The Bible, Science, and Age of the Earth

The Testimony of Ellen G. White

Paul A Gordon
Ellen G White Estate

Those profound words of Genesis 1:1—‘In the beginning, God’—tell us in as simple language as possible that the heavens and the earth, and all that are in them—including man—originated with the Divine Creator. The last two verses of the Bible, Revelation 22:20, 21, declare in equally clear words that He will return to save us, providing the Divine solution to sin. If the Bible is not authoritative in the Genesis creation account, can it be any more reliable in Revelation when it talks of re-creation after fire has purified the earth from sin? Ellen White believed the Bible could be trusted, and she accepted its people as real: BSAE 2.1

The lives recorded in the Bible are authentic histories of actual individuals. From Adam down through successive generations to the times of the apostles we have a plain, unvarnished account of what actually occurred and the genuine experience of real characters (Testimonies for the Church 4:9) ¹

Ellen White accepts the genealogical records as well. Note her ringing words: BSAE 2.2

How often the supposed deductions of science are revised or cast aside; with what readiness the assumed period of the earth’s development is from time to time increased or diminished by millions of years; and how the theories advanced by different scientists conflict with one another—considering all this, shall we, for the privilege of tracing our descent from germs and mollusks and apes, consent to cast away that statement of Holy Writ, so grand in its simplicity, ‘God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him’ (Genesis 1:27)? Shall we reject that genealogical record,—prouder than any treasured in the court of kings,—‘which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God’ (Luke 3:38) (Education, 130)?

Her obvious answer to her own question is No! BSAE 2.3

Old and New Testament writers also wrote with assurance about the reality of their ancestors back to Adam. Christ as well spoke of Adam, Moses, Jonah, and Lot’s wife as real persons. Ellen White notes that Christ ‘in His assertions and representations recognizes Genesis as the words of inspiration.’ ‘He refers to Noah as a literal person who lived; He refers to the flood as a fact in history’ (The Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877). BSAE 2.4