Should Christians Make the Age of the Earth an Essential Doctrine?
One reason many unbelievers reject Christianity is because of their skepticism that God created the cosmos and life on earth in six literal days. They throw out the entire creation account (and hence Christianity) because they think a six-day creation week is unscientific—merely biblical fantasy. So, should Christians make the age of the earth an essential doctrine?
The late Dr. Duane Gish, of the Institute of Creation Research, apparently didn’t think we should. Dr. Gish participated in more than three hundred debates, defending creation against many prominent evolutionists. And he uncompromisingly believed in a young earth. Yet in a seminar I attended years ago, Dr. Gish encouraged his audience not to debate the age of the earth!
Because the earth’s age is a serious obstacle for many skeptics, pointing out that belief in a young earth is not crucial to the reality of divine creation is an apologetic strategy that may diffuse or even eliminate this stumbling block for non-Christians. They are less likely to argue against creation when we point out that an old-earth model of origins need not contradict biblical creation.
The fact is many evangelical Christians, including numerous well-known scientists, theologians, and other scholars, hold an old-earth view of creation. These people love the Lord dearly and believe in the truth, authority, and reliability of the Bible, but agree old earth creationism is neither an obstacle to becoming a Christian nor a compromise of divine creation. They simply accept a model of origins that embraces the conventional geological age of the earth, such as progressive creation. Moreover, I know of no old earth evangelical—scholar or lay—who does not believe Adam and Eve were created thousands rather than millions of years ago.
The goal of apologetics is to defend the essentials of our faith. The fact that conservative Christians are divided over the age of the earth implies it is not an essential doctrine. Yet it can be a seriously divisive issue among believers. Christian scholar Nancy Pearcey gives this much-needed warning in her book, Total Truth:
Instead of joining together to oppose the hegemony of the naturalistic world, Christians often get caught up in fighting each other. The bitterest debates were often not with atheistic evolutionists but among believers with conflicting scientific views: young-earth creationists, old-earth creationists, flood geologists, progressive creationists, “gap” theorists, and theistic evolutionists. There were endless arguments over theological questions like the length of the creation ”days” and the extent of the Genesis flood.
Meanwhile, secularists were happy to fan the flames. As Phillip Johnson once put it, “They all but said, ‘Let us hold your coats while you fight.’” For if Christians were going to endlessly divide, then it was clear that secularists would conquer. (173)
As Christians, we can all agree that God created life and the cosmos and is active in its continual existence (Col. 1: 16-17). Let’s consider the age of the earth an “in-house” issue that the Christian family can disagree over with charity and friendliness. But let’s not allow it be an obstacle to good apologetics and evangelism.
Finally, please understand that I am not expressing my personal view on the age of Earth, for the obvious reasons above. But also readers need to know that essential doctrines of our faith always focus on the person and work of Jesus. Cardinal are generally accepted by all orthodox (Bible believing) Christians, but they are not essential to our salvation, such the of the age of the earth, regardless of one’s view. Debatable “doctrines” we are free to disagree on, because they are not explicit in Scripture. ©
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