Fallen Earth Creationism

Short Summary

Fallen Earth Creationism (FEC) is the name of an idea to reconcile apparent conflicts between Genesis and Science. FEC proposes to fully accept the creation accounts of both science and Genesis.

As given in Genesis, a “very good”, probably supernatural creation was formed by God, with unfallen living things, with no suffering or death, no predatory animals, along with Adam and Eve, the first humans. Eve was made separately by God, from flesh taken from Adam’s side. Eve, then Adam disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit, causing the fall. The entirety of the Genesis creation account is accepted at face value. The effects and curse of the fall was placed on creation as follows: the event of the fall precipitated the so-called Big Bang, which birthed the separate fallen universe we live in. From the moment of the fall until Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden (perhaps later that same day, as they perceived time passing), our universe evolved up, separate from theirs, with billions of years passing. The evolution of the fallen universe, which we now live in, and of all living things, including possibly humans, occurred as described by science (excepting for scientific errors). At a point in the history of our fallen world approximately six to ten thousand years ago, Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden and from their “very good” world into our fallen world. Even though they were the “first humans”, due to differential passage of time in the garden and our fallen universe, humans paradoxically existed in our world which appear to far pre-date Adam and Eve. Genesis 1-3 tells the actual creation story of the original unfallen creation, why and how the need for a fallen creation arose, and how the first couple was cast out of the garden and into the fallen creation. Modern science teaches us about the fallen creation, the age of our universe (13-14 billion years), evolutionary cosmology, and the biological sciences, including (if fully established as scientifically true) Darwinian evolution. Science can only study the fallen creation, not the original unfallen version of creation.

If accepted, the idea of the fall bringing into existence a second fallen creation would reconcile the conflict between the creation account in Genesis, and modern science. Furthermore, it would go a long way towards reconciling all apparent conflict between Christianity and science. Christian theology could now see the entire natural world as being just as science finds it to be, and containing natural evil which appears to pre-date humans, in accordance with the fallen state. Darwinian evolution, deep time, and an old earth are no longer theologically problematic. The currently understood scientific narrative of the Big Bang, the evolution of the universe and of living things, is not the modern alternative to the Genesis creation story; it’s the outcome of the Genesis story. Evolution, plausibly even of humans, is part of the history of the fallen creation, and is the means by which the consequences of the fall came to living things (hence the phrase “Fallen Earth Creationism”). However, within FEC it is also plausible that fallen living things were made in creative episodes over eons of time, as proposed by old earth creationists. Christians could be comfortable believing in all of science and also the traditional theology of the fall and redemption of the human race through Christ's death and resurrection.

Click the link above for a much more in-depth dive into FEC and the creation account.