Do You Accept 'Old Earth' and Evolution?

[Caleb]

I don't understand why science and the Christian faith have to be pitted against each other in an either or debate. I believe in a creator and I am fascinated by science, not threatened. The more we learn about how life as we know it came to be, the closer I feel to the source of creation or the creator. Personally, I subscribe to old earth theory. I believe the creation story as told in Genesis was not meant to be taken literally. Imagine trying to tell a child about a complex topic they are too young to understand. You are likely going to break it down into a language they can relate to and better understand. That's what I believe God is doing with the creation story in genesis.

[andrewgraham]

Old Earth and evolution are not the same view. You need to stop insisting that old earth and evolution are one and the same.

[dietwater]

I'm not trying to cause opposition, but I have a little story. I believed in the old Earth creation, and then one day, my English teacher told me otherwise. He asked the class, "When God created Adam and Eve, did He create them aged (as adults), or as babies?" God obviously created Adam and Eve as adults. He then asked us the same question regarding animals. He said that if God created the humans and animals aged, He would have created the Earth aged. He also said (now don't quote me on this. I didn't look into it much) that as time goes on, layers get piled up on Earth's surface, and on some of those layers, dino footprints can be found at the same layers as human footprints.

[bobbymichaels]

[8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20)

Hello. I am respectfully responding to those that uphold billions of years in creation. My question is, are the six days of work and one day of rest in the 4th commandment (above) literal days, or allegorical days? Both in Genesis 1-2, and Exodus 20, six days is mentioned. Is the creation mentioned in Genesis 1-2 in direct contradiction with Creation in the fourth commandment?
If God’s creative work in Genesis is an old earth model, and we are to imitate God, regarding the Sabbath, we must work for six billion years and rest on the seventh billion year? Silly right?
Or, If God worked six (literal) days and rested on the seventh, and commands his people to do the same, that would make sense, right? Or is the fourth commandment hyperbole, a metaphor, or figure of speech, allegorical?

Also,

Isaiah 45:18
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45 states two things about creation, that God formed the earth and that he did not create it empty, and that God formed it to be inhabited. Why would God take billions of years if he created it to be inhabited? Furthermore, and once again, it says he didn’t create the earth empty. When he says inhabited, surely he's talking about people, right? In light of the verse above, I don't think the old earth model really makes sense.

But the bigger picture is, do you understand God’s purposes for creating the universe, including our home, earth? If you did understand, then I believe you would appreciate why a young earth makes much more sense than an old earth. What are God’s purposes for all of creation? Sit and meditate on this question if you will. Maybe make a list of the his purposes for creating all things. Because this issue is the line drawn in the sand. We can talk about science and and biblical hermeneutics all day, but what are God's priorities for creating all thing?

[EASYTIGER]

I have no idea if God exists, he may well do. But regardless, the evidence for an Earth that is billions of years old is overwhelming.

[jollyrancher]

Bible chronology indicates that the human race is around 6, 000 years old, but it says nothing of the age of the earth. Genesis 1:1 suggests that the universe already existed before the six days of creation began. Also, the word for "day" in the Bible doesn't always mean a literal 24 hours. The Hebrew word "yohm", meaning day, can mean different lengths of time. William Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies says: "A day; it is frequently put for time in general, or for a long time; a whole period under consideration . . . Day is also put for a particular season or time when any extraordinary event happens.” I believe in an old earth but I do not believe in macro evolution.

[lebleu]

In my personal view the old and new testament rhyme, and just as the NT ends in metaphorical prophecy, so too does the OT begin in metaphorical creation. As for what genesis means in a metaphorical interpretation I don't think I know yet, but I do know this, God is real (science and reason), Christ is risen (historical fact), and the Bible is true (apostolic authority and Jewish history).

[jermaineknight]

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:11

[norswil]

If the bible said dinosaurs rode on skateboards and the oceans are made of pudding this guy would side with his Iron Age theology over simply looking at these things for mentioned and investigating them in their actual state. It never ceases to amaze me, the absolute dishonesty of theists to defend their scripture in light of an overwhelming, Everest sized mountain of evidence to the contrary.

[robbymacklin]

"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day." "and ALL that is in them" That is a powerful statement. Exodus 20:11

[estant]

Dr Piper, the problem with your proposal is that it does not explain why we as Homo sapiens sapiens have Neanderthal genes...

[sdubs]

No one asked but...
God created the chicken before the egg, in the same way that God created Adam as an adult, not as a fetus, an egg or a sperm. And yes, that means Adam (and Eve as well) did not have belly buttons. God created fully matured plants as well, not just the seeds and waiting for them to grow. Adam walked in the garden of eden with fully grown tree and plants, not a garden full of sprouts. And this also means that light rays coming from stars was fully travelled, which is why we can visibly see the stars that are millions of light years away--even though it takes millions of years for the light ray to travel to earth into our eyes, Adam still saw the stars because the light was already hitting the earth when God made the stars.

The more you know.

[JasonDeffenbaugh]

An example of the creation of Adam within a 24 hour time period is the vally of the dry bones in Jeremiah

[irishnich]

If God created everything that exist few thousand years ago, there was a time when he commenced to create. Back of that commencement there must have been an eternity. In that eternity what was this God doing? Was God inactive prior to creation? He certainly did not think. There was nothing to think about. He did not remember. Nothing had ever happened. What did he do? Can you imagine anything more absurd that an infinite intelligence in infinite nothing wasting an eternity?

[chipan]

I think he should read John Walton. The theory he described seems to be a mix between gap theory and John Walton's view which is that the creation spoken of in Genesis 1 is about a pointing functions in order to things that already exist which would include the first two verses. The view he takes is not that different so I think he and I mostly agree on what Genesis 1 says but mostly disagree on what Genesis 2 says since he seems to take that more literal. I think a good case can be made The Genesis 2 uses symbolic metaphors calling Adam dust of the earth simply to refer to him as mortal and Eve coming from Adam's side as a way to explain there are two halves who are made whole when they are made one flesh. though I do agree with him that Adam and Eve were historical I don't think Genesis 2 is talking about how they came to be in a material sense.

[IvanAgram]

So... yom = eon is not a valid theory? Evening morning have to be literally 24 hours (athough it's 12)... within that evening- morning period Adam had to name the animals (all of them), have a nap while Eve was created from his genetic material. To say that those are the only two viable explanations of Genesis 1&2 is a very narrow scholastic view.

[PlanetRockJesus]

The question was, "JOHN, do YOU accept old earth and evolution?" Piper responds, "Accept... (chuckles) meaning, are there people on our council of elders who hold to old Earth? Yes." How does Piper twist a question asking him HIS view to include the views of people on his council of elders? Piper is one confused man.

[sunsetpalms]

I couldn't believe the stat that 40% of Americans think the earth is less than 10, 000 years old.
Then I watched this video and read the comments.
I believe it now and I must say it is truly sad.

[edbaird]

I am not the first want to say this. So in someways, it is rhetoric. But we except that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days. We do not question three days. We do not believe that it was 300 billion years. Stop bending the knee to atheist. They will not love you. Six days. Sunrise, sunset. Why does it matter so much? Because it is everything to them. Atheist whole religion is built upon billions and millions of years. And they become extremely curious if you mess with their holy mother, Mary, millions and billions. Do not worship the mother Mary of atheists. Boy that sounded weird. But it’s true.

[tyb.]

Just curious how you would explain one thing then. This is open to anyone! If the sun and the moon and the stars weren't made the "first day" then how can we expect God to stand by a 24 hour literal day if there was no actual concept of this yet? We also know that God exists everywhere, so how can we be ignorant and say that He only exists on earth because earth is the ONLY planet that observes 24 hour days. Not arguing, just interesting.