What is the age of the earth and God’s entire creation?
If you have been reading these posts, you would be blind if you don’t see the YEC refrain that it all comes down to reading the Text plainly. The only reason you don’t see Gensis 1 is describing a 24-hr day, is because you are taking external science and forcing it onto the plain reading of the Text.
Honestly, I think there is a lot of appeal to this line of argument by the YEC. As Christians we know we have been persecuted throughout history. Even today we are marginalized for our beliefs and ridicule for being anti-science, mocked for believing in miracles. So, when YEC sound the clarion call to rally around the Bible we instinctively answer that call.
Unfortunately, some and I emphasize only some of those ridicules are earned by YEC. As I have repeatedly said before, YEC’s plain reading is only as good as their interpretation. YEC like to pretend that OEC is a recent phenomenon like since the advent of Darwinian evolution. I think that is mostly accurate, but not because of Darwinian evolution. It is because by and large that is the consensus view of history before Copernicus and Galileo. Most everyone before the 17th century are young earthers. No one could fathom the enormous time scale of millions let alone billions of years. This is true for both Christians and non-Christians.
However, we are not arguing about how old the earth is prior to the 17th century. We are arguing about the length of the creation week. There the picture is more mixed. Prior to the 17th century there are many great theologians who believe the days of creation was more than 7 24-hr days, while still holding to a young earth. Even Augustine the universally accepted giant in the Church cannot escape the wrath of the YEC.
Augustine of Hippo was respected as one of the most influential Christian theologians and philosophers in Western history, especially for shaping doctrines on grace, sin, and the nature of the Church.
🧠 Intellectual and Theological Contributions
- Systematic Theology Pioneer: Augustine developed one of the earliest comprehensive frameworks for Christian theology, integrating biblical teachings with classical philosophy World History Encyclopedia.
- Doctrine of Grace and Original Sin: He articulated the concept of original sin and emphasized the necessity of divine grace for salvation, which became foundational for both Catholic and Protestant traditions World History Edu.
- Faith and Reason: Augustine argued that faith and reason are not opposed but complementary—“I believe in order to understand” became a hallmark of his thought World History Edu.
📚 Major Works
- Confessions: A deeply personal spiritual autobiography that explores his journey from hedonism and Manichaeism to Christianity. It’s revered for its introspective depth and philosophical insight Britannica World History Edu.
- The City of God: A monumental defense of Christianity against pagan critics after the fall of Rome, contrasting the “City of Man” with the “City of God” as two competing visions of human destiny
🏛 Legacy and Influence
- Church Father and Doctor of the Church: Augustine is considered one of the four great Latin Church Fathers and was later named a Doctor of the Church for his enduring theological impact
- Influence on Western Christianity: His teachings shaped medieval scholasticism and were pivotal to reformers like Martin Luther, who drew heavily from Augustine’s views during the Protestant Reformation World History Encyclopedia.
- Philosophical Impact: Beyond theology, Augustine influenced Western philosophy, especially in areas like metaphysics, ethics, and the philosophy of time.
🔥 Symbolism and Patronage
- Often depicted with a flaming heart, symbolizing his passionate love for God.
- Patron saint of theologians, philosophers, brewers, and several cities and regions
But to the YEC because Augustine dare to disagree with them that Genesis 1 was not 7 24-hr days. Then is must be tore down in the most vicious way, even if it mocks the efficacy of Christ’s salvific power. If Augustine was completely transformed he would not have allowed his pre-conversion gnostic past affect how he interprets Genesis. Fortunately, none of the YEC are affected by their sinful past to misinterpret Genesis.
One other point I need to make before I get into the Text of Genesis 1-2. The YEC claim that everyone who interprets Genesis 1-2 differently than they do, is because they use extra-Biblical knowledge and change what the Bible actually say. And that is absolutely partly true. We cannot exist without it. It is true for OEC and it is especially true for YEC. The difference is that they are in denial. No one was born and exist in a blank bubble before reading Genesis 1-2. But OEC are not the ones changes what the Bible say, maybe that is what YEC do.
Let me prove it. Before the 15th Century it was everyone universally believed in geocentrism. Christians and non-Christians alike all believe this is how the world is. Did Christian take a plain reading of the Bible and said no the Bible doesn’t teach this. The plain reading teaches heliocentrism. Or did they look at the external working of the observable world and see that everything seems to be going around us so we must be in the center. They take a plain reading of the Bible and it said:
- Psalm 104:5 (“He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved”) as support for a stationary Earth.
- The Earth as immovable (Psalm 93:1, Psalm 104:5).
- The sun as moving (Ecclesiastes 1:5, Joshua 10:12–13).
- The heavens as revolving or being “stretched out” (Isaiah 40:22).
- “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies.” (Joshua 10:12–13)
Let’s be honest, are you going to tell me that a YEC living before the 15th century is not going to say a plain reading of Scripture tells us that we are in the center of the universe? But are they getting that interpretation solely from the Text or might the environment have something to do with their interpretation. I say it is both.
Fast forward several hundred or even a thousand years. For all those born in the last 4 hundred years or so. Does anyone not know the earth is round and orbits around the sun. It is knowledge that is ingrained in our brain, in the air that we breathe, in the inner most of our psyche. The earth turns on its axis 360 degree every 24-hrs in what we call a day. We set our lives and activities by this 24-hr cycle. Day after day, year after year. We can’t escape it. We live it. We breathe it.
When we open our Bible and read Genesis 1, we see the English word day. The YEC tell us their minds are not influence and unaffected from years and years of being immerse and indoctrination into this 24-hr day. They are completely unaffected by the generations of brainwashing and drowning in this 24-hr cycle, and not even slightly affected by this external concept and phenomenal existence. They approach the Bible like a tabula rasa, a blank slate. The plain meaning of the Text jumps out to them, and coincidentally, it is saying these are 24-hr days. Poor Augustine couldn’t even escape his gnostic past. If only we could all be as perfect as YEC.
They can say it but I won’t believe it. So, as I begin to dig into the exegetical understanding of Genesis, I-2. I will fully acknowledge that I have a bias. My bias at this point is that I am already an OEC. I will most likely lean toward interpretations that is more favorable to an old earth. I will try to be neutral but I don’t think anyone can be completely neutral. The other problem I will stipulate upfront is a problem for both YEC and OEC, at least I think it should be a problem.
Genesis was written conservatively speaking over 3000 years ago. There aren’t really extent writings to compare it to. It was written in paleo-Hebrew with limit vocabulary even compared to modern Hebrew. There has been substantial changes to the language between the old and new Hebrew.
I am not a linguist so I will rely on scholars for information to ascertain the meaning and usage of the words in Genesis. Yes, I will be using external knowledge to interpret the Text in Genesis. Unlike the YEC who knows that Genesis was written in their English Bible, then God traveled back in time and translated it into paleo-Hebrew for Moses. We are fortunate to have YEC who can read the Text and know that it meant the same 3000 years ago, in a language that has been extinct for almost as long and know plainly it is a 24-hr day.
Genesis 1 (ESV)
1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
7And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
8And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
16And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
25And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2 (ESV)
2And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
15The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
So, for those who are familiar with the debate between YEC and OEC will no doubt know where our arguments lie. I want to make it clear. The accusation by YEC that OEC use external science against the plain reading of the Bible. It is not true. Emphatically I say again, it is not true. I will be using the Bible and only the Bible to show Genesis 1-2 is not a 24-hr day. I will NOT be arguing from science for any part of my theological understanding of Genesis 1-2.
In verse “2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep”, why? Why did God create the earth this way, seems chaotic and not ideal? But who am I to question God. However, I will question the YEC. YEC has made the claim that God created Adam and Eve fully mature. He created the animals fully mature. Why can’t God have created all the stars and everything in the universe as we see it today as a mature and fully developed universe instead of expanding for billions of years from an unproven big bang.
Sure He could have done that, but He didn’t. Just as He didn’t create an earth with all the ecosystem fully functioning, with animals, trees and people at the same time. No, it was formless and void, dark and lifeless. If He created the earth this way, He certainly could have created the universe this way. I will get more into this later.
In verse 3 God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” God didn’t say let there be a Sun and Moon but just light. The YEC will acknowledge the Sun and Moon were not created until the 4th day. YEC say, no big deal, it is still a 24-hr day. Except it’s not.
What does the word day/yom mean in verse 5? Does it say 24-hr? Does it say 12-hr? No really, read it. Read the Text plainly. Don’t allow any external science or your modern preconceive knowledge of what a day is. What does it say? The Bible says it clearly right there, plain and simple. God called the light Day. God didn’t call the light 24-hrs, not 12-hrs no, He call it Day. So what is the word day in verse 5 mean? Light, because God called the light day. And then He call the darkness night. So a plain reading of the Text without external interjection into the Text is that the word day and night just mean light and darkness. If we finish the verse with the first day, then according to what God said “was evening and there was morning, the first light” It’s the same for second and third day “evening and there was morning, the second light and third light” According to God’s Word Day is light.
Some might argue that can’t be right. What does that even mean the first light, second light, third light. That’s what God called it. It is not my place to question God why He called it that just because I don’t understand it. But He does do something different next.
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
Whoa! Did you see that? How could the YEC miss that, reading the Bible plainly and without any bias of interjecting their lifelong preconceive idea of what a day is. I thought there were already light in the previous three lights. Why do we need more lights if there was already light. God explains these new lights in the heavens is to separate the light/day from the darkness/night. Wait for it…here it comes. These new lights are to be signs, signs for seasons, days, and years. Now we get a new understanding for these new lights on the fourth day and a new definition for the word day. These new lights are for us to mark the passage of time. We are to use them to measure the seasons, the days and years.
What is really important here is that before these two lights there was no measure of time. The Bible was not measuring seasons, days or years before these 2 lights. So, it is impossible to get a 24-hr modern day until God created the Sun and the Moon. When the YEC tell you that God was just setting a pattern for a 24-hr day before the creation of the Sun and the Moon. Are they reading that from the Bible or the imagination of their own mind? How dare they to accuse OEC of taking external science to change what the Bible said. In fact they are the ones that are change the Bible to their own imagination. When the plain reading of the Bible tells you that it didn’t even start measuring time until there were these 2 lights in the heavens.
Now on the fifth day God created all the flying and sea creatures, there was evening and there was morning the fifth day. It is possible that the word day here could mean a 24-hr day, but based on the previous pattern of how God ended each day. It seems reasonable to say that the word in the “fifth day” does not mean the “fifth 24-hr day”, rather it is the “fifth light”.
The sixth day is important because that is when Adam was created and ultimately the rest of us. In chapter 2 we get the rest of the story when Adam was created.
18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
God said it is not good for the man to be alone, so God set out to find him a helper. God starts off with all the creatures He had created, brought it to Adam and have him name every creature. Some of us OEC naively think that should have taken quite some time probably weeks, likely years. The YEC would say don’t be stupid. How long could it take. There weren’t millions of species like we have today. This was a brand-new creation. There might only have been a few thousand genera.
I guess I didn’t read the Bible plain enough. This is the reason YEC are the only ones who will not compromise the Bible with external science. Who would have known that the Bible contain modern concept of animal classification. And it says it right there if you read it plainly.
How long did it take Adam, the world’s first taxonomist, to name all the animals?
Three hours and 45 minutes including coffee break? If only I would have done the math. I would have realized how off I am. It is like writing a computer program and assigning variables, it’s easy, A1, A2, B1, B2….Z2500. Done. Easy Peasy, slimy sleezy. What do you think Adam was doing when he was naming the animals? He was supposed to find a helper not taxonomy. Is naming in the Bible just throwing out random words and slapping a label on something? The names in the Bible is meant to convey meaning. It is meant to capture of the essence of the creature you name. How are you able to name something in 5 seconds when you don’t know anything about how that creature live or behavior. He barely got a good look at it in 5 seconds. When Esau was born his name means “hairy” because he had a lot of hair. When Jacob was born, he was called the “supplanter”. Abram meaning “exalted father” but later God changed it to Abraham “father of a multitude”. I like to take the YEC’s word for it because they are not affected by external science and change what the Bible said. Unfortunately, I am going to read into the Text and say that the naming of the animals probably took a very long time.
Every single day in creation week is more than 24-hrs. Is Ken Ham and YEC telling the truth when they say OEC and everyone who argues against their plain reading of Genesis is using science outside of the Bible and changing what the Bible said? I have not use one iota of extra-Biblical science to argue for an old earth. I have used extra-Biblical scholarship to learn when the book of Genesis is most likely written. I have use extra-Biblical scholarship to learn what the paleo-Hebrew was like and how it is different than the modern Hebrew. I have used extra-Biblical scholarship to learn what the early Church father and what other Christians throughout history believe and how it might shape their exegesis. Yes, I relied on sources outside of the Bible in order to apply a proper historical grammatical interpretation of Scripture. I then read and understood plainly what it said about the word day and what God said it meant. I came to the conclusion that it is not the modern concept of a 24-hr day as it pertains to His creation.
YEC like Ken Ham on the other hand rely solely on his own mind and experience to interpret the Scripture. But don’t pretend that his mind and experience is not clouded by his own bias. In fact, it is irresponsible to solely rely on his own biased mind as I’ve shown how they have added to the Text. YEC are cherry-picking dogmatists with a severe case of confirmation bias.
But I have not made any appeal to radiometric dating, geology, distant star light or any other scientific evidence to dispute YEC. The Bible itself is problematic enough for a young earth interpretation. There isn’t any need to appeal to science. The plain Words of the Bible and church history is more than enough to prove that YEC is wrong.
I had intended to deal with the science part of this also but it will have to wait for the next post. I see the Biblical error of the YEC and argue against it from Scripture. But I also think that God created all of nature and it also speaks to us. I have no fear of studying science. YEC do the same. They spend a lot of time cherry-picking from science that they think will support their young earth views. And if it doesn’t fit then it is just godless gibberish. Let’s hope they won’t get confused by the facts.