I think you missed the point of the “appearance of age” theory...was Adam created old or did he have the appearance of being old? If we were there and looked at Adam would he have the appearance of a man or a boy or an infant? So if saying Adam having the appearance of age does conflict with the rest of scripture neither does saying the earth has the appearance of age.
Since God is eternal and exists in all time, it would seem quite natural for Him to use the tool of time to create. In other words, it is not that He creates with the "appearance of age" as much as it is that He stretches out time as far back as he needs to facilitate His creative activity and then acts in that time to create all aspects of His universe and our world. If science says that this is about 13.7 billion years, the Christian should accept this and have nothing but praise for a Creator-God that is that powerful! Because He is omnipresent in all space and time, as believers, we can see that He uses His presence in the 4.7 billion years of our earth history to conduct His creative acts, (even if the Creation event itself was a relatively short time ago.) It is not an "appearance of age", it is "real age"! When we worship a God who is is the author of all space an time, and exists in all space and time, and can act in all space and time, Christians should have no difficulty accepting the overwhelming evidence for the existence of life on this earth for billions of years. As our guest points out, the creation event could have happened moments ago! Creation week, with literal days, could have been as recent as last week! When the Creator has the ability to stretch out time and space and then design, create, and cast seeds of life at any point along the continuum, fossils of ancient life can be understood as having lived and died millions of years ago, even though the actual creation event was recent. Calling it an "apparent age" just make the Christian seem out of touch with reality. The age is very real. Our Creator apparently used the tool of time to do His work. Understanding the creation event in this way makes the debate between young earth/old earth - recent creation/ancient creation, rather moot.
I do agree with this argument. However I don't think it is a bad thing to say the universe was created with an age. God seemed to have given an age to everything. The stars, sun and Moon, plants, animals, Man and Woman. It makes sense. I don't think it makes him a liar, more of a master of craft.
I agree with what's said in this video. You did a great job with this presentation in this video. You handled the topic well. I still think this would not convince a YEC from the American south, though. Those are the kind of YECs we need to reach. We need to reach the YECs that live in the American south and I think the only way to do that is with a little bit of tough love. Being gentle and kind is going to get you nowhere with YECs from the American south. You need to fight fire with fire. Great video, keep up the good work. God bless.
batmanfanforever08 they are truly brilliant gentlemen. I understand your aggravation with YEC, we live in Ken Hamville, and it’s all over the place, here.
I pray for the day when AiG goes bankrupt. I never thought about calling it that that's kind of funny. I want to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter turned into homeless shelters. You know, the irony is they would actually do more to spread the gospel message as homeless shelters than as creation science areas. That's what I want to see happen. How about you? What do you want to see happen? Let's continue to pray for the vanquishment of false teachings from the church and our hearts. Amen!! Have a nice day. God bless!!
batmanfanforever08 my issue with YEC is the same as my issue with Darwinian evolution (I was once a very well read evolutionist): their science is horrible. If I had to choose between those two, I’d rather be a theistic evolutionist. The YEC folks are very combative and intolerant of any other view. I think Ken SHam has a multi million dollar empire to protect, and where there is selfish ambition there is every evil work. Fazale Rana, Hugh Ross, Ken Samples are all examples of kind, patient and brilliant gentlemen. When I feel the urge to mercilessly dispatch the arguments of YEC, I remember their example. I honestly do not know how Hugh Ross can debate Kent Hovind, Malcolm Bowden or Jason Lisle and keep his gracious composure. I think it’s because he knows the data is on his side. God bless those people! I’d rather watch these guys debate the atheists - they are better informed. Fun fact: whenever I want a new book to read, I look to AiG for my reading list. Whomever they are tearing down - I assume they’ll be an excellent read. I wasn’t even aware of John Lennox book against YEC (Seven Days that Divide the World) dogma until Ken SHam took Ravi Zacharias to task for endorsing it. Immediately, it went in my Amazon cart, lol!!
That's a good way of looking at it. I like that way of looking at it. Can I let you in on a little secret? I use to be a YEC myself, when I was younger and naïve. Then I went to college had a crisis of faith and long story short RTB saved me from becoming an atheist. I am quite serious, this ministry is the reason I'm still a Christian. I did later on find other OEC ministries, but none of them are as good as this one. Part of my frustration with YEC actually stems from personal regret, because after I converted to OEC my faith actually got stronger. I now see the world as even more beautiful and reflecting a lot more handiwork of God in nature. So how does that make you feel? I don't tell very many people this, but it's worth knowing. What do you think?
batmanfanforever08 my story very similar. When I believed part of being a good Christian was adhering to a YEC model, I was bummed, because I knew the earth was really 4.5 billion years old from my training in the sciences. This notion undermined my faith in the Bible and was embarrassing to me. On June 17, 2017, 2:00 pm, I discovered Hugh Ross and my life changed. His OEC position glorifies God and my reverence for God and Scripture has been greatly magnified. When I watched Journey to Creation, I trembled at the majesty of God Almighty, and now feel I can hold my head high as science-loving Christian nerd. I so love the argument that Gods book of nature and His special revelation in scripture are in perfect harmony. I am amazed at how the YEC community is teaching its adherents to not believe ANYTHING you read in science. I think that degree of distrust is unhealthy. I believe the bulk of scientific findings are indeed legit! The RTB folks are so gracious, and Christ-like. They are excellent ambassadors of Christ. Thank you for sharing your story; I’m sure we’ll chat more as our RTB friends post more wonders of creation! Have you considered opening an RTB chapter in your area? God bless you, bro,
Great video! How can we distinguish between an appearance of something and the reality of that something, and how do we get from one to the other logically? Can the same logic that is used to demonstrate that an appearance of design indicates the reality of design be used to demonstrate that an appearance of age indicates the reality of age?
When was the term, "dinosauria" created? When was the first dinosaur bone found? When was the first skeleton re-created to completion based on 4 teeth? Do the rsearch. What bones have the ancients preserved? The earth is probably old, age old, as the Bible puts it. The rest is spin. You guys really have to get up to speed. Hugh said it himself, "Non-salvation issue". So, non-salvation issue---non Gospel issue.
