The "Old Earth" vs. "Young Earth" Issue

As your children grow older, the question will likely arise whether or not God created everything about 6,000 years ago...or billions of years ago. In other words, they will hear from some creationists (who believe in a Creator rather than evolution) very good arguments for a Creator God, but then will find that these creationists maintain that nothing in the universe was created prior to the time of Adam and Eve.

This is where a misunderstanding arises over the interpretation of Genesis 1:1-2. The United Church of God believes the evidence of the Scriptures indicates that God actually created the universe (including the earth) long before Adam and Eve. For a more thorough explanation, read pages 29-31 of our brochure Creation or Evolution: Does It Really Matter What You Believe?

In any event, the important thing to understand is that all creation originated with God, not by evolution, and that God made us— humans—starting with Adam and Eve. We take His Word at face value, and we are the creative product of the Creator, not of an evolutionary process of gradually developing primates.