This third post in my latest series will introduce the concept of Old-Earth, or Progressive, Creation viewpoint. As a reminder, this series came about after I read the 2017 book 4 Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design) in which four main views on this topic were discussed (Young-Earth Creation, Old-Earth Creation, Evolutionary Creation, and Intelligent Design).

The Old-Earth Creation viewpoint, described in the above referenced book by Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe (RTB), is largely the viewpoint that I personally share. My insight and thoughts on this topic have evolved (interesting term to be used here!) over the course of my life and I have developed my own ways of looking at and describing things, but I have followed the work of RTB for at least 40 years and it has had large influence on my thinking. In this post, though, rather than articulate my own thoughts, I’m just going to highlight the points the Dr. Ross makes in the 2017 book listed above and save my own commentary until a later post.

The foundational principals of the Old-Earth Creation view is that God has revealed Himself and His work in two books – the book of Scripture and the book of Nature. This is called Dual Revelation. Based on Romans 1:20, which says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” The testimony of nature and the Bible should not be in conflict since they both reveal the same person (God). If any discrepancy is found then the error lies in the interpretation, not in the testimony itself. Both scripture and nature have to be interpreted to gain discover their intent and meaning.

The RTB model agrees with science conclusions that the earth and universe are old (4.6 billion and 14.6 billion years, respectively). They argue that science does NOT validate the concept of a global flood, but rather suggest a local, Mesopotamian flood that was universal to the extent of human habitation.

They do not support the idea that all life has evolved from a common ancestor. Rather, they propose that God actively created new life forms throughout Earth history until the creation of humans. This matches the Genesis record of the various appearances of life. They also propose that evolutionary changes are possible within species, but that no new life or species have appeared since the advent of humans.

A key reading of Genesis from this viewpoint is that the first two verses include the creation of all the universe and the earth: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” In the third verse, when God says “let there be light”, the earth is already in existence and God’s Spirit is “hovering”, preparing to introduce life to the planet. The appearance of light is in reference to the fact that the Sun’s light first penetrated through the dense atmosphere to reach the Earth’s surface when verse three occurred.

RTB argues, in conjunction with the fossil record, that living things have indeed come and gone over the long record of Earth fossil history. Animal death was not a result of the curse on Adam and Eve in the Garden, but that curse of death was specifically directed at humans.

There are other details in this viewpoint but I’m not going to discuss them now. I might in my later post when I explain (at the conclusion of this series) where I personally stand on all of these arguments.

Next time I’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of the RTB Old-Earth Creation model.