In The Six-Day War in Creationism I distinguish between the Young Earth Reform Movement and the simple belief in past centuries that the earth is young. The early Christian centuries didn’t have paleontology, archeology, Ancient Near Eastern literature, not to mention the history of the primordial past that we have today. Yet some of the best theologians of the distant past still interpreted the days of Genesis figuratively, respecting the author’s intentions.
The Young Earth Reform Movement’s stated mission is to “reform the Church and the culture” with six literal days and a 6000-year-old universe. Reformists (the extremists among them) persecute and seek to cancel Christian leaders for not agreeing with them. Yet Christians have been free without prejudice, to take the days in Genesis literally or figuratively for 2000 years.
The Young Earth Reform Movement goes far beyond the simple belief in a young earth. It is characterized by this short list of claims:
1. If the earth is old God is a liar – they think God wrote Genesis and meant it literally, “word for word”. They think that is being faithful when it is only an opinion.
2. The Bible is unreliable if the earth is old – for the same reason as 1.
3. All animals even bugs and microbes had eternal life before Adam sinned.
4. Believers who aren’t Young Earthers have “compromised the Faith.” – Christianity is not about faith in a 6000-year-old earth.
5. An old earth destroys “the Message of the Cross and the Atonement.”[i]
Ordinary or Extraordinary Days
Augustine (AD 354–430) insisted that the six days of creation cannot be ordinary days: he said, “At least we know that the [Genesis creation day] is different from the ordinary day with which we are familiar.”[ii] “At least we know” means something like, “what we know for sure” these days are not 24-hours each.
Young Earth reformists, on the other hand, claim that the days of Genesis are “ordinary” meaning literally 24-hours each is an absolute – an essential doctrine. They often juxtapose the 24-hour days against “the compromisers” treating each as eons as if there are no other interpretive options, yet they know the strongest arguments against their movement is the figurative sense of the six days commonly used at the time. This is both a strawman and a false choice.
Like the Worldwide Church of God, YE evangelists argue with fallacies they don’t recognize because they are not trained in critical thinking skills or else they don’t partner those skills with their theology, which they believe is divine revelation and doesn’t need to be cogent.
Historically, the best scholarship offers a third choice. The question is not does the language describe ordinary days, but rather can God’s infinite attributes be confined to a literal Hebrew work schedule that begins at sunup and ends at sunset? Does God really follow the work schedule of a Hebrew craftsman?
YE reformists insist that the word “day” in Genesis describes the literal 24-hour variety with evening and morning refrains. But taking the word day figuratively is the same as taking a 24-hour-day figuratively! The Six-Day War in Creationism goes into detail showing that the six days must be a literary device with profound theological implications; the most important is that God working from sunup to sundown along the lines of a common Hebrew workweek denies his infinite attributes.
Psalm 104:22-23 describes the common Hebrew workweek with its evening and morning references: “When the sun rises [in the morning] … Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening.” Yes, man, but not an infinite God creating the universe from nothing!
The Bible’s primary purpose is not to reveal the nature of the universe but record God’s self-disclosure that develops gradually until the Incarnation and its implications for the creation – the union of all things in Heaven and Earth (Ephesians 1:10).
The Divine 7th Day Rest
The days are figurative not only because there was no sun, moon, or stars for the first 3 days (necessary for literal days) but also because the unending 7th day of creation makes clear that the week is not ordinary. If the 7th day never ends the week never ends. Hebrews 3-4 make clear the 7th day of creation is Divine and unending. That is a fact. The Six Day War in Creationism goes into much more detain showing conclusively that the Genesis Creation account is not ordinary.
The Nature of God as Creator
By showing the days of creation are a Hebrew literary device for more important purposes, this book opens the broader theological view of revelation in Genesis. What are its points? I emphasize that God’s nature is not dependent on time, space, or matter, which are the contents of this universe. God is transcendent; He did not create the cosmos from within it! He is not a product of the universe like the pagan deities of the day. He did not take three days to create time! Nor did He create space from within it.
This perspective on Genesis invites believers to see the creation story as the beginning of God’s self-revelation in contrast to pagan deities who were products of the universe. Other gods could be born, have sex and die while Yahweh is one, non-sexual, and who’s rest is not just for himself, like pagan deities, but for all creation. Genesis opens new ideas about the infinite nature of the God that gradually develop and set the stage for its fullest expression in the Incarnation. Young Earth, Creationism has nothing to do with any of this.
Addressing Misunderstandings
My book also addresses some common misunderstandings when it comes to a literal interpretation of Genesis. It illustrates that understanding the metaphors as symbolic layers can provide a richer and more robust understanding of God’s connection to creation. This approach does not dilute the message but shows how God communicates through Scripture in ways that are different than what the natural world may tell us about God.
The book of Genesis remains a covenantal document for Judaism under the first covenant, but it is not covenantal for New Covenant Christianity.
The Christian cosmology is not Genesis 1, but John 1,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made… In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not apprehended it…The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the cosmos… to all who did receive him, and to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
This Christian cosmology introduces themes of grace, redemption, and a New Creation. Understanding the first Adam’s fall from grace in Genesis shows believers the story of salvation history that begins in Genesis and unfolds throughout scripture. Humanity has an acute need for the next step in the story – a New Creation in the New Adam. This is the continuous revelation of God’s relationship with His creation that finds its end in the union of Heaven and Earth, and Divinity with Humanity in the Christ.
Conclusion
The Six-Day War in Creationism provides a thoughtful interpretation of Genesis inviting readers to consider its theological depths rather than shallow literalism. This also avoids the artificial gap between science and faith; there is no science in Genesis; it’s based on speculative Ancient Near Eastern cosmology for theological purposes. My book encourages a dialogue that respects the inspiration of Scripture without the need to reject mainstream science. The creation story is a striking revelation of God’s creativity and intentionality, that is not arrested in Genesis as Young Earthers may assume, but developed gradually, culminating in the Incarnation and its implications for the world.
[i] Ken Ham, “The Necessity for Believing in Six Literal Days,” December 1, 1995, AiG website.
[ii] Augustine on, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, 5:2 (AD 408).