Creationism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Omphalos hypothesis === {{Main|Omphalos hypothesis}} The Omphalos hypothesis is one attempt to reconcile the scientific evidence that the universe is billions of years old with a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative, which implies that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|url=http://www.roizen.com/ron/omph.htm|title=The rejection of Omphalos: a note on shifts in the intellectual hierarchy of mid-nineteenth century Britain|last=Roizen|first=Ron|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|year=1982|volume=21|issue=4|pages=365β369|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219011828/http://www.roizen.com/ron/omph.htm|archive-date=2007-02-19|doi=10.2307/1385525|jstor=1385525}}</ref> It is based on the religious belief that the universe was created by a divine being, within the past six to ten thousand years (in keeping with [[flood geology]]), and that the presence of objective, verifiable evidence that the universe is older than approximately ten millennia is due to the creator introducing false evidence that makes the universe appear significantly older. The idea was named after the title of an 1857 book, ''[[Omphalos (book)|Omphalos]]'' by [[Philip Henry Gosse]], in which Gosse argued that in order for the world to be functional [[God]] must have created the [[Earth]] with mountains and canyons, trees with growth rings, Adam and Eve with fully grown hair, fingernails, and [[navel]]s<ref name="Gardner2000">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z1NdAgAAQBAJ|title=Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience|last=Gardner|first=Martin|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2000|isbn=9780393322385|place=New York|pages=7β14}}</ref> (α½ΞΌΟΞ±Ξ»ΟΟ ''[[omphalos]]'' is [[Greek language|Greek]] for "navel"), and all living creatures with fully formed evolutionary features, etc..., and that, therefore, ''no'' [[empirical evidence]] about the [[age of the Earth]] or [[age of the universe|universe]] can be taken as reliable. Various supporters of Young Earth creationism have given different explanations for their belief that the universe is filled with false evidence of the universe's age, including a belief that some things needed to be created at a certain age for the ecosystems to function, or their belief that the creator was deliberately planting deceptive evidence. The idea has seen some revival in the 20th century by some modern creationists, who have extended the argument to address the [[Creationist cosmologies#Starlight problem|"starlight problem"]]. The idea has been criticised as [[Last Thursdayism]], and on the grounds that it requires a deliberately deceptive creator. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page