In about 200 pages (including footnotes and appendices), the authors present a case to Bible-affirming Christians for young earth creationism. They follow the rules of logic and point out some commonly applied logical fallacies which they are avoiding. Topics range from biblical interpretation of Genesis’ creation and flood accounts, descriptions and simple refutations of alternate interpretations (day-age theory, gaps in genealogies, local flood), to a short discussion of the scientific evidence “for” and against an old earth.
The authors, Dr. Jason Lisle and Tim Chaffey, emphasize the importance of using the Bible as our foundation for science. Because of this commitment they are able to present a consistent cosmogony and worldview, but they are not in this book writing to skeptics or people of other religions. Though Old-Earth Creationism on Trial argues that a biblical foundation is the only scientific starting point that is not self-defeating, and therefore the best approach to combating erroneous theories, their objective in this book is to encourage and challenge Christians.
Through a short examination of history, the authors prove that young-earth creationism is not a reaction to biological evolution, but that it has been the majority interpretation of the church (and plainest reading of Genesis) for thousands of years before Darwin wrote Origin of Species. In fact, a portion of the church had begun to compromise on the age of the earth earlier in the 19th century. Thus the debate inside the church has been going on for about 200 years.
One of my favorite parts of this easy-to-read reference book was the use of Proverbs 26:4-5, which says: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." Therefore, to be consistent in our own position, we do not have to grant the false assumptions of our opponents in order to debate them. However, it is a valid debate technique to point out the fallacy of their assumptions by showing their logical conclusions (which can be proven to be false). This is the format, in fact, of the whole book.
Compared to Coming to Grips with Genesis, Old-Earth Creationism on Trial covers most of the same information in a more concise and layman-friendly format. The authors also do a good job of focusing on the age of the earth (and universe) question, without going too far into the associated questions of biological evolution. Christians are discouraged from accepting naturalism and uniformitarianism, even in conjunction with other biblical beliefs. The book is a strong polemic against these two philosophies, which both underlie the theories of evolution.
To God be all glory.
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