Comparative Essays

Many people today have their thoughts on how the Earth was created. Christians take a biblical perspective of how the universe was created by a creator. One thought that Christians believe is that God created the earth and accomplished this in six days and rested on the seventh day. This is the model of how a week is set up and the model that we currently follow. Jon W. Green states “though differences of opinion exist for various doctrinal issues within Christianity, few are more divisive than controversies surrounding the days of creation and the age of the Earth.” As stated previously many people have thoughts and are curious as to how the Earth itself came into existence.

When it comes to the scientific community there are two major theories the old earth view and the young earth view. The two conflicting points of view vary in the idea of how long the it took to create the earth and how old the Earth is. Many creationist take the side of believing that the world was created in six twenty-four hours days and that the Earth itself is no more than 6,000 years old. Whereas those who believe in the old earth theories believe that the earth was formed over a longer period of time. There are two concepts of how these happened the Big bang theory and the six day creation theory. Each of these relates back to the age of the earth. Young – Earth View

In the Bible it clearly stated in Genesis 1 -5 how the earth was made and the order that God created things and as the Bible states He says that things were good. The scripture itself speaks of only six literal days used to create the earth. As stated by Terry Mortenson, MDiv, PhD (2011) the thoughts of a young earth creationist are as follows “Young-earth creationists believe that the creation days of Genesis 1 were six literal (24-hour) days, which occurred 6,000–12,000 years ago. They believe that about 2,300–3,300 years before Christ, the surface of the earth was radically rearranged by Noah’s Flood.” (Mortenson, 2011) Dr. Mortenson goes on to state that creationist also believe in the idea of a catastrophic flood which is responsible for most of the rock layers and fossils. (Mortenson, 2011)

Young Earth Creationist believe in the idea of the Hebrew word Yom. (Morris, 2011) This word translates to mean a literal day and is used in Genesis to describe each day of creation. We as Christians must take the Bible as true, this being the whole bible including the Old Testament. In regards to the age of the Earth, young earth creationist take Genesis 5 as a genealogy of the Earth. The genealogies of Genesis 5 as well as 11 give people an idea of the years and happenings from Adam to Abraham. Scholars can mostly agree that Abraham lived about 2000 BC. All of these facts then set the date of creation at approximately 6000 years ago. (Mortenson, 2011) Old – Earth View

In response to the young earth six day creation of the Earth idea, secular scientist have developed the idea of the Big Bang theory. According to the big bang theory, the universe began by expanding from a minuscule volume that possessed extremely high density as well as extreme temperatures. Initially the universe was significantly smaller than a pore on your skin. (Takahashi, 2000 ) It is thought that this happened about 10-20 billion years ago. According to Yuki D. Takahasi (2000) in his article “Big Bang: How did the Universe begin?” He states 3 main observations that point to truth in the Big Bang Theory. Number one is astronomers have found that the universe continues to expand which means that the separation between galaxies continues to happen leading astronomers and scientist to believe that the universe used to be closer before some kind of explosion (the Big Bang) Next this idea of the big bang helps to explain the abundance of helium and other nuclei like deuterium in the universe.

Last astronomers stated that the could observe the cosmic background radiation which would be the afterglow of the explosion from every direction of the universe. According the big bang theory, after the big bang an explosion happened and over time the earth slowly evolved over the course of millions of years into what we now know as the Earth. LaRocco and Rothstein (2001) state what happened after the explosion from the big bang, which is speculative “In the minuscule fractions of the first second after creation what was once a complete vacuum began to evolve into what we now know as the universe. In the very beginning there was nothing except for a plasma soup. As the universe expanded further, and thus cooled, common particles began to form.

These particles are called baryons and include photons, neutrinos, electrons and quarks would become the building blocks of matter and life as we know it. During the baryon genesis period there were no recognizable heavy particles such as protons or neutrons because of the still intense heat. At this moment, there was only a quark soup.” (LaRocco, Rothstein 2001) According to the Big Bang Theory over the course of millions and billions of years the Earth evolved into what we know it as now. Compare Contrast

Although these two theories are extremely different in nature there are a few comparison to be noted. According to the Big Bang theory eventually the Earth will be overcome by energy and it will be called “Heat Death.” As the Bible tells us in the end time the world will be judged by fire and brimstone eventually the Earth will be restored. The Big Bang teaches that the biblical principles do not exist. A contrast between the Big bang theory and the six day creation theory is the process by which the Earth was developed. Each of these theories presents a different organizational pattern. The order of creation is different between the two. Big Bang Theory – 15 Billion years ago Water covered the Earth – Days 1-2 Stars developed over – 10 Billion years ago Dry Land and Plants – Day 3 Sun – 5 Billion years ago Sun, Moon and Stars – Day 4

Molten Earth – 4.5 Billion years ago Sea and Flying Creatures – Day 5 First Oceans – 3.8 Billion years ago Land, Animals and Man – Day 6 Conclusion
In conclusion each of these theories the Big Bang theory and the six-day creation theory provide thoughts on how the Earth was created as well as the age of the earth. What one must remember is that each of these theories does make the person who believes them have some type of faith. Although there are “facts” that have been given on each of these theories the person who is researching them must take the responsibility of looking up the facts and information for their own benefit. Also one must remember that the entire Bible is God breathe and words that we should take as truth According to 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Reference

Morris, John, Master Books. (2011) The Young Earth: The Real History of the Earth – Past, Present, and Future Mortenson, T. (2011) “Young-Earth Creationist View Summarized & Defended”. Answers in Depth , 6. Retrieved July 3, 2014, from