SITEMAP for ORIGINS    Theology of Creation, Scientific Evidence, and Education

 
Education about Age of the Earth

Here is a summary of young-earth education and old-earth education by Christians:

• The General Context:  Almost all scientists think there is overwhelming scientific evidence, from a wide range of fields, proving (beyond any reasonable doubt) that the earth and universe are very old.  This view is taught in all public schools (K-12 through college) and many Christian schools, and in popular media: in science documentaries and in other ways.

• CHRISTIAN YOUNG-EARTH EDUCATION:  This general "old earth" view is challenged by Christians who think Genesis 1 teaches a "young earth" view, with everything being created in six days, 6000 years ago.  They have launched an aggressive educational campaign, mainly since 1961, to promote their view.

• CHRISTIAN OLD-EARTH EDUCATION:  The success of young-earth promotion has motivated educational responses by others in the Christian community, especially scientists who understand the strong evidence for an old earth, and who think the young-earth claim — that "if the Bible is true, the earth is young" (which means "if the earth is not young, the Bible is not true") — is not justified, and is not wise.

This page describes educational actions by Christians who propose young-earth and old-earth views.
 

 
        Christian Young-Earth Education

        We'll focus on two major organizations promoting young-earth creationism:  Institute for Creation Research (ICR) founded by Henry Morris, and Answers in Genesis (AiG) led by Ken Ham.  Within the Christian community, a major part of their appeal is simplicity.  They acknowledge only two basic models, creation (based on believing the Bible) and evolution (dedicated to opposing the Bible);  creation is only young-earth creation, and evolution includes all old-earth views.  The heroes and villains are clearly defined, and they demand a simple choice: Do you want to be with God, or against Him?
        For example, Henry Morris — who revived young-earth flood geology with his 1961 book, The Genesis Flood — vigorously opposes all old-earth views.  In The Compromise Road (1988) he said, "The basic conflict of the ages is between the two world views of evolutionism versus creationism.  In its most explicit form, this conflict comes down to Biblical revelatory creationism versus evolutionary humanism. ...  The road of compromise [when a Christian proposes any old-earth view of creation], however attractive it seems, is a one-way street, ending in a precipice and then the awful void of ‘rational religion,’ or atheism."
        This strong belief has motivated a strong program of educational (and political) activities.
        In 1981, the Institute for Creation Research describes their wide-ranging activities in The Battle for Creation.  Later, in 1995, ICR, for Such a Time as This is an 11-part series about the 25-year history and continuing mission of ICR, written by Henry Morris and his son, John Morris, who is now leading ICR.
        At the beginning of 2004, Ken Ham — speaking for Answers in Genesis and disturbed by "the continuing loss of Christian morality and the Christian worldview in this culture" and believing that "a major contributing factor to this terrible slide lies with churches and church leaders who have been misled into major compromise" — announces that "we [in AiG] are inaugurating ‘Operation: Refuting Compromise’ as a major thrust for 2004 to combat this sad situation. ... We must move ahead as soldiers in a battle,... to defend the Christian faith and uphold the Word of God! ...  Join us as we confront the culture — and a compromising church — with the truths of God's Word beginning in Genesis."  (5 k)

        Education in young-earth belief begins early.  Stacia McKeever and Mike Riddle, writing for AiG, describe strategies for Teaching Young Children the Creation-Gospel Message and Reaching the Next Generation with the goal of "reaching as many young people as possible with biblical truths."
        In 2002, Passing the Torch of Creation was an event in Southern California, with young-earth creationists from the older generation — Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapels), Tim LaHaye (co-author of the "Left Behind" series), Duane Gish (expert debater for ICR), and Henry Morris (founder of ICR) — "sharing their lifetime experiences and passing on spiritual and tactical wisdom for the twenty-first century" with the goal of "preparing and exhorting future generations to proclaim the truth of creation and stand firm on God's Holy Word."

IOU — The rest of this page is in rough shape, but it (or at least the first part of it) will be revised tomorrow, by the end of July 4, 2008.

HOMESCHOOLING
• textbooks and other materials, HOME SCHOOL:  YECs got in early, became firmly entrenched with a monopoly, so all of the commonly used science books are all young earth, and speakers at conferences are all young earth.

& conferences w Ham (not Newman & Ross)
• young-earth creationists (Ken Ham,...) are usually invited to be featured speakers at conferences, while prominent old-earth creationists (Hugh Ross, Robert Newman,...) have been denied permission to host booths at homeschool conferences
for example, Ken Ham at a home school conference (2008)

• John Holzmann, from Sonlight Curriculum, asks:  Young- and Old-Earth Creationists: Can We Even Talk Together?  (60 k + 5k)
• it brought an attack-response from Answers in Genesis:  introduction (xx k) & leading homeschool supplier misleads about biblical creationist exegesis by Jonathan Sarfati (104 k, with 49 k copied from Holzmann + 55 k of responses)

CHURCHES (with Back to Genesis conferences, etc) -- traditional base in America

MISSIONARIES -- new bases, outside America
ICR Ministry Strategy (JM 1999, re: missionary work, international expansion)
Creation Evangelism (JM 2006)

RADIO
ICR's Back to Genesis (ICR) is on 600 radio stations (English plus Spanish)
Ham on 100 radio stations

MUSEUMS
Museums are fun for children of any age, and ICR has a free ----
On a grander scale (and costing $14 million) AiG's ----
Museum of Creation and Earth History (ICR)
AIG's Creation Museum - with 400,000 visitors in its first year

Gary Parker's conversion from Evolution to Creation
Testimonies from Creation Evangelism by Henry Morris (1994 & 1995)
Creation Evangelism Works Ken Ham (1991) - ICR 1991)

anti-ROSS (maybe use this later, in Ross-section)
• Refuting Compromise is "a biblical and scientific refutation of ‘progressive creationism’ (billions of years) as popularized by astronomer Hugh Ross" written by Jonathan Sarfati, this article (40 k) describes the book, and appendix (12 k) comments on "10 Similarities & Differences" by Hugh Ross, who compares young-earth and old-earth creationism.

from websites of AIG & ICR, self-descriptions of their vigorous (and effective) activities to promote their young-earth views

Creation-Views & Actions of ASA about Evolution, Design, and Age
two questions (AGE & DESIGN)

@ LINKING (in agescience2)
@ Historical Science, etc (twobooks2)
@ Scientific Evidence (agescience2)
@ Methods of Creation (re: evolution & age) -- questions about evolution
science-religion for understanding & faith

a motivation:  The Danger (for faith and evangelism and more) of Linking a Young Earth with The Gospel of Jesus, in a package deal where you "take both or neither" and "either both are true or both are false" as in the typical young-earth claims (this statement will be modified, re: distinction between salvation [yec not necessary] and proper doctrine [yec is necessary])

Henry Morris - Is creationism important in education? (1988) boldly proclaims that "If God’s Word cannot be trusted and understood in Genesis, then why should we bother with it anywhere else?  All of Scripture stands or falls upon the reliability of its foundational chapters."

Morris declares that: "if the Bible is true, the earth is young," which means "if the earth is not young, the Bible is not true" and this can have tragic spiritual consequences, or it can force Christians to have a very distorted view of science and the relationships between science and Christianity (@ LINKING in agetheology2.htm for details)

young-earth education is mis-education if (as seems probable) what they are teaching isn't true, and they are promoting a view of the world that is not true because it does not correspond with reality, it doesn't match what actually happened in the history of nature

zb, above yecs proclaim their plans for world evangelism of their young-earth message (not just jesus, but linked to a young earth) and response from Joshua Zorn

    • When a Christian who thinks "believing the Bible requires belief in a young earth" examines the scientific evidence and concludes "the earth is old" and also that "if the Bible is wrong about the earth's age, maybe it's also wrong about the rest," faith can be weakened or abandoned, as you can see in Personal Experiences of Former Young-Earth Creationists (17 k)

    • I want to find other experiences of former-YECs, and also current-YECs with their personal stories.

    an old-earth perspective, from Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (the journal of ASA) and the Affiliation of Christian Geologists, and others.

    • What Do You Do? — Darryl Maddox describes a gracious attitude and productive responses for a variety of situations involving a presentation, to Christians, of questionable science.  (11 k) PSCF

    • A Missionary Evaluation of the Creation-Science Controversy — Al Hammond describes why an approach that "has been bringing fruitful response on distant mission fields... must also be expressed to the men and women of our worldwide science communities."  He suggests using the principles of intercultural missiologists who try to "bring the culturally transcendent gospel message into the cultural context of the target community" when we're trying to evangelize the community of scientists (in America or elsewhere), analogous to what we do in reaching non-western cultures that are the usual focus of intercultural missions work.  (10 k) PSCF   {editor's note:  A similar approach can be useful in communicating with Christians who have been taught that "if the earth is not young, the Bible is not true."}

    • Fanciful Bible-Science Stories' Harm: A Call to Action — Dan Wonderly is concerned because "the conservative evangelical community is being taught that the proper Christian stance is to reject practically all research data which are derived from the work of earth scientists, paleontologists, astronomers, and physicists" and he suggests that a gracious "dissemination of scientific information to the conservative evangelical ministers, youth leaders, and teachers of our nation can have a strong impact if we seek God's help in the effort."  (10 K + 2k) PSCF
    • In a two-article series, David Siemens criticizes YEC science: == and ==
    • Gordon Brown agrees with Siemens, but suggests Starting With More Basic Misconceptions.  (2 k) PSCF
    • Fred Phelps also agrees, and he describes the need, in the mission field, for useful educational materials about young-earth science;  he thinks ASA should produce a pamphlet that is anti-YECS but pro-Christian.  (1 k) PSCF

    • The Testimony of a Formerly Young Earth Missionary by Joshua Zorn  (== k) PSCF
    • The Transformation of a Young-Earth Creationist by Glenn Morton  (8.5 k) PSCF

plus cite other links-pages with many resource-pages ABOUT young-earth views, that don't propose additional "action" in educating people about these views:
    • a YEC-relevant series of articles by Carol Hill, in the early 2000s, about various aspects of Genesis:  Adam & Eve, long lifetimes, the flood.
    • and the "Literal Mistake" of YECs, by Dick Fischer.

    • Bible-Based Theology for young-earth Christians by Craig Rusbult.

also, secular "informal education" assumes the conventional old-earth consensus of science that is adopted by almost all scientists

from the Affiliation of Christian Geologists:

    • Geologists in the Pulpit: Raising the Scientific Literacy of your Chruch by Stephen Moshier
    • The Christian Public and Geology by Davis Young  (he also has The Great Evangelistic Task and Geology and Faith in Contact that may be cited)
    • Biblical Exegesis and Science by John Suppe  (probably this will be in the "two books of God" section)
    • The "geologist" links above are from two years ago, so I'll soon look at these again to decide what to include

Darrick Dean (old-age website)

Creation and Time by Hugh Ross (excerpt — cover, contents, pages 8-11)

This page, written by Craig Rusbult (editor of the website for Whole-Person Education), is
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/PAGETITLE.htm
and was revised July 3, 2008