In my previous essay, I tried to illustrate the differences between what I call anti-evolutionism and creationism.  While an anti-evolutionist is concerned with refuting evolution, a creationist is interested in understanding scientific evidence from a creationist perspective.  As I noted, this is not a hard and fast distinction.  Lots of people have both tendencies.  Plenty of creationists like to use their theories to refute evolutionary explanations, but when creationists try to develop new theories, anti-evolution is not always a helpful strategy.  Take the origin of species, for instance.

In a previous essay, I defined a young-age creationist as one who accepts the first eleven chapters of Genesis as a straightforward account of events that really happened. Creation in six days, the Fall into sin from a perfect world, the curse of death, the worldwide Flood, and the tower of Babel are not mere stories to young-age creationists; they’re history. While those are common things creationists believe, people usually think of young-age creationists as opponents of evolution.  

At the most basic level, young-age creationists are distinguished by the simple belief that the book of Genesis contains an historical account of the creation of the universe.  To put it another way, when the Bible talks about Creation in six days, the Fall, the Flood and Noah’s Ark, and the Tower of Babel, young-age creationists think those events really happened.  Young age creationists are well known for their unconventional approaches to science.  Instead of accepting the conclusions of conventional Big Bang theory, young-age creationists insist that the entire universe is only 6000 years old.  Likewise, young-age creationists believe that much of the fossil record was formed during the great Flood of Noah’s day, and that all organisms do not share a common ancestor (as implied by evolutionary theory).  These conclusions fly in the face of most of conventional science, so why be so controversial?  Especially since many evangelical Christians don’t seem to have a problem accepting a very old earth/universe or even evolution? 

As a young-age creationist, I think the issue comes down to what I’m going to call “biblical authority.”  It’s not a very good term, because it makes certain implications that are not necessarily correct, but it’s a nice summary of the reason why I’m a young-age creationist.  I believe that the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, speaks truth no matter the subject.  That truthfulness of Scripture extends to the incidental historical details just as much as to the major doctrines.  That’s what I mean when I say “biblical authority.”  When I use the phrase, I don’t mean to imply that those Christians who disagree with my interpretation of the Bible reject the authority of God’s Word.  I recognize that other faithful Christians interpret the creation passages of the Bible differently, but I think they would still say that they believe in the power and authority of the Bible as God’s Word.  I also don’t want to imply that I automatically know with absolute certainty what the Bible teaches on any subject.  There are plenty of biblical passages, even in Genesis, that are just plain hard to understand, but there are plenty of other passages that are very clear.  And when the Bible is very clear, I think we should at least give it the benefit of the doubt.  So when I read Genesis 1-11, I want to take it seriously.  Some details I might not understand, but the basic story is pretty straightforward.  That basic story is also, as I said, at odds with much of modern science.  How do young-age creationists explain these scientific issues?  How can we be sure of what the Bible teaches about origins?  These are some of the subjects I will address in future installments in this series. 

I should note that some of my essays will be my personal stance, others will be what I judge to be the best young-age creationist position on a subject, and others will simply be summaries of positions held by the broad community of young-age creationists.  As we go along, I will try to make it clear where and why I differ from what we might consider “mainstream” young-age creationism.  I will also try to explain the position of the larger community.  I think this will be the best way of explaining young-age creationism without indulging in erroneous, though popular, arguments.

Dr. Todd Wood is the Executive Director of CORE at Bryan College.