young earth or old earth: the testimony of theology, part two

young earth or old earth?
young earth or old earth: do answers exist?
young earth or old earth: answers do exist
young earth or old earth revealed
young earth or old earth revealed, part two
young earth or old earth: the testimony of theology

Our question is Has God revealed the truth of the age of the earth?

We are examining the question from theology, first, then we will look at science (the two truth disciplines most closely connected to this question). We came to the conclusion that the Church’s opinion of the theology, at least, was that, Yes, God had revealed the age of the earth, and that it was young; this opinion was held for the entire history of the Church, up until modern times.

The old earth position in science, however, caused a new examination of the theology. Had the Church really been wrong in its reading of the Scriptures for all those centuries?

The first change proposed to the traditional theology was this: the narrative in Genesis cannot accommodate an old earth, as events take place sequentially from day one forward. The only place there is a natural break in the narrative is between Gen 1:1 and 1:2:

1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
[possible gap of time here to accomodate a long age of the earth …]
1:2: And the earth was without form and void …

This is the gap theory. We will examine its theology in detail in an upcoming post.

A later change proposed to the traditional theology is the day age theory: that each creation day recorded in Gen 1 is really a long age of time, which would make room for an old earth before man arrived on the scene. We will examine the theology of day age in detail.

The last change proposed to the traditional theology is, throw Gen 1 and 2 out; they are allegories anyway trying to teach a spiritual lesson, not a historic or scientific one. God created matter in the beginning and everything evolved from there, just as science says it did. This is theistic evolution theory, and we will examine its theology in detail as well.

If there are any other objections to the traditional understanding of the theology of Scriptures as teaching a young age of the earth, I am not aware of them. The Scriptures cannot accomodate any other theories, that I am aware of. Please correct me in the comments if I am wrong about that.

Continued in young earth or old earth: theistic evolution