I had a limited online “conversation” the other day on a blog discussing old earth/universe vs. young earth/universe viewpoints. It didn’t go as I would have expected. For background, I presently believe in an old earth/universe approach to creation, agreeing with the mainstream scientific community in affirming the age of the universe to be roughly 13.7 ± 0.13 billion years. As you might imagine, this creates some theological problems when reading Genesis 1-3, some of which I honestly haven’t worked out (but I’m working on it!). Most posters on the blog in question believe in a young earth/universe, roughly 6,000 years old, give or take. Many of these believe that scripture gives them no choice but to believe in six literal 24 hour days of creation. While this allows for maximum theological consistency, it does this at the expense of estrangement from the scientific community.

Now, if you think the purpose of this post is to criticize my young earth brethren for their position, you’d be mistaken… Continue reading →