The Doctrine Of Creation
Author: 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) (Footnote 1)

- 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.(Footnote
2)

- 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.(Footnote 3)

- 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.(Footnote 4)

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
(http://www.answersincreation.org). The source article is
located at http://www.answersincreation.org/doctrine.htm.