How do Christians who reject Young Earth Creationism respond to the "God is not a liar" argument?
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Young Earth Creationists often argue that denying a young age for the Earth amounts to adopting the naturalist/materialist perspective prevalent in secular science. They suggest that this denial disregards a straightforward reading of Genesis, which they argue is the most natural interpretation of the text, thus denying the reliability of God's Word and essentially portraying God as untruthful. However, since God cannot lie, proponents of YEC maintain that it logically follows that God cannot be deceptive in Genesis, leading to the conclusion that the Earth must indeed be young, that is, if we concede that a plain reading of Genesis is arguably the most natural and rational way of approaching the text.
In response, how do Christians who hold differing views on the age of the Earth address this argument?
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The following [article](https://answersingenesis.org/answers/feedback/let-god-be-true-and-every-man-a-liar/) , published on *Answers in Genesis*, should serve as a good illustration of what I'm talking about:
> ## “Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar.”
>
> “Many Christians believe in evolution because they figure the vast majority of scientists can't be wrong, or that they wouldn't lie -- I was one of those.”
>
>> I just read your article online, “A Young Earth—It’s Not the Issue!”.
> The thrust of Ham’s argument in this article reflects my own
> experience with the evolution/creation debate. Many Christians believe
> in evolution because they figure the vast majority of scientists can’t
> be wrong, or that they wouldn’t lie -- I was one of those. This forced
> me to conclude that the creation account in the bible was symbolic,
> which then led me to question many other passages -- the collapse of
> the walls of Jericho,the parting of the Red Sea, and whether Lazarus
> was really dead. “is this real? or merely symbolic? If it’s only
> symbolic, what does it mean?”
>>
>> Many christians have rejected a former belief in evolution by the
> efforts of creation science organizations which expose the scientific
> flaws in evolutionary theory. They come to question the science of
> evolution, then declare a belief in the word.
>>
>> My path was different. I was firmly persuaded of the scientific
> evidence. The problem was that what I believed contradicted the
> plaintext of bible, and I had to choose one or the other. For me, the
> decision to believe the word came first, and the validation of the
> word by scientific evidence came later.
>>
>> In light of the irreconcilable conflict between evolution and the
> word, I decided simply to accept the Genesis creation account as true,
> and review all I had previously believed about evolution in that
> light. In other words, I had to reject what I believed, accept what I
> had firmly rejected, and reframe and restructure my understanding of
> the word and of science.
>>
>> Why? What prompted me to do this? Consider the vast amounts of
> information in the world -- from encyclopedias to construction
> diagrams to the Internet -- and now consider just how little, how very
> few words are contained in the bible. And yet, in this extremely
> concise record of the history of God’s interaction with his people,
> one of the things he chose to tell us was how he made the world. He
> must have considered it very important. And here I was, rejecting that
> account as untrue because I believed men rather that God. The same
> people who deny the creation account on scientific grounds also deny
> the resurrection of Christ, and yet I had chosen to believe that.
>>
>> So I simply rejected the word of men, without waiting for supposedly
> logical or scientific reasons to do so. “Let God be true and every man
> a liar.” [Romans 3:4]
>>
>> It was extremely unsettling, but over several weeks, through prayer,
> research, and faith that God would lead me, I found my faith affirmed.
> Moreover, accepting God’s word as being factually correct has opened
> doors for my faith that I had never known were there.
>>
>> Can God save Christians who reject his account of the creation? I’m
> sure he can. But they deny themselves the riches of fully trusting
> God, and knowing their faith pleases him, as did Abraham’s.
>>
>> And most critically, those Christians overlook the harm done to the
> next generation of Christians who are taught not to take God’s word
> too seriously. It’s tragic, and they should know better.
>>
>> – Manuel Edwards, USA
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See also: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/101322/61679
Asked by user61679
May 1, 2024, 08:26 PM
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