Many committed Christians hold views 1, 3, and 4.  Finding anyone who holds view 2 — Young-Earth Creationism from a purely philosophical standpoint, without any twisting of science — is a tall order.  A large segment of Christians hold view 1, without even realizing they're defending Young-Earth Creationism with bad science, because they were indoctrinated into believing it from childhood, and they've defended it for as long as they can remember. 
 
A growing number of Christians adhere to view 4.  They take a non-literal perspective of Genesis 1-11.  This requires a person to reinterpret a narrative that appears to be a literal, historical, biographical record, and turn it into something more symbolic or allegorical.  This is not easy to do, but many of today's Christians feel somewhat forced into this position — because a literal or semi-literal reading of the text is essentially NOT reconcilable with modern science, at least not at the present moment.  If a person can say that Genesis 1-11 is not meant to be read literally or historically, then he or she can follow science wherever it leads and completely ignore what would otherwise be perceived as a diametrically opposing view in the Genesis record.  Some consider this view intellectually dishonest because there are many indications in the text, including genealogies, which point to an intended meaning that is literal and historical. These individuals reject a non-literal (allegorical) interpretation, leaving only one other possibility for a person who intends to "keep the faith."
 
The final alternative — view 3 — can be summed up as essentially committing to potentially-life-long cognitive dissonance.  That is, holding two seemingly opposing beliefs at the same time.  When you commit to a literal or at least semi-literal interpretation of Genesis 1-11, and you also commit to absolute intellectual honesty in your study of science, then you can expect to spend as long as the rest of your life struggling between the two.  This will inevitably involve periods of confusion, serious questions and even doubts about the Christian faith and the Word upon which our faith is based. 
 
Among those who seek to honestly contend with modern science, while interpreting Genesis chapters 1-11 as being literal or semi-literal, some have made the decision to go one way or the other — toward Theistic Evolution or Old-Earth Creationism.  Others are still carefully considering the evidence and withholding judgment until the case for either view becomes more clear and compelling.
 
Among Old-Earth Creationists (OECs), the vast majority adhere, albeit loosely, to the teachings of Hugh Ross and the ministry of Reasons to Believe (RTB).  While neither this site nor this author is in any way affiliated with Reasons to Believe, the RTB Creation Model, as it has come to be known, will be dealt with at length, because it is most representative of Old-Earth Creationists around the world. 
 
The RTB Creation Model, as outlined in the 2006 book, Creation Science: A Testable Model to End the Creation/Evolution Wars, presents a theory of Creation that differs significantly from evolution (or Theistic Evolution, which is basically the same, from a scientific perspective). 
 
On the pages linked below, we'll look at the similarities and differences between the two primary choices available for Christians who seek the truth and have not yet concluded which view they believe to be most convincing: Theistic Evolution or Old-Earth Creationism. 
 
Incidentally, both of these views also generally fall under the category of Intelligent Design (ID), which is the belief that no matter how the universe and life came into being, all signs point to a designer.  (Though many theistic evolutionists do not agree with all the presuppositions of the Intelligent Design Movement.)  It should be said from the start that the intent of this site is NOT to convince you which view is correct, especially since this author himself is not convinced one way or the other. 
  
My apologies for not introducing myself before now.  My name is Mark Bradford.  I am not a scientist, and I hold no degrees of any kind.  My background is in real estate, and I now operate a web-related business.  I'm in my mid-thirties, married with three sons.  I grew up in very conservative Christian home, and was educated from grammar school through graduation using A Beka Book curriculum (enrolled in A Beka Video School [now A Beka Academy] from 7th through 12th grade).  A Beka is a division of Pensacola Christian College, one of the most conservative Christian institutions in America (akin to Bob Jones), where the King James Bible and Young-Earth Creationism provide the foundation for learning. 
 
Until just a year or two ago, I was a die-hard YEC, and like other good YECs, I used every piece of pseudoscience available to defend the view.  Then one day I was confronted head on with the fact that the stars we see in the night sky are not seen in "real time."  What we see in the night sky is actually starlight that had to travel  light years to reach earth. 
 
The majority of stars in existence are 1-10 billion years old.  Most stars viewable with the naked eye are in our own Milky Way Galaxy, and are 2,500 - 5,000 light years away, meaning their light had to travel for 2,500 - 5,000 years to reach us.
 
But that's only the beginning...

This is another exploding SUPERNOVA (dubbed 1997ff).  The images below were taken between 1995 and 1997 by the Hubble Space Telescope.      A SUPERNOVA is a dying star that explodes brightly — as bright as 100 million suns — for a period of months, before beginning to fade away forever.    This supernova actually exploded 10 billion years ago.  The light from this explosion took 10 billion years to reach earth.     More info here.

 

The images below — of QUASARS — were also taken with the Hubble Space Telescope.     They are 1.4 — 2.2 billion light years from earth, meaning it took over a billion years for their light to reach us.    "When seen through ground-based telescopes, these compact, enigmatic light sources resemble stars, yet they are billions of light-years away and several hundred billion times brighter than normal stars. Astronomers believe that a quasar turns on when a massive black hole at the nucleus of a galaxy feeds on gas and stars. As the matter falls into the black hole, intense radiation is emitted. Eventually, the black hole will stop emitting radiation once it consumes all nearby matter. Then it needs debris from a collision of galaxies or another process to provide more fuel."  — HubbleSite.org

 

The images below are shots of another QUASAR, known as 3C 273.    This quasar is approximately 2 billion light years away, and is viewable with an amateur telescope.  So, from your home, you can actually see an object in space whose light took 2 billion years to reach earth — literally as if you were looking back in time 2 billion years.   So if this quasar had burned out a billion years ago, we wouldn't SEE IT BURN OUT until another billion years from now!

  
The oldest Young-Earth Creationist (YEC) argument is that God created the world with the appearance of age, and therefore He could have placed the stars in the sky approximately six thousand years ago, and made it "seem like" it took millions or billions of years for the light to reach us.  Some YECs believe the speed of light was once much faster, and that it has slowed down to its current speed. 
 
These arguments sound somewhat valid on the surface — from a FAITH perspective at least.  But once you get below the surface and consider all the ramifications of such arguments, it becomes almost impossible NOT to see them as complete nonsense.  There's just no other honest conclusion, no matter how you look at it.
 
Young-Earth Creationists keep coming up with new hypotheses, and down the chain of YECs, everyone refers back to some "new explanation."  But ultimately, none of their theories hold water. 
 
When pressed, they always revert back to the same argument — that they will hold to what they believe the Bible teaches, NO MATTER WHAT science concludes. 
   
The nonsense arguments are really designed to make themselves feel better about denying reality, because they believe their FAITH forces them to do so. 
   
I know because I was a Young-earth Creationist — and defended the view wholeheartedly all my life.  I had never once objectively studied science for what it was really saying.  I kept my eyes and ears closed, so I couldn't "be deceived."  When I finally opened them, it nearly destroyed my faith.
 
When you discover that multiple fields of science, from geology to astrophysics, conclusively disprove Young-Earth Creationism, you realize it must be a lie, whether you like it or not.
     
 

     
This realization — the truth about starlight — drove me to dig deeper.  I went from hard-core Young-Earth Creationist (YEC) to Old-Earth Creationist (OEC), and then to where I am today, torn between Old-Earth / Day-Age Creationism (OEC) and Theistic Evolutionist (TE).
  
In fact, I setup this website CreationCrisis.com and the associated site OriginScience.com as much as an exercise to help me get my own thoughts in order and find some sense of "clarity in the midst of confusion," as it was to help others going through the same struggle.  And the overarching purpose is to send a message to the Church at large that unless we collectively take our heads out of the sand and stop pretending that we don't have a SERIOUS problem, we'll lose more disillusioned Christians to atheism (and many more to a stagnant faith), while preparing a whole new crop of young people for the same experience — thus perpetuating the problem. 

...We'll continue appearing to be "liars for Jesus" spouting fake arguments in defense of a bogus theory, and we'll neglect to devote the manpower and resources necessary to expand research and accelerate the gathering of honest answers and evidence needed to bring science and the Bible into reconciliation — if that is at all possible this side of eternity.  Not to mention that by failing to confront the issue and/or continuing to teach "bad science," we also alienate many individuals who might otherwise consider placing their faith in Christ.
     
 
So...  Keep the faith and follow the science!  The two must not be mutually exclusive!
      
God certainly doesn't expect us to DENY the applicability of universal natural laws, observable in the world today — as Young-Earth Creationists believe they must do, in order to defend the strictest interpretation of Genesis.  
 
Nor does God expect us to treat His Word as a science book, preventing us from acknowledging clear science and investigating all aspects of our wonderful universe.  If God is God, He can most definitely handle our exploration and discovery of His world!
 
Just a thought...  But I find it very relieving (in the face of atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris screaming for the extinction of religion) to think that God already warned us what would happen!
 
Jesus even uttered these somewhat chilling words:
"When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
   
Biblical prophecies of the 'end-times' include:
 
- an increase in knowledge
- an increase in scoffers against Christianity
- an increase in false teachers
- an increase in ungodliness and wickedness
- a Great Falling Away (apostasy)
- a new world order ushering in the reign of the anti-Christ 
- such deception that even the very elect would be deceived, if that were possible

   
If the existence of God and/or His divine Creation of the universe (through whatever means) could be PROVEN, then the prophesied end-time events would most likely NEVER take place — because there would probably never be such a great loss of faith, as there would have to be for "the whole world" to be deceived, which the Bible teaches will eventually happen.
   
So, I have to remind myself that if God is God, He KNEW all along that — with an increase in knowledge and scientific advances — the world would eventually come to BELIEVE that the record of Scripture could not possibly be true, in light of what the evidence seems to be indicating.  (This doesn't mean we deny the evidence, but we certainly must not deny God in the process!)
   
God allowed the entire Jewish nation — His chosen people — to be deceived when Christ arrived on earth, in order to fulfill His plans and make salvation available to the entire human race.  If the record of Scripture is true, God has allowed outright CONFUSION to reign among His people numerous times, often apparently as a test of their faith.
  
Can I defend God's actions?  No, I can't.  God is God, and I don't understand most of what He chooses to do.  I wish He made everything abundantly clear!  But He seems to operate often in the realm of mystery, and He clearly seems to test the faith of His followers on a regular basis.  So we might as well get used to it! 
 

 
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A SHOCK — actually a few of them.
  
Or, you can just skip this very controversial section altogether, and jump to the science research info below (Origin Views Comparison Chart, research links, etc.).
  
A little about where I'm coming from...
  
You're probably familiar with the old saying about coming to peace with reality by accepting the absolute worst case scenario — and then reality doesn't seem so bad... 
  
Well, that's what I did to find peace in the struggle between faith and facts. After living in fear of losing my faith for some time, and peering into the abyss of atheism (as it appeared to me to be), I decided I would prefer to be a potentially self-deluded Christian than to become an atheist.  Once I came to this realization, I no longer cared (at least not nearly as much) about the possibility that Christianity just might not be true. 
 
We all want certainty.  We want to KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Bible is the Word of God, and that Christianity is the TRUTH.  But as atheist voices get louder and louder, and as they ardently strive to prove the Bible is fallible (or that it is completely wrong when it comes to origins); we can either tune them out, or listen in fear.  Or we can decide that it just doesn't matter.
 
I chose that third option.  I realized I didn't want to walk away from Jesus.  He's been my best friend all my life.  He's the one I talk to about everything.  And when I realized I would lose Jesus if I walked away from my faith — not to mention the hope of eternal life — I realized I just didn't want to! 
  
I realized that God's 'rules' are designed as much for our protection as for His glory, and that atheism could potentially lead to a life of hedonism (living for sinful pleasures), since the protective boundaries of His Word would no longer govern my life.  Since this could potentially destroy my life, as well as the lives of my wife and children, why would I want it?!  Of course, there are some 'moral' atheists.  But personally, I know I NEED God, especially since my basic morality is derived from the principles and precepts of His Word.  If the absolute worst-case scenario proved true, and in the end, there was no God, I still believe I and my family would be better in just about every way — for having followed Christ. 
  
Once you get to that point, the attacks on your faith won't have nearly the impact they once did.  At least, that was my experience.  This perspective is a bit strange.  Christians and non-Christians alike may find it easy to criticize.  I understand that.  Not everyone will see this view as rational.  But I'm trying to be completely honest about where I've ended up in this struggle.  And yet there are still other issues involved...
   
 
CHRISTIANITY — AND THE ISSUE OF HELL
 
Atheists would note that — among the other 'seemingly-unpleasant' attributes of God (as He is revealed in the Old Testament especially) — that we 'do harm to society' by promoting a 'religion of fear,' with our message that the entire world of non-believers is going to burn in Hell for all eternity, especially when we can't PROVE that God even exists.  I used to preach that message on a regular basis.  But then I came to realize, through various ministries, that there are about as many Scriptures describing Hell as being a place of everlasting punishment, as there are describing Hell as being a place of ETERNAL DESTRUCTION.
 
Now I have peace in believing that God is a fair Judge.  And my personal conviction is that the unsaved will not be tormented eternally.  I believe they will receive due punishment for their sins in Hell — after the Great White Throne Judgment — and that they will then be destroyed ETERNALLY in the Lake of Fire.
 
This teaching is called 'conditional immortality' or annihilationism.  Most evangelicals believe that ALL SOULS ARE ETERNAL.  I no longer believe this is the case.  I did for most of my life, and it was a tough decision to change perspectives.  But I decided to go with what I now believe to be true.  I believe this view is much more in line with the nature of God, although there is still great resistance to it in the Church. 
 
My point is NOT to change your mind about whether or not God intends to torture or burn people eternally.  My point is to explain that when this aspect of God's nature — which atheists find abhorrent — is removed from the message we preach, then Christianity no longer seems like a religion based on the FEAR of everlasting torment.  That's pretty important...
 
Here's a link to a PDF document discussing this view of Hell.  I found it quite helpful myself.
    
 
CHRISTIANITY — AND THE STRUGGLING CHRISTIAN
 
So I see God differently now...  I see the Bible as an inspired, authoritative book, and the supreme authority for my life.  But I don't worry about defending the inerrancy of Scripture, because if I want to look at lists of supposed contradictions and other problematic issues, I can find them — and suddenly be filled with fear and doubt.  Or I can accept that while God inspired His Word, He didn't remove 'fallible humanity' from the biblical writers.  We can blame every perceived problem in Scripture on 'transcription errors,' but that can only go so far.
   
God didn't drop a perfect book from the sky.  If you study the history and canonicity of the Bible (how all 66 books became what we now call the Bible), it's a pretty scary story.  Even the great Martin Luther said he thought James, Revelation, and a few other books probably didn't even belong in Scripture, believe it or not!  And we walk around pretending we just watched God himself write every word and hand the book to us personally.  In reality, it's not quite that simple.
   
No matter what, the message of God's redeeming love is clearly revealed in His Word.  The message of salvation, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, through His Son Jesus Christ — is clear.  The guidelines we are to live by are fairly clear, although many passages can be interpreted a dozen different ways.  So we don't exactly have PERFECT answers for every question we face in our lives.  We must struggle through many, many issues, while maintaining our faith in the God of the Bible.  
 
Christianity is often presented as a nice, neat, perfect little package that we open up and live out for the rest of our lives — like a fairy tale.  But in reality, Christianity can be pretty messy.  The Bible came together in a messy way.  Many passages don't seem to blend well with other passages, and we're left HOPING we can figure out what God actually meant, while other groups of Christians come to entirely different conclusions.
   
We can PRETEND everything makes perfect sense — that we have the answers for every question, and that we can reconcile every verse in the bible with the rest of them.  But personally, I'm tired of pretending.  I 'pretended' for a good part of my life.  But when I began trying to evangelize and interact with atheists about issues related to Christianity, I realized I was lying to myself, and simply putting on a front. 
 
Atheists can't stand dishonesty. They absolutely despise us for that more than anything else.  Believe me, it's true.  And you might ask, "Why on earth would we care what atheists think?"  Well, to a lesser degree, this observation is true for all non-Christians.  They're sick of Christian hypocrisy and pretense.  But if we're transparently honest, instead of putting up a front, they see us for who we are, and they can at least respectfully disagree with us; instead of being revoltingly disgusted with our attitude of self-righteousness, and the pretense of 'having it all figured out,' when they know in reality, our deepest hearts would tell an entirely different story.  
     
We're taught in most Christian churches to basically 'hold the line' on everything we believe, to keep up the facade of a 'perfect religion,' as it were.  God may be perfect.  I believe He is, even though many of His actions recorded in Scripture completely bewilder me.  But the Bible and the Christianity we live out is NOT a perfect, neat little package that always makes perfect sense.  It would be nice if this were the case, but it isn't. 
    
Once we realize we'll have to struggle through this life, trying to make sense of things that sometimes don't make sense, I think we have a much better chance of finding true peace.  When we stop having to CONVINCE OURSELVES that the Bible is 100% inerrant and infallible, then we can stop worrying about the next list of 'Bible contradictions and errors' that might come across our path.  Because if you think you can overcome every possible argument against the inerrancy of Scripture, you'll probably end up having to LIE to do it.  I just got tired of pretending (and actually lying to myself and others) to make my faith PERFECT enough to meet impossible standards.
 
God could have dropped a perfect book from Heaven.  He didn't.  He let us argue and fight for centuries even to figure out which books should make up the Bible.  And there are still passages — like a chunk in Mark 16 — that we conclude 'probably' never should have been included...  Like I said, it's messy.
 
When I removed the standard of 'absolute perfection' from the Bible and my Christian faith, I found I could honestly live with it, not having to worry about the next attack on my faith, which was probably just around the corner.  If you need a PERFECT faith, you may want to spend the rest of your life in a cave somewhere — just you and Jesus and your Bible.  Otherwise, you could end up walking away (as many people have) after one too many attacks on your faith.
  
As I said, I still believe the Bible is authoritative and inspired by God.  The Bible is my supreme authority, because I believe it is God's Word.  I believe Jesus is Lord.  By faith, I trust Him for eternal life.  I seek to obey Him.  I believe fornication, adultery, and homosexual behavior are all sins in the eyes of God.  I believe God hates divorce.  I believe idolatry, murder, lying, stealing, cheating, coveting, and other ungodly behaviors described in the Bible are all sinful. 
 
I believe the first eleven chapters of Genesis may or may not be literal.  The book may have been compiled as a collection of stories, written in such a way that the average Hebrew would understand, rather than as a science text explaining the exact formation of the universe and all living things — stories that may have been passed down for centuries, before being transcribed by Moses.  I simply don't know.  But I trust that God can handle my not knowing.  I trust in Him by faith.  I follow His Word, and I struggle through life — wishing I could 'rise above' like the Joel Osteens of this world, but ultimately believing that isn't at all what God actually promised in His Word.
 
I guess I can't say it strongly enough: I see the Christian life as an ongoing struggle.  I see the Bible as a book I can trust, when I take the Old Testament in the context it is meant to be taken, and when I see the New Testament as my primary guidebook on Christian living under the New Covenant — and when I stop expecting perfection regarding my ability to overcome all biblical criticism, and to reconcile every passage with every other passage, and every passage with modern science, etc.
 
Between 3,500 and nearly 2,000 years ago, God used fallible men to create a book — made up of 66 books — in order to convey His message to mankind.  I must accept that for what it is, and for what is is not. 
 
[ 4/30/08 Update:  Since much of what I wrote above sounds like a (perhaps unwarranted) attack on the reliability of Scripture — which can be especially offensive to fundamentalist Christians — I wanted to include some research links related to this very controversial issue.  Bart Ehrman was a faithful Christian man who graduated from Moody Bible Institute years ago (where I spent a little over a semester myself).  After discovering 'Scriptural reliability' issues he was unaware of until his studies at Moody, Bart painstakingly researched the ancient biblical texts and made some startling discoveries that eventually led him to abandon the faith.  I recently became aware of Dr. Ehrman and his research through a newsletter I receive.  What he has uncovered about the original texts of Scripture is extremely discouraging to say the least, and could potentially destroy anyone's faith.  My own faith was once again rocked as I read about his findings.  But since I don't want to abandon the faith, I try to keep my eyes open to reality, while keeping my heart open to God.  Here are the Biblical Reliability Research Links I've gathered.  If you choose to read this information, please proceed with caution and prayer!  Eternity is a very long time to be wrong — that's what I keep reminding myself!  Still hoping to die with my faith intact! ]
       
I wake up each morning hoping to live out my Christian faith in reliance upon my Father, hoping and praying that He will continue to build my faith and increase my understanding of His Word (and the world around me).  I desire to be in the center of His will, and I want my life to count for eternity.  I want to help bring people into a right relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
But I can't do any of that if I'm spending all my time stressed out about whether or not I can prove the Bible is inerrant, or whether or I not I can prove the existence of God, or whether or not I can answer all the atheists' objections, or whether or not I can make Christianity seem perfect enough that I absolutely KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that it's true.  I have to accept it by faith, and I have to struggle through this life, trusting that God will keep me in Him, even though a lot of things simply will NEVER make complete sense to me — at least not this side of Heaven.
 
And in the end, if it turns out I'm dead wrong about everything I've believed, I think I'd still be glad I continued trusting in Christ and following God's Word, even in the midst of doubt.   So I accept the 'worst-case scenario' that I could be a potentially self-deluded Christian living in a world where there is no God.  I don't like the sound of that, but when I can take that for what it is and continue believing, then I have peace!  I struggle on, trying my best to keep my eyes on Jesus and live out the faith He has called me to live.  ...I hope you will as well. 
 
And if you're blessed with an abundance of faith, that makes this all sound like a sad, miserable experience, compared to the Christian life you enjoy, than all I can say is "Hallelujah!"  I hope and pray your faith remains unshakable! 
 
I thought my faith was unshakable for many years.  Then I looked at science and almost lost my faith in one fell blow.  If you ever go through a similar experience, take a step back, and ask yourself if you'd really be better off without God.  If not, then pray through it and seek out others to help you through it. 
 
Accept that you will never have all the answers, and you'll never be able to make sense of everything related to God, the Bible, Christianity, or the origin of the universe and mankind.  God's Word is filled with prophecies that have been fulfilled, exactly as He predicted — which is a faith-building realization in itself.  And if the most predominant understanding of end-time prophecies is correct, this world is only going to get darker, and living the Christian life — and keeping our faith intact — is only going to get harder,  not easier.  So buckle up, and if you think it makes sense, accept the absolute worst-case scenario for your faith, and then rest in God, and take it one day at a time!
 
By faith, we press on, believing that one day we'll all be rejoicing on the other side, in the not too distant future, when He'll reveal the mysteries of the universe that seemed so troubling in this life, and we'll understand how all the puzzle pieces fit together!  God be with you!
   

 
To continue researching...
 
Read an OVERVIEW of the issues involved — in determining one's view of origins — on the home page of OriginScience.com.
       
Also, take a look at the ORIGIN VIEWS COMPARISON CHART, which compares Young-Earth Creationism (YEC), Old-Earth Creationism (OEC), Theistic Evolution (TE), and Naturalistic Evolution (NE).  The chart demonstrates just how ridiculous Young-Earth Creationism really is, and explains the basic premises and problems with each of the remaining views.
    
For a more scientifically-advanced analysis of the issues, you can view the Reasons to Believe CREATION/EVOLUTION MODEL 'TESTABLE PREDICTIONS' COMPARISON CHART (PDF), taken from the old-earth creationist book, Creation as Science, by Hugh Ross.
 
This chart presents each of the four views above as TESTABLE MODELS, and contrasts the four views, based on detailed scientific 'predictions.'  The premise of the 'testable model' approach is that as scientific research progresses, certain propositions will be proven true and certain propositions will be proven false.  Evidences from all fields of science are expected to eventually favor one view of origins over all others.  While secular science is convinced that biological evolution alone explains our origins, Reasons to Believe is holding out hope that Old-Earth Creationism will eventually be proven scientifically valid.
    
But if you're not a 'science professional,' you may want to take a look at our more basic  OVERVIEW  and  ORIGIN VIEWS COMPARISON CHART before proceeding to the more advanced Reasons to Believe Predictions Chart (PDF).
     
  
Visit OriginScience.com for more information on Young-Earth Creationism (YEC), Old-Earth Creationism (OEC), Theistic Evolution (TE), and Naturalistic Evolution (NE).
  
And check out our ORIGIN VIEWS — CREATION / EVOLUTION — RESEARCH LINKS for quick access to hundreds of authoritative articles, sites, and online audios and videos relating to all the issues and topics involved in the never-ending quest to fully understand our universe and resolve that understanding with the teaching of God's Word.