Old Earth Creationism

Old Earth Creationism is a variant of the Creationist view of the origin of the universe and life on Earth. It is is typically more compatible with mainstream scientifc thought on the issues of the age of the universe or earth than Young-Earth Creationism. This may refer to the view that life was immediately created on a pre-existing old Earth. Some advocates of this view, in an attempt to harmonize mainstream science with biblical literalism, hold that the six days referred to are not ordinary 24-hour days, but rather much longer periods (of thousands or millions of years); the Genesis account is then interpreted as an account of a progressive creation, or sometimes a summary of life's evolutionary history.

There are some creationists who hold the view that the six day period in the Genesis account of creation refers to the time spent by light traveling from the center of the universe at the time and point of creation.

Critics of the Old-Earth view of Creationism comment that the biblical order of the days of creation in inconsistent with this interpretation. For example, plant life could not have survived millenia without sunlight, flowering plants could not have been pollinated without insect life, and most birds could not survive long without terrestrial life, as is required by an Old-Earth view of the Biblical story.

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