Genesis 1:1–5 (NKJV)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

There are many creation theories. Like everything else grand, when we learn the full truth, we may laugh at the simple-minded views we held in this life. However, there is one creation theory that gains something from thinking about our creativity as being in the image of God. It’s no less simple-minded than the other creation theories, but here’s an argument for why it shouldn’t be rejected outright.

The theory in question is the one where the universe was created already “old.” One of the common objections to young Earth creationism is that the light we see from stars many light years away must have been emitted that many years ago.

One logical response is that the universe was created “in progress.” Thus, the light from distant stars was created in motion, on the way to Earth. This also means that everything else that appears to be very old was created already old.

That explanation does answer any objection about things appearing old but strikes some people as “too clever by half” specious reasoning.

Maybe so, but we do the same thing all the time with our created universes. For example, consider A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It starts, “Marley was dead, to begin with.” That’s the beginning of the tale, but it’s not the beginning in every sense. It goes on to describe many things that happened earlier.

Dickens created a fictional universe that was already old, and Dickens was created in image of God. Does that prove that God created a universe that was already old?

Of course not. It just shows that such a theory of creation is plausible.

Disrespect for people we disagree with has become all too common in our society. This is most surprising with topics that no human can understand completely.

Such is the case with anything we cannot observe directly—things like creation theories and eschatology.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity! — Psalm 133:1

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; — 1 Peter 3:8