Major Approaches to Creation

This week in Sunday School, our class looked at 4 major approaches to creation: Young-Earth Creationism, Old-Earth Creationism, Evolutionary Creationism, and Intelligent Design. The summary is by no means designed to be an in depth analysis, but merely a quick skim over the various perspectives. As mentioned in class, one thing is important to remember about creation by looking at Genesis 1:1: (1) God created all things; (2) The world is not eternal; and (3) the universe did not create itself.

Young-Earth Creationism affirms a literal, six-day creation. This position estimates the earth was created 6,000 years ago. Death, disease, predation entered through the Fall. Geological evidence is ultimately attributed to Noah.

Old-Earth Creationism can also be referred to as "progressive creationism." This view believes that God created in successive stages over a period of millions or billions of years. Old-Earth Creationism accepts scientific evidence for an ancient universe but does not accept the theory of origins.

Evolutionary Creationism can also be referred to as "theistic evolution." This view accepts the current scientific theories both of the origin of the universe and of the human race. Evolutionary Creationism agrees with Darwin that all life, including humans descended from a common ancestor. God created with evolution in mind.

Intelligent Design believes an objective examination of scientific evidence alone will lead an unbiased inquirer to the conclusion that design by an Intelligent Being makes an inference to the best explanation. Someone that believes in Intelligent Design can believe the earth is young or old. Some even hold to non-Darwin versions of evolution.