The Narrow Path Ministries

Most of the evangelical creationist materials are from the perspective of Young Earth Creationists, and most of the "dionsaur" documentaries etc. are from a secular evolutionist perspective. As an Old Earth Creationist, I find it hard to answer some of the questions about the dinosaurs and creation timelines, etc., especially when their teachers are coming from a YEC perspective. Any decent pointers/books for children from an OEC perspective?

I am from the same camp. Young Earthers I have talked with all seem to agree the solar system is about 6000 years old. I think it is more likely we just don't have any written info prior to Genesis to go by, and we don't fully understand that.

I think Hubble has proven that the solar system is around 10 billion years old. If we can get it to see another few billion light years, we could very well see the beginning.

Will God let us is the more reasonable question to ponder, than if we slithered out of ocean, grew arms and started building McDonald's drive ins.

Do you subscribe to theistic evolution, the gap theory, or the day age theory? Or are you agnostic about the whole matter? Are you old earth but anti-darwinian-evolution? Or are you old-earth and pro-darwinian-evolution?

I would think that the answer to those questions, coupled with the ages of your children and your general approach to teaching children, would play a big part in deciding how to answer such questions. But it seems to me that, no matter what your particular view is, there's no drastic need to get more detailed with children than 'God is the Creator of all'. If they're old enough and smart enough to think of specific follow up questions, they're probably old enough to hear that there are different perspectives and have them explained in basic ways.

MMathis wrote:I am from the same camp. Young Earthers I have talked with all seem to agree the solar system is about 6000 years old. I think it is more likely we just don't have any written info prior to Genesis to go by, and we don't fully understand that.

I think Hubble has proven that the solar system is around 10 billion years old. If we can get it to see another few billion light years, we could very well see the beginning.

Will God let us is the more reasonable question to ponder, than if we slithered out of ocean, grew arms and started building McDonald's drive ins.

1. There are actually lots of Young Earth Creationists who believe that space (beyond earth) is much older than the earth (since gravity affects time). In other words, many YEC's believe the universe is millions of years old while the earth is only thousands even though they were created at the same instant because time is relative.

2. What 'written info' prior to an account of creation itself would you be hoping to find?

Essentially day age. I do agree less is more but there are real practical questions as the learn about fossils and dinosaurs and whether men could have survived the Dinos etc.


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There are actually lots of Young Earth Creationists who believe that space (beyond earth) is much older than the earth (since gravity affects time). In other words, many YEC's believe the universe is millions of years old while the earth is only thousands even though they were created at the same instant because time is relative.

I am a Young Earth Creationist who believes that time is absolute but that the speed of light is relative, that Einstein's relativity theory is not about time, but about the behaviur of light.

mattrose wrote:
1. There are actually lots of Young Earth Creationists who believe that space (beyond earth) is much older than the earth (since gravity affects time). In other words, many YEC's believe the universe is millions of years old while the earth is only thousands even though they were created at the same instant because time is relative.

2. What 'written info' prior to an account of creation itself would you be hoping to find?

Most of the 6,000 year idea is based on a theory involving our sun and the rate at which it burns energy, So, I'm not sure what you mean by beyond earth. Maybe beyond our solar system or our galaxy?

Anyway, I believe the universe began at the Big Bang, billions of years ago. Who caused it, not if it happened is the question. I believe it was created by God. Man may only be 4-6 thousand years old. That's what I mean when I say we may just not understand Genesis.

I'm not looking, nor do I expect that there is any info prior to Genesis. God will probably fill us in when he's ready.

Anyway, I believe the universe began at the Big Bang, billions of years ago.

WHY do you believe that? Simply because you were taught it at school? Any evidence for it? The exanding universe you say? Any evidence for THAT? The shift in the red spectrum?
But that can be explained by space dust.

I note that Hugh Ross has a pretty good timeline of Old Earth development/creation. But, it puts dinosaurs in one bullet and man in another with no greater detail as to extinction, overlap, etc. So, I wonder if he believes man and dinos lived at the same time or separated by a period of extinction.

Paidion wrote:

Anyway, I believe the universe began at the Big Bang, billions of years ago.

WHY do you believe that? Simply because you were taught it at school? Any evidence for it? The exanding universe you say? Any evidence for THAT? The shift in the red spectrum?
But that can be explained by space dust.

The idea that the Big Bang and Creation happened in less than a second from nothing seems very compatible. I don't want to type a textbook on an IPad. If God lets it go that far, science will end up proving creation is exactly what happened.