Reasons to Believe

Reasons to Believe (RTB) is an Old Earth creationist Christian ministry founded by Hugh Ross, an astronomer and astrophysicist who studied at California Institute of Technology in 1986. RTB presents the view that God’s miraculous intervention directly created each new species of life on Earth. However, unlike Young- Earth Creationists, RTB does not support the idea that the universe is less than 10,000 years old, though it maintains that the Bible is inerrant both scientifically and historically. It uses a “day-age” argument to preserve a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account. Such arguments claim that the Hebrew word for “day” in Genesis 1 can also mean, “a long period of time.” RTB accepts the Big Bang theory, which it believes serves as proof of a divine creator rather than a rebuttal of one.

While it accepts the accuracy of the fossil record, Reasons to Believe contends that God supernaturally created Adam and Eve from the dust of the Earth rather than through evolutionary processes. RTB believes that the fall of Adam and Eve only brought death to humanity and that death existed among plants and animals long before the fall. RTB rejects the idea of a global Genesis flood. Because humanity most likely had not spread far past the Mesopotamian region by the time of Noah, the Genesis flood could have been universal — killing all humanity and land animals — without spanning the entire globe.

Reasons to Believe promotes harmony between science and religion, though it does not support intelligent design, which it calls unscientific, or theistic evolution as ways to achieve this harmony. According to their Web site, Ross has been “on the frontiers of making biblical and scientific arguments against Darwinism for more than two decades.” RTB denies evolutionary mechanisms such as speciation, and instead supports the fixation of species, each created by God.

Reasons to Believe publishes both a newsletter titled Reasons and a magazine titled New Reasons to Believe. Ross and other RTB members also speak regularly at churches and other Christian gatherings. Their Web site offers videos, podcasts, articles by team members and other apologists, and a store that sells books and other resources either produced or endorsed by RTB.

Be sure to read the joint statement by RTB and BioLogos.