Literal Days of Genesis

Among the three theistic views of origins, the belief that the six days of the Genesis creation account are literal and recent is the majority view in the United States. If the definition of creationism is accorded to other views, the percentage of believers in creation vaults upward substantially. For this discussion we include evolutionary creationism (theistic evolution) under “other views,” along with “old earth creationism.” Including these alternate definitions, the creationism statistics rise substantially. Many creationists strongly object to broadening of the definition of creationism. A reappraisal of who could be considered a creationist, however, may be worthwhile. This does not indicate agreement of positions among those who hold the creationist banner.

Of the three most well-known theistic origins views, young earth creationists hold an exclusive claim on belief in the literality of six 24-hour Genesis creation days. Theistic evolutionists and old earth creationists do not accept recent creation of the universe in six literal days. The YEC belief in literal 24-hour days is a fundamental tenet of nearly half of the creationists in the United States. We ended our 3/16/13 post entitled “Distressed by Old Age” with a commitment to give voice to listener comments sent to the John Ankerberg ministry resulting from the airing of programs featuring old earth scientists and theologians as well as comments on our science/faith blog. We reprint seven listener comments voicing their concerns:

I am disappointed to hear you talk about billions and millions of years. The Genesis account of creation is clear…..It troubles me that if you can’t trust God’s word for the creation account, how can you believe in anything else in the Bible?

But when Christian astronomers say the universe is billions of years old it just disappoints me. They are not taking the Book of Genesis literally. Clearly (God) took six days and rested on the Sabbath.

Did I hear you agree with Dr. Ross that the universe is billions of years old?…..I wondered if you believed that also goes against the Genesis 1 account?

Is the earth 13.7 billion years old or is it LITERALLY what it says in Genesis 1, the six days of creation. If we can’t take the Bible literally what good is it?

It is not a case of scientific and intellectual ability, but rather revelation. God says 6 days, who am I to argue?

You believe that adopting an old earth position makes it easier for skeptics to believe the Bible, but you are really undermining the credibility of scripture.

I find statements that the universe is millions of years old to be disturbing. Either the Genesis record is correct or the whole Bible can be called into question.

The John Ankerberg ministry welcomes the comments of listeners. We thank them for taking the time to voice their concerns.

http://jasscience.blogspot.com/2013/04/literal-days-of-genesis.html