In my previous Creation and Science blog post I laid out some of the primary viewpoints or arguments that proponents of the Young Earth Creation (YEC) view articulate. In summary, they place the age of the earth at only 6,000 to 10,000 years, explain most of the geologic record with events tied to Noah’s flood, and claim that these arguments represent the clearest and plainest reading of the Bible.

For this post, I’d like to offer my own thoughts (and some shared in the 2017 book 4 Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design) on the Pros and Cons of this particular viewpoint.

PROS

First, I want to commend the YEC proponents for their strong beliefs that they are sticking tightly to God’s Word and are strongly defending it. While I don’t happen to agree with many of their assertions about science and such, I do appreciate the high standards they hold in upholding Scripture.

Second, they strongly assert that their work in trying to tie Scripture and science together enables them to use scripture as an evangelistic tool in the context of science discussions.

CONS

Since I don’t really agree with most of their assertions, it’s easier for me to identify “cons” with their views that it is to identify “pros”.

First, they make the assumption that their particular interpretation of the intent and meaning of Genesis 1 is the only correct one. As we’ll see in future posts on this topic, there are multiple ways of reading and understanding the creation account in Genesis 1 (and other places in Scripture) that don’t necessarily force a recent age onto the Earth and a re-interpretation of mainline scientific endeavors.

Second, they treat Noah’s flood account (Genesis 6-9) the same way – that there are no other possible interpretations than the one they adhere to. They use the flood to force a geological and biological interpretation into a single flood-based event, which severely goes against all mainline science conclusions. They say that virtually all fossils represent creatures killed in the flood. Nearly all sedimentary layers on the earth are flood-deposited. Nearly all tectonic activity (mountain-building, volcanoes, plate movement, etc.) were instituted by and occurred during the flood. They also claim that all diversity of life that we see today came from a limited number of animals which were on the ark and that rapidly evolved to represent the variety of species seen today. They also claim that there was no animal death prior to the Adam and Eve’s initial sin described in Genesis 3.

Third, they dismiss any other viewpoint as being nearly heretical and in opposition to a high view of scripture. Many YEC proponents are willing to go so far as to say that “if you don’t agree with my position, you don’t believe the Bible.”

I know this blog is short, but it is not my intention to explore any of these ideas in great length here, but to encourage the reader to understand the similarities and differences of the various viewpoints. At the conclusion of this series I’ll lay out what I believe regarding science and scripture, acknowledging that my views are open for discussion and further examination as I learn more.

Next time I’ll lay out the basic positions of the Old Earth Creation viewpoint.