Well, I am an evangelical Christian, and so the answer I'm going to give is I'm speaking
as someone who is an evangelical Christian. Prior to the 1960s, most evangelical Christians
held to an old earth understanding of the universe. There was a book published by Henry
Morris and John Whitcomb called the Genesis Flood, which argued very strongly for the
young earth position, and as a result, many evangelical Christians today argue and hold
to the young earth view. So, I do think that one can hold either to an old earth view or
a young earth view. Both are permitted within the Genesis text. However, I think that the
old earth view not only fits with Scripture, it also fits with science. And I believe
that the God who gave us the Bible is also the God who created the heavens and the earth.
And so, I believe that one ought to interpret the Bible and science in a way that both agree
with one another. I do think that it is important that we hold to the historicity of Adam and
that they were real people created miraculously by God. I think this is important for the
gospel narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. I also think that it fits very
well with what science has told us about the common ancestry of humanity. When the Human Genome
Project was completed by Francis Collins about 15 years ago, one of the things that they determined
and discovered is that all of humanity derives from a common man and a common woman. Because
that refers to the methods by which they were able to arrive at the conclusion that all of
humanity has this one woman who is the common ancestor of all, and we have this one man who
is the common ancestor of all. And I do believe that this is scientific evidence of the historicity
of Adam and of Eve. And so, I think that a Christian can hold to both an old earth perspective and
to the historicity of the original couple.