by jimwalton » Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:06 pm
Young earth creationists believe that the earth is young, possibly only 6,000 years old. A theory was proposed in the Middle ages, by adding up the genealogies in Genesis ( a misguided strategy, by the way), that the earth was created in 4,004 BC. Some YEC still believe this, others are a little more lenient that perhaps the earth is older than that, but not millions or billions of years old.
Old earth creationists believe that the earth can be as old as the scientists have determined it is, but God is still the creator.
Theistic evolution believes that evolution is the way life came about, but God orchestrated evolution to produce what we now see. The idea behind theistic evolution is that evolution could not possibly have happened all by itself, but rather needed help to bridge the gaps and flow in the right direction.
The Gap theory of creation says that God created the heavens and the earth many billions of years ago (Gn. 1.1), and there there was a HUUUUUUGE gap in time, when Gn. 1.2 picks up the story and we read about more modern human history, say, of the past 25 million years or so, or even just 25,000 years or so.
Six-day creationism says that God created the heavens and the earth in six 24-hour periods of time (in contrast to theistic evolution which would claim that God created the cosmos in billions of years of time).
A new theory about Genesis 1 & 2 is that they are about how God ordered creation (functions and roles) rather than about material creation (how they came to be). This perspective still believes God is the creator, but that Genesis 1 & 2 are not the narrative of material creation. Instead, Gn. 1-2 tell us why we are here, what our role and function are for being here. This theory allows science to be all that it can discover, wherever truth is found, but only the Bible can tell us the purpose behind it all, something science can't answer.
Last bumped by Anonymous on Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:06 pm.