Why do Young-Earth Creationists make such a big deal about the YEC view

I think it is simple. If Creation was not true, then God is a liar. He cannot be trusted to tell us the truth. Those who claim that God merely designed a story line we could handle, are lying. Young Earth Creation is fact. It is scientifically proven. When people claim Darwinian evolution is true, they rely on modern "proof," because given time, their "proofs" turn out to be false information. They then defend this as progress. The problem is their "progress" takes them no where. Think of Darwinian evolution as a ladder. People are climbing that ladder and thinking they are going somewhere, but never realize that as they leave each rung(supposed proof of evolution), it is swept away by more modern science which shows that it was false. So as they climb, they actually never go anywhere because every thing once taught is later replaced by newer facts, since the first are proven false, but those new facts are then later replaced because they, too, were false.

So I say, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” Romans 3:4, KJV

So Dr. Kent Hovind, etc. are trying to do two things. Legitimize the accuracy of scripture via both scripture and scientific evidence, to help the believer, and also to use this to undermine evolution and perhaps lead them towards the Bible.

Here is a quote from "Did Death of Any Kind Exist Before the Fall?" (https://answersingenesis.org/death-before-sin/did-death-of-any-kind-exist-before-the-fall/)

The consequences of these ideas are apparent. Once we reject the biblical revelation that God created his world “very good” and that death of both animals and humans never came about because of Adam’s disobedience then there really is no need for the Cross, atonement or a new heaven and earth. As, biblically, all of these are needed because death and suffering entered into the Creation through Adam’s disobedience towards God in Genesis 3.

Elsewhere I have heard this put succinctly: If man's sin did not cause death, then Christ's death - which pays for and forgives man's sins - cannot bring eternal life. This brings to mind the following verse:

Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. (Matthew 9:2-8 from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%209&version=NIV)

Sin brings death, but forgiveness brings life - this is the Gospel and everything hinges on it. That is why supporters of the YEC view are so adamant. They believe that without it, there is NO gospel, and Christ's death on the cross was futile.

What I'm looking for is an answer as to why the "Creation Science Evangelists" ... are willing to go around preaching something that gets them laughed at...Why is it so important to them? Is there a doctrinal reason, or are they just that stuck in their ways that they're unwilling to change?

They see a willingness to yield on this point as similar to Christians who "bent the knee" (offered an act of worship) to Caesar to avoid persecution in ancient times.

They see putting worldly wisdom ahead of the truth of the Bible as an act of betrayal of God.

Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

They recognize that what appears to be an inconsequential act of compromise as a major act of undermining the word of God.

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

They see humanity as being brought to such a state of collectivism that most people think in terms of social control through bullying and intimidation (like getting a school class to laugh at a boy who is not compliant).

Luke 7:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

They see truth as something absolute and worth defending.

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

They see social pressure to deny what they see as absolute as a type of martyrdom.

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

They see compromise with what is popular as something evil.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

I consider myself one of "them". Speaking as one of them, the idea of changing my beliefs to suit the preferences of others would be poor service to my Savior.

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

_{Again... This is not about the validity of the YEC view. The point of this is not to reveal "Truth", the point is to accurately explain the doctrinal significance of the view, from the perspective of those who believe the view, so that we have it on record on site.}

The answer is quite simple, actually, and laid out very well on the Answers in Genesis website. The short version is that in the minds of Young Earth Creationists, the issue is not whether the earth is young or old. It's not whether or not we evolved. Those are distractions from the real question, which is "Can we trust Scripture?", and extending it further, "Was Jesus Himself a liar?"

_{remember - just explaining the position/doctrinal view, not debating the validity.}

• Every one of the Young Earth Creationists listed, and those of us that follow are among those that believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God as described here, here, and in the AIG article I linked to above. Since the original manuscripts were given by God, it is impossible for them to be erroneous in any way. And since we have such overwhelming manuscript evidence, we have every reason to believe that the Bible we have today is reliable.

• All of them subscribe to a historical-grammatical method of interpretation, which provides guidelines for determining what content is to be taken literally, and where a non-literal interpretation is warranted. Of course, there is variance in how this is applied, the view held by Young Earth Creationists is that a simple reading of the Genesis account without any external, non-Biblical evidence clearly gives six literal days of creation, one day of rest, a bit of history, and then a global flood. The age of the earth is based strictly on adding up the genealogies (when so and so was x years old, he begat y) and so on.

Since the method of interpretation includes the following:

Extra-Biblical resources, such as language helps, commentaries, the writings of the so-called church fathers, and archaeological and scientific evidences, can be useful resources in correctly interpreting Scripture. But since they are the words and works of fallible men they are not authoritative.

when determining what a passage says, we can't refer to things like common knowledge, radiometric dating, currently accepted geology, paleontology, or any other branch of science. When determining what Scripture says, only the context given within Scripture can be used. In other words, no "knowledge" of fallible man can possibly equal the revealed Truth given by God in Scripture.

Therefore, the only measurement we have to glean the age of the earth is the genealogies. Without modern scientific knowledge, there would be no need for a gap theory, or a day-age theory. That's why they refer to these as "compromise" theories - because they are attempting to use external evidence - man's fallible evidence and make it fit into God's word.

In Kent Hovind's words, "if you gave someone a Bible, with no idea about the controversy, and said 'read this - tell me what this says', not one of them would say 'Oh, there were millions of years between those days.' or gap theory, or anything of the sort. They'd say 7 days". Dr. Hovind goes on to re-state that you can't use fallible man's ideas to re-interpret Scripture.

So, for Young-Earth Creationists, the reason they view the Day-Age theory, or the Gap Theory, or anything else that tries to tie billions of years into the Creation account as invalid is pretty straightforward.

But how about the idea that the Genesis account is an allegory? Plenty of Christians believe that.

Again, back to the "rules" of interpretation:

• Scripture is intelligible. God meant for us to understand it.
• Because it is infallible, the Bible is internally consistent. it can't contradict itself.
• Because God meant to communicate truth, and because Scripture is internally consistent, the words of Scripture have only one meaning in context. There may be multiple legitimate applications of a passage of Scripture, but a passage has only one meaning in context. This is what it means to interpret Scripture according to its literal, or normal, sense.

None of that rules out an allegorical Genesis account, but how did Jesus treat the Genesis account? Did He speak of it as if it were real, or did He speak of it as if it were an allegory?

Borrowing from the Answers in Genesis article:

Another way that Jesus revealed His complete trust in the Scriptures was by treating as historical fact the accounts in the Old Testament which most contemporary people think are unbelievable mythology. These historical accounts include Adam and Eve as the first married couple (Matt. 19:3-6, Mark 10:3-9), Abel as the first prophet who was martyred (Luke 11:50-51), Noah and the Flood (Matt. 24:38-39), Moses and the serpent (John 3:14), Moses and the manna (John 6:32-33, 49), the experiences of Lot and his wife (Luke 17:28-32), the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15), the miracles of Elijah (Luke 4:25-27), and Jonah and the big fish (Matt. 12:40-41). As Wenham has compellingly argued,7 Jesus did not allegorize these accounts but took them as straightforward history, describing events that actually happened just as the Old Testament describes. Jesus used these accounts to teach His disciples that the events of His death, resurrection and second coming would likewise certainly happen in time-space reality.

So, in summary, for the Young-Earth Creationist, because of the doctrines of an inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, combined with the approach they use toward interpreting Scripture, there is no breathing room left.

• Jesus didn't seem to treat the Genesis account as allegorical. He presented it as actual historical fact.
  • by extension, if it were not actual, historical fact, then Jesus was either wrong, or a liar. Both options end up with Christianity being untrue.
• The rules of interpretation of the Genesis account provide no reason not to take the creation period as six literal days, with one day of rest. And there is nothing in Scripture, anywhere else, that provides even a hint that the account is to be taken as allegory. The only evidence to that effect is external, non-Biblical evidence. Therefore, per the rules of the historical-grammatical method of interpretation, we must accept that the account is a literal one, not allegorical.
  • Again, this leaves us with two options: The Bible is wrong, or the historical-grammatical method of interpretation is wrong.
• If the Bible is wrong, then we have no reliable record of history, and nothing upon which to base our faith, other than man's fallible teachings, which means Christianity is no more or less valid that Buddhism, or the worship of trees.
  • If the historical-grammatical method of interpretation is wrong, then we lack a framework for correctly divining the meaning of Scripture, and again, nothing solid upon which to place our faith.

So for the Young-Earth Creationist, all of these doctrines combine to force us into a corner where our only option is to believe in a young-earth view. Any other view would render the book of Genesis as unreliable. Since Jesus referred to Genesis as real history several times, it would make Jesus unreliable. Since many of Scripture's doctrines can be traced back to Genesis (original sin, marriage, and others), if Genesis falls, the rest of Scripture falls, Jesus is fallible, and therefore not God, so all of Christianity is a sham.

_{Again, one last time. This is not about the validity of the YEC view. The point of this is not to reveal "truth", the point is to accurately explain the view, so that we have it on record on site. I am fully aware that not all of Christianity holds these views. I am fully aware that you don't have to be a YEC believer to be a Christian. I'm not stating that any other view is wrong. I am merely presenting the thought process, and doctrinal importance of the Young-Earth Creationist view to those of us that hold this view.}