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The Doctrine of Creation |
by Greg Neyman
According to many today, the
doctrine of
creation is one of those critical doctrines
that one must believe in. In many churches,
it is required belief before a person
becomes a member of the church. However, it
has not always been that way. As you will
see, this is a relatively new doctrine,
invented by twentieth-century young-earth
believers and their ministries. Let's take a
look at this doctrine...it's history, it's
relevance for today, and it's necessity for
belief. What is a Doctrine? First, let's
look at the definition of a doctrine.
According to Webster's, a doctrine is
"teaching, instruction." However, doctrine
as it relates to the church is much more
restrictive than this phrase. Doctrine in
the church indicates a fundamental truth
that must be believed in. A few examples for
definitions are: - philosophy, philosophical
system, school of thought, ism -- (a belief
(or system of beliefs) accepted as
authoritative by some group or school) - is
the body of beliefs about God, humankind,
Christ, the church, and other related
concepts considered authoritative by the
community of faith, becoming the standard of
interpretation and application of the Bible
and the Christian faith.
- A set of accepted beliefs held by a group.
In religion, it is the set of true beliefs
that define the parameters of that belief
system.
- Positions or principles held to be sacred,
or inspired, truths in a system of beliefs.
In Christianity, these beliefs are an
instruction to be taught to the faithful by
means of the catechism, sermons, and through
the religious dogma of the church. The
Anglican Church's Thirty-Nine Articles of
Religion is an example of religious
doctrine. As you can see, it is clear that
doctrines of the church are key teachings
that members should believe in to associate
with that particular denomination. The final
definition gives us our starting point. An
example of doctrine from the Anglican Church
is the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,
which defines the Anglican system of belief.
Click on the link to the Thirty-Nine
articles, and scan for references to the
creation. There are none. Thus, the
doctrines which are key to the Anglican
system of belief, dating from 1801, do not
include any key beliefs about the creation.
Now, let's expand our search to other key
systems of belief. When it comes to the
history of the church, one of the most
telling items about doctrines are the three
creeds. Creeds were, from the earliest days
of the church, used for the purpose of
baptismal professions, in order to teach the
new converts the proper path right at the
beginning of their Christian walk. (Footnote
5) First, the Nicene Creed comes from the
fourth century. The traditional wording
((Footnote 6) is...
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, and of all things
visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very
God, begotten, not made, being of one
substance with the Father; by whom all
things were made; who for us men and for our
salvation came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin
Mary, and was made man; and was crucified
also for us under Pontius Pilate; he
suffered and was buried; and the third day
he rose again according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the
right hand of the Father; and he shall come
again, with glory, to judge both the quick
and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no
end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost the
Lord, and Giver of Live, who proceedeth from
the Father [and the Son]; who with the
Father and the Son together is worshipped
and glorified; who spake by the Prophets.
And I believe one holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism
for the remission of sins; and I look for
the resurrection of the dead, and the life
of the world to come. AMEN.
In the third and fourth lines, the new
believer is affirming that God is the
creator of all things. Note that there is no
reference to a length of creation...it
merely states that God is the creator. Thus,
to become a believer in the fourth century,
there was no requirement for belief in a
young earth. In fact, many of the church
fathers took II Peter 3:8 to mean the days
of creation were 1,000 years long.
Next, consider the Apostles Creed. It
appears in it's full form in the 5th
century, but it has roots all the way back
to the 1st and 2nd century. (Footnote 7) It
states... I believe in God, the Father
Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born
of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day He
arose again from the dead. He ascended into
heaven and sits at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty, whence He shall come to
judge the living and the dead. I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of
sins, the resurrection of the body, and life
everlasting. Amen.
Once again, we have a general statement that
God is the creator, but no specific mention
of the length of time that it took. Thus, it
would be no problem for an old-earth
believer to be accepted in the 2nd century
church.
Third, let's consider the Creed of
Athanasius. It dates to the fourth
century.(Footnote 8) Although it is the
longest creed, it does not even mention
creation.
Therefore, it is clear from early church
doctrines that the length of creation was
not a requirement for faith. Church
Denominations Now, let's consider church
denominations, which set standards of belief
for their members. As you may be aware,
Answers In Creation has a listing of
denominations which are open to an old
earth. A review of the 50 major
denominations that have been reviewed shows
that only two are hostile to old-earth
believers (independent, fundamental Baptist
churches, and the Assemblies of God). Two
others have statements denouncing
evolution,
but do not have a position on the length of
the creation days. One of the two largest
denominations, the Southern Baptists and
Seventh Day Adventists, do not rule out old
earth belief, but individual churches vary
in their beliefs.
Forty-four of fifty denominations present no
problems with old-earth believers.
Is there a pattern here? The roots of the
young earth movement are with a man named
George McCready Price, a Seventh Day
Adventist from the 1900s. He was a loud
voice in the move to promote six 24-hour day
creationism, starting around 1902.(Footnotes
9,10) Although the Seventh-Day Adventists
are now not as restrictive, their statements
on creation have deep roots. In fact, the
modern movements, led by Answers in Genesis,
the Institute for Creation Research, and
Kent Hovind, have their roots in Mr.
Price.(Footnote 11)
In fact, the Baptist denominations have
historically, over the last thirty years,
provided the main base for promoting young
earth creationism through the parachurch
organizations of AiG and ICR. But what about
the Assemblies of God? Their statements of
faith come from 1916, a time at which Price
was preaching his young-earth creationism.
Although there is no clear ties between the
two, both the Assemblies and Adventists
beliefs arose about the same time (the
Assemblies had been loosely forming since
the 1890s).
The pattern is that young earth creationism
did not start until the 1900's, and then
only in a few select denominations, in which
it continues to this day, with the help of a
few outspoken individuals and third-party
organizations. Interestingly, during the
fundamentalist movement of the 1920s, early
fundamentalists railed against
evolution,
but did not make any clear prohibitions
against an old earth. Evolution was the
enemy, not an old earth.(Footnote 10)
Why did the father of young-earth
creationism, Price, preach so adamantly
about creation? Seventh Day Adventists
claimed that they had a vision, in which
they saw the creation of the world in six
24-hour days. Thus, you could easily say
that today's young earth movement is based
on a vision (someone's dream?)...not a solid
base upon which to make a real
doctrine!(Footnote 12) Creation Becomes a
Doctrine! We have just looked at the
churches that made creationism a fundamental
belief. It appears that this doctrine did
not exist prior to 1900. It is a 20th
century creation, and is only adhered to by
a few churches (even the Southern Baptists
do not claim it is a doctrine, although many
of their churches will argue for it).
Starting in the 1920s, Fundamentalism grew,
and eventually several individuals saw the
need to defend the young-earth position of
creation. There were many, but most
significant of these is the ministry of
Henry Morris, who founded the Institute for
Creation Research in 1970. Through this
ministry (which took off in 1961 with his
book The Genesis Flood) he and his disciples
proclaim creation as a doctrine. This can be
seen in Chapter 17 of his book, Biblical
Creationism, first published in 1993, and in
Impact Article Number 132, from 1984.
Conclusion In summary, young-earth
ministries of the 20th century have added
the doctrine of creation to the church. For
nearly 1,900 years, this doctrine was not
needed. However, because of a vision (dream)
from some Seventh Day Adventists, we are now
stuck in this creation battle, as
young-earth/old-earth proponents argue their
position against each other.
A young-earth doctrine is not a part of most
church denominations, nor was it ever a part
of any pre twentieth-century church
organizations which were responsible for
setting doctrinal beliefs. As such, this
doctrine should pass into history.
Millions of people, when given the choice of
believing in a young earth, when all the
evidence from God's creation says it is old,
were turned away from the gospel.
Fundamentalists of the 1920s and later made
a fundamental mistake by insisting on a
young earth. From that time, the word
"Fundamentalism" has been used by the
secular world to stereotype Christians, and
it has done much harm. It is clear from
scripture that you can believe in an old
earth, and still believe in an inerrant
Bible. You can be a fundamentalist and
believe in an old earth.
We must stop turning people off to the Bible
by insisting on young earth belief. Yes,
many thousands have been saved by
young-earth ministries...but compared with
the millions that have been lost, the choice
is clear.
References: 1 WordNet 2.0 Search 2 Jude
Ministries Definition (http://www.judeministries.org/Contending/somedefinitions.htm
) 3 www.inthelight.org (http://www.inthelight.org/dictionary/dic_c-d.htm)
4 PBS.COM, Church Vs. State Glossary
(http://www.pbs.org/williamsburg/church/glossary.html)
5 The Three Creeds (http://www.churchsociety.org/crossway/documents/Cway_093_ThreeCreeds.pdf)
6 The Nicene Creed (http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/history/creed.nicene.txt)
7 The History of the Apostles Creed (http://www.path-light.com/history.htm)
8 The Athanasian Creed (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02033b.htm)
9 George Price Biography (http://www.geocities.com/lclane2/geoprice.html)
10 The Historical Development of Creationism
(http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/history2.shtml)
11 The Historical Development of
Creationism, Part 3 (http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/history3.shtml)
12 Special Revelation, through dreams and
direct contact with God, is believed by all
non-Pentecostal churches to have ended after
the Apostles departed the earth
About the Author
Greg Neyman is the founder of the website
ministry Answers In Creation. The original
location of this article is here. |
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