Wednesday, July 29, 2009

How old is the earth?

{Revised 11/21/09}

"How old is the earth?" and "When was the earth created?" are two separate questions. The former is a non-theological/scientific question while the latter is a theological indeterminate question.

How one answers these questions seems to be a major defining point among the creationist groups. Both the Young Earth Creationist (YEC) and the Old Earth Creationist (OEC) would give the same respective answer for each question (YEC would say that the answer for both questions is ~6,000 years; OEC would say that the answer for both is 4.65 billion years).

A YEC would infer that because God created the world (usually) 6,000 to 10,000 years years ago, He would therefore need to make the measurable parameters such that they would reflect that timeline. If not, so they say, then "God would be a deceiver." An example of this is the need to make the speed of light such that the time spent en-route from the stars would equate with something on the order of 6,000-10,000 years (changing speeds, etc). Answers in Genesis (AiG) and Institute for Creation Research (ICR) are examples of groups that hold this view.

An OEC assumes the (current) scientific data for the distances (via cosmic distance ladder) to the farthest stars, multiplies it with the speed of light (distance divided by time) and obtains time since creation. Hugh Ross (Reasons To Believe) is an example of someone who holds this view.

I don't think it a coincidence that both groups appear to be from Reformed backgrounds since Reformed (Zwinglianism/Calvinism and Arminianism) often seem to have a need to provide natural explanations for God's actions/miracles. The Reformed treatment of the Lord's Supper provides a good example of this, where the appearance of what is being received has greater emphasis than Christ's words.

In comparison, a confessional Lutheran would not necessarily need to have the same answer to both questions since we do not have the need to resolve everything the Bible says with our observations of the natural world.

One could make the case that, in some of the miracles performed by Jesus, there seems to be a discontinuity between actual time span experienced by humans and physical changes that Jesus brought about miraculously (which is why we call them miracles). For example, with the wine created by Jesus at the Wedding at Cana (John 2) notice how Jesus' miracle involved an interruption in the normal time line. The fact that the wine appeared "good" to the guests does not conflict with the fact that it was made only a little earlier that same day. There was no deception involved. Jesus spoke and it was so. He made it fully functional and ready-to-go; capturing all the characteristics of an fine wine. (This comparison between the created age of the earth and the wine at Cana differs, however, at least in this respect: the wine was not created out of nothing).

For the Lutheran, an approximate answer to "When was the earth created?" can be obtained by looking at the genealogies in the Bible (some YEC groups try to obtain dates from the Bible that are more specific than can be exegetically obtained; for example, using the Ussher chronology).

A Lutheran will also recognize that, since the Bible describes the created earth and universe as being fully functional but stops short of providing specifics, for example, distances to the stars, the question "How old is the earth?" or "How old does the universe appear?" is a non-theological/scientific one about which we are free to use our Christian freedom (and scientific knowledge) to assess.

These comments are not intended to make a case in favor of either a young earth or an old earth (I will save that for elsewhere). The point that I am making is this: from a confessional Lutheran perspective, an appearance of age (i.e., much longer than the assumed timeline since creation) with respect to some aspects of creation may be theologically acceptable.