What is Progressive Creationism?


Progressive Creationism (PC - aka "process creation") is a Creation view that affirms that God created the universe over billions of years. While they assert numerous things, two are sufficient to reveal their error:

(1) Belief in the "Big Bang" (BB) theory (all space, time and energy came into existence together in one mass appearance that began an evolutionary process). BB was God's way of producing the galaxies through billions of years of natural processes.

(2) That the Days (Hebrew, yom) of Creation are overlapping periods of billions of years.

While PC claims to oppose both atheistic evolutionism and Young Earth Creationism (see below), their errors are similar to many of the other errors seen in Old Earth Creationism (see below).

Moses uses the Hebrew term yom for Day in Genesis 1. While yom in some contexts, can mean long periods of time, the context determines the meaning. Moreover, if the Holy Spirit desired to state that Creation was over a longer period of time then six (6) 24-hour Days, he could have had Moses used numerous other Hebrew terms for better clarity, such as:

(1) qedem, meaning aforetime, ancient or old.

(2) olam, meaning long duration, antiquity, and at times even translated as perpetual.

(3) dor, meaning a period or generation.

(4) tamid, meaning continual or perpetual.

(5) ad, meaning forever or perpetual.

(6) orek, meaning forever or long.

(7) shanah, meaning years or length.

(8) netsach, meaning enduring, everlastingness, perpetuity.

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses didn't describe the time in question with any other Hebrew word but yom in Genesis 1 (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). In context within Genesis 1, the Hebrew word yom means a 24-hour Day. This is supported by:



(3) Yom's appearance with the time-stamp numbers (first Day, second Day, etc. in Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).






Please see, "What is Old Earth Creationism (OEC)?" and "What is Theistic Evolution?" below for more arguments. Progressive Creationism ultimately ends up denying the inspiration, inerrancy, clarity, and authority of Scripture.






Various Creation Positions

What is the Big Bang Theory?
What is the Day Age Theory?
What is Ex-Nihilo?
The Framework Theory
What is the Gap Theory?
What About Hebrews 11:3?
What is the Intelligent Design Theory?
What is the Mature Universe Theory?
What is Old Earth Creationism (OEC)?
What is Theistic Evolution?
What is Young Earth Creationism (YEC)?

Related Topics

What is the meaning of Day in Genesis 1?
Are there two different accounts of Creation?
What is BioLogos?
Did man eat meat before the Fall and the Flood?
A Universal or Regional Flood?
What about the evidence of Carbon-14 dating?
What About Dinosaurs?
Scientific Evidence for YEC?
Extraterrestrials and the Bible?
What was the Scopes Monkey Trial?
Can a person be born an atheist?

Answer by Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr.
