Creation vs. Evolution - Progressive Creation Theory
- Nov 1, 2005
“Progressive creationism is the idea that God created directly and deliberately via a series of creative acts over very long periods of time. The ‘days’ of Genesis are not consecutive twenty-four-hour days but are ages or epochs, or perhaps literal days that marked only the beginning of successive long creative periods. Some of these various creative periods may have overlapped with each other to a certain degree … According to progressive creationism, life on earth could not have emerged without intelligent intervention. This view rejects that idea that macroevolution can account for ‘the increasing complexity and relatively abrupt appearance of new life-forms in the fossil record.’ They propose that ‘the scientific evidence is more compatible with the hypothesis that God acted miraculously several times throughout biological history’ … Progressive creationists recognize that the genealogies contained in Genesis seem to prohibit long ages. However, they argue that genealogies in the Bible often had gaps in them, and therefore more time is allowed for than a strict literal reading of Genesis would seem to indicate.
“Typically, they deny that the flood of Noah’s day was a universal flood, opting instead for a local flood confined to the Mesopotamian area. They argue that the Bible sometimes employs universal terms when, in fact, only a limited meaning is possible (see for example, Genesis 41:57; Deuteronomy 2:25; 1 Kings 18:10; Psalm 22:17; Matthew 3:5; John 4:39). The universality of the flood may simply mean the universality of experience of those who reported it.”
Ron Rhodes, The 10 Things You Should Know About the Creation Vs. Evolution Debate (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2004), 50-53.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Science, Creation/Evolution