Creationism Series Introduction

What Creationism Tells Us

Introduction to the Creationism Series

Khen Lim




Image source: rt.com

Introduction

One of the most telling questions that the Book of Genesis lures Christians with is, how old Adam actually was when God created him. In short, no one knows. If the Bible doesn’t explicitly tell us, the curious among us are left to guess. 

However, there is undeniably much interest in this subject. Even as we read the first Book in the Bible, there is enough intrigue in how everything shaped up originally before we join all the genealogical dots that bring us to where we are today.

The point of Creationism has also become a heated talking point that has separated people into those who believe and those who don’t. Even among Christians, the interpretation of the time frame surrounding Creationism has been divisive to some. 

But we return to the point, firstly, about Adam, and ask exactly, how old was he when God created him? If he wasn’t born a baby, was he then already a full-grown adult or was he a late teenager? What indeed does the Bible reveal and not reveal that we can make intelligent guesses?



Image source: biblestudytools.com

To begin with, let us be clear as to what Scripture does not tell us.

Because the Bible does not reveal Adam’s (and/or Eve’s) age at birth, we have always assumed that their precise physical age had to technically be zero and it is from that reference point that the age of every other person mentioned in the biblical genealogies were calculated. It is because of it that we surmise that Adam lived for 930 years (Gen 5:5).

Other than that, the Bible also does not say anything about how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden before sin took place but we can safely accept that it was only after they were evicted that all their children were born. 

If we read cursorily, it seems that they were only there for a very brief time; some believe it to be as few as only a couple of days before trouble began, pointing to evidence that because the period was too short, they did not bear any children during that stay.

In other words, Cain’s lineage has no dates to which we can use. Interestingly as well, the Bible has no information on any daughters who were born to Adam and Eve. We only hear of sons and even then, it was only in Genesis 5 that we hear something of that. In fact, none of us have any clue as to how many children the world’s first family comprised. 

Other than Cain (4:1), Abel (2) and then Seth (25), Scripture mentions that there were actually many others including daughters (5:4) so much so that maybe we can assume that in all the centuries that Adam and Eve lived out their lives, they were certain to have in excess of a few dozen children.

Another thing we don’t know of is whether or not Adam and Eve were saved although we are certain that they were not only the first two humans to know about God but we are also confident that they still knew Him after their Fall. In fact, they are likely to know the Lord far more than any of us today. 

For example, both of them were aware of God’s promise of Salvation (Gen 3:15). It was He who made garments to cover the two after the Fall (21). Some scholars view this garment as a compelling gesture of sacrifice – the world’s first animal sacrifice – linking to the death of Christ on the cross to cleanse us of our sins and therefore see this as a possible evidence that Adam and Eve were saved and therefore went to heaven following their deaths. 

For them to know God would mean that they had a relationship with Him. That relationship would have to take into account some form of communing. In the days of non-electronic communication means, having a continual dialogue would be the most probable way of striking a relationship. Yet the Bible does not affirm anything on whether Adam did walk with God in the Garden.

We are, on the other hand, aware that following the sin, they went into hiding the moment they heard that God was walking in the Garden (3:8), probably within proximity to where they were expected to be found. A good guess would suggest that even though Scripture isn’t explicit on this, that at least Adam, if not the both of them, had communed with God.

All this takes us to the question of how old the Earth is and in this area, there is as much disagreement as they are conjectures. Some are simply too outlandish, others are too dogmatic and then there are also those that appear quite convincing. Yet none of them allow us to be certain on any absolute level. 

For example, some church ministries are convinced that the Bible guides them to believe it is less than 10,000 years old. For all intents and purposes, that would roughly be the basis of the Young Earth Theory.

In fact, according to Donald Simanek in his article, ‘Bishop Ussher Dates the World: 4004BC,’ a certain James Ussher, a seventeenth century Bishop in the Church of Ireland was convinced that the Earth was created on Sunday, October 23 4004BC. Even if his methodology was valid, it seems too incredulous that one could arrive at such an exact date. But it cannot be that valid for different reasons.

Firstly, he wrongly assumed that the patriarchs lived in a time when the years were calculated based on 365¼ days and that they all died the day prior to their next birthdays. Secondly, he based his understanding on the assumption that the genealogies in the Book of Genesis were all complete, meaning there were no gaps from father to son throughout the entire course of human existence. Thirdly, Ussher took for granted that the duration of the days of Creation was pegged at the same 24-hour timeframe as we have today.



Image source: tilm.org

As many of us know, all three assumptions are incorrect and therefore, his dating is flawed. And so with all that we know about what Scripture says and doesn’t say, let us tackle the pertinent questions in this Creationism Series.

In Part One of the series, we ask the first question whether or not Cain and Abel were the first and second offspring of Adam and Eve. The Bible does say that there were other children but does that mean the two sons were the eldest and second-eldest in line? Or was there at least one daughter in between them?  

Part Two of the series asks the question, how long were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Father banished them forever? The way Genesis is presented, it didn’t look long enough but on the other hand, given that at least Adam had struck a relationship with God, maybe it was a little longer than we think. After all, relationships do take time and effort to develop.

Part Three of the series offers us the cornerstone question – how old do we believe Adam was when God created him out of the ground? There appears so much details in the Bible and yet we still seem to be grasping at straws with this one. Does not having a belly button mean that Adam was born physically mature? We know God gave him responsibilities to fulfil, meaning he couldn’t possibly be born an infant.

In the final Part Four of the series, we cap it off by asking how old the Earth actually is. If there is any question that continues to burn at the heart of science teeing off against the authority of God’s Word, this one takes the cake. Many Christians believe there is a more logical scientific explanation behind everything including the Bible. But what about you?

With these four questions, we will attempt to shade some light on the subject of ‘age’ that the Bible does not confront directly but before we proceed, it is important to read this with a pinch of salt. Nothing we theorise here will ever challenge the inerrancy of the Bible. None of what we write here can ever be fully or properly proven. Much of what we put on paper will essentially be ‘best guesses’ and nothing more though what we hope to achieve is a decent discourse base on good but not infallible judgement.

In the next week, we will publish Part One. Following that, the remaining subsequent parts will be published every consecutive Sunday.

We hope you tune in regularly and read the four parts.



Next Week: What We Know of Adam's First Offspring (Part One)