Biblical Interpretation and Theology

The Effects of YEC Beliefs on Romans 1:20

First Published 7 September 2012

I spend a lot of time out of doors, which gives me a lot of time to view the wonders of God's creation. In my thoughts I am often drawn to Romans 1:20, which states:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (NASB)

When I walk about, I wonder at how things in God's creation were designed perfectly, and that no one else but God could have thought up this stuff. To me, it doesn't matter whether God created over billions of years, or did it in six days...our world and the creations that fill it require God's hand.

The other day I thought, "How does a non-believer view the things of creation." How can one look at such creations and not think of God. When he/she looks at a spider, does he marvel at how the spider evolved, or does he reason and think how the spider (or whatever other creature) could have come about by natural selection. Surely God must eventually enter into the person's mind when considering God's creation. The wonders of creation, as alluded to in Romans 1:20, must inevitibly lead people to consider the creation as being of divine origin.

For the atheist, however, when he views an animal that is wonderfully designed, he attributes it all to evolution. Why does no thought of God enter into his mind?

When the atheist examines the world from the viewpoint of science, he comes to the obvious conclusion that the earth is billions of years old. What has he done? He looked at God's creation, in its plain language (apart from any religious bias). The result--science clearly indicates that the earth is billions of years old. Therefore when he hears that many within the church insist the earth is only 6,000 years old, he dismisses Christianity, because the scientific evidence that he views (which God created!), is in conflict with what Christians are telling him.

A plain reading of the science, apart from any religious bias, clearly indicates the earth is old. Sadly for the atheist, a stumbling block to belief in the Bible has been placed in his path by the young earth creationist movement within the church. In effect, young earth creationism has made the church ineffective and irrelavent to the unbelieving people of the world. To truly reach the world for Christ, we must rid ourselves of YEC beliefs. YEC ministries will counter with "look at all the people we have led to Christ." However, they ignore the millions they have driven away from Christ.

If we are to look at creation, as Romans 1:20 explains, we plainly see that God's creation is billions of years old, yet every year young earth ministries spend millions of dollars to convince people that what they see isn't billions of years old. They big question is...Why? Young earth ministries freely admit that you can be a Christian and believe in an old earth, but then they turn right around and claim that this is a faulty position (even though millions of us old earth Christians lead active, productive Christian lives). For YEC ministries, the real issue isn't whether the universe is young or old, or whether or not you believe in OEC or YEC...it's something else.

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.

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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?

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