Why Christians Should Not Divide over the Age of the Earth
Theodore J. Cabal
Peter J. Rasor II
Controversy of the Ages: Why Christians Should Not Divide Over the Age of the Earth
© 2017 by Theodore J. Cabal and Peter J. Rasor II
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
First edition by Weaver Book Company
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Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Print ISBN 9781683591368
Digital ISBN 9781683591375
Cover: LUCAS Art and Design
1. Science and Theology at War
2. The Copernican Conflict: How to Go to Heaven or How the Heavens Go?
3. Darwinism: A New Kind of Controversy Altogether
4. American Evangelical Responses to Darwinism: Setting the Stage
5. Flood, Fossils, and Strata: Geology and the Age of the Earth
6. Young Earth Creationism: Responding to Geology
7. Do Young Earth Creationists Practice Evolutionary Science?
8. Biblical Inerrancy and the Age of the Earth: Three Evangelical Approaches
9. Theological Triage: Drawing Doctrinal Boundaries
I was no longer an evolutionist after my conversion to Christ. Believing in Christ and in the Bible came as a package deal to me in 1973, and Genesis seemed clearly to teach that humans did not evolve from lower life forms. Yet I cannot remember being concerned about the age of the earth. Anti-evolution old earth creationism (OEC) still dominated conservative evangelical and fundamentalist circles in those days.
But the young earth creationist (YEC) revolution soon ruled the scene, and I was swept into the movement. Books by Henry M. Morris and others from the Institute for Creation Research became my standard fare for science-theology issues. I not only taught their material as a pastor, I even wrote a pamphlet espousing their ideas.
Sometime in the early 1980s I became troubled by a trend in the movement. Much of its material seemed as much anti-old earth as it was anti-evolution. Though I had become a young earth creationist, the broadsides against OECs concerned me. Why were the unspoken motives of these fellow anti-evolutionists impugned? I also doubted sweeping but unsubstantiated claims that the loss of so much good in Western culture could be attributed to OEC. I began to wonder whether their scientific claims might suffer from similar rashness.
Though YEC leadership eventually shifted to Answers in Genesis, the trend intensified. I remained an anti-evolutionist (and still am), but eventually drifted back to non-dogmatic OEC. I became concerned that the age of the earth was the wrong place to draw boundaries ...
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About Controversy of the Ages: Why Christians Should Not Divide over the Age of the EarthFew topics have generated as much heat amongst evangelicals as the age of the earth and the doctrine of creation. Three camps have emerged to offer solutions: young-earth creationists (Answers in Genesis), old-earth creationists (Reasons to Believe), and evolutionary creationists (BioLogos). Controversy of the Ages carefully analyzes the debate by giving it perspective. Rather than offering arguments for or against a particular viewpoint on the age of the earth, the authors take a step back to put the debate in historical and theological context. The authors of this book demonstrate from the history of theology and science controversy that believers are entitled to differ over this issue, while still taking a stand against theistic evolution. But by carefully and constructively breaking down the controversy bit by bit, they show why the age issue is the wrong place to draw a line in the sand. Readers will find the content stimulating, the tone charitable, and the documentation impressive. The goal of this book is to bring unity and charity to a complicated and contentious debate. |
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