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Did God Create with Appearance of Age?
By John D. Morris, Ph.D.*
Simply stated, the idea
of "creation with appearance of
age" means that when God created, those things which He created might
superficially have looked as if they had a history.
When Adam was
created, he no doubt looked like a mature adult, fully able to walk, talk, care
for the garden, etc.
When God created
fruit trees, they were already bearing fruit.
In each case, what He
created was functionally complete right from the start—able to fulfill the
purpose for which it was created.
Stars, created on Day
Four, had to be seen to perform their purpose of usefulness in telling time;
therefore, their light had to be visible on Earth right from the start.
God's evaluation that
the completed creation was "very good" (Genesis 1:31) necessitated
that it be functionally complete, operating in harmony, with each part
fulfilling the purpose for which it was created.
If a scientific
observer today, with no knowledge of Adam's creation, traveled back in time to
Day Seven and tried to determine Adam's age (or the age of a rock, or the age
of a star), how could it be done?
The scientist would
rely on today's human growth rates (or rates of radioactive decay, or the speed
of light), and calculate how long it would take for this state of maturity to
develop, and would come to a wrong conclusion.
This is because the
world today is not as it was in creation.
God's creative powers
are at rest now, and He is maintaining the creation using present laws of
physics.
The original created
world, perfect and non-decaying at first, was subsequently cursed and made
subject to decay and death (Genesis
3:17; Romans 8:20,
etc.).
Furthermore,
even that world was destroyed by the Flood of Noah, so that
the world we live in today is a relic of destructive processes, not creative
processes.
Any effort to apply
present processes and process rates to creation is doomed to failure.
It is claimed by
old-universe advocates that Romans 1:20 reveals that truth about creation and
God's character must be "clearly seen" from
the study of the creation.
Any unregenerate
scientist, using valid theory and careful analysis, must be able to determine
the age and origin of any object.
Since secular
scientists have concluded the universe began with a Big Bang, that must be the
way it happened.
God could not have
created with the appearance of a Big Bang if He didn't use that method, so that
must be the way He did it. After all, God cannot lie!
But this position
denies the clear Scriptural teachings regarding Creation, the Fall and the
Flood.
Furthermore, it denies
the very possibility of creation, for creation without the appearance of "age" is
impossible.
God, in His
sovereignty, knew that fallen man, living in the post-Flood world might wrongly
conclude the age and origin of things.
For just that reason,
He gave us a clear record of what He had done and when He had done it.
Furthermore, when we
look at the evidence in light of what He has told us, the universe doesn't even
look old.
The real evidence is
fully compatible with an origin only thousands of years ago.
On the other hand, if
fallen scientists extrapolating present process are right and
the universe is old, then God has lied to us,
for He clearly said He created all things in six days, not too long ago.
*Dr.
John Morris is the President of the Institute for Creation Research.
young earth
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