Creationism - National Center for Science Education

Men complain, however, that God would be dishonest to create things with an appearance of age. ...This
sort of reasoning is...essentially an affirmation of atheism, a denial of the possibility of a real Creation. If
God actually created anything at all, even the simplest atoms, those atoms or other creations would’
necessarily have an appearance of some age. There could be no genuine creation of any kind, without an
initial appearance of age inherent in it. It would still be possible to interpret the newlycreated matter in
terms of some kind of previous evolutionary history. And if God could create atomic stuff with an
appearance of age—in other words, if God exists!—then there is no reason why He could not, in full
conformity with His character of Truth, create a whole universe full-grown. [1961:238]
In Creation According to God’s Word, Whitcomb discusses Gosse specifically, in
his section “Creation Involved a Superficial Appearance of History.” While affirming
creation-with-appearance-of-age as a general principle, Whitcomb disagrees with Gosse’s
extreme though consistent application of it. He contends that “God did not create a world
filled with unmistakable and essentially unnecessary testimonies to a previous history
simply for the purpose of deceiving men” (1966:7). Contrary to Gosse, Adam was not
created with a belly-button, since this would not have been necessary for his functioning
as a mature created being; nor were trees necessarily created with growth rings. But the
wine which Jesus created out of water must have appeared as if it had undergone the
ordinary chemical processes by which grape juice turns into wine.
Morris further endorsed “creation with appearance of age” in his pamphlet
Biblical Catastrophism and Geology, based on a 1962 talk to the Houston Geological
Society.
To some extent, therefore, the whole world was created at some time in the past, by processes unknown to
us, with an “appearance of age.” This fact must be given full consideration in the construction of a
geological history or the use of a geological chronometer. For instance, the primeval ocean may already
have been saline, radioactive minerals may have already contained daughter elements, light from distant
stars may have been visible on the earth at the instant of their creation, and so on, even as Adam was
created as a full-grown man. [1963:6]
In The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, Morris enlarges on the notion of creation of
starlight en route from distant stars (perhaps even prior to creation of the stars
themselves) which would make it look as if this light had been travelling millions of
light-years:
Why is it less difficult to create a star than to create the emanations from that star? In fact, had not God
created “light” on Day One prior to His construction of “lights” on Day Four? It is even possible that the
“light” bathing the earth on the first three days was created in space as en route from the innumerable “light
bearers” which were yet to be constituted on the fourth day. ... Actually, real creation necessarily involves
creation of “apparent age.” [1978:62]
Acceptance of creation with appearance of age conveniently invalidates any dating
method which contradicts young-earth creationism. “Therefore do not be impressed by
the “apparent age” of prehistoric formations. The “true age” is what God says it is, and
there is no other way of determining it” (1978:95).
In Evolution and the Modern Christian, Morris states Price’s principle and its
creation-with-appearance-of-age corollary thus:
Thus, the entire world would have been brought into existence as a fully functioning integrated whole, right
from the beginning. Every portion of it would necessarily have an “appearance of age” at the very moment
of its creation. [1967:49]