Old Earth creationism

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'''Old Earth creationism''' ('''OEC''') is a form of [[creationism]] that accepts the existence of [[deep time]], and may accept scientific evidence about the [[Evidence against a recent creation|age of the Earth]]. As with all forms of creationism, it maintains that the earth and the [[universe]] were created by a [[god]], usually the [[Abrahamic religion|Abrahamic]] [[YHWH|God]] ([[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], and [[Islam]]).

Abrahamic OECs reinterpret [[bible|biblical]] descriptions of the two differing [[Creation Week|creation stories]] in the book of [[Genesis]] in order to fit real-world facts about the [[Evidence against a recent creation|age of the Earth]], cosmology, and — in some forms — even the facts of [[evolution]]. As a result, OEC requires adherents to disregard [[Branches of science you have to ignore to believe in Young Earth Creationism|considerably less evidence]] than its [[YEC|young-Earth]] cousin.

Although its believers frequently do not accept [[flood geology]], they generally do believe in some form of a [[Global flood|biblical flood]].

==Main divisions==
Old Earth Creationism is harder to define than [[Young Earth Creationism]], as believers vary in how far they go in accepting full [[biblical literalism]] on the one hand and [[empirical reality]] on the other. Nevertheless, one can divide the concept into a few general classes. Although some OEC ideas are mutually exclusive, it is possible to mix and match others depending on the believer's grasp of [[reality]].

The ''answersincreation'' website carried out a (likely unscientific) poll of Old Earth Creationists which indicated that "45 percent are Progressive Creationists, 32 percent are Theistic Evolutionists, 10 percent believe in the Gap Theory, and the rest are old earth, but undecided as to which position to believe in".<ref>[https://archive.is/wLUuG Old Earth Belief]. Archived from oldearth.org/answersincreation.org, 22 June 2013.</ref> 

===Day-age creationism===
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=== Progressive creationism ===
{{main|progressive creationism}}
Progressive creationism suggests that a series of individual biological creation-events took place. Consequently the concept is incompatible with common descent. A number of subdivisions and various combinations are possible:

* In all versions of progressive creationism, the days of creation are assumed to be much longer than 24 hours. In some versions, each day is assumed to be a fixed thousand years. Other versions may assume millions (or billions) of years to pass, and each "day" may not represent the same fixed period of time.
* In some versions, the days are entirely separate periods; in others, the days may overlap with each other.
* In some versions, the chronological one of the two sequences of events as stated in Genesis is held to be true, while others hold more flexible interpretations of the chronology.

Typically, although Progressive Creationists believe in an old earth, they are unable to bring themselves to accept the [[evidence]] for evolution by [[natural selection]]. Instead, they believe that each species was the subject of a separate individual creation event — ''without evolving from a previous species''. In order to do this, they have to ignore [[Common descent|the incontrovertible evidence of common descent]], as well as the fact that they themselves were grown from a fertilised ovum.

=== Theistic evolution ===
{{main|theistic evolution}}

This is similar to long-timescale versions of Progressive Creationism — but now with the added belief in evolution. The [[hypothesis]] of theistic evolution suggests that [[God]] first created [[life]] and then:

# either let evolution run its natural course via [[natural selection]] (in which case it's not clear what is "theistic" about "theistic evolution"; indeed, it might be better described as "deistic evolution")<br/>or
# guided evolution to produce humans. (The method of such guidance is not specified, although some adherents claim it could be the [[pseudoscience]] of [[Intelligent design]]<ref>[https://archive.is/aBAfN Beliefs about the origins & development of the species, the Earth, & the universe: Evolution, Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, Theistic Creationism, Intelligent Design]. Archived from religioustolerance.org, 13 January 2013.</ref> — for which no credible evidence has ever been presented.) Another term sometimes used is "[[scientific creationism]]".

===Gap creationism===
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According to gap creationism, a gap of many, many years occurred between {{bible|Genesis|1|1}} and {{bible|Genesis|1|2}}.

==Supernatural processes==

Those who advocate the Gap theory or progressive creationism claim that God did not just perform a single act of creation, but many (even as many as millions) over long periods of [[geology|geological]] time, each time creating new [[species]] or higher [[taxonomic]] groupings. During the intervals when [[God]] was not creating, [[microevolution]] was taking place, to allow minor adaptations within species. The progressive creationist [[Alan Hayward]] (1923–2008) proposed the process of "successive creation" that “God has been at work ever since the universe began, performing a great number of creative acts at intervals”.<ref>Alan Hayward, ''God Is: A Scientist Shows Why It Makes Sense to Believe in God''. Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978. {{isbn|0551055855}}.</ref> 

The Gap theorist Arthur Custance (1910–1985) proposed the hypothesis of [[supernatural selection]] as a process for how new species originate.<ref>[https://archive.is/tRYmQ The Concept of Supernatural Selection]. Archived from custance.org, 4 July 2003.</ref> Both "successive creation" and "supernatural selection" are supposed to be [[supernatural]] replacements for known natural [[evolution]]ary processes. The problem with the supernatural processes of Custance and Hayward is that they are not testable and are really no different than just saying [[Goddidit|God did it]].

==Intelligent design==
The more scientifically minded believers in [[intelligent design]] take on board all ideas about the age of the earth and even [[common descent]], but maintain that evolution is controlled and managed by "somebody". The less scientifically minded include — well — less science. There is zero real [[evidence]] in support of any of the ID variants.

==Noah's Flood==
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Beliefs in a biblical flood tend to vary amongst OECs. While some — perhaps especially those who hold to the "Gap Theory" — may maintain that a full global flood occurred, others scoff at the idea and point out its many failings. They prefer to believe in a smaller localized event (or events) and claim that this inspired the various flood stories around the world. Yet others will prefer the pseudoscience of [[Hydroplate theory]].

==See also==
* [[Young earth creationism]]
* [[Expelled: Leader's Guide]]
* [[Evidence against a recent creation]]
* [[Revelation Theory of Creation]]
* [[Alan Hayward]]

==References==
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[[Category:Types of creationism]]

Categories: Types of creationism