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Our Focus

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What is Our Focus?

This web site identifies with the "Intelligent Design" approach to origins, making use of the ideas of many leaders in this movement, such as Phil Johnson, Mike Behe, and Bill Dembski. Our primary goal is to make the case for design--that the universe and life appear to be designed by an intelligent creator. We believe the primary issue of contention in science and our culture is not when or how God created, but if God created--is there a Creator at all other than blind natural forces.

Intelligent Design and the Age Issue

Intelligent Design theory does not depend on an old or a young earth; it contends that the universe and life have such complex and highly specified information that they must have been designed and could not have happen by blind, naturalistic forces given any length of time. By focusing on the difficulties and weaknesses of evolutionary theory, we avoid the questions regarding scientific dates versus biblical dates, questions which divide many Christians. If we show that evolution could not happen in 4.5 billion years, then it could not have happened in 10,000 years either! Most contributors to this web site use the scientific dates (a 15 billion year old universe and 4.5 billion year old earth) as a working hypothesis, believing that the age question is a secondary issue. Most contributors who do have difficulties with the scientific dates believe the issue can be solved after first establishing the validity of Intelligent Design as a paradigm of the origins of the universe and of life.

Some scientists in the Intelligent Design community of scholars are "young earth creationists," and many are not. However, all of these scholars recognize that the first priority is to concentrate on breaking the domination over science held by naturalistic philosophy--the view that materialism/atheism is the only rational perspective.

What about the Bible and the Date of Creation?

For Christians, the date of creation is not a primary issue of faith and should not be regarded as such, because the Bible does not specifically state a date of creation. This fact can be easily confirmed by reviewing sources such as The NIV Study Bible, The Believers Study Bible, The New Geneva Study Bible and evangelical commentaries. This fact is further noted by many biblical scholars who are committed to the inerrancy of Scripture, such as Dr. Francis Schaeffer: "If anyone wonders what my own position is, I really am not sure whether the days in Genesis 1 should be taken as twenty-four hours or as periods. It seems to me that from a study of the Bible itself one could hold either position" [No Final Conflict, p. 30]. Therefore, we believe Christians are free to follow the scientific evidence, minus hostile philosophical assumptions like naturalism. The age-issue should not be a basis for breaking fellowship or a test of doctrinal purity. As Dr. Walter Kaiser, president of Gordon-Conwell Seminary and Old Testament scholar, stated, "It is a secondary issue to our Lord and should be to us."

The International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) also advocated freedom of interpretation on the age issue. The ICBI Steering Committee was composed of the leading conservative evangelical leaders of the late 1970's and early 1980's, such as Gleason Archer, James Boice, Norm Geisler, John Gerstner, J.I. Packer, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, and R.C. Sproul. Bill Bright, W.A. Criswell, John MacArthur, Josh McDowell, Adrian Rogers, John Walvoord and other noted evangelicals served on the Advisory Board. The ICBI Summit II met in 1982 to formulate reliable methods of interpreting and understanding the meaning of God's inerrant Word. In their "Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics," Articles XX-XXII relate to Bible and science issues. ICBI conferees refused to link Biblical inerrancy with a specific view of the age of the earth in interpreting Genesis 1, allowing freedom of interpretation. Dr. Norm Geisler wrote that Article XXII of the ICBI Statement affirmed the factual, historical nature and scientific accuracy of Genesis 1-11, but it "left open the question of the age of the earth on which there is no unanimity among evangelicals and which was beyond the purview of this conference." (Explaining Hermeneutics, ICBI, 1983).

Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics

"The Trustworthiness of Scripture in Areas Relating to Natural Science," a paper given at the 1982 ICBI conference

In 2000, the Presbyterian Church in America completed a two-year study entitled Report of the Creation Study Committee. This thorough, scholarly paper reviews the historical background of the debate, and provides a detailed assessment of the four main views of creation, with a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each.

See the complete report, provided by permission from the official web magazine of the PCA.

Other Helpful Resources:

Christian Views of Science and Earth History
The Grand Canyon and the Age of the Earth

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This site is part of the Telling the Truth Project.

Updated: 14 December 2002