OBST515_Discussion Board 1

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Liberty University *

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515

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Arts Humanities

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Explain the major arguments for a literal six-day creation. If you do not hold to a six-day creation, what are the major arguments for your viewpoint? What specific details or evidences most influence your understanding of the Genesis 1-2 text and your belief that the text should be read literally or figuratively? Explain your view on the age of the universe. What are the major arguments for your view? Explain what evidence shapes your view on the issue of the historicity of Adam and Eve. You should include scriptures from the Old Testament and New Testament. The article entitled “Young-Earth Creationist View Summarized & Defended” by Terry Mortenson delivers several arguments that promote a literal six-day creation. The first thing to understand is that the book of Genesis, which contains the story of creation, is set in the history genre of literature. Unlike other books of the Bible that are classified as poetic, gospel, or apocalyptic, Genesis is a historic account and has the same characteristics as the other historical books of Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua, just to name a few. However, of the list of evidence that points to a literal 6-day creation, two seem to stand out as the major arguments for such a conclusion, no death before the fall and the nature of God. As Mortenson states, “the evolutionary idea of millions of years is diametrically opposed to the Bible’s teaching about death.” 1 While evolution entails the existence of death, disease, and suffering, this does not align with what God says was “good.” And when he finished creating on the sixth day, God claimed it was “very good.” The Bible is clear that man, animals, and the birds were to eat the plants of the lands, therefore they were vegetarian. Since plants are not “living creatures” Mortenson explains, “plant ‘death’ is not the same as animal or human death.” 2 It wasn’t until Adam and Eve sinned that death, both spiritually and physically, was introduced to the Earth. Therefore, many of the things that evolutionists claim to have been found in fossils, millions of years old, would have to have been present in a world God considered “very good.” The second major argument for the six-day creation, which again centers on the ideas of death, disease, and suffering. To question the events outlined in Scripture is to question the omnipotence of God. As Mortenson states, “it is difficult to imagine how God could say ‘let there be light’ and then need to wait millions of years for the light to appear.” 3 The alternate theories argued, such as the gap, day-age view, and framework hypothesis, all depend on a God that is incapable of creating something worthy of being called ‘good.’ For me, one of the compelling pieces of evidences for the age of the earth being approximately 6000 years old is the use of the word yôm throughout the Old Testament with the understanding of a literal day. This is the word used from the time God spoke the heavens into existence (Ps. 33:6) and after each of the successive days in the creation order and is bookend with evening and morning, which signifies our understanding of a literal day. While this is 1 Terry Mortenson, “Young-Earth Creationist View Summarized & Defended,” Course Document, 3. 2 Ibid., 4. 3 Ibid.

evidence for the literal six-day creation, it also sets the expectation of length of days in earthly time. This justifies the young earth age verses millions of years. The other compelling evidence for the age of the earth, based off of the literal six-day creation is the genealogies found throughout Genesis. There are several bits of evidence that point to the historicity of Adam and Eve. However, the foundation of that evidence is based on the historical account of Genesis itself. It would be hard to imagine a history book filled with mystical characters to fill in the gaps. Therefore, the conversations with the serpent (3:1-4) and with God (3:1-11) actually took place. The Bible also traces the lineage from Adam to Noah (Gen. 5) and from Noah’s son Shem to Abram (11:10-26). This historical account of Adam and Eve also is evident with the New Testament writers that trace Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam (Lk 3:23-38).

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