Although there have been numerous discussions on this and related forums between "young earth creationists" (who generally believe the universe is only a few thousand years old) and those who accept mainstream scientific evidence that the universe is billions of years old (both figures being measured in Earth years looking back in time toward the initial point of creation), those discussions seem to have generally come down to the following:
A. The YECs will generally rely primarily upon their "faith" in the inerrancy of their interpretation of certain Bible verses (which may or may not be given or explained); and
B. Those believing in an "old universe" will generally rely primarily upon their faith in the accuracy of mainstream scientific data and evidence.
Any attempt by the YECs to present scientific data and evidence supportive of their position will tend to be refuted by mainstream scientific evidence to the contrary, and any attempt by the mainstreamers (for want of a better short term at the moment) to quote scriptures supportive of their position is typically dismissed by the YECs as not conforming with their interpretation.
In an effort to get past this impasse, I propose the following challenge to the young earth creationists: Please identify which portions of the original Hebrew text cause you to believe that the universe is only a few thousand years old, and state why you think each verse requires that interpretation. Please note that I am not asking about evolution, special creation of man, intelligent design or other similar issues at this time; we may get to those issues later, but lets start at the beginning and work from there.
Thank you.
A. The YECs will generally rely primarily upon their "faith" in the inerrancy of their interpretation of certain Bible verses (which may or may not be given or explained); and
B. Those believing in an "old universe" will generally rely primarily upon their faith in the accuracy of mainstream scientific data and evidence.
Any attempt by the YECs to present scientific data and evidence supportive of their position will tend to be refuted by mainstream scientific evidence to the contrary, and any attempt by the mainstreamers (for want of a better short term at the moment) to quote scriptures supportive of their position is typically dismissed by the YECs as not conforming with their interpretation.
In an effort to get past this impasse, I propose the following challenge to the young earth creationists: Please identify which portions of the original Hebrew text cause you to believe that the universe is only a few thousand years old, and state why you think each verse requires that interpretation. Please note that I am not asking about evolution, special creation of man, intelligent design or other similar issues at this time; we may get to those issues later, but lets start at the beginning and work from there.
Thank you.
