Origins of the Earth

Creation Science

As a student taking an earth science class from a conservative, evangelical Christian institution of higher education, I am interested in the debate between creationist and evolutionists. Honestly, I enter into this course with some serious misgivings about some of the basic tenets of young earth creationism based on what I have been taught in a non-religious scientific context. I also, however, have some concerns about what I have been taught about old-earth evolutionary science as it seems to ignore the presence of God, which not only flies in the face of Christian theology, but also in the face of evidence of a historical belief in deities that seems to be part of human nature and would not make sense in a world without a higher power. As a result, I am left with several different specific questions in the young-earth / old earth debate. The first specific issue is the church's history of being wrong about scientific facts as they relate to earth science. The second specific issue is the age of the earth. The third specific issue is the history of animal and animal species as can be determined by the geologic record. The fourth specific issue involves the spread of humanity that cannot be accounted for by solely examining the biblical record.

My first concern in taking a literalist interpretation of earth science based solely on the Bible is based in the fact that science has established that biblical accounts that were once taken as facts about the earth are wrong. The two most notable of these facts that come to mind are the notion that the Earth is flat and the notion that the sun orbits around the Earth. It has been established, beyond any type of reasonable doubt, and verifiable with proof that the world is not flat, despite repeated references in the Bible to the corners of the Earth or the edge of the Earth. The fact that people and satellites are able to orbit a round Earth and provide photos of that Earth belies the notion of an Earth that is flat. Furthermore, a literalist interpretation suggests that this language cannot merely be expressive, calling into question the earth science contained in the Bible. Likewise, the Bible suggests a geocentric sun-earth orbit relationship, and the church was historically so adamant about this that those suggesting otherwise were considered heretics. The advent of telescopes has demonstrated that the Earth does orbit the Sun, which, again, suggests that in terms of earth science, a literal interpretation of the Bible may be unfortunate.

The second specific issue is the age of the Earth. This issue is not as concerned about the specific age of the Earth as it is with understanding why the geologic age of the Earth is of paramount importance to young earth creationists. What is it in Scripture that limits the age of the Earth to a specific amount of time? Proponents of intelligent design suggest an evolutionary path that allows for scientific discovery without eliminating the role of God, and I am curious as to why this is not compatible with a literalist interpretation of the Bible, given the allegorical language that occurs throughout the Bible, and the possibility of gaps in the Biblical record that could account for missing increments of time.