Review by Greg Neyman
First Published 2006
In an article on the Creation, Dinosaurs and the
Flood website, young earth creation science advocate Charlie Liebert tries
to argue that young earth belief is essential to Biblical belief.1
To support his belief, he uses two points. First, he
uses the death before sin issue. Since I (and millions of others) believe in
the inerrant Bible, and death before sin, we directly testify that you can
believe in death before sin and the Bible. Liebert says that we have to
explain how we can have a better place in heaven than Adam had in Eden. Why?
Eden was a separate Garden, separate from the rest of the world (Genesis
2:8). The conditions of Eden were paradise, just as Liebert (and old earth
creationists) believe. There is no disconnect here. Second, many
creationists say that death before sin invalidates Jesus' death. There is no
logic to support this argument. Whether or not there was death before sin,
we all are going to die, and we all need rescuing from that death. Death
before sin makes no difference. For more proof, see the
Death Before Sin topic page.
The second argument Liebert uses is the "very good"
argument. He says "EVERYTHING was VERY GOOD. This expression implies a
perfect Creation with no sin, death, rebellion." No it does not imply a
perfect creation...it implies a "very good" creation. God could have easily
said "It was perfect." He did not. God created a fully functioning
ecosystem, with death, decay, and renewal through the chain of life. It was
very good. If there were no decay, there could be no renewal. Many old earth
believers do think Eden was perfect, but not the whole creation (however,
God never calls Eden perfect).
These are not violations of God's Word as Liebert
claims...they are violations of the young earth interpretation of God's
Word. God's Word, in its original writings, was inerrant and perfect, but we
still have fallible man (old and young earth creationists alike) who have to
interpret what God's Word means. Young earth creationists feel that they
have it right, so they present their position as the "absolute truth" of the
Bible, even though it is merely their interpretation of the Bible.
The real test is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not
convict believers concerning the age of the earth, therefore this issue is
unimportant to the theology of the Bible. For more, see
God Doesn't Care about Creation.
1 Why is a Young Earth Essential to Biblical Belief?, originally published
on the web at sixdaycreation.com/facts/creation/general/oct2002.html
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.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.
Creation, Dinosaurs and the Flood Review Homepage
To learn more
about old earth creationism, see
Old Earth Belief,
or check out the article
Can You Be A
Christian and Believe in an Old Earth?
Feel free to check out more of this website. Our goal is to
provide rebuttals to the bad science behind young earth creationism,
and honor God by properly presenting His creation.