|
|
Young Earth creationism (YEC) is the religious belief that the Universe, Earth and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago. Its primary adherents are those Christians and Jews who, using a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative as a basis, believe that God created the Earth in six 24-hour days. Adherents of young Earth creationism are known as "young Earth creationists," or simply YECs. The scientific consensus, supported by a 2006 statement by 68 national and international science academies, is that it is evidence-based fact derived from observations and experiments in multiple scientific disciplines that the universe has existed for around 13.8 billion years and that the Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, with life first appearing at least 2.5 billion years ago. Although many young Earth creationists (YECs) are active in the development of creation science, an endeavor that holds that the events associated with supernatural creation can be evidenced and modeled through an interpretation of the scientific method, the consensus among scientists is that creation science is unscientific in both conception and methodology. Since 1982, between 40% and 50% of adults in the United States say they hold the creationist view that "God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years" when Gallup asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings. A 2011 Gallup survey reports that 30% of U.S. adults say they interpret the Bible literally. Their belief derives from a literal interpretation of the two creation myths in the Biblical book of Genesis. This means young Earth creationists believe the six days described in Genesis were standard 24-hour days and use James Ussher's chronology (or a suitable alternative) to date the Earth's creation to only a few thousand years ago. Consequently, they reject the mountains of scientific evidence demonstrating the earth is older than this, as well as the various attempts to reconcile the stories in Genesis with science, such as day-age creationism. A firm belief in the biblical worldwide flood and the story of Noah is also a cornerstone of young Earth creationism. The flood is used by proponents of YEC to explain almost all observations that scientists have interpreted as pointing to a significantly older Earth. Creationists who believe in an Earth with an age less in conflict with science are called Old Earth Creationist, which sometimes includes believers of theistic evolution despite acceptance of evolution (albeit minus the methodological naturalism in the case of the guided evolution branch of theistic evolution).
Interestingly enough, the oldest
commentary on Genesis, by Philo, which was written even before the
birth of Christ, holds to an allegorical view of the text. There only
one Church father who is known to have held to a view which is even
somewhat literal, St. Basel, and there are a plethora who are known
to have held to an allegorical interpretation (St. Augustine, St.
Ignatius of Antioch, Origen, etc.). Also, in Galatians 4:24, St. Paul
presents the relationship between Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar
allegorically for the purpose of instructing the church at Galatia,
which means it is possible that he applied this allegorical
interpretation to the entire story of Abraham, though the text of
Galatians does not state or imply that. Date of creation according to young earth creationists Although the book of Genesis does not mention any specific creation date, the 4004 BC date of creation upheld by young Earth creationists was calculated by the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher, in 1658 and John Lightfoot in 1644. These chronologies involve meticulously tracing the lineages recounted in the Bible (including Noah's supposed 900 years) back to known time, and compared Middle Eastern, biblical and Mediterranean sources to come up with the surprisingly exact date of October 23, 4004 BC. At 9:00 in the morning, EST.
This figure would put the age of
the Earth many orders of magnitude less than the scientifically
agreed figure based on radiometric dating among other pieces of
evidence. Specifically, the actual age of the Earth is about 75
million percent longer than the Biblical age of the Earth. To put
this in perspective, those with the YEC worldview believe the world
was created after the first domestication of the dog (and possibly
the goat), after the first stones were laid at Stonehenge, after
people settled in Scotland and more. Evidence against a recent
creation is quite simply overwhelming. Conflict with science The concept of the Earth being instantaneously formed only 6000 years ago obviously flies in the face of many fields of modern science. The branches of science you have to ignore to believe in young Earth creationism are numerous-containing practically all of known science-but most notably these sciences are biology (the theory of evolution and palaeontology), astronomy (starlight problem), geology (volcanic formation, sedimentation, plate tectonics), archaeology (historic development of ancient civilizations), dendrochronology (tree-ring dating), and physics (radiometric dating). These scientific fields are backed by centuries of research by the scientific method, are falsifiable and have accumulated vast quantities of supportive evidence. Young Earth creationists often reject scientific theories and discoveries that go against their ideas - but rather than presenting evidence for a young Earth, they resort to attacking modern science. This is based on not only a misunderstanding of how science develops but also on the false dichotomy that if science is wrong (in any way), young-earth creationism and Biblical literalism must be true. Since creationist ideas are based on faith rather than evidence, they are not falsifiable and are not classed as science. Popular methods of discrediting modern science include: Quote mining: This is the practice of isolating quotes from their original context in order to support a particular view. This often is used in conjunction with the argument from authority-i.e., an authoritative person said this, so it must be right, even if the quote is out of context. The ellipsis-the omission of intervening text-is one way of quote mining and is often of staggering magnitude (the sections on either side of the ellipsis might be pulled from opposite sides of a book, for instance). Politicization: Claiming modern science is politicized and biased because "most scientists are liberals or moderates." This is, of course, untrue, and even if it were true, appeal to motive. Exaggerating the limits of a scientific theory: Usually the phrase "only a theory" is passed about without any sense of irony, as creationists themselves sometimes attempt to pass creationism off as a "theory," albeit one unsupported by any evidence. This is also due to a misunderstanding of what a scientific theory actually is. Yet for them somehow the Bible is not "only a theory." Pointing out science has been wrong before: This is often combined with the above method of citing the fact that science is theory. Indeed, science has been wrong, but when it is found to be wrong it changes and becomes more accurate. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, by definition doesn't change, staying the exact same distance from reality at all times. Exploiting the existence of non-uniformitarian views: This can be wide reaching, from the speed of light changing over time to support the apparent age of the universe to bizarre hypotheses and suggestions that help support a global flood event. Exploiting science fiction and popular culture: As not all people are experts in all fields of science, a lot of people have to make do with popularised and slightly inaccurate versions of scientific theories. The inaccuracies or dramatisations of these theories which slip into popular culture (such as natural selection being termed "survival of the fittest") are easily exploitable. So is saying that intelligent design is right because it (sort of) happens in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Invoking divine intervention: This technique solves many problems, like the starlight problem and explaining why incest was not an issue for Adam and Eve's offspring as well as for those aboard Noah's Ark. From a materialistic view, these are unsatisfying answers. Often this is abbreviated to "goddidit." Referring to obsolete sources: Science thrives on change. When discrediting evolutionary theories, creationists will often cite Charles Darwin's original The Origin of Species and point out issues which were poorly understood at the time. As all of science is a work in progress the specific details of the theory of evolution have changed much since Darwin's time and continue to be improved. Evolution is referred to as Darwinism (often to establish a false equivalence with religion), ignoring progress since Darwin. Alternatively, creationists say that Darwin was wrong and overlook that later theories give a better picture of evolution. Creationist "scientists" writing outside of their field: For example, a physicist writing about DNA analysis or geologists commenting on biology. In science, this is of course perfectly acceptable, but it does not by default give them authority over someone who has proved themselves as a specialist in an area. This is possibly most apparent in the published list of scientists who disagree with evolution, where only a small handful are qualified biologists. Denial of climate change uses the same tactics. Referring to "the flood" for everything: Similar to divine intervention, the Flood is often cited to explain the presence of fossils, sedimentary layers, The Grand Canyon and to explain why radiometric dating would be flawed. However, this presumes a flood occurred and that it would adequately explain these features of the earth, which it wouldn't do well even if it was feasible to have occurred. See petrified forest.
Mainstream scientists classify
young Earth creationism as a pseudoscience, putting it on par with
astrology. Indeed, at the Dover trial, Michael Behe, arguing that
intelligent design should be allowable in public schools, admitted
that his definition of science was broad enough to include astrology. The Omphalos hypothesis Some branches of YEC explain away inconvenient evidence such as dinosaur fossils, ancient rock strata in the Grand Canyon, and light from stars millions of light years away, as red herrings planted by God to test the faith of believers. This hypothesis, that God created the world, and indeed the universe, deliberately to appear much older than it actually is, was promoted by the Calvinist and naturalist Philip Henry Gosse in his 1857 book Omphalos, giving rise to the Omphalos hypothesis, although there are earlier examples of similar theories. The Omphalos hypothesis reconciles the Biblical account of creationism with scientific findings which would seem to contradict it, and in fact was probably created with this intention in mind. However, it doesn't fare well against Occam's razor, since it presents a more elaborate explanation for scientific evidence than we would get from interpreting evidence at face value. It is also unfalsifiable and resembles Last Thursdayism or the idea that we're living in a simulated reality.
The Omphalos hypothesis also
suggests a deceitful God and is rejected by many creationists for
this reason. Young Earth creationism around the world Young Earth creationism exists primarily among Christian and Jewish fundamentalists, and is most popular in the USA. In the United States, roughly 40% of the population believe that God created humanity in its present form 10,000 years ago but this figure is at an all time low and is declining. People with low education are more inclined to believe Young Earth creationism. Although it has little political traction, creationism exists in the UK. An article in The Guardian in September 2008 put the number of people believing in YEC ideas at 10% of the population. Contrary to popular belief, YEC beliefs are not common in the Muslim world. Although many Muslim cultures reject the theory of evolution, most accept that the universe was created billions of years ago and do not insist on a six-day creation as young Earth creationists do. Characteristics and beliefs View of the Bible Young Earth creationists regard the Bible as a historically accurate, factually inerrant record of natural history. They accept its authority as the central organizing text for human life - the sole indisputable source of knowledge on every topic with which it deals. As Henry Morris, a leading young Earth creationist, explained it, "Christians who flirt with less-than-literal readings of biblical texts are also flirting with theological disaster." According to Morris, Christians must "either . . . believe God's Word all the way, or not at all." Therefore, young Earth creationists consider the account of creation given in Genesis to be a factual record of the origin of the Earth and life, and that Bible-believing Christians must therefore regard Genesis 1-11 as historically accurate. Interpretation of Genesis Young Earth creationists interpret the text of Genesis as strictly literal. For the majority of young Earth creationists, an allegorical reading of the Genesis creation narrative, the Fall of Man, Noah's Ark and the Tower of Babel would undermine core Christian doctrines like the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, they believe that God created the world in six normal-length days, and planted the Garden of Eden for the habitation of an original human couple (Adam and Eve). As a result of the subsequent Fall of Man, humanity was forced to work hard to provide food, and physical death entered the world. The genealogies of Genesis record the line of descent from Adam through Noah to Abraham. Young Earth creationists interpret these genealogies literally, including the old ages of the men. For example, Methuselah lived 969 years according to the genealogy. Differences of opinion exist regarding whether the genealogies should be taken as complete or abbreviated, hence the 6,000 to 10,000 year range usually quoted for the Earth's age. Old Earth Creationist tend to interpret the genealogies as incomplete, and usually interpret the days of Genesis 1 figuratively as long periods of time. Young Earth creationists believe that the flood described in Genesis 6-9 did occur, was global in extent, and submerged the highest mountains on Earth. The pseudoscientific endeavour of flood geology has been developed to suggest mechanisms that could permit this. Early ideas were that an orbiting vapor canopy collapsed, generating extreme rainfall. More recently, it has been proposed that the rapid movement of tectonic plates was responsible for the flood. Genesis says that, after the flood, the average human lifespan dropped from around 900 years at the time of Noah to around 175 by the time of Abraham. Some young Earth creationists have suggested that this was due to the effects of inbreeding as only eight people survived the flood. Age of the Earth Young Earth creationists believe that the Earth is "young", on the order of 6,000 to 10,000 years old. This depends on a literal interpretation of the internal chronology of the Bible, and contrasts with the age of 4.54 billion years estimated by modern geology using geochronological methods including radiometric dating. While there is evidence for some variation in decay rates under certain special conditions, these variations are too small to measurably affect the results of radiometric dating. Further, radioisotope-derived ages have been verified many times using both independent and different radiometric methods, and by consistency with a number of non-radiometric dating methods. Scientists also point to serious flaws in the RATE study of radioisotope dating undertaken by a team of young Earth creationists. Attitude towards science Young Earth creationism is characterized as opposing the theory of evolution, though it also opposes many claims and theories in the fields of physics and chemistry (including absolute dating methods), geology, astronomy, cosmology, paleontology, molecular biology, genomics, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, climatology and dendrochronology among others. Young Earth creationists are fundamentally opposed to any explanation for the origins of anything which deviates from their literal reading of the Bible, whether it be the origins of biological diversity, the origins of life or the origins of the universe itself. This has led some young Earth creationists to criticize intelligent design, a proposal generally viewed as an alternative form of creationism, for not taking a stand on the age of the Earth, special creation, or even the identity of the designer. Young Earth creationists challenge the methodological naturalism of the scientific method, which they conflate with philosophical naturalism, and uniformitarianism as the dominant principles of the scientific community. Instead, they assert that available physical evidence best supports original catastrophism and a young Earth. Human history Young Earth creationists believe that Adam and Eve were the universal ancestors of the entire human race; accordingly it is usually held that their sons and daughters married among themselves to produce the next generation of children. Noah's flood is supposed to have killed all humans on Earth with the exception of Noah and his sons and their wives. All humans alive today are therefore believed to be descended from this single family, which carried the gene pool for the entire human race. In contradiction to what is accepted by anthropologists, young Earth creationists assert that native Americans, Australian aborigines and all other races arose from the migration of people around the world following the Tower of Babel event in the 3rd millennium BC. Diversification of life Young Earth creationists believe that all modern species of land vertebrates are descended from those original animals on the ark. Many young Earth creationists believe that the Ark "kinds" diversified as they subsequently adapted to their environments by the process of variation and rapid natural selection. The selection of such animals as kangaroo and koalas on the ark is based on hypothesized sunken land bridges or glacier ice bridges (which formed during a subsequent ice age) between Australia and South East Asia, over which Noah or his sons, or the ancestors of the animals themselves, could travel. Paleontology and dinosaurs Young Earth creationists are opposed to the evidence that the stratigraphic sequence of fossils proves the Earth is billions of years old. In his Illogical Geology, expanded in 1913 as The Fundamentals of Geology, George McCready Price argued that the out-of-order sequence of fossils attributed to thrust faults actually made it impossible to prove that one fossil was older than another. His "law" that fossils could be found in any order meant that strata could not be dated sequentially, removing the strongest evidence for evolution and instead fitting with the idea that they could all have been buried at the same time in a universal deluge, which he called "flood geology". In numerous books and articles he promoted this concept, focusing his attack on the sequence of the geologic time scale as "the devil's counterfeit of the six days of Creation as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis." In The Genesis Flood of 1961, Henry M. Morris reiterated Price's arguments, and wrote that because there had been no death before the Fall of Man, he felt "compelled to date all the rock strata which contain fossils of once-living creatures as subsequent to Adam's fall", attributing most to the flood. He added the "bombshell" that humans and dinosaurs had lived together, quoting Clifford L. Burdick for the report that dinosaur tracks had supposedly been found overlapping a human track in the Paluxy River bed Glen Rose Formation. He was subsequently advised that he might have been misled, and Burdick wrote to Morris in September 1962 that "you kind of stuck your neck out in publishing those Glen Rose tracks." In the third printing of the book this section was removed. The term "dinosaur" was first used by Richard Owen in 1842. As it is a modern coinage derived from Greek, the Bible does not use the word "dinosaur", but the Hebrew word tanniyn has been interpreted as referring to them by some Christians. In English translations, tanniyn may be translated as "sea monster" or "serpent", but it is usually translated as "dragon". These creatures are mentioned nearly thirty times in the Old Testament and are found both on land and in the water. At another point, the Bible describes a huge creature called a "behemoth" (Job 40:15-24) that "moves his tail like a cedar"; the behemoth is described as ranking "first among the works of God" and as impossible to capture (vs. 24). Some biblical scholars identify the behemoth as either an elephant, a hippopotamus, or a bull, but as these animals have very thin tails that are not comparable to the size of a cedar tree, creationists often identify the behemoth with sauropod dinosaurs. Some of these creationists refer to "behemoth" specifically as Brachiosaurus, since the Bible says in Job, "He is the chief of the ways of God", meaning he is the largest animal God created. Biologist Michael Bright suggests that the reference to the cedar tree actually refers to the brush-like shape of its branches, which resemble the tails of modern elephants and hippopotamuses. Other critics contend that the word "tail" is a euphemism for the animal's penis, and that the passage should be understood as describing its virility. The Leviathan is another creature referred to in the Bible's Old Testament; some creationists argue that it is described as having a variety of what today would be called dinosaur, dragon, and water-serpent-like characteristics. Some scholars identify the Leviathan in Job c. 41 with the Nile crocodile, or point out that it has seven heads and is purely mythical. As with the behemoth, creationists have sometimes tried to connect the Leviathan with dinosaurs. Young Earth creationists do not deny the existence of dinosaurs and other extinct animals present in the fossil record. Usually, they claim that the fossils represent the remains of animals that perished in the Great Flood. Most believe that Noah took the dinosaurs with him in the ark, and that they gradually became extinct as a result of a vastly different post-flood environment. The Creation Museum in Kentucky portrays humans and dinosaurs coexisting before the Flood. The California roadside attraction Cabazon Dinosaurs describes dinosaurs as being created the same day as Adam and Eve. The Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas, has a "hyperbaric biosphere" intended to reproduce the atmospheric conditions before the Flood which could grow dinosaurs. The proprietor Carl Baugh says that these conditions made creatures grow larger and live longer, so that humans of that time were giants. Some creationists say that living dinosaurs (as well as other extinct creatures, such as plesiosaurs), may still survive in isolated spots (see living dinosaur (cryptozoology)), accounting for alleged sightings of lake or sea monsters. Other creationists urge caution about alleged plesiosaurs living today, since rotting basking sharks can form a pseudo-plesiosaur shape. Young Earth creationists occasionally claim that dinosaurs survived in Australia, and that Aboriginal legends of reptilian monsters are evidence of this, referring to what is known as Megalania (Varanus priscus). However, Megalania was a gigantic monitor lizard, and not a dinosaur, as its discoverer, Richard Owen, realized that the skeletal remains were that of a lizard, and not an archosaur. Old Earth creationism Young Earth creationists reject Old Earth Creationist and Day-Age Creationism on textual and theological grounds. In addition, they claim that the scientific data in geology and astronomy point to a young Earth, against the consensus of the general scientific community. Young Earth creationists generally hold that, when Genesis describes the creation of the Earth occurring over a period of days, this indicates normal-length 24 hour days, and cannot reasonably be interpreted otherwise. They agree that the Hebrew word for "day" (yôm) can refer to either a 24-hour day or a long or unspecified time; but argue that, whenever the latter interpretation is used, it includes a preposition defining the long or unspecified period. In the specific context of Genesis 1, since the days are both numbered and are referred to as "evening and morning", this can mean only normal-length days. Further, they argue that the 24-hour day is the only interpretation that makes sense of the Sabbath command in Exodus 20:8-11. YECs argue that it is a glaring exegetical fallacy to take a meaning from one context (yom referring to a long period of time in Genesis 1) and apply it to a completely different one (yom referring to normal-length days in Exodus 20). Gap creationism The "gap theory" acknowledges a vast age for the universe, including the Earth and solar system, while asserting that life was created recently in six 24-hour days by divine fiat. Genesis 1 is thus interpreted literally, with an indefinite "gap" of time inserted between the first two verses. (Some gap theorists insert a "primordial creation" and Lucifer's rebellion into the gap.) Most young Earth creationist organizations reject the gap theory, and say it is unscriptural, unscientific, and not necessary, in its various forms. YECs assert that the entire universe is only thousands of years old. Omphalos hypothesis Many young Earth creationists distinguish their own hypotheses from the "Omphalos hypothesis", today more commonly referred to as the apparent age concept, put forth by the naturalist and science writer Philip Henry Gosse. Omphalos was an unsuccessful mid-19th century attempt to reconcile creationism with geology. Gosse proposed that just as Adam had a navel (omphalos is Greek for navel), evidence of a gestation he never experienced, so also the Earth was created ex nihilo complete with evidence of a prehistoric past that never actually occurred. The Omphalos hypothesis allows for a young Earth without giving rise to any predictions that would contradict scientific findings of an Old Earth. Although both logically unassailable and consistent with a literal reading of Scripture, Omphalos was rejected at the time by scientists on the grounds that it was completely unfalsifiable and by theologians because it implied to them a deceitful God, which they found theologically unacceptable. Today, most young Earth creationists argue that Adam did not have a navel, and, in contrast to Gosse, posit that not only is the Earth young but that the scientific data supports that view. However, the apparent age concept is still used in young Earth creationist literature. Criticism Lack of scientific acceptance Young Earth creationism was abandoned as a mainstream scientific concept around the start of the 19th century. Most scientists see it as a non-scientific position, and regard attempts to prove it scientifically as being little more than religiously motivated pseudoscience. In 1997, a poll by the Gallup organization showed that 5% of US adults with professional degrees in science took a young Earth creationist view. In the aforementioned poll, 40% of the same group said that they believed that life, including humans, had evolved over millions of years, but that God guided this process, a view described as theistic evolution, while 55% held a view of "naturalistic evolution" in which no God took part in this process. Some scientists (such as Hugh Ross and Gerald Schroeder) who believe in creationism are known to subscribe to other forms such as Old Earth Creationism which posits an act of creation that took place millions or billions of years ago, with variations on the timing of the creation of mankind. Another problem is the fact that distant galaxies can be seen. If the universe did not exist until 10,000 years ago, then light from anything farther than 10,000 light-years would not have had time to reach us. Most cosmologists accept an inflation model as the likely explanation for the horizon problem. Inflationary models also account for other phenomena, and are in agreement with observations of recent microwave anisotropy satellites. Creationists have also proposed models, such as Time dilation, to explain why we see distant starlight. Methodology Against the young Earth Creationist attacks on "evolutionism" and "Darwinism", critics argue that every challenge to evolution by YECs is either made in an unscientific fashion, or is readily explainable by science, and that, while a gap in scientific knowledge may exist now, it is likely to be closed through further research. While scientists acknowledge that there are indeed a number of gaps in the scientific theory, they generally reject the creationist viewpoint that these gaps represent fatal, insurmountable flaws with evolution. Those working in the field who pointed out the gaps in the first place have often explicitly rejected the creationist interpretation. The "God of the gaps" viewpoint has also been criticized by theologians and philosophers. Christian young Earth creationists adhere strongly to a concept of biblical inerrancy, which declares the Bible to be divinely inspired and written as a plain, omniscient account of history and doctrine, and therefore scientifically infallible and non-correctable. Young Earth creationists have suggested that supporters of evolution theory are primarily motivated by atheism. Critics reject this claim by pointing out that many supporters of evolutionary theory are, in fact, religious believers, and that major religious groups, such as the Roman Catholic Church and Church of England, believe that the concept of biological evolution does not imply a rejection of the scriptures. Nor do they support the specific doctrines of biblical inerrancy proposed by young Earth creationism. Critics also point out that workers in fields related to evolutionary biology are not required to sign statements of belief in evolution comparable to the biblical inerrancy pledges required by ICR and AiG. This is contrary to the popular belief of creationists that scientists operate on an a priori disbelief in biblical principles. They also discount Christian faith positions, like those of French Jesuit priest, geologist and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who saw that his work with evolutionary sciences actually confirmed and inspired his faith in the cosmic Christ. Nor do they believe the views of Catholic priest Fr. Thomas Berry, a cultural historian and eco-theologian, that the cosmological 13 billion year "Universe Story" provides all faiths and all traditions a single account by which the divine has made its presence in the world. Proponents of young Earth creationism are regularly accused of quote mining, the practice of isolating passages from academic texts that appear to support their claims, while deliberately excluding context and conclusions to the contrary. Theology Few theologians take the Genesis account of creation literally. Although Christian evangelicals largely reject the notion of purely naturalistic Darwinian evolution, most treat it as a nonliteral saga, as poetry, or as liturgical literature. Many critics claim that Genesis itself is internally inconsistent on the question of whether man was created before the animals (Genesis 2:19) or after the animals as stated in the first chapter of Genesis. Proponents of the Documentary hypothesis suggest that Genesis 1 was a litany from the Priestly source (possibly from an early Jewish liturgy), while Genesis 2 was assembled from older Jahwist material, holding that, for both stories to be a single account, Adam would have named all the animals, and God would have created Eve from his rib as a suitable mate, all within a single 24 hour period. Many creationists attribute this view to misunderstanding having arisen from poor translation of the tenses in Genesis 2 in contemporary translations of the Bible (e.g. compare "planted" and "had planted" in the King James Version and New International Version). Some Christians assert that the Bible is free from error only in religious and moral matters, and that, where scientific or historic questions are concerned, the Bible should not be read literally. This position is held by a number of major denominations. For instance, in a publication entitled The Gift of Scripture, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales comments that "We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision". The Bible is held to be true in passages relating to human salvation, but "We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters." By contrast, young Earth Creationists contend that moral and spiritual matters in the Bible are intimately connected with its historical accuracy; in their view, the Bible stands or falls as a single indivisible block of knowledge. Aside from the theological doubts voiced by other Christians, young Earth creationism also stands in opposition to the creation mythologies of other religions (both extant and extinct). Many of these make claims regarding the origin of the universe and humanity that are completely incompatible with those of Christian creationists (and with one another).
This site is maintained for research
purposes only.
The
Influence is designed and maintained by
Jon Anderson I make no claim to be an expert pertaining to the knowledge and information of God and religion and all that which relates to God and religion. I make no claims, promises or guarantees about the completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this website and its associated sites. Nothing on this site constitutes legal or medical advice. This website is an unofficial source of news and information continually updated from thousands of sources around the net. This website is the composition of many hours of research. Information contained within this site has come from numerous sources such as websites, newspapers, books, and magazines. This site represents some of my research, thoughts and ideas regarding God, the Bible and religion(s). Do not take anything on this site as the "Gospel Truth." I encourage you to be a "good Berean" and study these things out for yourself to come to your own conclusions.
In case the article on this page was quoted from
another source, the following statement applies: By printing, downloading, or using any info from this site, you agree to our full terms. Review the full terms by clicking here. Below is a summary of some of the terms. If you do not agree to the full terms, do not use the information. All information on this web site is provided as a free service. Under no conditions does it constitute professional advice. No representations are made as to the completeness, accuracy, comprehensiveness or otherwise of the information provided. This site is considered publishers of this material, not authors. Information may have errors or be outdated. Some information is from historical sources or represents opinions of the author. It is for research purposes only. The information is "AS IS", "WITH ALL FAULTS". User assumes all risk of use, damage, or injury. You agree that we have no liability for any damages. We are not liable for any consequential, incidental, indirect, or special damages. You indemnify us for claims caused by you.
|
||||||||
