no skeletons found of the antedilivans? They were bigger than any dinosaur ever discovered.
There is also the supposition that they were 3000 ells tall according to 1 Enoch 6-16. That woiuld make them as tall as 4500 feet. (one ell = 1.5')
Goliath was supposedly a "post-antedilivan".
You can debate young/old until the cows come home, but I see the main thrust of the Genesis creation account not so much in time. Who cares if it took six literal 24 hour days, or six one-thousand year days.
What is important to me is not how long it took, but who did it to begin with.
If God is indeed "omnipotent", is it beyond His divine capability to simply speak it, and it suddenly appear? In a micro-second it come into existance?
So who cares if it took six micro-seconds, or six days, or six one-thousand years days, or even six million years. What is important, is who did it to begin with.
Least wise, that is how I see it.
If you are an advocate of the six 24 hour creation account, fine, God Bless you. I won't debate you.
If you believe in the six one-thousand years, fine, God Bless you. I won't debate you.
I just see it in a different light.
God Bless
Till all are one.