Creation Science Rebuttals

Creation Magazine

Jesus On the Age of the Earth

Volume 34, Issue 2, April 2012

First Published 3 March 2014

On 2 March 2014, Creation Ministries International made a Facebook post using the Creation Magazine Article by Carl Wieland, "Jesus on the Age of the Earth: Jesus Believed in a young world, but Leading Theistic Evolutionists say He is Wrong."¹ Is it true that Jesus believed in a young earth? Let's look at CMI's claim more closely.

Jesus' Comments

The arguments used by CMI come in the form of comments by Jesus about creation. The comments are:

Jesus said about marriage in Mark 10:6, "But from the begining of creation, God made them male and female," and in Luke 11:50-51, "That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world...", and in Romans 1:20, "...ever since the creation of the world...." Emphasis added by CMI.

CMI states that "Jesus, speaking around 4,000 years after the creation, was correct to say that Day 6, when humans were created, was effectively 'the beginning of creation' as seen from thousands of years later. YEC's often make this claim, placing mankind at the "beginning" of creation. The author, Carl Wieland, includes a graphic, that contrasts YEC and old earth views of creation. In the old earth view, it shows man created after 15 billion years. In the YEC view, it shows people created on Day 6, "at the beginning of creation."

So, in this YEC view of creation, when was the middle part of creation? It would seem like Days 3&4 would be the middle. If man was the beginning, what were the ending events of creation? This doesn't make sense. For this YEC view to work, ALL events of creation must be considered to be "at the beginning of creation."

The answer to this riddle lies in God's mind. God, from the beginning, knew how he was going to make mankind...male and female. So from the beginning of creation, mankind's makeup had been determined. It does not mean that God decided on Day 6 how to make man...that would mean God is not omniscient (all-knowing), so it could be said that the YEC idea violates the doctrine of who God is.

A Discussion with a Theistic Evolutionist

To reinforce this YEC claim, the author includes a discussion he had with a well-known Christian professor who believed in long ages. Concerning science, the professor actually said, "Jesus didn't know as much science as we do today." I agree with Wieland on this one. How could the creator of the world know less about science than we do? The professor appears to have actually accepted the idea that Christ believed in a young earth. The YEC author states that "He obviously saw it as hopeless to try to claim other than what the Lord is clearly saying in this Bible text." I think he is correct. This theistic evolutionist (TE) had not taken the time to clearly think through the implications of his statement, and he took the "easy way out" of the YEC arguments.

It gets worse for theistic evolutionists (TE's bear with me a minute). The YEC author goes on to quote Francis Collins, a well-known TE and founder of BioLogos:

“If Jesus as a finite human being erred from time to time, there is no reason at all to suppose that Moses, Paul, John wrote Scripture without error. Rather, we are wise to assume that the biblical authors expressed themselves as human beings writing from the perspectives of their own finite, broken horizons.”

I think some TE's, as demonstrated here, are making a huge mistake by

Many people point to Jesus' visit to the Temple when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-50). Jesus asked questions...how could he be "all-knowing" if He had to ask questions? From the text, we don't know if these questions were asked based on Jesus' lack of knowledge, or if they were leading questions, to guide the discussions He had with the teachers. The teachers "were amazed at His understanding," so I am led to believe that they were leading questions. From this passage, there is not enough evidence to claim that Jesus was not all-knowing.

admitting that Jesus was a finite man, and may have erred on creation. When Jesus took the form of a man, He was still God, and was all-knowing. He had a direct hand in creating the world...how could he have "erred" when making statements about the creation?

When TE's make statements like these, all they do is give fodder to YEC authors to write about. There is no need for TE's to claim that Jesus as a human did not know everything. How are we to proclaim Jesus to non-believers, if he was merely a human who made mistakes about science?

What Did Jesus Really Say about Creation?

Did Jesus believe in a young earth? If the statements above from Jesus are what YEC's base this belief on, then there is no proof He did. The statements by Jesus have no reference to the passage of time. They cannot prove that Jesus believed in a young earth, or an old earth. YEC's claim that Jesus believed in a young earth are not supported by Scripture.

Conclusion

The YEC author concludes with this statement:

What a tragedy that so many Christian leaders have been bluffed and intimidated into assuming that secular interpretations of the evidence should dictate their understanding of God’s Word.

In a way, he is partially right. It is a tragedy that some prominent TE Christians have been bluffed and intimidated by YEC claims, and they have not thought out their beliefs, and how they affect the doctrine of who Jesus is. Jesus is all-knowing, and fully understood how He created the world (while He was on earth). There is no problem accepting theistic evolution, and accepting that Jesus is all-knowing. The quotes of Jesus used by YEC's, that have forced some TE's to cast aside Jesus' doctrine of omniscience, have nothing to do with how old the creation is. Some TE's feel they have been forced into a corner by YEC arguments. But it is a non-existant corner.

¹ Creation Magazine, Volume 34, Issue 2. Published on the web at http://creation.com/jesus-age-earth

If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.

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Creation Magazine 2012

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