Dissecting YEC – Where is the Divide (Part 1)

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear right from the start, unless YEC want to established themselves as the new Catholic church with Ken Ham as their Pope, take everything they say as just their opinions. I say this not to be derisive but as a statement of fact. Almost universally the recent YEC will claim they are the only ones who uphold the truth of the Bible and the sole people who knows what the Bible says especially in Genesis 1-11. They don’t even say they are interpreting Genesis. In their mind what they say is actually what the Bible said.

“What’s amusing is that some people think that it’s as if simply stating this obvious truth (that the Hebrew word used for day in Genesis 1 [Yom] can mean something other than a literal day) is some resounding rebuttal to the plain reading of the Genesis text (and all the other pertinent passages from the entire body of Scripture) that clearly teaches that God created in six literal days.”

“In addition to this concept of the plain reading of the text, young-earth creationists point to Exodus 20:11.”

“The Bible teaches that there was light for three days before the sun, and that God created the sun for the purpose of giving light upon the earth and to divide the day from the night: things that God had been doing for the first three days, perhaps by supernaturally created light.”

Essentially the YEC says it is plain what was written in Scripture. If you just read it plainly, it would be like God has put footnotes that said these are 24-hr days measured by the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Oh, by the way, the Earth is not flat it is round. I know you won’t understand that at this time but the people in the future will.

I must have missed that footnote in my plain reading of the Text. But beyond their arrogance of making themselves pontiff of God’s Word. I think there is something even more dangerous to how they use these Text to divide the rest of Christendom.

“Some might say that despite what we’ve just seen, if the great Augustine’s (and perhaps Origen’s) mind were open to the idea that the days in Genesis weren’t literal, then ours are justified to do the same. But before leaping into massive theological blunders … one should remember that for all of his many giftings, Augustine was limited in certain respects. He was influenced by his life before conversion and erred in some of his understanding. … as a former Manichean Gnostic, Augustine had previously believed a literal interpretation of the text could lead to ridiculous ideas about God”

Really? Are we really going there? How disgusting do you have to be in order to justify your point of view. You have to dredge up a brother’s past before he was saved by God, a new creation redeemed by the blood of Christ, who has been transformed for the service of His good works. Augustine must be wrong on this point because he was a Manichean Gnostic before he was saved? It is obvious the blood of Christ was not sufficient to free him from the bondage of his past. While you are at it, let’s throw out all the epistles of Paul because he was Saul and persecuted Christians before his conversion. But we can be absolutely certain that YEC are perfect because they could not be influenced by their pre-conversion life.

As if that wasn’t enough, they seem to link YEC with the core doctrine of salvation. Ken Ham thinks that if you don’t accept his plain reading of a 24-hr day, then you don’t accept a literal Adam, no Adam no fall, no fall no need for Christ. It’s a simple 1, 2, 3 step and you are not saved. Bye-bye. They will not admit this, but the way they present their argument for a 24-hr day certainly threatens the uninformed Christians. If you don’t accept what he says you need to question if you are really saved. Ken Ham: Why Believe Genesis 1-11 : “foundation of everything”?  He said Genesis 1-11 is the foundation of everything. Really? I thought the apostles, prophets and Jesus is the foundation of everything. “Ephesians 2:20 (NIV84) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

To be fair I don’t think Ken Ham meant to subvert the importance of Christ as the foundation of our salvation. But in his zeal to promote YEC, he pushes that enthusiasm to people who may not be able to discern the difference between his doctrine and salvation.

Therefore, my point is this, no one has a plain reading of Scripture. None of us live in a bubble. None of us were born, locked in an empty room and learn a language by ourself then presented with a Bible and reading it plainly would see a 24-hr day. We are people who grew up in the modern era, over 3,000 years removed from a text that was written to we don’t know whom. There is no parallel text to compare it with in order to determine the genre, linguistic or historicity of the text. YEC’s claim of using the historical grammatical method of interpretation is a farce. You have no history to rely on for authentication, no other text to authenticate the meaning of the language and genre.

Historians and ANE scholars have tried to understand what the ancient Israelites believe by studying its neighbors. But YEC reject these findings because it does fit their story. YEC should stop claiming their interpretation is anything other than what comes out of their own mind.

Genesis 1 and 2 as literature, is unparalleled in the sense that no other books in the Bible deals with the subject of Creation as it does in Genesis 1 and 2. While we can debate what it means and use other parts of Scripture to interpret Scripture.  We need to be cognizant that we are not even talking about the same genre of writing. We must not forget Genesis was not written to us. How the recipients view this Text matters.

Second, contrary to what YEC would have you believe this argument is not between YEC theology and a total abandonment of Biblical orthodoxy and total subservience to atheistic science. There are myriads of positions in between. I will not try to represent any other views other than my own here. I am an OEC. I believe in One God in Three Person as in the Trinity. I believe in a literal Adam and Eve who were created as a new creature by God from the dust of the earth. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin we are separated from God. We need to repent and accept Jesus Christ for the propitiation of our sin to be save and be reconciled to God. I believe the Bible is the Word of God and is inerrant in its original autograph. These are the essentials and the core of my faith.

As to the age of the earth and universe, I don’t have a problem with it being 4.5Bya and 13.5Bya subject to change with new evidence. Is there a conflict with the age of the earth and Genesis? No. Is there a conflict with Genesis and Darwinian evolution? Yes. Do I think Darwinian evolution is scientifically accurate? No.

Third, I believe everyone has a presupposition. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as it is one that is well thought out and with humility subject to change based on the evidence from Scripture. Although I believe the book of nature is also from God but the Bible is His direct revelation and therefore it is preeminent and authoritative in our lives. The YEC believe this too otherwise they wouldn’t try so hard to twist and distort every single piece of science to contort into their young earth paradigm.

The Bible is not a science cookbook. It is a cookbook for moral, ethics and the nature of man and God and our relationship with Him. Therefore, when it comes to matters that is strictly phenomenal and involves the reality of nature. I am willing to consider the book of nature to help me understand the revealed Word of God. “The heavens declare the glory of God” Ps 19:1-4. We need to learn from history. The Church had once entwine itself with the commitment to geocentricism, theologically binding Scripture to what is obviously erroneous science and incorrect interpretation of Scripture. Would the YEC at that time tell us that a plain reading of the text clearly said the earth is immovable and everything circled around us.