The Young Earth Creationism Theory is an archaic believe that the earth is much younger than modern scientists believe. Young Earthers see the Earth as approximately 6000 years old. They measure the age of the Earth by taking the first five days of creation to the sixth day when God created Adam and then following the genealogies to Abraham in Genesis 5 and 11, then adding in the time from Abraham to today. Since it is no where specifically stated in the Bible as to how old the Earth is, the young earthers use this calculation to assert they know the age of the earth and the universe by and large.
The problem with young earth theory is that it is no more true than flat earth theory, or a geocentric universe. Modern scientific learning has placed mankind in a place of comfortably knowing certain concrete realities about our world, one of which is that the earth is very old, in fact, around 4.5 billion years old.
To help students remember the dates involved in the debate between the young earthers and the scientific community I created the 4-5-6 rule. Simply put, the earth is 4.5 billion years old, not 6 thousand. The fact that the earth is much older than 6000 years is by no way in conflict with the Bible or Christianity. Again, nowhere in the bible does it state the actual age of the earth. Many modern Christians are perfectly comfortable with facts such as 1) The earth is not the center of the universe, 2) Although technically not perfectly spherical, the earth is not flat, and 3) the earth is much older than 6000 years of age.
Christian Theories regarding the age of the earth.
- Young Earth Theory - the belief in a supernatural, geologically recent creation.
- Gap Creation Theory - promoted by the popular The Scofield Bible.
- Progressive Creation Theory - a rational belief demonstrating how God created living creatures over millions of years.
- Evolution Creation Theory - a highly controversial theory attempting to incorporate biological evolution with creationism.
And finally, a compromise of Natural Selection Creation Theory which is a rational belief that God created all forms of life either directly or indirectly as part of the exact blueprint he devised. Consider how mankind took the wolf thousands of years ago and through selective breeding presented the modern world with all of the countless breeds of dogs we have today. This is all part of the master blueprint created by God the same way a computer programmer creates software that can grow and adapt to new conditions in a predictable and predetermined way.