There’s no getting around Jesus’ teaching on the age of the earth

Creation Ministries International ^ | 11-25-2014 | Keaton Halley

[fishtank]

Mark 10:6 - quoted in the article.

[fishtank]

"From the beginning of creation..."

I had never noticed the timeline implications before.....

[ealgeone]

The problem is that a lot of pastors don't want to touch this for fear of being made fun of.

Yet, they will stand up in the pulpit and correctly declare that Christ was crucified and resurrected on the third day.

They are correctly willing to take the resurrection literally....but not the creation.

That's where the disconnect happens.

[TurkeyLurkey]

Sorry to say this is true; which is to say, there are unbelievers in our pulpits.

[Arkansas Toothpick]

I am not sure what I believe regarding this issue; however, I am concerned that CMI and AIG, both of whom I respect, make too much of the “young Earth” emphasis. I appreciate and understand the arguments to be made. But, I also think that “old universe” creationists and Intelligent Design-proponents have brought much to the table concerning human origins.

I agree that you MUST take the resurrection of Christ literally, or you cannot be a follower. But, there is a substantial difference between adhering to that tenant of faith and an insistence that every Christian believe that God made man literally days, as in 24 hour days, after He began His work. In my humble opinion, such a dogged insistence only brings needless division among believers. The bottom line is that we believe, as the Apostles Creed succinctly sums up:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.

[TurkeyLurkey]

Excellent article; thanks for posting.

[MrB]

Well, maybe “beginning of Creation” was Jesus being “allegorical”...

/sarc

[Tenacious 1]

Are we sure Adam and Eve were not actually single cell organisms?

[MrB]

Do not suck the Molecule of the Knowledge of Good and Evil!

[C19fan]

So how does Jesus invoking Genesis in order the reach a Jewish audience familiar with the text some endorsement of Young Earth Creationists? Jesus was invoking Genesis to teach about divorce not some scientific statement that the earth was 6,000 years old.

[fishtank]

Yep. Well said.

[oldtech]

Agreed. You can’t pick out the parts in the Bible that you like & believe them only. If we did this,the Bible would be subject to personal interpretations & there are many. The Truth would be meaningless.

[fishtank]

The “age of the earth” by itself is not a salvation issue.

I agree with that.

BUT BUT BUT...

It often can lead to implications that are too important too ignore.

Was Adam a literal individual?

Did his one sin against God cause “the earth is cursed because of you (Adam)”?

Is Jesus the second Adam who reverses all the curses caused by Adam?

I don’t disfellowship “old-earth” believers, but I don’t sit on my rump about the issue, either.

[VanDeKoik]

So God made everything 6000 (or so) years ago and the Earth in one week?

Yet somehow the mechanics of the universe and geology seems to contradict all of that?

I’m glad I take God far more seriously for this amazing creation, and all of the genius that we can see and for what we unlock everyday. He boiled it down simply for early man to understand like parents describe things to children. The real story is far more glorious and people should rejoice in the fact that it is.

[fishtank]

.... or maybe we don’t understand the “nuance”....

haha

/sarc

[schaef21]

***Are we sure Adam and Eve were not actually single cell organisms?***

Do you think single cell organisms were created in the image of God?

[sinatorhellary]

And old-earth disagrees with Paul in Romans 5:12, where he states "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned."

Either death entered the world when Adam sinned (per Paul) or myriad generations of death had already occurred when Adam sinned.

[schaef21]

***Jesus was invoking Genesis to teach about divorce not some scientific statement that the earth was 6,000 years old.***

Nevertheless, Jesus said male and female were created “
from the beginning of the creation”. You can’t get around that.

[MrB]

Yet somehow the mechanics of the universe and geology seems to contradict all of that?

---

How old did Adam appear to be one second after he was made from dust?

[Heartlander]

I consider a Biblical belief regarding the age of the Earth to be adiaphora.