Scientific arguments for a young earth/solar system by Stephen White
February 11, 2022
This year (2022) we plan to address the elephant in the room.
In past meetings, the discussions have often been diverted when someone expresses an opinion regarding Young Earth Creationism (YEC) or Old Earth Creationism (OEC). As the minister responsible for herding cats, it has been my job to move the discussion back onto the original topic. But this is an important issue that won’t go away by pushing it under the carpet, so this year we are going to give it a fair bit of attention.
All Christians are creationists of some sort but disagree on how or when. Roughly, opinions fall within the following groups:
- Young Earth Creationists (YECs) believe that the 6 days in Genesis 1 should be interpreted as 6 literal 24-hour days. Hence the age of the earth (and usually the rest of the universe) is just a few thousand years. This view is argued by Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis (AIG).
- Old Earth Creationists (OECs) and mainstream science claim that the earth is ‘approximately’ 4.543 billion years, and the universe is 13.77 billion years. Some OECs believe that God intervened miraculously in the development of life, whereas theistic evolutionists believe that evolution proceeded mainly through natural causes.
The time frames between the YEC and OEC positions differ by approximately a million to one, so at least one opinion is diabolically wrong.
So, this year people can express and argue their opinions (on both science and Biblical interpretation) and will hopefully listen to others in a respectful and empathetic way.
On 10 February 2022, Steve White presented a
scientific case for a young earth, followed by discussion and questions from the audience. A recording of the meeting is at
