For a website on creation, a statement of faith must include more than a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It must include more than an acknowledgement of His divinity, resurrection, and promised second coming. These are all necessary, and might suffice for any other kind of website, but a website on creation --particularly a variant of Old Earth Creation -- must include more. It must include a view on the inerrancy of scripture, death, evolution, Noah's Flood, and original sin. I must include these because a minority of Christians who believe the earth is young also believe that belief in an old earth negates any claim to take scriptural inerrancy, sin, and a need for redemption in Jesus Christ, seriously.

 

The GeoCreationist statement of faith is surprisingly compatible with the statement of faith at Answers In Genesis, a comprehensive website that advocates a young earth. AiG is run by strong Christians, whom I consider to be my brethren in Christ. They include many things in their statement of faith that seem designed to exclude the conception of an old earth.

 

What follows may be read alongsie AiG's SoF, which was last updated April 29, 2009. This is not a critique of their beliefs, but an affirmation of our common principles. I follow their outline below, adding clarification as appropriate. Please note that an agreement on principle does not constitute an agreement on the details of its application. For example, I agree that the flood was a historical worldwide event, with evidence to that effect, but I do not believe the entire world was under water or destroyed.

 

Section 1: Priorities

1. I agree. Understanding the gospel is more important than understanding creation.

2. I agree. Understanding the Creator and Creation provides a foundation for understanding the gospel.

 

Section 2: The Basics

1. I agree. Scripture says what it means, and it means what it says. This includes biblical assertions of historical and scientific importance.

2. I agree. Scripture provides its own interpretation.

3. I agree. Genesis' simple presentation provides a reliable framework for the scientific research of origins.

4. I agree. All modern species reflect the genetic potential of those species in existence by the close of Creation Day 6.

5. I agree. Noah's Flood happened, and its impacts are recorded throughout the world.

6. I almost agree. I do not believe that the special aspects of Adam's creation were physical.

7. I disagree. Physical death was not a product of sin, lest Christ's own sacrifice be robbed of its redemptive effect: You cannot cover sin with sin.

 

Section 3: Theology

1. I agree. Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

2. I agree. We are sinners through Adam and our own choice.

3. I agree. We are saved only through the crucifixion resurrection of Christ.

4. I agree. We repent through the Holy Spirit.

5. I agree. We show fruit as the Holy Spirit works in our lives.

6. I agree. Grace by faith.

7. I agree. Scripture has everything we need to be saved.

8. I agree. Virgin birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit.

9. I agree. Jesus is at His Father's right hand until He returns to judge all.

10. I agree. Satan is our adversary, of God and mankind.

11. I almost agree. I believe that those who have not heard the gospel, and so do not believe in Christ per se, will only be held accountable for what God has revealed to them and written on their heart. However, if God reveals His Son to someone, and they do not believe, then they will be subject to everlasting conscious punishment.

12. I agree. However, I must say that in the United States, a sinful perversion of God's gift, though immoral, is not necessarily unconstitutional.

13. I almost agree. The only ideal church described in detail was a commune (Acts), and Paul, Peter and the others were not commissioned to go around starting communes. As for the churches they started, every one was flawed as a result of the sinners attending. So, maybe from that perspective, I agree.

 

Section 4: General

1. I disagree. I believe Adam was born to spiritually ignorant people who had subdued the earth on Day 6 (as God said). I believe scripture then focuses in on Adam, the first man to know God. However, I agree that this was about 4,000 years before Jesus.

2. I disagree. I agree the first four days were recorded as experienced by the spirit of God hovering over the deep. Those days were literal, and sequentual. However, the word for day (yom) is defined from sun down to sun down, not by duration. When God was done with a day, He moved into the sunset. By staying in the sun for extended periods of time, these literal days could span billions of years.

3. I disagree. While I have found evidence of the flood, and it was profound in many ways, it merely killed a lot of life and set back the development of societies around the middle east.

4. I agree. The Gap Theory has no basis in scripture. It gets the age of the earth right, but at the sacrifice of scriptural integrity.

5. I agree. Secular sources of truth are complimentary to religious, or else they are not true.

6. I agree. However, I must clarify: where science appears to contradict scripture, it may actually be one's interpretation of scripture that is wrong. The scripture itself is never wrong.

 

You can think of this website as an explanation of how an Old Earth perspective can be in agreement with so many Young Earth principles of faith. The basis of our disagreements are explained throughout this site as well.