Psalm 8 and Young Earth Creationism

[Ploutos]

Last Sunday (not yesterday but the week before), our pastor referenced Psalm 8 in his sermon. As a tangential point (not having to do with the main topic of the sermon), he talked about how Psalm 8 demonstrates that earth was made for the purpose of being inhabited by man, and that this is a strong argument for YEC.

I have to confess that I don't quite follow the reasoning here, and I wonder if someone could help me fill in the blanks. I already believe that the entire universe (whether it's billions of light-years in size or not) was designed for the purpose of providing a suitable environment for a solar system in which a planet at precisely our distance from the Sun would be hospitable for life. While I don't believe that the earth is billions of years old, it wouldn't be a problem for me to believe that the earth had been around for billions of years precisely for the purpose of becoming hospitable to human life.

In other words, while Psalm 8 is certainly congruent with a YEC view, I don't see how a YEC view necessarily follows from that argument nor do I see how this intentionality in the design of the earth is incompatible with an old-earth view.

Please note: I'm not an old-earth creationist. I just like for my arguments to be well-vetted.

 

[No Other Name]

Last Sunday (not yesterday but the week before), our pastor referenced Psalm 8 in his sermon. As a tangential point (not having to do with the main topic of the sermon), he talked about how Psalm 8 demonstrates that earth was made for the purpose of being inhabited by man, and that this is a strong argument for YEC.

I have to confess that I don't quite follow the reasoning here, and I wonder if someone could help me fill in the blanks. I already believe that the entire universe (whether it's billions of light-years in size or not) was designed for the purpose of providing a suitable environment for a solar system in which a planet at precisely our distance from the Sun would be hospitable for life. While I don't believe that the earth is billions of years old, it wouldn't be a problem for me to believe that the earth had been around for billions of years precisely for the purpose of becoming hospitable to human life.

In other words, while Psalm 8 is certainly congruent with a YEC view, I don't see how a YEC view necessarily follows from that argument nor do I see how this intentionality in the design of the earth is incompatible with an old-earth view.

Please note: I'm not an old-earth creationist. I just like for my arguments to be well-vetted.

Are you sure he said, "strong argument for YEC" and not "strong argument against evolution"? Or at least that was what he meant? Rather than against OEC?

In the YEC realm, there is the teaching of "overdesign" and Psalm 8:5 is a proof text against the idea that man is the "pinnacle" of an evolutionary track of progressively more complex steps.

"Overdeign" is when a system has fundamental components that include necessary elements far beyond simply what is needed for survival.

If evolution claims each function had to have arrived by adaptation for specific survival advantages, any organism that is "overdesigned" must in fact be accounted for in their model. They have historically failed to do so.

Overdesign in humans and facial expressions

Is there evidence of design in humans?

creation.com

 

[RamistThomist]

What I think he is trying to say is that the lights were given for man. Gary North goes into this argument in his commentary on Genesis. I don't buy it, but to be fair I don't remember all of it.