Among the three
theistic views of origins, the belief that the six days of the Genesis creation
account are literal and recent is the majority view in the United States. If
the definition of creationism is accorded to other views, the percentage of
believers in creation vaults upward substantially. For this discussion we
include evolutionary creationism (theistic
evolution) under “other views,” along with “old earth creationism.” Including
these alternate definitions, the creationism statistics rise substantially.
Many creationists strongly object to broadening of the definition of creationism.
A reappraisal of who could be considered a creationist, however, may be
worthwhile. This does not indicate agreement of positions among those who hold
the creationist banner.
Of the three most
well-known theistic origins views, young earth creationists hold an exclusive
claim on belief in the literality of six 24-hour Genesis creation days.
Theistic evolutionists and old earth creationists do not accept recent creation
of the universe in six literal days. The YEC belief in literal 24-hour days is
a fundamental tenet of nearly half of the creationists in the United States. We
ended our 3/16/13 post entitled “Distressed by Old Age” with a commitment to
give voice to listener comments sent to the John Ankerberg ministry resulting from
the airing of programs featuring old earth scientists and theologians as well
as comments on our science/faith blog. We reprint seven listener comments
voicing their concerns:
I am disappointed to hear you talk about
billions and millions of years. The Genesis account of creation is clear…..It
troubles me that if you can’t trust God’s word for the creation account, how
can you believe in anything else in the Bible?
But when Christian astronomers say the
universe is billions of years old it just disappoints me. They are not taking
the Book of Genesis literally. Clearly (God) took six days and rested on the
Sabbath.
Did I hear you agree with Dr. Ross that the
universe is billions of years old?.....I wondered if you believed that also
goes against the Genesis 1 account?
Is the earth 13.7 billion years old or is it
LITERALLY what it says in Genesis 1, the six days of creation. If we can’t take
the Bible literally what good is it?
It is not a case of scientific and
intellectual ability, but rather revelation. God says 6 days, who am I to
argue?
You believe that adopting an old earth
position makes it easier for skeptics to believe the Bible, but you are really
undermining the credibility of scripture.
I find statements that the universe is
millions of years old to be disturbing. Either the Genesis record is correct or
the whole Bible can be called into question.
The John Ankerberg
ministry welcomes the comments of listeners. We thank them for taking the time
to voice their concerns.