Creation: Thinking Outside The Box

Old Earth creationists, who believe that the physical universe is approximately 4.5 billion years old and Young Earth creationists, which believe that the physical universe is approximately 7,000 years old, are in a pointless debate by not thinking outside of their box. Although there is huge gap between their two earth age beliefs, I believe both are right. The differences between them are essentially based on their interpretation of the Genesis account of creation; however, both find commonality in their in belief in God and The Bible. Old Earth suggests that based on the known physical evidence, the six day account of Creation in Genesis chapter one is merely an analogy or metaphor to simplify God's creation process in terms that all can understand. Young Earth suggests that based on the Bible being God's Holy Word, the Genesis six-day account is the literal truth--no ifs, ands, or buts. Each side has their strong points and each have their loop holes among the details, but I will not be explaining each their own details of argument; plus, I will not be making any statements about Evolution--the specific details and Evolution serves no purpose to this hypothesis.

I thought of an analogy which I believe helps in understanding this hypothesis, though the relationship will come later:

You rent a movie which is three hours long; however, your DVD player for whatever reason starts the movie in fast forward; and then, just after the two hour brink, it finally stops and starts playing in real time--so, instead of watching a three hour, you just watch an hour movie. Now, due to the failure of your DVD player in playing properly, has the three-hour movie become an hour movie? Of course not--it's still a three-hour movie no matter what your DVD player did. Although you did not see the complete details of the first two hours, you did gain glimpses or evidence of facts, which support the three-hour length of the movie.

Hypothesis Explained

The Bible, time after time, gives accounts of how God worked and moved among mankind within the realm of the physical--great example, "The Six Days of Creation" in Genesis. In the most simple of times, mankind understood that when the sun goes up, a day is beginning; and when the sun goes down, a day is ending--all of mankind in any era, with or without technology, can universally understand that. This universal understanding of "sun up, sun down" equals a day is exactly why God through the writer of Genesis (Moses?) wrote the beginning of the universe in a six-day event. Now, was/is God lying or tricking mankind to believe that He created the universe in six days, when He actually didn‘t? Not at all, God would never do or allow such a thing--God is holy, He cannot lie. However, if the six days of creation is how He did it, it brings out an important question, “Why God chose to stay simple in the creation explanation rather then reveal the mysteries to give us no debate?” Well, the answer is quite simply: God never intended the Bible to be a scientific book. Throughout the Bible, there are several stories, which obviously lack or leave out the details, but the point wasn’t the details, the point was the overall message of the story--details would only distract away for the pivotal message. God did not intend for us to discover the details of His creation process through the Bible; He simply wanted us to know WHO created the universe, not how He did it.

Now we are in the modern age, where mankind has grown vastly within the realm of technology and science. Mankind has developed machines, computers, chemicals, and various scientific methods and processes, which have given us much insight and evidence to the “why’s” of our universe and planet. Through growth in archeology, geology, and science, mankind has discovered various elements, objects, and artifacts; and have developed test, such as Carbon Dating, which has a relatively low error results, to test age. Therefore, it did not take long to have official documented, tested, and analyzed support for an Old Earth hypothesis.

We hear much about "The Evolutionist vs. The Creationist," but what we don't hear often is the debate that exists among the Creationists--a debate rarely heard of, but it is bigger than most think. Young Earth supporters quickly attack any scientific experiments or discovered facts that may jolt the Biblical Creation account; and suggest they are unreliable, fakes, or misunderstandings. In addition, the foundation behind the Young Earth argument is that the Genesis Creation account is straight from the Bible; therefore, God does not lie, it's truth; and to think anyway else; is believing a “dangerous lie.” Old Earth supporters, however, do not deny the Biblical account of the six days of creation; they suggest, as I stated earlier, the Genesis account is an analogy or metaphor to give a simple understanding to complex process. They support this claim either by blaming bad translation from original text; but mainly, the support lies within modern scientific and geological evidence.

So, which is it--Old Earth or Young Earth? Well, as I stated previously, I believe both sides have it right. Here’s the thing, God is a supernatural being, everything infinite and eternal--physical time and natural limitation have no barring on Him. However, God created humans just the opposite, everything finite wrapped with natural limitation, where physical time is a major function in the life process. The knowledge of time is often taken for granted by most of us; but if you think about it, our whole existence, day in day out, is consumed by it.

The infinite wisdom and power of God made it possible for early man to understand creation--through Scripture. Likewise, the infinite wisdom and power of God made it possible for modern man to gain an even deeper understand of creation--through Scripture and scientific evidence. God has always worked within humanity and around humanity in natural logical way, though at times He comes to us in unnatural ways; but so often, He comes in natural and logical ways to give understanding--as He created us rational and logical beings.

God created His physical universe in six literal human days--all of mankind can universally understand that; and yet, maintains His eternal truthfulness. Furthermore, the process in which God created the physical universe in the six literal human days has been proven logically by scientific evidence to take 4.5 billion years; and yet, it still maintains the eternal truthfulness of God. How is this? We as finite humans often fail to understand that an infinite supernatural God is not restricted or held down by our physical human limitation. God did it His way, but did in a way, that makes logical and physical sense to all of humanity--speaks to the timelessness of the Bible and the perfect wisdom of God.

In other words, God’s time process is not within the scope of human time, we have much evidence that supports a literal human 4.5 billion year creating process, but Almighty God accomplishes that literal process in six literal human days. The Genesis account is not a lie, analogy, or metaphor--it’s Almighty God working within the premises of human logic, time, and understanding

In conclusion, going back to my “three hour movie” analogy, it would be like us watching the creation of the universe, 4.5 billion literal year process, in fast forward mode; and at point of conclusion, stopping it, and then watching it in regular play (still a three hour moving, we are just watching the last hour). If we actually had front row seats to watched the creation of the earth in "regular play mode" it would literally take us 4.5 billion years to watch it because modern day evidence, which has been discovered and tested, proves that because God squeezed that entire process in six literal days--"fast forward mode."

The Old Earth crowd has it right as do the Young Earth crowd; however, the Old Earth crowd needs to stop rationalizing the facts by claiming the Genesis account is an analogy or metaphor, and the Young Earth crowd needs to stop rationalizing the facts by placing a supernatural, infinite, and limitless God into the natural, finite, and limited physical realm. When we think about God, we must be careful to not place Him inside the box of human comprehension.