Unintended Disservice of Young Earth Science
Presented by a Christian Attorney
We recommend a book by Andrew Balian, a Christian attorney, which questions whether it is detrimental to evangelism to try to convince non-Christians that the earth is young. He argues that young earth disputes needlessly causes non-Christians to refuse to take seriously the words of our Lord Jesus and the Bible as a whole.
In this 2011 book -- Unintended Disservice of Young Earth Science, Christian Attorney Andrew S. Balian, Esq., reveals young earth science as it is presented and practiced today "has no hope to salvage the authenticity of the Bible if it continues to insist upon the young earth view" among non-Christians. The time is ripe to abandon the effort. We will explain its points below, and if you are interested, you may read it in full online at books.google.com or purchase it at this link. A Kindle version is available at Amazon.com.
Balian explains in Unintended Disservice that we as Christians can accept the view of all early church commentators that there is a long-lag between the "beginning" in verse 1 and day one in Genesis One. Hence a potentially long lag exists between "the creation of the heavens and the earth" and day one. Then what happens on days 1-6 are progressive miraculous improvements upon a creation that already existed prior to day one. These could be 24 hours each, in fact. The long-lag prior to day one can fully explain the age of the Earth and Universe. Or we can adopt the view of Augustine in the 400s, Origen in the 200s and others in the early church who believed the yoms of Genesis One were indefinite periods. Or we can adopt the predominant view of the early church -- six commentators to just four who held to the 24 hour view -- that the days of Genesis were God's days. And God's days were defined by Moses in Psalm 90:4 (yes he wrote a Psalm) and 2d Peter 3:5 as similar to 1000 years of our time--a very long time.
Specifically, Mr. Balian discusses the Hebrew word yom as it relates to Lightfoot's and Ussher's hurried and unstudied claim that it refers to a 24-hour period.
Mr. Balian makes a novel argument -- well, not so novel as Hippolytus saw it first near 236 AD. Mr. Balian says that yom in Genesis 1:5 is called "day" and this is distinctly the light, but it is different than "evening" or "night." Before the first "day" of Genesis 1:5 was an "evening" of undetermined length as even the Sun was not yet created. Hence, a very long period preceded the first "day" and it did not mean to incorporate the night that preceded it. And this principle is true of each succeding day -- it is the daylight. So the six creative days are simply 12 hours each, with indeterminate evenings, not nights, as evening was a term of interval that preceded the 24 hour cycle of the sun between 1:1-1:5 of Genesis. Hippolytus mentions this about Genesis 1:5 too:
GEN. 1. 5. And it was evening, and it was morning, one day.
HIPPOLYTUS. He did not say "night and day," but "one day," with reference to the name of the light. He did not say the "first day;" for if he had said the "first" day, he would also have had to say that the "second" day was made. But it was right to speak not of the "first day," but of "one day," in order that by saying "one," he might show that it returns on its orbit and, while it remains one, makes up the week. (Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus.)
In other words, "one day" did not mean to incorporate a "night," but simply referenced the light. It still counts up to the "week" of days -- periods of light. But the intervening periods are not described definitely as a specific period of time, for darkness after the day was called "night" but evening was a name God used prior to creating the Sun whereupon light and dark first cycled on earth. An interesting observation by Mr. Balian.
Mr. Balian points out that the contemporary 24 hour view of each day of Genesis has led the following flawed syllogism has since ensued:
- The Bible says the Earth and universe are about 7,000 years old
- Science Proves the Earth and universe are about 7,000 years old
- Therefore, the Bible is credible as the Word of God.
However, the question remains - how does this syllogism hold up if Science among non-Christians proves the earth is 4.5 billion years old and the universe is 15 billion years old? It would require non-Christians to reject the Bible, which is the only choice young earth proponents give serious minded non-Christians. Mr. Balian's book exhorts young earth advocates to see their scientific project has never succeeded; has only weak or invalidated claims (e.g., the Moon Dust and Helium Clock claims), and that to avoid further embarassment to evangelism, the project must be abandoned. The author hopes that young earth proponents will reconsider their view of yom in Genesis and restore the historically acceptable beliefs from the early church that are compatible with an earth far older than 6000 years, e.g., the universal view of a lag between the "beginning" and day one; or the view each yom in Genesis One meant an 'age, era, period of indefinite length, or the God's day measured as 1000 years each. Thereby we can preserve evangelism to the lost on a sound footing -- a Bible they can believe in.
Flaws of Young Earth Science
The next book by Mr. Balian is freely available below in PDF links, and is not otherwise available in print form. This reviews the proofs of a Young Earth, and whether it satisfies scientific legitimacy in its major claims. While many have challenged young earth science who are non-Christians, Mr. Balian is a Christian sensitive to his fellow Christians sincere desire to defend the Bible. Yet, he finds that various arguments have backfired or do not garner Christians respect for defensible claims. So far, Mr. Balian concludes, there is no single argument that has proven a young earth. So here is the free book entitled Flaws of Young Earth Science:
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Long Days of Genesis
Chapter 2: Institute of Creation Research
Chapter 3: A Scientific Foundation?
Chapter 4: Thermodynamics
Chapter 5: Moon Dust
Chapter 6: No Meteorites!
Chapter 7: Cosmic Dust
Chapter 8: Io, Rings & Saturn
Chapter 9: Lunar Craters
Chapter10: Shrinking Sun
Chapter 11:The Big Bang
Chapter 12: The Speed of Light
Chapter 13: Radiometric Dating
Chapter 14: Halo Dating
Chapter 15: Ancient DNA
Chapter 16: Fresh Dinosaur Blood
Chapter 17:Helium: An Argument Backfires!
Chapter 18: Miscellaneous Claims
Appendix A: Heliocentricity
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